Sociology 2259 Chapter Notes - Chapter online: The Young Professionals, Sexual Addiction, Sexual Stimulation
30 Apr 2018
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What Do People Do With Porn?:
Researching sexually explicit media:
• Reproduces longstanding set social anxieties mass media, sex and tech and tends rely
view all 3 highly dangerous- most typ manifested lang reg and policy making, though
finds expression in common-sense thinking and pop criticism
• Typ, until recently, focus research porn consumption been on effects, to investigate ex:
whether porn causes violence/ results callous attitudes toward W- narrow focus= serious
gaps knowledge about consumption sexually explicit material
• Notion media texts have effects audiences widely seen crude and simplistic view text-aud
relationships- methods inadequate, gen involving perf experiments bear little relation
actual conds porn consumed and findings tend be inconclusive- ignore semiotic and
social context images sexual explicitness
• Use survey gen way det public attitudes towards sexually explicit material- believe more
talk about sex tv and attitudes sex in media and real life become more permissive
• Surveys give useful snapshot public opinion, lim b/c way struct response public through
closed qs and miss ambivalence, uncertainty and inconsistency in positions people take
up in relation to issues sexuality
• Should use qual methods- research more small-scale, provides richer and more detailed
info= interviews and focus groups and more innovative and creative methods, ex:
involving drama/ art- more suited picking up on complexity meanings sexuality has for
individs and groups and importance context in construction meanings
Testimonies and talk:
• Controversial public hearing in Minneapolis in 1983 sought est porn constituted discrim
against W made use number testimonies- many testimonies ass porn w violence,
intimidation, prostitution, child abuse and sex addiction, and w creating climate where
men view W as objects and W fear men
• Sim use testimonies used when try ban page 3 pics in tabloid newspaper- create sexual
cult encourages sexual assaults on W and rape and sexual abuse on W and children
• Personal testimonies have also been used by M academics and activists ident w feminism
and believe important speak from individ exp about porn, eschewing academic distance
for an embodied, personal place- gen adhere radical fem and anti-porn approach
• Number fem pro-porn testimonies emerged, often, though not always, from W who
become involved sex industry as practitioners- concerned challenging conventions porn
through creation alt and transgressive work and typ celebrate pot porn= sexual autonomy
Men:
• Familiarity w porn from early age and use promote M bonding, as well purposes individ
sexual stimulation
• Some expressed indifference/ mixed feelings about porn, many reported made feel good
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• Majority believed porn didn’t rep how men and women really are, while other though
gave unreal pic sexual relations and provided sexual misinfo
• Few men objected to sexism in porn, most still found arousing
• Men more critical porn, use and respond in wider variety ways and describe attempts
show sensitivity in attempts negotiate porn use w F partners
• Assumptions underlying anti-porn policies and effect research- that porn simple
reflection men’s sexual desires and practices, that is addictive and causes violent and
callous attitudes towards W- simply not borne out by findings- instead about beauty, fun,
W’s pleasure, F power and assertiveness and fantasy largely separated from real world
• Neglect actual porn consumers in debates about porn amazing omission given clams
made
• Social use porn ass adolescence, private and sexual use ass late adolescence before have
actual sexual encounters and mature use when reconcile use porn w relations w W, if not
abandoned it by this stage
• Porn use often seen incompatible w healthy heterosexual relationships- active
engagement stimulating
• Readers decode porn dif ways, accepting portrayal heterosexuality (preferred reading),
disagreeing w it (oppositional)/ most commonly, decoding in negotiated way= accepting
gen depiction F sexuality in porn, while excluding individ exp, to produce understanding
such as “W in gen like be dom, but my W doesn’t”
• Negotiated decoding enables individ cont enjoy pleasures porn, while securing emotional
investment in partner- typ reconciled porn consumption w heterosexual relationships
• Apparent absence erotic discourse/ symbolic dimension men’s own sexual (emotional
and egalitarian) relationships
• Real sex appears unable compete w vivid discursive def and elaboration erotic in porn
and men’s belief eroticizing real sex and real life W works degrade them makes v dif
articulate dif form heterosexual eroticism
• Worry effects porn may spoil one’s sexuality such way less able engage interaction w
another person in real life
• Solution might also be self-perpetuating, for, once circle broken and W able act as
subjects, F sexuality need no longer be eroticized terms submission
• Men’s relationships w porn complex and often prob, and raises broader qs about form
and place of erotic discourse in exps and practices heterosexual couples
Women:
• Brief discussions W enjoy porn remains rare despite fact might be more representative W
than usually credited- even stats 1992 appeared be indicating numbers F porn consumers
growing
• Anti-fem views W as victims porn hopelessly misplaced, missing sig sexual reps as
productive of pleasure, knowledge and control too
• W shared lack fam w porn, coupled w strong views about it- belief most porn charact by
violence, strong dislike way W depicted in porn and belief cont violence against W
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