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Routledge eBooks, Mar 5, 2015
A small but important niche, queer porn has grown out of initiatives like the Porn Film Festival ... more A small but important niche, queer porn has grown out of initiatives like the Porn Film Festival Berlin in Europe, the Canadian Feminist Porn Awards and productions by American-based filmmakers such as Shine Louise Houston, Courtney Trouble and Madison Young, who have all attempted ‘to playfully affirm sexuality and reinvent new representations of desire and pleasure’ (Ryberg 2013: 142). Queer pornography is, for many commentators, not just representation but an expression of politics struggling against stereotyping and conventional, normative sexual identities and practices (Attwood 2010; Jacobs 2007; Moorman 2010). One of the ways in which queer porn might have particular political valence is in its promotion as a form of collaboration and, as Florian Cramer writes, the ‘replace[ment] of the rhetoric of artificiality in mainstream pornography … with a rhetoric of the authentic: instead of mask-like bodies normalized using make-up, wigs, and implants, the authentic person is exposed’ (Cramer 2007: 174). What then do viewers make of these representations?
Mimesis eBooks, 2014
In this chapter I examine some of the discursive constructions of alternative (alt) and independe... more In this chapter I examine some of the discursive constructions of alternative (alt) and independent (indie) pornography, contemporary genres of porn facilitated by the development of the web. My interest here is in the aesthetic and ‘institutional’ politics of a number of important players in alt.porn to explore the ways in which concepts such as ‘alterity’, ‘autonomy’ and ‘authenticity’ are key elements in the discursive construction of alt.porn as different from ‘mainstream’ or ‘industrial’ pornographic productions and how such discursive constructions contribute to the ambivalent cultural positioning of alt.porn. While porn may be central to discussions within gender and sexuality studies, its place within media studies is much more peripheral – there are few accounts which take seriously pornography’s links to wider cinematic production or as businesses producing and distributing media content - thus a critical framework has developed in which ‘pornography’ sits somehow separate from other media forms. For the most part, in the plethora of critical academic titles on film and media, pornography is almost always overlooked – where general overviews of media production or consumption do deign to make mention of porn, it is limited to passing reference to ubiquity, size and profits: for many scholars, pornography remains a marginal genre of media production. As others have noted, "in the literature on the information society and the information economy, the subject of sex, and by extension, pornography, has been undertheorised [...] despite its powerful brand, Playboy Enterprises is not spoken of in the same breath as new entrants like Internet Entertainment Group." (Cronin and Davenport, 2010: 285-292) In this chapter I explore some of the ways in which alt.porn is constructed as a subcultural form and how producers negotiate their way to respect and authority, reflecting alternative sexual politics and community allegiances within their erotic ‘vision’ or performances such that a sizeable and, crucially, commercially viable audience will recognize and appreciate them
In a nondescript bedroom, four friends (three males, one female) sit together in front of a compu... more In a nondescript bedroom, four friends (three males, one female) sit together in front of a computer screen and wait for a film to begin. Expecting to be scared by what they’ll see, the quartet film themselves with a web-cam. Music plays and the friends begin to squeal and exclaim, offering a shocked commentary on what they are watching. One young man excitedly walks in and out of frame while another stares wide-eyed at the computer screen in front of him. He doesn’t move even when the young woman tries to pull his face towards hers. After a minute and a half, the film ends with much laughter and the exclamation ‘Oh. My. God!’ The above describes Cougarguy222’s Spankwire Reaction video on YouTube – a clip which has been viewed more than 480,000 times and is described as ‘friends watching the HORRIBLE video, “Spankwire”. It’s the worst video EVER!!!!’ This is one of more than a thousand YouTube postings which record the reactions of viewers watching ‘Spankwire: One of the Scariest Vi...
Poster presentations, 2021
Background Rapid development and uptake of digital technologies have influenced sexual lives. As ... more Background Rapid development and uptake of digital technologies have influenced sexual lives. As part of development research for the decennial British National Survey of Sexual Attitudes and Lifestyles (Natsal–4), we aimed to understand the practices of adults in Britain using digital technologies to meet sexual and romantic partners. Methods We conducted 40 semi-structured interviews with adults in Britain on the role digital technologies played in their sexual lives. Here we draw on the accounts of 22 of those who had direct experience of online partner seeking. Informed by Social Practice Theory, we developed thematic codes encompassing the materials, skills and meanings that constitute online partner-seeking as a social practice. Findings Online partner seeking is a social practice normalised in contemporary culture, enmeshed within broader online cultures of image presentation. It is associated with multiple goals and imbued with possibilities as well as risks. Material elemen...
Grindhouse : Cultural Exchange on 42nd Street, and Beyond
The history of the grind house is well trodden, offering a picture of exhibition spaces that even... more The history of the grind house is well trodden, offering a picture of exhibition spaces that even in their heyday were characterized by a pervasive stench of decline: their outer facades testaments to faded glories, while their interiors bore all the signs of mistreatment and neglect. David Church has explored the advent of domestic video technologies as the final nail in the coffin of the grind house as locale and the consequent morphing of the term to reference genre rather than exhibition. 1 And in that morphing grindhouse found a new lease of life on the very technology that brought the films into the domestic sphere. There are similar parallels in histories of pornography; itself a " most elastic textual category, " 2 porn arcades and cinemas were often located (at least in the United States) in the same geographical spaces, and were squeezed out by gentrification at least as quickly as the grind houses. Just as low-rent horror and exploitation films found a new lease of life on VHS, pornography was able to find a very comfortable and lucrative home on that format before, in turn, moving through DVD and into the digital online environment. Porn has been understood as an engine of innovation: exploiting each new technology as it arrives and, according to some histories, guaranteeing the success of one format (VHS) over another (Betamax), but the picture may be more complex than the simple replacement of one delivery platform with another. 3 As we have moved into the twenty-first century, new patterns of consumption and engagement have taken their toll on professional pornographic productions, particularly through sharing outside of paid-for distribution channels with scenes ripped and repurposed online as vignettes, or converted to gifs as forms of " micro-porn. " We could talk of this as exciting evidence of consumer agency, 4 but for porn producers, maintaining the profitability of the pornographic text has proved difficult. Production costs do not disappear even if consumers are clear they want their content for free. Thus I come to another way in which porn as genre has walked in step with grindhouse. Just as the exploitation-cinema favorites have found their way into rerelease in beautiful packaging and remodeling for the DVD/Blu-ray connoisseur, so too " vintage " pornography has a market, both as collectable and as rerelease. Porn
Snuff : Real Death and Screen Media
was described by Judge Michael Cullum as: of previously good character. As a man of good characte... more was described by Judge Michael Cullum as: of previously good character. As a man of good character he is entitled to suggest he is less likely to be guilty as he has not offended before. He is not young. He has not come to police attention before or since. He has the choice to remain silent. 1 Some hours later, having seen the menu for lunch, the jury came to the unanimous verdict of "Not Guilty" on all charges. Arrested in August 2009, Webster has the dubious honor of being the first person to go to jury trial for the possession of "extreme pornography," a charge made possible by the introduction of provisions in Part 5 of the Criminal Justice and Immigration Act 2009 (CJIA). 2
This chapter is the introduction to the book the Cambridge Companion to Moerden British Culture.
Irritatingly, in this chapter which argues that scenes featuring Allie Sin and Eva Angelina shoul... more Irritatingly, in this chapter which argues that scenes featuring Allie Sin and Eva Angelina should be recognised as individualised performances, the publishers managed to mix up the photographs of the two performers.
Studying Sexualities, 2013
Key to the development of a ‘pornotopia’ has been the rise of sexual consumerism centred on ‘femi... more Key to the development of a ‘pornotopia’ has been the rise of sexual consumerism centred on ‘feminine’ sensibilities, for example, the visibility of chic sexual products - expensive lingerie and luxury sex toys - sold in glamorous sex shops modelled on stylish boutiques emphasize their designer credentials and reaffirm nostalgic ideas of ‘secrecy’ and ‘privacy’ wrapped up in ‘affordable luxury’ (Juffer, 1998). These expressions of young women’s sexual interests are often condemned as deriving from pornified culture but we argue they are more complex than the ‘effects’ complaints might suggest; there is no doubt that sexual freedom has not consigned sexism to the bin and the emotional outfalls of casual relationships are as painful as they ever were but the idea of these interests as simply an effect of sexualisation is one which cannot find anything positive in more open attitudes and more aggressively expressed interests in sex. How can we open up debate about active female sexuali...
Routledge eBooks, Mar 5, 2015
A small but important niche, queer porn has grown out of initiatives like the Porn Film Festival ... more A small but important niche, queer porn has grown out of initiatives like the Porn Film Festival Berlin in Europe, the Canadian Feminist Porn Awards and productions by American-based filmmakers such as Shine Louise Houston, Courtney Trouble and Madison Young, who have all attempted ‘to playfully affirm sexuality and reinvent new representations of desire and pleasure’ (Ryberg 2013: 142). Queer pornography is, for many commentators, not just representation but an expression of politics struggling against stereotyping and conventional, normative sexual identities and practices (Attwood 2010; Jacobs 2007; Moorman 2010). One of the ways in which queer porn might have particular political valence is in its promotion as a form of collaboration and, as Florian Cramer writes, the ‘replace[ment] of the rhetoric of artificiality in mainstream pornography … with a rhetoric of the authentic: instead of mask-like bodies normalized using make-up, wigs, and implants, the authentic person is exposed’ (Cramer 2007: 174). What then do viewers make of these representations?
Mimesis eBooks, 2014
In this chapter I examine some of the discursive constructions of alternative (alt) and independe... more In this chapter I examine some of the discursive constructions of alternative (alt) and independent (indie) pornography, contemporary genres of porn facilitated by the development of the web. My interest here is in the aesthetic and ‘institutional’ politics of a number of important players in alt.porn to explore the ways in which concepts such as ‘alterity’, ‘autonomy’ and ‘authenticity’ are key elements in the discursive construction of alt.porn as different from ‘mainstream’ or ‘industrial’ pornographic productions and how such discursive constructions contribute to the ambivalent cultural positioning of alt.porn. While porn may be central to discussions within gender and sexuality studies, its place within media studies is much more peripheral – there are few accounts which take seriously pornography’s links to wider cinematic production or as businesses producing and distributing media content - thus a critical framework has developed in which ‘pornography’ sits somehow separate from other media forms. For the most part, in the plethora of critical academic titles on film and media, pornography is almost always overlooked – where general overviews of media production or consumption do deign to make mention of porn, it is limited to passing reference to ubiquity, size and profits: for many scholars, pornography remains a marginal genre of media production. As others have noted, "in the literature on the information society and the information economy, the subject of sex, and by extension, pornography, has been undertheorised [...] despite its powerful brand, Playboy Enterprises is not spoken of in the same breath as new entrants like Internet Entertainment Group." (Cronin and Davenport, 2010: 285-292) In this chapter I explore some of the ways in which alt.porn is constructed as a subcultural form and how producers negotiate their way to respect and authority, reflecting alternative sexual politics and community allegiances within their erotic ‘vision’ or performances such that a sizeable and, crucially, commercially viable audience will recognize and appreciate them
In a nondescript bedroom, four friends (three males, one female) sit together in front of a compu... more In a nondescript bedroom, four friends (three males, one female) sit together in front of a computer screen and wait for a film to begin. Expecting to be scared by what they’ll see, the quartet film themselves with a web-cam. Music plays and the friends begin to squeal and exclaim, offering a shocked commentary on what they are watching. One young man excitedly walks in and out of frame while another stares wide-eyed at the computer screen in front of him. He doesn’t move even when the young woman tries to pull his face towards hers. After a minute and a half, the film ends with much laughter and the exclamation ‘Oh. My. God!’ The above describes Cougarguy222’s Spankwire Reaction video on YouTube – a clip which has been viewed more than 480,000 times and is described as ‘friends watching the HORRIBLE video, “Spankwire”. It’s the worst video EVER!!!!’ This is one of more than a thousand YouTube postings which record the reactions of viewers watching ‘Spankwire: One of the Scariest Vi...
Poster presentations, 2021
Background Rapid development and uptake of digital technologies have influenced sexual lives. As ... more Background Rapid development and uptake of digital technologies have influenced sexual lives. As part of development research for the decennial British National Survey of Sexual Attitudes and Lifestyles (Natsal–4), we aimed to understand the practices of adults in Britain using digital technologies to meet sexual and romantic partners. Methods We conducted 40 semi-structured interviews with adults in Britain on the role digital technologies played in their sexual lives. Here we draw on the accounts of 22 of those who had direct experience of online partner seeking. Informed by Social Practice Theory, we developed thematic codes encompassing the materials, skills and meanings that constitute online partner-seeking as a social practice. Findings Online partner seeking is a social practice normalised in contemporary culture, enmeshed within broader online cultures of image presentation. It is associated with multiple goals and imbued with possibilities as well as risks. Material elemen...
Grindhouse : Cultural Exchange on 42nd Street, and Beyond
The history of the grind house is well trodden, offering a picture of exhibition spaces that even... more The history of the grind house is well trodden, offering a picture of exhibition spaces that even in their heyday were characterized by a pervasive stench of decline: their outer facades testaments to faded glories, while their interiors bore all the signs of mistreatment and neglect. David Church has explored the advent of domestic video technologies as the final nail in the coffin of the grind house as locale and the consequent morphing of the term to reference genre rather than exhibition. 1 And in that morphing grindhouse found a new lease of life on the very technology that brought the films into the domestic sphere. There are similar parallels in histories of pornography; itself a " most elastic textual category, " 2 porn arcades and cinemas were often located (at least in the United States) in the same geographical spaces, and were squeezed out by gentrification at least as quickly as the grind houses. Just as low-rent horror and exploitation films found a new lease of life on VHS, pornography was able to find a very comfortable and lucrative home on that format before, in turn, moving through DVD and into the digital online environment. Porn has been understood as an engine of innovation: exploiting each new technology as it arrives and, according to some histories, guaranteeing the success of one format (VHS) over another (Betamax), but the picture may be more complex than the simple replacement of one delivery platform with another. 3 As we have moved into the twenty-first century, new patterns of consumption and engagement have taken their toll on professional pornographic productions, particularly through sharing outside of paid-for distribution channels with scenes ripped and repurposed online as vignettes, or converted to gifs as forms of " micro-porn. " We could talk of this as exciting evidence of consumer agency, 4 but for porn producers, maintaining the profitability of the pornographic text has proved difficult. Production costs do not disappear even if consumers are clear they want their content for free. Thus I come to another way in which porn as genre has walked in step with grindhouse. Just as the exploitation-cinema favorites have found their way into rerelease in beautiful packaging and remodeling for the DVD/Blu-ray connoisseur, so too " vintage " pornography has a market, both as collectable and as rerelease. Porn
Snuff : Real Death and Screen Media
was described by Judge Michael Cullum as: of previously good character. As a man of good characte... more was described by Judge Michael Cullum as: of previously good character. As a man of good character he is entitled to suggest he is less likely to be guilty as he has not offended before. He is not young. He has not come to police attention before or since. He has the choice to remain silent. 1 Some hours later, having seen the menu for lunch, the jury came to the unanimous verdict of "Not Guilty" on all charges. Arrested in August 2009, Webster has the dubious honor of being the first person to go to jury trial for the possession of "extreme pornography," a charge made possible by the introduction of provisions in Part 5 of the Criminal Justice and Immigration Act 2009 (CJIA). 2
This chapter is the introduction to the book the Cambridge Companion to Moerden British Culture.
Irritatingly, in this chapter which argues that scenes featuring Allie Sin and Eva Angelina shoul... more Irritatingly, in this chapter which argues that scenes featuring Allie Sin and Eva Angelina should be recognised as individualised performances, the publishers managed to mix up the photographs of the two performers.
Studying Sexualities, 2013
Key to the development of a ‘pornotopia’ has been the rise of sexual consumerism centred on ‘femi... more Key to the development of a ‘pornotopia’ has been the rise of sexual consumerism centred on ‘feminine’ sensibilities, for example, the visibility of chic sexual products - expensive lingerie and luxury sex toys - sold in glamorous sex shops modelled on stylish boutiques emphasize their designer credentials and reaffirm nostalgic ideas of ‘secrecy’ and ‘privacy’ wrapped up in ‘affordable luxury’ (Juffer, 1998). These expressions of young women’s sexual interests are often condemned as deriving from pornified culture but we argue they are more complex than the ‘effects’ complaints might suggest; there is no doubt that sexual freedom has not consigned sexism to the bin and the emotional outfalls of casual relationships are as painful as they ever were but the idea of these interests as simply an effect of sexualisation is one which cannot find anything positive in more open attitudes and more aggressively expressed interests in sex. How can we open up debate about active female sexuali...
A small but important niche, Queer porn has grown out of initiatives like the Porn Film Festival ... more A small but important niche, Queer porn has grown out of initiatives like the Porn Film Festival Berlin in Europe, the Canadian Feminist Porn Awards and productions by American based filmmakers such as Shine Louise Houston, Courtney Trouble and Madison Young, who have all attempted 'to playfully affirm sexuality and reinvent new representations of desire and pleasure.' 142) Queer pornography is, for many commentators, not just representation but an expression of politics struggling against stereotyping and conventional, normative sexual identities and practices . One of the ways in which queer porn might have particular political valence is in its promotion as a form of collaboration and. as Florian Cramer writes, the 'replace[ment] of the rhetoric of artificiality in mainstream pornography … with a rhetoric of the authentic: instead of mask-like bodies normalized using make-up, wigs, and implants, the authentic person is exposed.' (174) What then do viewers make of these representations? Hill-Meyer recently suggested that the queer audience 'values diversity over cookie-cutter scenes, pleasure over fluids, and authenticity over façade' (Hill-Meyer, 2013: 157) In the virtual absence of systematic research on queer pornographies and their consumers, this chapter draws on a major online survey of porn consumers undertaken at http://pornresearch.org / . 1 A wide range of respondents, across all ages, completed the questionnaire. What do these tell us about queer pornographies and about queer orientations, identities, readers and readings? Motives and Methods Our project proceeded from interest in the ways in which people might describe pornography as significant and important to their everyday lives and to their sense of themselves, their sexual experiences and relationships -it was not premised on assumptions about harmfulness or morality. Over five thousand people trusted us sufficiently to tell us their stories, responses, pleasures, and preferences, in ways which enabled identification of patterns, distinct groupings, connections and separations. 2 With so many responses we were able to do quantitative analyses alongside hearing the accounts people gave us, in their own words, of their involvements and engagements with online pornography. Of course such accounts are not transparent, but their value lies in enabling us to understand the ways people are able to talk about themselves, the kinds of interests they have in sex, how pornography might fit (or not) in their intimate relationships, and how it might contribute (or not) to explorations of what it means to be sexual. How pornography might actually matter to people. Methodological Issues Our quantitative questions were of three kinds: self-allocation multiple-choice questions (for example: how important is pornography to you?); some personal and demographic information; and questions about possible orientations (Reasons for Looking at Porn; Kinds viewed; and Meanings of Sex in your life).
Grindhouse: Cultural Exchange on 42nd Street, and Beyond
The history of the grind house is well trodden, offering a picture of exhibition spaces that even... more The history of the grind house is well trodden, offering a picture of exhibition spaces that even in their heyday were characterized by a pervasive stench of decline: their outer facades testaments to faded glories, while their interiors bore all the signs of mistreatment and neglect. David Church has explored the advent of domestic video technologies as the final nail in the coffin of the grind house as locale and the consequent morphing of the term to reference genre rather than exhibition. 1 And in that morphing grindhouse found a new lease of life on the very technology that brought the films into the domestic sphere. There are similar parallels in histories of pornography; itself a " most elastic textual category, " 2 porn arcades and cinemas were often located (at least in the United States) in the same geographical spaces, and were squeezed out by gentrification at least as quickly as the grind houses. Just as low-rent horror and exploitation films found a new lease of life on VHS, pornography was able to find a very comfortable and lucrative home on that format before, in turn, moving through DVD and into the digital online environment. Porn has been understood as an engine of innovation: exploiting each new technology as it arrives and, according to some histories, guaranteeing the success of one format (VHS) over another (Betamax), but the picture may be more complex than the simple replacement of one delivery platform with another. 3 As we have moved into the twenty-first century, new patterns of consumption and engagement have taken their toll on professional pornographic productions, particularly through sharing outside of paid-for distribution channels with scenes ripped and repurposed online as vignettes, or converted to gifs as forms of " micro-porn. " We could talk of this as exciting evidence of consumer agency, 4 but for porn producers, maintaining the profitability of the pornographic text has proved difficult. Production costs do not disappear even if consumers are clear they want their content for free. Thus I come to another way in which porn as genre has walked in step with grindhouse. Just as the exploitation-cinema favorites have found their way into rerelease in beautiful packaging and remodeling for the DVD/Blu-ray connoisseur, so too " vintage " pornography has a market, both as collectable and as rerelease. Porn
Routledge International Handbook of Leisure Studies
Increased visibility and the seemingly diverse nature of media representations of sex and sexuali... more Increased visibility and the seemingly diverse nature of media representations of sex and sexuality in contemporary media might suggest that British society has become more liberal and tolerant of expressions of different sexual interests. However, the mediatization of sex (whether depictions of actual acts; talk about identities, practices or problems; humorous or serious references to sex) continues to provoke great anxiety and controversy. Indeed the media are often accused of harboring and promoting sexual, and therefore social, disorder. Representations across television, music video and magazines are increasingly 'pornographic' -encouraging 'oversexualized' behaviours in boys and young men and the over-enthusiastic embrace of 'sexiness' in girls and young women; fostering 'bad body-image', depression, promiscuity; contributing to marriage breakdown, divorce and general unhappiness; and trivializing art and storytelling. Yet at the same time, it seems clear that sexual content can make an important, albeit controversial, contribution to the vibrancy of media output, whether that is fictionalized drama, or educational, reality or documentary programing .
This paper examines the alternative economy of porn stardom through the career and performances o... more This paper examines the alternative economy of porn stardom through the career and performances of James Deen. Variously described as the ‘Tom Cruise of porn’, the ‘skinny boy from Pasedena’ and the ‘everyman on planet porn’, Deen has won numerous awards and been the subject of incredulous star-profiles in mainstream media. Male performers in porn are not supposed to be visible; as props for the female star’s orgasmic performance male stars are simply stand-ins for the male viewer but Deen has achieved a visibility that re-writes those rules. What is it about Deen that makes him a star? In interviews he suggests it is his professionalism and his single-mindedness - sex is his raison d’etre - his passion for ensuring that a scene works emotionally as well as physically so that his female star is ready to go the extra mile for the scene whether hardcore BDSM, straight gonzo or feature adult films; others claim it is his boyishlooks, his skinny body, his unthreatening onscreen presence – assessments which perhaps slideline his ability to make ‘degradation look good’ in his hardcore work at Kink.com. What is certain is that he has a huge female fan base and appears set to make the seemingly impossible crossover to ‘legitimate’ filmmaking alongside Lindsay Lohan. In this paper, Deen’s stardom will be examined through his performance style, the aesthetic and narrative qualities of his films as well as the seeming incongruity of his porn-god status.
The Feminist Porn Book: The Politics of Producing Pleasure, 2013
Hard To Swallow: Reading Pornography OnScreen, 2012
Irritatingly, in this chapter which argues that scenes featuring Allie Sin and Eva Angelina shou... more Irritatingly, in this chapter which argues that scenes featuring Allie Sin and Eva Angelina should be recognised as individualised performances, the publishers managed to mix up the photographs of the two performers.
Peep Shows: Cult Film and the Cine-Erotic Alterimage III, 2012
Do you have a reptile brain? Or an angel brain? That's how I describe what determines your enjoym... more Do you have a reptile brain? Or an angel brain? That's how I describe what determines your enjoyment of pornography. 1 Popular discourse on pornography and its viewing often stresses the need for limits on its consumption: like junk food, pornography is, at best, okay in moderation but too much is bad for one's health. This being the case, it can be very difficult to find willing participants for a research project which seeks to go beyond general questions about occasional use to ask more searching questions about the place of pornography in an individual's life -no one wants to be identified as the possessor of a reptile brain.
Controversial Images: Media Representations on the Edge, 2012
Il porno espanso. Dal cinema ai nuovi media, 2010
Cambridge Companion to Contemporary British Culture, 2010
Mainstreaming Sex: The Sexualisation of Western Culture, 2009
International Exposure: Perspectives on Modern European Pornography 1800-2000, 2005
Women’s Bodies: Discipline and Transgression, 1999
This paper examines the alternative economy of porn stardom through the career and performances o... more This paper examines the alternative economy of porn stardom through the career and performances of James Deen. Variously described as the ‘Tom Cruise of porn’, the ‘skinny boy from Pasedena’ and the ‘everyman on planet porn’, Deen has won numerous awards and been the subject of incredulous star-profiles in mainstream media. Male performers in porn are not supposed to be visible; as props for the female star’s orgasmic performance male stars are simply stand-ins for the male viewer but Deen has achieved a visibility that re-writes those rules. What is it about Deen that makes him a star? In interviews he suggests it is his professionalism and his single-mindedness - sex is his raison d’etre - his passion for ensuring that a scene works emotionally as well as physically so that his female star is ready to go the extra mile for the scene whether hardcore BDSM, straight gonzo or feature adult films; others claim it is his boyishlooks, his skinny body, his unthreatening onscreen presence – assessments which perhaps slideline his ability to make ‘degradation look good’ in his hardcore work at Kink.com. What is certain is that he has a huge female fan base and appears set to make the seemingly impossible crossover to ‘legitimate’ filmmaking alongside Lindsay Lohan. In this paper, Deen’s stardom will be examined through his performance style, the aesthetic and narrative qualities of his films as well as the seeming incongruity of his porn-god status.
Porn Studies
Our Forum section is a space for pieces that are shorter than the usual academic article, usually... more Our Forum section is a space for pieces that are shorter than the usual academic article, usually somewhere between 1,500 and 3,000 words, and they can take a variety of forms, including short articles, reports, interviews, commentaries and roundtable discussions. Forum pieces are peer reviewed. Previous Forum topics have included porn panics and public health; Ireland, porn and sex education; feminist porn; fashion and porn; porn and music; porn in the classroom, and surveillance and porn.
We are currently seeking Forum contributions on the following topics:
Pornography and Virtual and Augmented Realities
• hardware, design, techniques and aesthetics of VR/AR porn
• the possibilities and limitations of porn technology
• histories and theories of media immersion and and interactivity
• issues of realism, affect and space
• new performers, producers, studios
• the implications of VR and AR for audience studies
• reporting on VR and AR and predictions about ‘the future of sex’
Deepfake porn
• faceswap platforms, repositories and communities
• ‘nonconsensual pornography’
• issues of privacy and ethics
• ‘celebrity porn’; celebrity sex tapes, look alikes, nude hacks, real person fiction, slash manips
• toxic technocultures; toxic geek masculinity
Porn, Celebrity and Stardom
• acts of archiving, collecting and preserving performance
• branding
• DIY stars
• entrepreneurial stardom
• labours of stardom – affective, emotional and physical
• locating porn stardom
• national, international, and transnational stars
• politics of porn stardom
• stars and fandoms
Please get in touch at editorspstudies@gmail.com if you are interested in contributing. We’d also be very interested in ideas for forums that you might have so please let us know if you’d like to talk to us about a potential forum.
In this introductory article we explore contemporary debates about the 'critical' study of pornog... more In this introductory article we explore contemporary debates about the 'critical' study of pornography in relation to 'anti-porn', 'pro-porn', 'sex-positive' and 'sex-critical' approaches, and the recent reframing of pornography and sex more generally in relation to postfeminism and neoliberalism. The article reviews emerging work in porn studies, discusses the importance of developing a critical examination of the porn industries, and introduces the contributions that comprise this first issue. We end with some thoughts on nomenclature.
Sexualities 16 (8), 2013
This article presents the results of survey data from readers of the Fifty Shades novel series. I... more This article presents the results of survey data from readers of the Fifty Shades novel series. It is almost 30 years since Janice Reading the Romance was published and audience studies have burgeoned. However, public discourse about E L James's trilogy was couched in assumptions about 'formulaic' genre fiction, alongside debates about its 'mainstreaming' of BDSM, and little of this discussion drew upon the voices of readers. Our research reveals readers' complex, often contradictory, responses to the novels. For these readers, the acts of reading and discussing the novels offer a range of (dis)pleasures, from erotic enjoyment to the amusements of critique; from self-gratification to participation in cultural dialogue.
The Centre for Research in Media and Cultural Studies at University of Sunderland seeks outstandi... more The Centre for Research in Media and Cultural Studies at University of Sunderland seeks outstanding applications for ESRC funded doctoral studentships in the broad area of Media and Society.
Part of the ESRC funded NINE (Northern Ireland North East) Doctoral Training Partnership, the Centre is home to world leading research in Communication, Media and Cultural Studies and has a vibrant postgraduate community working on subjects ranging from social interaction and participation, new and social media, film and animation to alt media, and emerging sexual and social cultures. The Centre’s website details current research staff and research areas: http://www.crmcs.sunderland.ac.uk/about-us/
Three different routes are available and we welcome enquiries for all three. These are:
• 1+3 awards to complete a research training Masters degree followed by a PhD.
• +3 awards for students who have already completed an ESRC-recognised Masters degree that included social science research training of 60 credits or more.
• +3.5 awards for students who have completed a Masters degree that did not include social science research training. Students will undertake the PG Certificate in Research Training alongside the PhD.
NINE DTP is an exciting new collaboration between seven universities producing world-class research across the full range of social science disciplines. NINE provides an opportunity for students to be part of a community of academic excellence which is shaping the global future of social sciences while engaging with the challenges in our local communities. Full details about the scheme are available here: https://www.ninedtp.ac.uk/
Eligibility Criteria
NINE DTP is seeking to recruit candidates with an outstanding academic background and research potential.
Candidates applying for a standard +3 doctoral award must also hold or be in the process of completing an ESRC-recognised Masters degree.
Doctoral candidates who hold or are completing a Masters degree in a relevant discipline, but which does not include the required research methods training, can apply for a +3.5 award.
Applicants must:
• have a 1st class or 2:1 honours degree in the social sciences, or have relevant comparable experience.
• be a UK/EU resident
Current doctoral students are not eligible.
Further details about the NINE DTP scheme can be found here: https://www.ninedtp.ac.uk/.
How to apply
In the first instance, you should explore the Centre’s webpages and specifically the profiles of research active staff http://www.crmcs.sunderland.ac.uk/research-staff/. The research proposal for application to the DTP grant competition should be prepared in consultation with an identified research supervisor, who should be approached well in advance of the final deadline, and be submitted on the correct forms. Contact your potential supervisor by email or you can contact Media and Society contact Professor Clarissa Smith clarissa.smith@sunderland.ac.uk to discuss your application.
Your application must include:
• a research proposal of no more than 2000 words
• a current CV
• two references
• certified transcripts of previous qualifications (translated into English where necessary) are required.
The final deadline for submitting a postgraduate application and supporting documentation is Monday 16 January 2017, 5:00pm.