Freedman, Ethan Academic Director: Byars, Jana Advisor: Klein, Shari Colgate University in Hamilton, New York Women's Studies Europe, Netherlands, Amsterdam Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for The Netherlands: International perspectives on sexuality & gender, SIT Study Abroad, Spring 2023
Abstract
Sex education has historically been its own site of tension with a focus on its deficits situating the vast majority of the problem. Abstinence only and prevention methodologies in sex education highlight the shortcomings of established curriculums and center calls for a more comprehensive understanding of sex, sexuality, and intimacy. With the acknowledgement that a comprehensive sex education (CSE) curriculum is the best approach for educating on sex ed. topics, porn as a sex educator is discussed. The following research positions whether or not adult film and porn companies utilize a comprehensive sex education curriculum while simultaneously pushing pornographic content. Through discursive media analysis of a sex education platform to understand how porn companies might discuss sex education topics – I then address five porn companies on the extent they educate on comprehensive topics like pleasure, consent, and general sex ed topics. In general, the following piece assists in helping hold adult entertainment companies accountable for the notion that they are our dominant sex educators in society.
Key Words: Abstinence Only Sex Education, Adult Film, Comprehensive Sex Education, Feminism, Heteronormativity, Intimacy, Patriarchy, Porn, Power, Sex Education
Acknowledgements
In introducing the following work, I would like to begin with acknowledgements of those who have helped me to get to the point in my research where I could produce something academically extensive. Thank you to those at School of International Training in Amsterdam Netherlands who led a wonderful program and helped bring this to fruition. Jana Byars, Freya Lambrechts, Fiona Kirk, Anna Wallis, Catherine Schook, Ahmed AbdulMageed and Kevin Singh – this could not have been done without you. To my peers in the program, the same goes for you as without your thought provocation – I would not have these words in their entirety. Special words for Mae Hearrtwell as you hold a place in my heart for the experiences we went through and this work is a sign of how far we have come in my head.
I would like to separately acknowledge Shari Klein at the Pleasure Society for their efforts in advising me on my research and the conversations that we were able to have regarding this work's topic. Your guidance and curiosity about the work that I am doing as well as your validation and reminders of accountability position this piece significantly.
I would also like to thank those who are back at Colgate University. Dr. Dominique C. Hill and Dr. Taryn Jordan, your influence on me, my writing, and the encouragement you have given me to think beyond what I am capable of in academia is coveted. From you I have grown with praxis and will always remember that it begins with asking and embracing big and uncomfortable questions Without the frameworks and methodologies I learned from you, this work would be nothing like it presently sits. Moreover, the moments spent working on assignments for you was also a place to build a repertoire of sources related to the subject and I appreciate the fact that I could research the topic of sex education and adult film with your guidance.
As I move on, I would like to acknowledge Jennifer Lyon Bell for their work and how my piece is situated next to hers. To propose a position of character theory was very new to me and I feel very lucky to have gained understanding of adult film in tandem with the mission that is Blue Artichoke Films. Jennifer, thanks for introducing me to film critiques of adult content like I had not seen before.
As a fun goof of an acknowledgement as well as desire to assign some sort of meaning and not get you lost in adventure that is going abroad to another country and being a student, I would like to thank Janne for the countless moments where you sat across from me encouraging me and listening to me spew about adult film and sex education. I thank you even more for the moments you pushed back. I Appreciate you endlessly for, truly, this piece would have been nothing like the present without you.
With these excessive, yet necessary to me, acknowledgements finished, I present the following work of my own.
Table of contents - Pages
Abstract: 1
Acknowledgements: 2
Table of Contents: 3
Introduction: 4
Literature Review: 8
Abstinence and prevention Methods in Sex Education: 8
Calls for Comprehensive Sex Education: 9
Mainstream Porn: A Tool for Sex Education: 11
Intangible Powers of Mainstream Porn: 14
Ethical, Feminist, and Queered Lenses for Porn: 16
Methodology: 19
Results and Discussion: Discursive Analysis of Platforms - What is Comprehensive Sex Education and What Does It Look Like on Porn Platforms?: 21
Queer Sex Ed Community Curriculum: 21
Pornhub: Male Narrative Mainstream Heteronormative Pornography and Sex Education: 24
Brazzers: Male Narrative Mainstream Heteronormative Pornogrpahy and Sex Educaiton: 27
Bellesa: Ethical Feminist Porn and Sex Education: 29
Blue Artichoke Films: Ethical, Feminist, and Queer Adult Film and Sex Education: 31
Sex School Hub: Ethical, Feminist, and Queer Pornographic Sex Education Curriculums: 33
Closing Thoughts: Accountability of Adult Content as a Sex Educator: 36
Keywords and Definitions in Brief: 40
Bibliography: 41
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