Week 4: Everyday Pornography

Week 4: Everyday Pornography

When I began to study pornography I was interested to learn about how media shapes and portrays this topic.What I didnt know is that I would be so rudely awakened at the messages that are portrayd and instilled in our identity, background, and character from pornography. "The terms pornographic, erotic, obscene, sexually arousing, and sexually explicit are used interchangeably to refer to a diverse range of materials, from nude photographs to sexual activity between consenting adults and scenes of sxualized mutilation." (Senn, 1993, p.180)

In class we conducted a research paper about pornography and the media. In preparing for this project I went to a porn store to get some insight into the types of pornogrpahic material that they sold. I was amazed at the type of material I came across.  "Material sold in pornograpyh shops for the purposes of producing sexual arousal for mostly male consumers." (Dines & Jensen, 1998, 965)

I came to final idea that I would write my paper about pornography and its effects on violence. In a class discussion about our readings from Dines the topic came up about the faliure to differentiate between how the media tells us little about consumers relationships to different forms of media and also how it serves to further obsucure the varying conditions of production. For filmed pornography to exsist  real women, men and children have to perfom sexual acts in front of camera. In written pornography, the sex is only fantasy.

Something that I read and agree with from Dines, is that the pornograpic material that people view is not only fantasy but also "re-presentation of sexual acts, authenticated by the signature shots of genitalia, penetration and ejaculation." (Dines, pg 409) This is a significant becasue this is in direct relation to to the conventions of mainstream amd pornagraphic sex and how these position consumers.

Sources:



Dines, G. (2003). Gender, race, and class in the media. (2nd ed.). Thousand Oakes London: Sage Publications.

 

Senn, Charlene. (1993) The research of women and pornograph: The many faces of harm. In Diana E. Russel (ed.), Marketing violence sexy: Feminist views on pornogrpahy (pp. 179-193). Buckingham: Open University Press.