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Copyright 1994 Division 35, American Psychological Association
Racism and Sexism in Interracial Pornography: A Content Analysis
Abstract
Racism and sexism were examined in interracial (Black/White) X-rated pornography videocassettes. Five female coders coded 476 characters in the sexually explicit scenes in 54 videos. Characters were coded on aggregate measures of physical and verbal aggression, inequality cues, racial cues, and intimacy cues, as well as other specific indices. Sexism was demonstrated in the unidirectional aggression by men toward women. Racism was demonstrated in the lower status of Black actors and the presence of racial stereotypes. Racism appeared to be expressed somewhat differently by sex, and sexism somewhat differently by race. For example, Black women were the targets of more acts of aggression than were White women, and Black men showed fewer intimate behaviors than did White men. More aggression was found in cross-race sexual interactions than in same-race sexual interactions. These findings suggest that pornography is racist as well as sexist.
... Previous studies recognized several sexual scripts in pornography: sexual objectification, sexual agency, and sexual violence (Fritz & Paul, 2017). Objectification was often used interchangeably with degradation and dehumanization (Cowan & Campbell, 1994;Cowan & Dunn, 1994;McKee, 2005;Prince, 1990). The current study adopted Fredrickson and Roberts's (1997) definition of objectification, which referred to ''the experience of being treated as bodies (or collection of body parts) valued predominantly for its use to (or consumption by) others''. ...
... Also, more non-consensual sexual violence scenes were found in Internet pornography (Barron & Kimmel, 2000). Other content analyses showed that pornography typically depicted males as perpetrators and females as targets (e.g., Cowan & Campbell, 1994;Fritz & Paul, 2017). With an exception of Barron and Kimmel's (2000) research, in which more than half of perpetrators occurred in magazines were females. ...
... The exotic imageries developed during the colonial eras still influence both the sex markets and the notions of race, gender and sexuality embedded in the sex-economic exchange (O'Brien, 2006): some examples are the way in which Westerners seek "exotic" experiences by engaging in sex tourism abroad and how pornographic material is often marketed along specific racial tropes (Cowan and Campbell, 1994;O'Connell Davidson, 1998). It would therefore be impossible to talk about Chinese prostitution aimed at Italian customers without talking about the role that race and racial stereotyping play in shaping its dynamics and its mechanisms. ...
Since its early configurations human trafficking for the purpose of sexual exploitation has undergone constant transformations, evolving into an increasingly complex and diverse phenomenon. Due to its illegal nature, in fact, it is a phenomenon that is forced to continuously shift in order to survive and that, at the same time, has in recent years been traversed by an event of a pandemic nature that has inevitably undermined its modes of operation. Likewise, the changes that have occurred in migration flows, and especially in a framework of “humanitarian migrations”, have contributed to change the subjects involved, their degree of involvement, their capacity to negotiate within the exploitative relationship, and the modes of offering sexual services, including an increasingly sharp shift towards the indoor and ICT-mediated markets. Within this new landscape, anti-trafficking organizations have had to change their long-established practices and are now trying to adapt to this new reality. Through the adoption of a constructivist and intersectional view on intercultural and gender relations and the use of qualitative methodologies, this research intends to focus on and deepen our understanding of the main transformations that trafficking underwent in light of the structural changes that have taken place in the sex markets, as well as on some of its more under-researched aspects such as the exploitation of trans* women and young men. In doing so, it will explore how anti-trafficking organizations have been trying to adapt their practices to the changed trafficking landscape and how Article 18 of the Consolidated Law on Immigration has lost its prominence as the primary tool for the protection of trafficking victims. Finally, the thesis will provide some reflections on how Article 18 and the social protection programs connected to it can be revised to make them once again attractive and advantageous for all trafficking victims.
... Despite these readings (or, some might argue, in large part because of them), content analyses of mainstream pornography suggest that ejaculations on a female performer's face or in her mouth are very common practices. For example, Cowan and Campbell [39], who analyzed popular X-rated pornography videocassettes, found that 43% of White women and 28% of Black women in interracial pornography were portrayed with men ejaculating on their faces. Bridges, Wosnitzer [21], who examined aggression in popular rental pornographic videos, found that the male character's ejaculation almost always occurred outside the female character's vagina, most frequently in her mouth (58.6%). ...
Feminist scholars have suggested that male ejaculations in pornographic videos, particularly ejaculations on a sexual partner’s face or in their mouth, are often used to symbolically debase and humiliate women. However, no previous study has asked pornography viewers about their perceptions and preferences regarding male ejaculation. In this article, I investigate these perceptions and preferences using a large sample of more than 300 pornography viewers representing diverse demographics and cultural backgrounds. I find that most viewers either did not care about the male ejaculation or its placement or preferred for it to be in the female partner’s vagina. In contrast to common assumptions found in the literature, very few viewers expressed a preference for ejaculation on a woman’s face or in her mouth and many of them found such practices disturbing.
This paper analyzes how the socio-economic development of an industry co-evolves with the articulation of imaginaries of emancipation and domination. Drawing on political discourse theory, I analyze the US’ interracial porn movie industry (1916–2022) from its early, illicit beginnings through its commercial mainstreaming. Organized agents have developed this industry by articulating imaginaries that evoke economic emancipation, but provide new political and fantasmatic relevance to origin myths of racial and gendered superiority. The articulations of each generation of organized agents transgressed prior episodes’ limits to visualizing interracial sex. Yet, transgression remained firmly within the bounds of the disciplinary and security power apparatus of white patriarchical domination. In particular, successive imaginaries modernized the stereotypical myths of black Jezebels, black Brutes, pure white women, and civilized white men. Modernization of myths, technological democratization and mainstreaming went hand in hand. I provide critical explanations for these findings that contribute to the organizational literature on imaginaries. This includes the entrepreneurship-as-emancipation literature, and scholarship on myths, feminism and prefigurative organizing. Emancipatory imagining requires challenging the disciplinary and security limits of origin myths. By default of political and fantasmatic challenging of these mythical limits, they function as empty signifiers that are easily adapted to contemporary imagining. As a result, entrepreneurs’ and performers’ socio-economic emancipation discourse effectively re-articulates an imaginary of domination.
The escalating prevalence of pornography consumption among the youth has raised significant concern within the scientific community. This study aims to systematically examine scholarly literature on adolescence and engagement with pornography. Employing a conceptual framework, a qualitative literature review was conducted. Data analysis involved compiling abstracts and employing the AI coding system of Atlas.ti 23. These narrative approaches include (1) adolescent online health and pornographic education, (2) youth sexual identity shaped by online pornographic content, (3) and government policies promoting (in)formed sex education. The study's conclusions underscore the detrimental effects of unregulated access to online pornographic content on adolescents, manifesting in distorted self-image, diminished self-esteem, and altered body perceptions. This phenomenon highlights the imperative of promoting comprehensive sex education. Media literacy is identified as a pivotal initiative to foster understanding of stereotypical representations and their societal and personal impacts.
This article looks at a sample of academic articles in the field of terrorism studies and international relations to explore the ways in which marriage, sexual activity and close relationships in jihadist groups are framed, imagined and investigated. Despite the scarcity of research being conducted on the subject, this article reveals that, in the study of terrorism, the issue of intimate relationships is the object of two trends: on the one hand, the themes of sexuality and marriage are in fact present in the field, only exclusively through the lens of sexual victimisation, violence, abuse and romantic manipulation. On the other hand, intimate relationships are often dismissed as not being worthy of in-depth investigation when not related to violence. Together, these two interdependent trends create, using the words of Butler, a “silent and melancholic discourse”, which downplays the subjectivity, banality, and vulnerability of the life experiences of subjects involved in jihadist groups. Using the learnings of queer scholarship, the article posits that the ways in which the intimate life of individuals involved in jihadist movements are portrayed and ascribed a perverted characteristic matter in how vulnerability is distributed and how the subjects are apprehended in academia and beyond.
While pornography is increasingly widespread and accessible, women’s experiences with or views about it are seldom recognised or investigated. In this paper we explore how women make sense of their experiences with pornography. The analysis is based on data collected through qualitative questionnaires completed by 31 women. The data were analysed qualitatively using thematic analysis within a critical realist framework resulting in three key themes focusing on (1) contextualised experiences of porn, (2) female body norms and (3) gender power relations in porn. Our analysis illustrates some of the complexities in women’s experiences of and perspectives on porn and, we argue, indicates a need to view these experiences in the contexts of wider cultural ideologies of sex and gender.
Cet examen de la portée visait à synthétiser les connaissances sur le profil sociodémographique et psychosexuel des acteur.trices dans les films pornographiques. L’étude a été effectuée selon les lignes directrices PRISMA adaptées pour la rédaction d’un examen de la portée (scoping review). Une recherche de la littérature a été effectuée dans cinq bases de données électroniques et des recherches manuelles ont été effectuées. Les critères étaient les suivants : (1) les données doivent provenir de sources primaires; (2) les participant.es doivent avoir été payé.es pour travailler en tant qu’acteur.trices dans un film pornographique et avoir participé à une activité sexuelle dans ce film; (3) les données doivent inclure des informations sur le profil de ces participant.es. Les études anecdotiques ont été exclues. Au total, 18 études ont rencontré ces critères. Les résultats montrent que la majorité des acteur.trices étaient caucasien.nes et hétérosexuel.les. La majorité avait au moins un diplôme d’études secondaires et un salaire annuel de 25 000 $. Les résultats montrent que ces acteur.trices vivent des difficultés et ont des besoins dans plusieurs sphères de leur vie personnelle et professionnelle (p. ex., antécédents de traumas, risque élevé de contracter des ITSS, problèmes de consommation et de santé mentale), mais qu’ils et elles démontrent certaines forces (p. ex., bonne estime de soi, bonne qualité de vie perçue). L’argent est leur principale motivation à jouer dans des films pornographiques. Ces résultats montrent l’importance de développer des programmes de prévention et d’intervention adaptés à leur réalité et qui répondent à leurs besoins.
The Attorney General's Commission on Pornography has concluded that there is a causal relationship between exposure to many forms of pornography and several antisocial effects, including increased levels of violence against women. As a result of these findings, the commission has called for more strict enforcement of existing obscenity laws and serious consideration of additional legal measures not traditionally handled under obscenity law. The authors question whether the social science data relied on by the commission justifies either the commission's conclusions about harm or the call for more stringent law enforcement. Although some of the commission's findings appear to be sound extrapolations from the empirical studies, the authors find several of the commission's findings and recommendations incongruent with available research data. Instead of advocating stricter legal controls the authors reiterate their call for educational programs to mitigate the effects of sexual violence in the media. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
Analyzed 150 sexually oriented home videos with respect to their sexual, aggressive, and sexually aggressive content. While the primary focus was on sexually explicit, "triple-X" videos, a number of more mainstream "adult" videos were also analyzed for comparison. As anticipated, triple-X videos depicted sexual content significantly more explicitly than did adult videos. Contrary to expectations, however, it was the adult videos that contained significantly more aggressive and sexually aggressive content and that depicted this violence with significantly greater severity. (French abstract) (24 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
This book is designed to give the reader the most up-to-date summary of the scientific research on the effects of exposure to sexually explicit images in antisocial attitudes and behaviors. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
Feminists have been concerned about the debasement of women in sexually explicit material. The purpose of this study was to determine the extent of domination and sexual inequality in x-rated videocassettes through a content analysis of 45 widely available x-rated videocassettes. The sample was randomly drawn from a list of 121 adult movie titles widely available in family videocassette rental stores in southern California. Over half of the explicitly sexual scenes were coded as predominantly concerned with domination or exploitation. Most of the domination and exploitation was directed by men toward women. Specific indicators of domination and sexual inequality, including physical violence, occurred frequently. The growth of the videocassette rental industry and the popularity of x-rated films, coupled with the messages these films convey, is a cause for concern.
Eros thanatized: Pornography and male sexuality
- H Brod
Brod, H. (1990). Eros thanatized: Pornography and male sexuality. In M. S. Kimmel (Ed.), Men confront pornography (pp. 190-206). New York: Meridian.
The sexual politics of Black womanhood Violence ngainst women: The bloody footprints
- P H Collins
Collins, P. H. (1993). The sexual politics of Black womanhood. In P. B. Bart & E. G. Moran (Eds.), Violence ngainst women: The bloody footprints (pp. 85-104). Newbury Park, CA: Sage.