City Research Online

Abstract

Working together to (re)produce what has been called “pornification” are the market, popular culture and sectors within the academic sphere, even some forms of feminism. This article sets out a critical (re)vision of this phenomenon, together with the alliance between sexualisation-transgression-market-university. First it traces the genealogy of this situation, starting from the “sexual revolution” of the sixties and its capitalist and patriarchal re-channeling, continuing with the “sex wars” of the eighties, and finally arriving at the pornified culture of the new millennium and the rise of porn studies. In a second part, the article proposes approaching the process (and success) of cultural pornification in relation to neoliberalism, understood as a mode of governmentality that is profoundly gendered. It introduces a series of critical concepts we consider useful for future feminist analyses of this complex landscape, notable among which are: “feminism disarticulated”, “sexual entrepreneur” and “postfeminist biologism”. In the conclusion we pose some critical questions about the possibility and desirability of feminist pornography.

Publication Type:	Article
Additional Information:	Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.1 or any later version published by the Free Software.
Publisher Keywords:	pornography, sexual revolution, sex wars, neoliberalism
Subjects:	H Social Sciences > HM Sociology H Social Sciences > HN Social history and conditions. Social problems. Social reform H Social Sciences > HQ The family. Marriage. Woman H Social Sciences > HT Communities. Classes. Races
Departments:	School of Policy & Global Affairs > Sociology & Criminology

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