Understanding the Pornographic

3 Credits · Level: Graduate, Undergraduate

This course examines the concept of "the pornographic" in contemporary media and culture. As students learn about the changing aesthetics, production, and distribution of pornography as a media genre that spans human history, they will also understand "the pornographic" as a concept that exceeds sexuality and connotes excess and inappropriate affect more generally, as seen in popular designations like "food porn" and "house porn" on social media, "warporn" and "poverty porn" in discussions of the news media, "inspiration porn" in disability studies, and more. We will pay special attention to the social and political conflicts that attend pornography and the pornographic, particularly as these conflicts have been used to control marginalized populations including women, queer and trans folks, and people of color.