RECENT EVENTS
GENDER & SEXUAL POLITICS SYMPOSIUM
A symposium held 28 January 2015 presented research from the School of Psychology related to ‘Pornography in the Public Eye’, a project supported by the Marsden Fund.
Issues discussed included: Gender and the ethics of pornography, ‘pornified’ bodies, the wider context of misogyny and rape culture, gendered violence, intersections of race gender & sexuality, young people dealing with sexism and feminism.
Link to videos of the following presentations by clicking on the title hyperlink
Nicola Gavey, Gender, power and porn: A New Zealand perspective
Virginia Braun, The modified vulva, aesthetic labour, and a ‘pornified’ female body
Ann Cahill (Elon University, USA) Bodies, sex work, and ethics: Thinking beyond objectification
Aleksandra Antevska, Toxic exposure: Academic engagement with pornography
Jade Le Grice, Living complexity: Sexuality at the intersections (not available)
Octavia Calder-Dawe, Speaking out, keeping cool: young people and everyday sexism
Karishma Beach, Lloyd Jones, Chelsea Pickens & Sophie Sills, Social media activism and rape culture: Counterpublics and accountability
Michael Flood (University of Wollongong, Australia) Shifting men’s relations to pornography: An assessment of abstinence (feminist and Christian), sexuality education, critical literacy, and other strategies
PROFESSOR ROSALIND GILL – ‘Sexting, Sexualisation and Sexism’
Public lecture held 27 November 2014 – Supported by a University of Auckland Distinguished Visitor Award.
Based on qualitative research in London secondary schools, Professor Gill locates ‘sexting’ as a complex peer phenomenon tied in to a variety of offline practices and power relations, and suggests we need to open up definitions of sexting beyond the focus on the ‘sexy selfie’. She highlights the significance of class, race and sexuality to a full and proper understanding of the phenomenon, and argues that ‘sexting’ cannot be understood without reference to normalised sexism, sexual double standards, and homophobia in school contexts. Given this, we need to move beyond familiar fears of ‘stranger danger’ and constructions of girls as simultaneously ‘at risk’ yet also ‘to blame’ for sexting.
Listen to the related Radio NZ interview here. http://www.radionz.co.nz/national/programmes/ninetonoon/audio/20159034/teenage-girls-pressured-by-peers-to-sext
A DIFFERENT VIEW – PUBLIC PROGRAMME
During the Art Exhibition at the Gus Fisher Gallery (Aug-Oct 2013) we ran a public programme; follow the link to excerpts and information about that.
NZ PREMIER OF LOVE AND SEX IN AN AGE OF PORNOGRAPHY
Thanks to Maree Crabbe and David Corlett for premiereing their documentary Love and Sex in an Age of Pornography in conjunction with us and for their presentation Eroticising Inequality as part of the A Different View: Artists address pornography public programme. Held 12 September 2013, see the Gallery for photos from the premiere.
About Love and Sex in an Age of Pornography 
Pornography has moved from the brown paper bag to smartphones, computer screens, and popular culture. In the adolescent world of attraction, desire, exploration and love, Internet porn is normalised, shared and imitated. Through candid interviews with young people and pornography industry professionals in Budapest & LA, Love and Sex in an Age of Pornography documents the shifts in contemporary mainstream pornography and its influence on the sexual expectations and experiences of Australian young people. It has recently been broadcast on Australian television by SBS and will be broadcast in Germany, Poland and Israel.
Directors Maree Crabbe and David Corlett work on the Australian community education project Reality & Risk: Pornography, young people and sexuality, which seeks to respond to the significant social and personal implications of increasingly pervasive and hardcore pornography. Copies of Love and Sex in an Age of Pornography are now available on DVD. To purchase a copy, contact admin@brophy.org.au.
Maree and David also presented work from their research on the Pornography, Young People and Sexuality project as part of the public programme for A Different View. This video shows excerpts of the presentation on young people’s exposure to and experiences of pornography today.
