[ecrea] Call for Papers - Porn Culture(s) Now! - Gorizia Spring School / Porn Studies Section

Call for Papers

Porn Culture(s) Now!
Gorizia Spring School / Porn Studies Section
March 23rd-26th, 2019


To celebrate its 10th anniversary, the 2019 edition of the Porn Studies 
section aims to provide an overview of contemporary pornographic 
cultures. During the past ten years the pornosphere has been transformed 
in many respects in terms of the methods of production and distribution, 
the forms of access, consumption and reception, as well as the ways in 
which pornography is understood and conceptualized in media and 
scholarly discourses. More specifically, the section will take into 
account three interrelated aspects:

1) Latest industrial developments
In the last few years, the pornographic industry seems to have, at least 
in part, overcome the crisis begun in 2006 and somehow related to the 
changes brought in the media landscape by the advent of web 2.0. The 
primary reason of this incipient pornographic “renaissance” lies in the 
fact that the main industrial competitors have been able to finally 
adjust their production and distribution practices to the logics of 
convergence. First of all, the porn industry has undergone a process of 
conglomeration not different from other creative industries: now a 
limited number of big companies own and control many different types of 
media outlets (such as websites, porn aggregators, as well as more 
“traditional” pornographic studios) according to the principles of 
horizontal integration. Secondly, the more up-to-date pornographic 
players have been able to incorporate their traditional “enemies” 
(namely, grassroots production and digital piracy), thus channelling 
them for corporate goals instead of just trying to compete with them on 
the same ground.

2) Mainstreaming
One of the most prominent aspects of this industrial and social 
reconfiguration of the pornographic industry is its attempt to go 
mainstream, i.e. to be perceived as an ordinary media player that works 
legitimately in the public sphere and contributes to the opening of a 
more general debate on the relationship between sexuality, leisure, 
identity and self-empowerment. In order to do so, many commercial 
producers have expressly embraced and appropriated some of the 
traditional cornerstone values of so-called alternative pornographies, 
such as inclusivity, sustainability, transparency, fair pay, and an 
overall enhancement of the ethical aspects of porn production. Moreover, 
in recent years pornography has developed a complex relationship with 
celebrity culture: while a small number of porn stars have successfully 
crossed the boundary of the public arena  for instance Stoya and Sasha 
Grey, or Rocco Siffredi, though limited to the Italian context), the 
recent involvement of Kanye West (as artistic director) in the first 
Pornhub Awards might pave the way to other unexpected evolutions.

3) Porn as institution
Closely related to this process is also the development of an 
unprecedented understanding of pornography as a cultural institution. 
First of all, pornography has now become a legitimate (yet still 
controversial) object of study, both academic and critical in a broader 
sense, with courses on pornography and sexual cultures being taught in 
the US, UK and Europe; conferences dedicated to the topic all around the 
world; the launch of Routledge’s journal Porn Studies in 2014; and the 
emergence of a productive debate on sexual media in specialized 
magazines. Similarly, in more recent years increasing attention has been 
paid to pornography as cultural heritage: while a number of archives and 
film institutions are beginning to work on the preservation and 
restoration of sexually explicit materials, other forms of pornographic 
“memory” (such as oral histories and personal accounts) are collected 
and valorised in documentaries, web series, and online experiences such 
as The Rialto Report. And finally the exponential growth of festivals, 
exhibitions, and awards (both integral to the industry and independent) 
openly dedicated to pornography and erotica contribute to the creation 
of an aesthetic canon, as well as to the legitimization of pornography 
as a “form of art”.

We invite proposals that explore, but are not restricted to, the 
following topics:

- MindGeek and other porn conglomerates
- Strategies of horizontal integration (i.e. relationship between 
Pornhub and Brazzers)
- Repositioning of “traditional” pornographic studios
- Streaming, VOD, porn on television
- Pornhub and the other porn aggregators
- Incorporation of amateur practices in corporate enterprises
-Dis-intermediation, re-intermediation, new pro-am practices (i.e. the 
case of Modelhub)
- New frontiers of the vision (VR, Holographic Porn, etc.)
- Forms of white/pink washing
- Pornography and transparency (i.e. Pornhub Insights)
- Ethics and corporate porn
- Porn and celebrity cultures
- Pornographic fandoms
- Pornographic self-narratives (autobiographies, social media, etc.)
- Porn stars as sexperts and cultural intermediaries
- Porn in the academia
- Critical approaches to pornography
- Porn archives
- Pornography and film restoration
- Porn documentaries
- Forms of pornographic cinephilia and collection
- Porn festivals and exhibitions
- Porn awards (industry awards vs. “independent” awards, etc.)

The deadline for the submission of papers and panel proposals is 
December 3rd, 2018.
Proposals should not exceed one page in length. Please to attach a short 
CV (10 lines max).
The conference fee is €150.

Address questions and proposals to: (goriziafilmforum /at/ gmail.com) 
<mailto:(goriziafilmforum /at/ gmail.com)>, (e.biasin /at/ libero.it) 
<mailto:(e.biasin /at/ libero.it)>, (g.maina /at/ gmail.com) 
<mailto:(g.maina /at/ gmail.com)>, (federico.zecca /at/ uniba.it) 
<mailto:(federico.zecca /at/ uniba.it)>.

The Porn Studies section is now one of the most important conferences in 
the field of porn studies, opening space for innovative approaches and 
methodologies for investigating the relationships between sex, commerce, 
media and technology. Drawing together the work of leading scholars from 
around the world (including Peter Alilunas, Feona Attwood, Lynn Comella, 
Kevin Heffernan, Peter Lehman, John Mercer, Susanna Paasonen, Eric 
Schaefer, Clarissa Smith, Thomas Waugh, Linda Williams) as well as 
emerging scholars, the School has mapped a transformed landscape of 
sexual representations and coordinated a new wave of research. The 
section is also specifically focused on the relationship between 
production and dissemination of knowledge and related 
industrial/archival/artistic practices: artists, performers, archivists, 
curators, and media practitioners in general have been involved in the 
debate through screenings, curator talks, artist talks, and panel 
discussions (among others, the School has hosted talks by directors such 
as Bruce LaBruce, Ashley Hans Scheirl, Anna Span).
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