Katherine E. Kough, MA
University of Nebraska, 2018
Advisor: Jay Irwin, PhD
abstract
Pornography is a highly popular form of media entertainment (Buzzell 2005). I analyzed 253 videos from four popular pornography websites. Videos were coded and analyzed for themes of gender presentation, sexual scripts, racial differences, dominance and submission, and objectification (Simon and Gagnon 1984; Gorman, Monk-Turner and Fish 2010). On average, videos had 35 million viewers, verifying the high usage of pornography by the public. Actor’s gender presentation was found to be highly binary according to their genitalia, age, status, and experience in videos. Sexual scripts were prevalent and limited by camera and production ability. Racial differences were not found to be as prevalent as previous research, but white actors are still the norm (Cowan and Campbell 1994). Female actors were often submissive to male actors during sex acts, such as being placed in physical positions that inhibited their autonomy. Objectification of female actors was present in nearly all videos. Popular pornography follows a common heterosexual and gender binary script, that limits sexual autonomy and pleasure for actors. If these themes are internalized by viewers, they can influence viewer’s expectations of sexual situations and gender presentation.
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