A breath of fresh air in the pornography debates. David Loftus has had the exceedingly original idea of asking men, lots of them, what they think about, and how they use, pornography. Their answers are both surprising and diverse.

Neither a sociological inquiry nor a critical analysis, neither a condemnation nor a defense, Loftus's book nevertheless tells us much that we need to know about the everyday uses of pornography.

-- Linda Williams, director of the program in Film Studies, University of California at Berkeley, and author of Hard Core: power, pleasure, and the "frenzy of the visible"

As a longtime advocate of the right to read or see anything one chooses, I found Loftus's study of men who look at pornography refreshing and reassuring. Contrary to the anti-female, pro-violence messages that anti-porn crusaders ascribe to it, many of its fans in fact see something totally different.

It was long past time we heard from them, and Loftus is to be applauded for his unique contribution to the public debate.

-- Nadine Strossen, president of the American Civil Liberties Union, professor of law at New York Law School, and author of Defending Pornography: free speech, sex, and the fight for women's rights

In this "politically correct" age when Orwell's repressive Anti-Sex League has materialized insidiously on the left and the right, it's heartening to read an honest, intelligent appraisal of the mercurial virtues of smut.

-- Tom Robbins, author of Another Roadside Attraction, Even Cowgirls Get the Blues, Still Life with Woodpecker, Jitterbug Perfume, Skinny Legs and All, and Fierce Invalids Home from Hot Climates

Pornography is a landmine issue most often debated with explosive heat and very little light. Women argue that it debases them, uses them, and violently threatens them. Often the assertions are not backed with statistical or other evidence.

What do men say? Researchers have rarely bothered to ask. David Loftus, in his ground-breaking book, sought out some one hundred fifty men. On the promise of absolute anonymity, they talked with a candor that can be sensed in their replies. What they like about pornography is quite contrary to the charges leveled against porn.

What seems clear is that in the light of Loftus's book, easy presumptions about men and pornography will hereafter need to be challenged and reexamined.

-- Charles Champlin, eminent film critic and author of Hollywood's Revolutionary Decade, Back There Where the Past Was, and George Lucas: The Creative Impulse