By definition, pornography shows naked bodies and sexual activities (content criterion) and serves to sexually arouse the audience (functional criterion). No other media genre is as controversial as pornography. There are plenty of critical analyses of the content and effects of pornography in interdisciplinary pornography research. But how could and should the genre of pornography be further developed in order to overcome common points of criticism such as sexism, racism, body standardization or heteronormativity?
These questions are addressed by the Pornfilmfestival Berlin (https://pornfilmfestivalberlin.de/), where producers, directors, performers, journalists and academics come together every year. Prof. Döring from Media Psychology and Media Design Group at Technische Universität Ilmenau has been researching various questions relating to pornography for years. She is reporting on the 18th Pornfilmfestival Berlin in both a sex research journal and a media research journal.
Quellen:
- Döring, N. (2023). Zwischen Seesternen, Vulven und Wattestäbchen: Das 18. Pornfilmfestival Berlin im Kontext aktueller Pornografie-Diskurse [Between starfish, vulvas and cotton buds: The 18th Pornfilmfestival Berlin in the context of current pornography discourses]. Mediendiskurs 20.12.2023. https://mediendiskurs.online/beitrag/zwischen-seesternen-vulven-und-wattestaebchen-beitrag-772/
- Döring, N. (2023). Bericht über das 18. Pornfilmfestival vom 24. bis 29. Oktober 2023 in Berlin [Report on the 18th Porn Film Festival from 24th to 29th October 2023 in Berlin]. Zeitschrift für Sexualforschung eFirst. https://doi.org/10.1055/a-2215-9152