Ban this Filth: Introduction

In the nicest possible way, Alan Bissett is a pain in the arse. Ban This Filth deals with some uncomfortable topics (patriarchy, internet pornography, the guilt of the liberal mired in a culture of gross masculinity) that demand an answer. Mixing up cheeky routines that could stand alone as cabaret turns (a night on the lash with the boys becomes both a satire of lad culture and a sharp exposure of male insecurity), extracts from Andrea Dworkin's writings on pornography and episodes from the life of the author, Ban This Filth is a necessarily tentative investigation into the contemporary relationship between culture and pornography.

Bissett frames his exploration within an autobiographical context: the first half of the show is filled with anecdotes from his life. Bissett comes across as slightly self-obsessed (this is a performance persona, of course, and does not reflect on the 'real' Alan Bissett), guiltily considering the role of women in his success, but takes time to acknowledge the pressure on men to conform: a list of 'reasons you've been called a poof' and the energetic admonitions of the P.E. teacher ('being eleven is not an excuse for failure') are familiar to any sensitive young man.

Gradually, Bissett moves towards adulthood and, inevitably, the arrival of internet pornography. Running parallel to his erotic discoveries, he reads from Dworkin's autobiographical memoirs of abuse - a parallel process of education into gender identity. But where Bissett's (male) persona is being offered the freedom to dominant, Dworkin finds sexual abuse and institutional oppression.

The second half of Ban This Filth grapples with the implications of Dworkin's anti-pornpography stance for Bissett's own compromised engagement with feminism. He recognises how inept and self-satisfied his attempts to be an active feminist can be (a plant in the audience harangues him for being patronising, and the status of Dworkin within modern thought is dismissed with a mocking laugh), and advances a few, awkward thoughts on how he can, like Michael Jackson says, 'start with the man in the mirror.' The Bissett that concludes the show is less bumptious, less arrogant than the one who begins it - by addressing pornography, he seems to have begun to address his own sense of male entitlement.