Vol 10, No 2, 2011 pp. 217-231
UDC 159.922.1:004.738.5
SEX AND THE WEB: THE EMBODIMENT OF FEMALE SEXUALITY IN ON-LINE PORNOGRAPHY
George Alexias, Asia Kountria, Charalambos Tsekeris
Panteion University of Social and Political Sciences, Athens, Greece
E-mail: galexias@panteion.gr
Pornography still remains one of the forbidden secrets of contemporary Western societies. By assuming the human body as the reference point for defining the contemporary subject, we systematically attempt the mapping out of on-line female pornography. The dissemination and propagation of the Internet, as well as its easy accessibility, transforms it into a social laboratory of recording and studying the modern attitudes towards the body, as well as its shaping and its sexual utilization. The scope of this article is to carefully analyze characteristic pages of pornographic content in order to reveal the female sexual body forged and reproduced as an image and practice. In other words, we aim to record, present and discuss the particular ways in which it is depicted, segmented, embellished and worshipped on porn sites. In addition, reference is made to the ways pornography is expressed on the Internet – for instance, user's personal pages, camera girls and MySpace. Our main conclusion is that, on the one hand, on-line porn reproduces the fundamental principles of modern Western societies, where the female body becomes an instrument and is transformed into an object/commodity for acquisition (even it is just an image) and, on the other hand, it can sometimes critically operate as a mechanism of resistance against the mainstream commercial rationale.
Key words:
pornography, websites, cybersex, sexuality, embodiment, cyberculture.
SEKS I INTERNET: OTELOTVORENJE ŽENSKE SEKSUALNOSTI U ONLINE PORNOGRAFIJI
Pornografija je i dalje jedna od zabranjenih tajni savremenog zapadnjačkog društva. Time što se pretpostavlja da je ljudsko telo odrednica za definisanje savremenog subjekta, mi ćemo pokušati da na sistematičan način da prikažemo online žensku pornografiju. Širenje interneta, kao i lakoća pristupa ga je pretvorilo u društvenu laboratoriju koja beleži i analizira modern stavove prema telu, a istovremeno oblikuje njegovu upotrebu u seksualnom smislu. Opseg ovog rada je da detaljno analizira karakteristike pornografskih sadržaja da bi otkrio žensko seksualno telo koje se formira i ponovo kopira kao slika i praksa. Drugim rečima, namera nam je da beležimo, predstavimo i razmotrimo specifične načine na koje je telo predstavljeno, segmentovano, ulepšano i način na koji mu se ljudi dive na pornografksim sajtovima. Pored toga, često se pominje to kako se pornografija prikazuje na internetu – na primer, upotreba ličnih veb stranica, devojke snimane kamerama, i MySpace stranice. Naš glavi zaključak je da, sa jedne strane, online pornografija reprodukuje osnovne principe modernog zapadnjačkog društva, u kom žensko telo postaje instrument i transformiše se u objekat/stvar koja se može kupiti (čak i ako je samo slika u pitanju) i, sa druge strane, ponekad može kritički da funkcioniše kao mehanizam za pružanje otpora glavnim tokovima komercijalizacije.
Ključne reči:
pornografija, internet stranice, sajber seks, seksualnost, otelotvorenje, sajber kultura
