Teaching porn in a time of backlash: findings from a study on campus sexual speech

ABSTRACT

Drawing on 24 in-depth interviews with professors at colleges and universities in the USA, this article examines how porn studies scholars navigate issues of campus free speech and academic freedom in an increasingly polarized time. What specific institutional challenges and forms of gatekeeping do porn studies scholars face? How do concerns on the part of university administrators, students, and media affairs professionals regarding sexual content have a chilling effect that imperils faculty speech? This article offers an instructive case study for understanding how professors who teach difficult or potentially controversial material, including but not limited to pornography, navigate increasingly fraught and risk-averse university contexts, and what kinds of lessons their experiences might offer to those seeking to shore up free speech and academic freedom in times of backlash.

KEYWORDS:

• Campus free speech
• academic freedom
• censorship
• sexual politics

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes

1 The full research report and recommendations can be found online (https://freespeechcenter.universityofcalifornia.edu/fellows-21-22/comella-research/).

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by University of California National Center for Free Speech and Civic Engagement.