After the “digital turn,” expansion of sexual representations has taken shape quantitatively (thanks to the multiplication of production and distribution channels) and qualitatively (giving rise to a plurality of new representational forms). In this context, several social groups – including women and non-normative sexual subcultures – have obtained full citizenship rights within the “pornosphere,” moving beyond their traditional marginalization or, indeed, exclusion. These “nonconventional” pornographies exist in a dialectical relationship with mainstream production in so far as they are at the same time a development and a repudiation of the latter (on an aesthetic, economic and political level). This volume investigates the emergences of alternative pornographies, highlighting their discursive heterogeneity, their cultural status and connections to identities and non-normative practices, and their role in redefining the very idea of pornography. The publication maps the main areas relating to alternative pornographies, such as alt porn, queer pornography, indie porn, post porn, feminist pornography, and amateur porn.
With a foreword by Feona Attwood.
Enrico Biasin received a PhD in Audiovisual Studies from the University of Udine (Italy), where he also teaches Research on Film Archives. With Federico Zecca and Giovanna Maina, he coordinates the Porn Studies Section of the MAGIS – International Film Studies Spring School. He is a member of the editorial board of the journal Porn Studies and the author of Oscenità di brand. L’industria culturale della pornografia audiovisiva contemporanea (2013).
Giovanna Maina is a Senior Research Fellow at the University of Sunderland (UK). She is a member of the editorial staff of Cinéma & Cie: International Film Studies Journal and joint editor for the Porn Forum section of the journal Porn Studies. She has co-edited I film in tasca. Videofonino, cinema e televisione (2009, with Maurizio Ambrosini and Elena Marcheschi) and Il porno espanso. Dal cinema ai nuovi media (2011, with Enrico Biasin and Federico Zecca).
Federico Zecca is a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the University of Udine (Italy), where he teaches Film History. He is part of the editorial staff of the journals Cinéma & Cie: International Film Studies and Cinergie: Il cinema e le altre arti, and of the editorial board of the journal Porn Studies. Among his books: Il cinema della convergenza. Industria, racconto, pubblico (2012, edited by) and Cinema e intermedialità. Modelli di traduzione (2013).