Bart H. Welling's Ecoporn

Bart H. Welling’s essay Ecoporn: On the Limits of Visualizing the Nonhuman describes the “dialectical relationship between ecopornographic representations and human attitudes, beliefs, and behaviors vis-à-vis the nonhuman world.” (Welling – pg. 54) This means that is important to note that Welling’s description centers around the observation and analysis of ecopornograhic representations on nonhuman subjects, later citing the Florida panther as an example. “They are vital because they have a bearing not just on how we see nature but on how we make homes for ourselves in a world full of other life-forms.” (Welling – pg. 54) Welling claims the ecopornography is part and parcel of what he describes as a pornographic continuum. Welling briefly discusses environmentalist’s use of ecopornography and the rhetoric it generates as a manner of transforming “passive consumers of resources” into “thoughtful inhabitants of ecosystems.”  Welling also touches upon the process of pornographic substitution by which landforms / landscapes / nonhuman animals come to stand for women in the public eye.


He also declares that through ecopornography, women are naturalized and animalized.

“Ecopornography is a type of contemporary visual discourse made up of highly idealized, anthropomorphized views of landscapes and nonhuman animals. While these images often are composed or manipulated to stress their subjects’ innate similarities to the human body and to human social and power structures (such as the nuclear family, patriarchy, and the nation-state), the images work to conceal both the material circumstances of their creation by humans and whatever impact humans may have had on the landforms and animals they depict.” (Welling – pg. 57)

                The three interrelated aspects of ecopornography / pornography:

1.       Ecoporn perpetuates ways of seeing feminized Others that have been instrumental in facilitating countless acts of violent expropriation. This relates to pornography, as women’s bodies are viewed as exploitable in the pornographic industry.

2.       Ecoporn (like pornography) places the viewer from the perspective of the “male surveyor.”

3.       “The wild animal-woman, the sexual beast” concept. “That the new “animal snuff films” [Mitman 1999, 208] are branded “educational” and shown openly during prime time by various television networks does not render them less pornographic than films featuring voyeuristic representations of sexual violence against women – even if most viewers would unhesitatingly rate them less obscene.” – (Welling, pg. 59)

Welling later reincorporates his Florida panther as an example of ecoporn, one that is very easy to understand. When one thinks of the Florida panther, an image of a strong and fearless predator (one who stalks their prey and is a flawless warrior) may come to mind. Think about it. What image do you think of? Famous images of Florida panthers may include ones with the panther staring into the camera lens fearlessly, or the image may depict the panther on a cliff staring out into the sunset. But these images are often carefully planned using tame panthers. When found in the wild, scientists have often observed the Florida panther in a “sick, scrawny and scarred” state. – (Welling, pg. 63)

Welling, Bart H. "Ecoporn: On the Limits of Visualizing the Nonhuman." Ecosee: Image, Rhetoric, Nature. Albany: SUNY, 2009. 53-77. Print.