Research proposal

Pornography and Feminism: The Politics of erotic media.

The proposed study will explore feminism and pornography, looking at how erotic
media links to feminist politics. The study will explore the historical context of
pornography and how various feminist movements interlink It will contrast prosex views with the arguments put forward by anti-porn feminists. The study
aims to analyse Pornography as something which is created and interpreted
within an oppressive, capitalist and patriarchal society. Additionally, it will employ
a feminist analysis of the work of Foucault to deconstruct the primary research
findings and understand how sexuality as a discourse is constructed through
power relations. The study will analyse the porn industry as a site where cultural
issues relating to gender, hegemony and representation exist and are critically
questioned, particularly through the discourse of feminism. Within this discourse,
womens bodies are often discussed as sites of oppression and liberation or
empowerment which is a debate the analysis intends to touch upon and
critique. Pornography is often defined as a discourse about male domination and
a site of oppression for women. However, the study aims to challenge the
preconceived idea of erotic media as harmful and explore feminist arguments
which view erotic media as a way of celebrating womens sexuality and/or simply
another form of paid labour. Moreover, it will consider how issues of class and
race intersect when considering representations within porn. In this sense, it will
critique the politics of anti-porn feminism, focusing on the lack of
intersectionality involved in this movement. The project aims to use qualitative
primary research in order to gain a wider understanding of how contemporary
feminists view the medium of pornography. This will be contrasted with the antiporn views of the 70s/80s which have heavily influenced the way many consider
pornography today. The research intends to include the experiences of female
sex workers from within the industry.
Through my chosen research methods, I seek to answer the following:

Is pornography a symptom or a cause of patriarchy?

Are anti-porn feminists policing womens right to express themselves
sexually?
Sex work is just another area of labour- therefore, how and why is the
concept of empowerment relevant when discussing women in porn?
Is porn simply sexual fantasy detached from the real world or does it
perpetuate misogynistic behaviour and violence?
Does the empowerment vs. degradation in porn debate shame women
who engage in consensual BDSM?
How can the findings be analysed and understood using a feminist
analysis within a Foucauldian framework?

Data collection
The study will employ the method of questionnaires and in depth interviews. A
screening questionnaire will first be designed and sent out to ensure the
researcher can select participants who have some prior knowledge of

pornography and feminism. These participants will be recruited through social

media networking, snowballing (word of mouth) and feminist societies
throughout London. The questionnaire will use both open ended and closed
questions in order to find out if the participants will be well suited to the topic of
research. For example, it will ask questions such as would you consider yourself
a feminist and why? and have you ever consumed pornography? 10
appropriate participants will then be selected for a face to face interview. The
following quote is written by Johnson (2009) and is cited in Marvastis Qualitative
Research (year);
[In-depth interviewing] begins with commonsense perceptions, explanations,
and understandings of some lived cultural experience and aims to explore the
contextual boundaries of that experience or perception, to uncover what is
usually hidden from ordinary view or reflection or to penetrate to more reflective
understandings about the nature of that experience. (2002: 106)
This quote exemplifies why in-depth interviewing suits the topic of research well.
The sex industry is considered a particularly complex topic within feminist,
therefore it is important that rich and sensitive material is produced. The
candidates will differ in age, ethnicity, occupation and socio economic status; all
which must self-identify as feminist thinkers. The participants will be chosen in
order to depict a range of opinions and must either be supportive of pornography
or against it. The chosen partakers will also hopefully include some sex workers.
This is to ensure the responses are representative of a diverse range of women
as opposed to gathering data from only one particular kind of feminist woman.
Moreover, the pornography debate often excludes the voices of actual sex
workers. Thus, the study wants to avoid rendering those who are directly
involved in the chosen research topic as voiceless. Their experiences should be
extremely useful when it comes to analysing the collected data and will not be
ignored. Sex workers will be located through social media sites such as Facebook
and Twitter. Furthermore, the study avoid focusing solely on an over researched
empowerment vs victimisation debate.
For the face to face interviews, a topic guide consisting of around 10 themes and
questions will be designed. This is to prompt the interviewer if the interviews
veer too far off the subject matter. The interviews will be unstructured; this
allows the researcher to ask follow up questions and thus gain a deeper
understanding as ambiguities can be cleared up. Ethics will be taken into account
and a guarantee of confidentiality, privacy and full anonymity will be disclosed to
all interviewees. A small payment will be offered to the participants; financial or
otherwise. This is to thank them for volunteering their own time in order to
disclose information. Additionally, this might persuade those who are hesitant to
take part. The interviews will be recorded and will last around one hour. The
method of recording interviews was chosen as it guarantees the interviewer can
give their undivided attention and create a rapport. Forming a trusting
relationship with the interviewees is extremely important when exploring a
sensitive subject matter such as pornography.
The results will not be representative of all feminists due to the constraints of the
research limits. Despite this, the study aims to represent a multiplicity of
perspectives. As there are restrictions put on how extensive the project can be, it
seems appropriate to take only a small sample size of people to interview. Face

to face interviews are time consuming; they involve an extensive amount of

fieldwork and analysis and due to the unpredictable nature of unstructured
interviews, it will take time to accurately transcribe the recordings. One hour of
taped interview can take 10-12 hours to fully transcribe. Therefore, in order to
stick to the schedule and produce an analysis of findings fairly quickly, it makes
sense to carry out only a small number. Furthermore, not all of the interviews will
be appropriate to use in the final draft of the project; around 4-8 useful
interviews are expected to come out of the research.

Methodological framework and sociological concepts

As well as carrying out primary research, the project will involve discourse
analysis of existing literature on feminism and the porn industry. This will explore
what has already been explained and understood within this field of feminism
and will inform an interpretation of the interviewees accounts. It will link the
data collected with existing theory in order to support, critique and contrast it
with a number of academics views and standpoints. A number of texts were
chosen in order to link sociological concepts to the research. These texts are
useful as they provide various academic perspectives which will be utilised when
considering the data collected from in depth interviews. For example, the topic of
radical feminist views on sex work will be extensively covered. Books detailing
the anti-porn movement of the 70s/80s such as Opposing viewpoints:
pornography will be referred to throughout. It is important to cover the history of
feminism and erotic media in order to understand how different feminist views on
pornography have been formed. The analysis will also include more
contemporary feminist interpretations such as sex worker Pandora Blakes article
Dont ask if porn empowers women- instead, ask if your feminism does (2015).
This article, and others like it, provide a more current critical account of anti-porn
arguments. This is to ensure the study doesnt simply cover outdated radical
feminist views, but provides a more original and progressive understanding of
the subject.
Decisions on the choice of methodological framework were thoroughly
researched and informed by analysing the subject of qualitative research. For
example, books such as A. Marvasti (2004) Qualitative Research were used, as
referenced in the annotated bibliography. This particular reading covers the pros
and cons of certain research methods. It was important to research the possible
limitations of unstructured interviews as well as considering the positive aspects.
Reading up on methods via various sociological research books assisted in
making all decisions regarding the most effective mode of primary research.
Some of the readings were chosen in order to explore theoretical elements as
well as research methods. Ciclitira, K. (2004) Pornography, Women and
Feminism: Between Pleasure and Politics is uses qualitative research (interviews)
as well as covering theory to explore womens views on pornography. Ciclitira
found that her findings related to feminism without asking questions which
explicitly provoked a feminist connected response. Her analysis uses feminist
theory to deconstruct the data collected from her interviews. Each interview is

described and analysed thoroughly in her article. Her choice of methods and
research subject are similar to the proposed study. Therefore, it served as a
useful example of how to approach researching feminist views on pornography
and using interviews. Additionally, the study will utilise research specifically on
the porn industry. For example, Treating it as a normal business: Researching the
pornography industry ( G. Voss 2012) uses ethnographic observations to
highlight the limitations which exist within a lot of research on pornography. The
study takes on a contemporary critique of existing research and provides insiders
accounts of the adult entertainment industry. It is important that the proposed
study takes into consideration existing research which has been carried out on
the porn industry and it will use this research to support or critique various
viewpoints.
The study aims to use Michel Foucaults analysis to understand how sexualities
are constructed through power relations. It will then relate this to pornography
and the data collected. Books such as Up Against Foucault: Explorations of Some
Tensions Between Foucault and Feminism (1993) will be useful in exploring
Foucault from a feminist standpoint. Moreover, the study will utilise Foucaults
The History of Sexuality Vol 1 (year) to discuss the historical emergence of
knowledge about sex and how this has always been related to power. Foucault
shows how the nineteenth century, contrary to popular belief, constituted a
period where there was an explosion in sexual discourse. This was an age when
the human sciences developed a whole host of categories and ideas about sex
and sexual behaviour e.g. the homosexual, Sadist, the frigid woman, pervert,
the hysteric etc. These were used to distinguish between the normal and the
abnormal in discussions about sex and sexuality. Thus, producing not only
categories of knowledge but power relations that began to define and condition
the everyday sexual practices of people.

Data analysis
The interviews will be analysed qualitatively. Using thematic analysis, coding of
the transcribed interviews will be carried out. This will ensure that the data is
categorised into a number of themes which will then make it easier to analyse.
For example, grouping certain parts of all of the interviews under a category
such as anti-sex work stances will simplify the process of searching through a
large amount of information. Relevant material can then be selected quickly.
Although qualitative research methods such as unstructured interviews are often
deemed less reliable than quantitative methods, the study will ensure it
emphasises authenticity. The analysis will make sure that the participants
perspectives have been authentically represented and interpreted. Moreover,
power relations between the researcher and the researched will be considered. In
order to minimise distance between the researcher and participant, a welcoming
and nonthreatening safe space will be created. This will hopefully remove the
power imbalance and encourage a rapport. Thus, the empirical data produced
will be rich, detailed and valid.
The research aims to politicise personal accounts and opinions of pornography.
As the research will be carried out from a feminist standpoint, the researcher will

avoid taking on an objective stance. The study will make clear from the
beginning the feminist position it intends to take. As Smith states:
Womens perspective ... discredits sociology's claim to constitute an objective
knowledge independent of the sociologist's situation. ... This critical disclosure
becomes, then, the basis for an alternative way of thinking sociology. If sociology
cannot avoid being situated, then sociology should take that as its beginning and
build it into its methodological and theoretical strategies. (Smith, 1974, pages
33 and 34).
Thus, although the researcher will plan to remain as objective as possible when
collecting information from the interviewees, it will prove impossible to remain
completely unbiased and neutral when interpreting the data.
The following timetable details a rough timescale of how the proposed project
will be carried out over the space of 2 terms:
Date

Activity

Late September

Receive permission from tutor to proceed.

Early-Mid October

Search for relevant literature/ background reading.

Design questionnaire and submit to tutor

Mid October-Early
November

Review literature and start work on first draft. Work towards

completing the first chapter.
Receive feedback on questionnaire, edit if necessary and send out to
50 individuals.

Late November

Design face to face interview questions to submit to tutor.

Christmas break

Work on first draft of all chapters except conclusion.

Update interview questions.

End of January

Submit first draft to supervisor

Select 10 appropriate participants from questionnaire results and
invite them to a face to face interview.

Early Feb

Carry out face to face interviews over the space of 2 weeks.

Mid Feb

Receive feedback on first draft chapters. Update accordingly.

Late Feb/Early March Transcribe interviews and code data using thematic analysis.
Late March

Write up final draft and begin drafting out conclusion

Early April/Easter

Complete final version of main chapters.

April

Receive feedback on conclusion and write up.

Final revisions after proofreading.

April 30th

Print and submit.

References
Dworkin, A. And Mackinnon, C. (1993) Questions and Answers, in Russell, D. E.
H. (ed.) Making Violence Sexy: Feminist Views on Pornography. Buckingham:
Open University Press.
Kipnis, L. (1993) (Male) Desire and (Female) Disgust: Reading Hustler,
in Ecstasy Unlimited: On Sex, Capital, Gender, and Aesthetics. Minneapolis:
University of Minnesota Press. (Also in Grossberg et al (1992) Cultural
Studies New York & London: Routledge.)
Ciclitira, K. (2004) Pornography, Women and Feminism: Between Pleasure and
Politics, Sexualities
P. Blake 2015 Dont ask if porn empowers women- instead, ask if your feminism
does (Online) Available from: News Statesman
http://www.newstatesman.com/voices/2015/03/dont-ask-if-porn-empowerswomen-instead-ask-if-your-feminism-does (Accessed 23/03/2015)
A. Marvasti (2004) Qualitative Research in Sociology Sage
B. Hooks (1984) Feminist Theory From Margin to Centre South End Press
W. McElroy XXX A Womans Right to Pornography (1997) St Martins Press
Ciclitera Pornography, Women and Feminism: Between Pleasure and Politics
from Sexualities Vol 7(3): 281301 DOI: 10.1177/1363460704040143 SAGE
Publications (London, Thousand Oaks, CA and New Delhi)
www.sagepublications.com
C. Wekesser Opposing Viewpoints in Pornography (1997) Greenhaven Press
G. Voss Treating it as a normal business: Researching the pornography industry
(2012) SagePub
Jackson, S. And Scott, S. Sexual Antinomies in Late Modernity, (2004)
Sexualities
Foucault, M. (1978/1997) The History of Sexuality: Vol.1: The Will to Knowledge.

Annotated Bibliography
Dworkin, A. And Mackinnon, C. (1993) Questions and Answers, in
Russell, D. E. H. (ed.) Making Violence Sexy: Feminist Views on
Pornography. Buckingham: Open University Press.
This particular text is relevant to my chosen research topic as it details the
viewpoints of leading anti porn academics Catherine Mackinnon and Angela
Dworkin. Both women fought to employ the use of legislation in order to set up a
support system for women harmed by pornography.
Kipnis, L. (1993) (Male) Desire and (Female) Disgust: Reading Hustler,
in Ecstasy Unlimited: On Sex, Capital, Gender, and Aesthetics.

Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press. (Also in Grossberg et al

(1992) Cultural Studies New York & London: Routledge.)
This text explores class as a factor which influences the way we respond to porn.
Using Hustler as a key example, Kipnis looks at the disgust of bourgeois feminists
with erotic media. Anti-porn feminists often regard pornography as an
exploitation of the female body. However, by doing this, they ignore the fact that
this particular exploitation takes place within a larger system of oppression;
capitalism.
Ciclitira, K. (2004) Pornography, Women and Feminism: Between
Pleasure and Politics, Sexualities
This article uses qualitative data (semi-structured interviews) to explore womens
opinions on pornography. Ciclitira elates the findings to a broader discourse of
feminism and uses feminist theory to inform an interpretation of the accounts.
Additionally, the study critiques existing mainstream psychological research on
porn.
Pandora Blake article
This article explores the concept of empowerment often discussed when looking
at the women in porn. It is written by a feminist, pro sex woman who works in
pornography; therefore, her viewpoints are extremely valid as she has
experienced the industry first hand.
A. Marvasti (2004) Qualitative Research in Sociology Sage
This book details the pros and cons of various qualitative research methods. It
was useful in deciding which method should be utilised in the project.
G. Voss Treating it as a normal business: Researching the pornography
industry SagePub