The New Pornographies: Representation or Reality?

The intimacy effect: Girls’ reflections about pornography and ‘actual sex’

“…On the one hand, given the degree to which the survey respondents refer to the stereotypical representational and narrative conventions of mainstream pornography, they seem to have a somewhat limited understanding of the genre (see also Tsaliki, 2016). Amateur porn and sex blogs, for example, have altered how graphic sexual intimacies are portrayed, blurring the boundaries between the real and the representational (see for example Hardy, 2009). On the other hand, the responses seem to challenge the assumed link between young people's uses of pornography and their notions of personal sexual encounters (Albury, 2014; Hald et al., 2013; McKee, 2010).…”

Women’s Consumption of Pornography: Pleasure, Contestation, and Empowerment

“…These impressions have been discussed elsewhere (Neville, 2015, 2018) as examples of how the male-gaze in the genre results in inauthentic representations of female pleasure. As the perception of authenticity is what makes pornography feel ‘real’ (Hardy, 2009), the lack of it causes frustration, or even boredom (Smith, 2007). Emily describes how she knows that women’s pleasure is ‘fake’:You can tell that the women are pretending, that they don’t like it so much.…”

“…Carrie explains why this category appeals to her more than mainstream lesbian pornography by highlighting the importance of intimacy between actors as a signifier of authenticity (Hardy, 2009), and juxtaposing this type of pornography to societal expectations about female sexuality. According to Carrie, participating in amateur lesbian pornography can be empowering for women because it allows them to use their sexuality as they please.…”

“…In addition, because pornography is often understood as a genre created by men for men (Hardy, 2009), many studies have argued that women tend to prefer erotica (Chadwick et al, 2018) on the basis that it would prioritise women’s pleasure (Hardy, 2015; Sonnet, 1999). For example, Wilson-Kovacs’ (2009) informants argued that erotica caters more to women’s needs than mainstream porn.…”

“…Sociocultural and technological changes in the past few decades have made pornography more accessible and normalised; specifically, digitalisation has enabled access to those materials considerably (Ashton et al, 2018; Attwood, 2009). Indeed, men and women consume pornography frequently, while some even share self-created sexually explicit photos and videos online; that is, ‘amateur pornography’ (Hardy, 2009; Paasonen, 2011).…”