Evolution Of Porn Studies By Chantal Braganza Analysis

to read for this assignment was “The Evolution of Porn Studies” by Chantal Braganza. In her article, Braganza talks about the evolution of the study of pornography and how despite it being a legitimate form of academia for at least thirty years the subject matter is still fraught with polarization of opinion and stigma. Braganza recounts the height of pornography with activists raising concerns about the objectification of women resulting in the promotion of the same behaviours in the real world. By the 1980s feminism and feminist views were considered to be anti-porn with documentaries such as “Not a Love Story” outlining the destructive/negative behaviours towards women in the porn industry. In 1982, Concordia University Professor Thomas Waugh began incorporating porn into his sexuality and cinema courses and Barnard College in New York City “held an academic conference on feminist discussions of unstudied fields of …show more content…
Braganza’s thesis is simply that pornography still is not widely accepted as a robust area of research primarily because the topic tends to be divisive with people taking the stance of pro or anti porn and that greater inquiry is required when discussing the subject matter. While I agree with this stance, Braganza fails to focus on the broader context and views around pornography and I would argue that in today’s society the dial has moved forward in terms of broader social acceptance (and understanding) with respect to sexuality and sexualization. People in modern societies today have a higher threshold with respect to sexually explicit material – perhaps because people are so exposed to it in various forms of media (music, movies, adverts etc.) that the barometer on acceptance maybe greater depending on regional context (for example conservative states like Nevada would be less tolerant than New York in the