Review of the Sexual Interactions Workshop at CHI 2006, continued

Many other questions were raised which I can’t remember, but it definitely sparked an engaging dialogue. From my perspective I think HCI researchers would do well to start taking porn apart in a systemic way. I also think it is imperative to bring some gender analysis to this work. The discussion was in trouble, in my opinion, of degenerating into a dualistic construction (“men” watch porn this way, “women” watch porn that way) argument that would get us no where. The fact is that people are playing with gender on line in all sorts of ways, and some biological men may be browsing porn as if they were women, looking for something that turns them on as a woman. A bio woman who identifies as a “boi” could similarly be browsing porn in a way that would be considered stereotypically “male”. It gets confusing, but I think that there is both language and tools available on line to explore these issues in ways that would be more difficult in an off line context.

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