School Images in Mainstream Porn: A Brief Research Report
A brief research report
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.12775/PBE.2024.022Keywords
social semiotics, porn studies, grounded theory methodology, educational cultural studies, schoolAbstract
The primary purpose of this work is to present the results of an empirical study on images of schools in mainstream pornography. The work is an attempt to bring educational cultural studies and porn studies closer together. The research process employed hybrid methodological solutions which aimed to combine the Grounded Theory (GT) methodology, social semiotics and Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA). The article presents the main problems and disputes in the field of porn studies. Research results, which consist of the analysis as well as interpretation of visual and textual empirical material are, however, key. In the process of analysis, a family resemblance (Wittgenstein, 2009) was perceived between actual schooling and education and that produced by porn cultures. Porn culture eroticizes the structural school violence inherent in the institution. Thus, porn culture expresses hegemony, but its narrative about the school can be seen as potentially subversive.
References
Albury, K. (2014). Porn and Sex Education, Porn as Sex Education. Porn Studies, 1(1–2), 172–181, doi: 10.1080/23268743.2013.863654.
Attwood, F., & Smith, C. (2014). Porn Studies: An Introduction. Porn Studies, 1(1–2), 1–6, doi: 10.1080/23268743.2014.887308.
Attwood F., Maina, G., & Smith, C. (2018). Conceptualizing, Researching and Writing About Pornography. Porn Studies, 5(1), 1–5, doi: 10.1080/23268743.2018.1444008.
Barker, Ch., & Jane, E.A. (2016). Cultural Studies: Theory and Practice. London–Thousand Oaks–New Delhi–Singapore: SAGE.
Barker, M. (2014). Psychology and Pornography: Some Reflections. Porn Studies, 1(1–2), 120–126, doi: 10.1080/23268743.2013.859468.
Barker, M. (2018). The Problems Speaking About Porn. Porn Studies, 5(1), 6–13, doi: 10.1080/23268743.2018.1457293.
Barthes, R. (1989). The Rustle of Language. Berkeley–Los Angeles: University of California Press.
Cackowska, M., Kopciewicz, L., Mendel, M., Męczkowska, M., Strużyńska, A., & Szkudlarek, T. (2003). Freshmen Students on Education and Work. Gdańsk: Wydawnictwo UG.
Cackowska, M., Kopciewicz, L., Patalon, M., Stańczyk, P., Starego, K., & Szkudlarek, T. (2012). Dyskursywna konstrukcja podmiotu. Przyczynek do rekonstrukcji pedagogiki kultury [The Discursive Construction of the Subject. A Contribution to the Reconstruction of the Pedagogy of Culture]. Gdańsk: Wydawnictwo UG.
Comella, L. (2014). Studying Porn Cultures. Porn Studies, 1(1–2), 64–70, doi: 10.1080/23268743.2014.882611.
Dines, G. (2011). Pornland. How Porn Has Hijacked Our Sexuality. Boston: Beacon Press. Retrieved 1 February 2024 from: https://www.academia.edu/31540072/DINES_G_Pornland_pdf.
Dines, G., Jensen, R., & Russo, A. (1997). Pornography: The Production and Consumption of Inequality. New York: Routledge.
Fairclough, N., & Wodak, R. (1997). Critical Discourse Analysis. In: T.A. van Dijk (Ed.), Discourse as Social Interaction (pp. 258–284), vol. 1. London: SAGE.Floyd, J. (2023). ‘The Words Which Sailor John Put to Them When Unrestrained Were the Veriest Filth’: Situating Chanteys in the Field of Porn Studies. Porn Studies, 10(1), 8–19, doi: 10.1080/23268743.2022.2107557.
Gómez, S.A., Pasikowski, S., & Bruno, L. (2022). Adolescents’ Cyberdating Relationships and the Socialisation Background: Links with Sexism in Spanish Society and Pornography Consumption. Przegląd Badań Edukacyjnych, 40, 207–230, doi: 10.12775/PBE.2022.025.
Irvine, J.M. (2018). Dirty Words, Shameful Knowledge, and Sex Research. Porn Studies, 5(1), 14–19, doi: 10.1080/23268743.2017.1386124.
James, F. (2018). Where Are the Grounds for Grounded Theory? A Troubled Empirical Methodology Meets Wittgenstein. Educational Philosophy and Theory, 50(4), 369–379, doi: 10.1080/00131857.2017.1365704.
Johnson, P. (2014). Pornography and the European Convention on Human Rights. Porn Studies, 1(3), 299–320, doi: 10.1080/23268743.2014.927706.
Konecki, K. (2008). Wizualna Teoria Ugruntowana. Rodziny kodowania wykorzystane w analizie wizualnej [Visual Grounded Theory. Coding Families Used in Visual Analysis]. Przegląd Socjologii Jakościowej, 4(3), 89–115, doi: 10.18778/1733-8069.4.3.05.
Konecki, K. (2011). Visual Grounded Theory: A Methodological Outline and Examples from Empirical Work. Revija Za Sociologiju, 41(2), 131–160, doi: 10.5613/rzs.41.2.1.
Kopińska, V. (2020). The Concept of Citizenship in the Polish School Education. Political Change and the Change of Core Curricula. Discourse Analysis. Przegląd Badań Edukacyjnych, 30, 65–86, doi: 10.12775/PBE.2020.004.
Kosofsky Sedgwick, E. (2003). Touching Feeling: Affect, Pedagogy, Performativity. Durham: Duke University Press.
Kress, G., & Leeuwen, T. (2006). Reading Images: The Grammar of Visual Design. London–New York: Routledge.
Kvale, S. (1996). InterViews: An Introduction to Qualitative Research Interviewing. Thousand Oaks–London–New Delhi: SAGE.
Labinski, M.A. (2019). The Social/Political Potential of Illusions: Enthusiasm and Feminist Porn. Porn Studies, 6(1), 100–113, doi: 10.1080/23268743.2018.1559082.
Libermann, R. (2015). ‘It’s A Really Great Tool’: Feminist Pornography and the Promotion of Sexual Subjectivity. Porn Studies, 2(2–3), 174–191, doi: 10.1080/23268743.2015.1051913. Low, J. (2019). A Pragmatic Definition of the Concept of Theoretical Saturation. Sociological Focus, 52(2), 131–139, doi: 10.1080/00380237.2018.1544514.
McGlotten, S. (2013). Zombie Porn: Necropolitics, Sex, and Queer Socialities. Porn Studies, 1(4), 360–377, doi: 10.1080/23268743.2014.957492.
McKee, A. (2014). Humanities and Social Scientific Research Methods in Porn Studies. Porn Studies, 1(1–2), 53–63, doi: 10.1080/23268743.2013.859465.
McNair, B. (2014). Rethinking the Effects Paradigm in Porn Studies. Porn Studies, 1(1–2), 161–171, doi: 10.1080/23268743.2013.870306.
Moerdisuroso, I. (2014). Social Semiotics and Visual Grammar: A Contemporary Approach to Visual Text Research. International Journal of Creative and Arts Studies, 1(1), 80–91, doi: 10.24821/ijcas.v1i1.1574.
Oeming, M. (2018). A New Diagnosis for Old Fears? Pathologizing Porn in Contemporary US Discourse. Porn Studies, 5(2), 213–216, doi: 10.1080/23268743.2018.1434170.
Ostrowicka, H., & Stankiewicz, Ł. (2019). The Truths of Business and the Lies of Academia: The Order of Discourse on Higher Education in Poland. Higher Education Research & Development, 38(3), 609–622, doi: 10.1080/07294360.2018.1545746.
Paasonen, S. (2014). Between Meaning and Mattering: On Affect and Porn Studies. Porn Studies, 1(1–2), 136–142, doi: 10.1080/23268743.2014.880225.
Renton, A. (2017). Stiff Upper Lip. London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson. Queen, C., & Comella, L. (2008). The Necessary Revolution: Sex-Positive Feminism in the Post-Barnard Era. The Communication Review, 11(3), 274–291, doi: 10.1080/10714420802306783.
Setty, E. (2022). Pornography as a Cultural Resource for Constructing and Expressing Gendered Sexual Subjectivities Among Students in a Co-Educational Boarding School. Porn Studies, 9(2), 159–175, doi: 10.1080/23268743.2021.1875028.
Smith, C., & Attwood, F. (2014). Anti/Pro/Critical Porn Studies. Porn Studies, 1(1–2), 7–23, doi: 10.1080/23268743.2014.887364.
Smith, J.G., Liz, E., & Addy, P. (2022). F*ck the Police: Resistance, Agency, and Power in Black Male Racial–Sexual Pleasure. Porn Studies, 9(2), 241–261, doi: 10.1080/23268743.2021.1969991.
Szkudlarek, T. (1992). McLaren i Agata: o pewnej możliwości interpretacji rytualnego oporu przeciw szkole [McLaren and Agata: On Some Possible Interpretation of Ritual Resistance Against School]. In: Z. Kwieciński (Ed.), Nieobecne dyskursy [Absent Discourses], (pp. 45–51), Part II, Toruń: UMK. Szkudlarek, T. (2016). On the Politics of Educational Theory: Rhetoric, Theoretical Ambiguity, and the Construction of Society. London–New York: Routledge.
Szkudlarek, T. (2022). Discourse: Education, Theory of Politics, and Politics of Theory. Przegląd Badań Edukacyjnych, 40, 7–27, doi: 10.12775/PBE.2022.016.
Thorneycroft, R. (2020). If Not a Fist, Then What About a Stump? Ableism and Heteronormativity within Australia’s Porn Regulations. Porn Studies, 7, 152–167, doi: 10.1080/23268743.2020.1713872.
Williams, L. (2014). Pornography, Porno, Porn: Thoughts on a Weedy Field. Porn Studies, 1( 1–2), 24–40, doi: 10.1080/23268743.2013.863662.
Wittgenstein, L. (2009). Philosophical Investigations. Chichester: Wiley-Blackwell.
Wodak, R., & Meyer, M. (2016). Critical Discourse Analysis: History, Agenda, Theory and Methodology. In: R. Wodak, & M. Meyer (Eds.), Methods of Critical Discourse Analysis (pp. 1–33). London: SAGE.
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2025 Piotr Stańczyk

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
Stats
Number of views and downloads: 85
Number of citations: 0