Clarissa Smith
Professor
at Northumbria University
📚 Professor at University of Sunderland
|
Sunderland, England, United Kingdom
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👤 About
Professor Clarissa Smith is a distinguished academic at Northumbria University within the Faculty of Design, Arts and Creative Industries. With a profound commitment to advancing the study of sexual media and gendered representations, her research explores the intersections of pornography, mediated sexualities, censorship, and audience engagement. Her work critically examines how sexual content is produced, consumed, regulated, and interpreted in contemporary culture, often challenging conventional narratives and regulatory frameworks.
At the core of Professor Smith’s research is an interest in the textual and technological formations of pornography. She investigates how sexual content manifests across different media platforms and the implications of these forms for cultural understandings of sexuality and gender. Her scholarly focus extends to how individuals interact with pornographic and sexualized media, probing the complexities of desire, authenticity, fantasy, and representation. Her opposition to censorship and moral regulation reflects a belief in intellectual and creative freedom, particularly in relation to sexual expression. She argues against legislation that seeks to criminalise imagination, contributing to wider debates around freedom of speech and the politics of sexual representation.
Professor Smith has published extensively in her field. Notable recent works include Sexualised Masculinity: Men’s Bodies in 21st Century Media Culture, co-authored with Professor John Mercer. This open-access publication examines contemporary constructions of masculinity and their sexual representation. Another key publication is Watching Game of Thrones: What Audiences Do With Dark Television, co-authored with Martin Barker and Feona Attwood, which explores how viewers interpret morally complex and sexually explicit content in mainstream entertainment. Her book Objectification: On the Difference between Sex and Sexism, co-authored with a team of renowned scholars, traces the evolution of the term “objectification” in both academic and activist contexts, offering a nuanced view of its application to media, pornography, and gender discourse.
Beyond her publications, Professor Smith is an active figure in academic and professional communities. She is a founding co-editor of Porn Studies, the first dedicated scholarly journal on the subject, and serves on the editorial boards of multiple journals including Sexualities, Participations, Journal of Gender Studies, and Cine-Excess. Her collaborative research includes the AHRC-funded Masculinity, Sex and Popular Culture network (2019–2022), which brought together academics and non-academic experts to explore contemporary masculinity and sexual culture.
Passionate about mentoring the next generation of scholars, Professor Smith is currently accepting PhD students. She welcomes inquiries from prospective candidates interested in pornography studies, sexualisation, audience engagement, censorship, and gendered media. Her expertise, extensive publication record, and active role in shaping critical debates make her a leading figure in media and cultural studies, particularly within the field of sexuality and gender representation.
Skills & Expertise
Academic publishing
Audience research
Critical analysis
Project collaboration
Media theory
Research networking
Academic mentoring
Textual analysis
Cultural critique
Policy critique
Public speaking
Research Interests
Culture
Media
Sexuality
Sex
Sexualities
Pornography
Audiences
Young People
Censorship
Culture
Sex
Sexualities
Pornography
Audiences
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💼 Experience
Professor
Northumbria University
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July 2020 -
Present
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📚 Publications (21)
Journal: Feminist Media Studies
• October 2019
In this article we discuss a large scale research project aimed at uncovering people’s everyday engagements with pornography. We focus on women aged 18–25; the only category of our participants in whi...
Pornography consumers
Young women
Female viewers
Online pornography
Women engagement
Sexual media
Porn studies
Media consumption
Sexuality studies
Aesthetic porn
Porn content
Feminist audience
Digital sex media
Emotion porn experience
Women and porn
Qualitative porn research
Pornography
Online questionnaire
Journal: Porn Studies
• May 2018
Despite an ongoing incitement to speak about sex (Foucault Citation1990), the way we are encouraged to talk and write about sexual issues is strongly policed and ways of conceptualizing and researchin...
:
conceptualizing
Researching
Writing about pornography
Pornography
Porn studies
Critical porn studies
Linda williams
Foucault
Anti/pro structure
Public discourse
Negative affect
Anti-porn rhetoric
Speech about sex
Academic writing on sex
Feelings of hurt
Anger
Frustration
Fear
Nausea
Pro-porn
Anti-porn
Controversial writing
Sexual issues
Conventions of speaking
Hostility in porn debate
Cleaning up sex
Problematic area of study
New ways of thinking
Opposition
Judgment
Affective discourse
Journal: New Media & Society
• March 2018
Young people’s encounters with sexual media are the subject of intense concern, but the research underpinning policy debate and public discussion rarely pays attention to the complexity of these. In t...
Audiences
Mediated intimacy
Play
Pornography
Sexual health
Young people
Young People
Pornography Consumption
Sexual Identity
Sexual Exploration
Sexual Media
Porn and Youth
Mediated Intimacy
Sexual Wellbeing
Porn as Outlet
Developing Sexuality
Sexual Leisure
Porn Tastes
Youth and Media
Sex Education
Digital Intimacy
Identity Formation
Exposure Effects
Adolescent Sexuality
Porn and Relationships
Sexual Curiosity
Journal: Porn Studies
• March 2014
Academic journals don't usually grab popular media attention. However, the press release announcing the launch of Porn Studies attracted a great deal of interest across the media in summer 2013. On ba...
Porn studies
Pornography research
Sexualization of culture
Erotic lifestyle
Media and porn
Academic porn studies
Porn and technology
Sexual media
Internet pornography
Porn and violence
Pornography consumption
Cultural debate
Erotic representation
Porn in academia
Media studies
Porn history
Digital pornography
Pornography
Porn
Journal: Porn Studies
• March 2014
In this introductory article we explore contemporary debates about the ‘critical’ study of pornography in relation to ‘anti-porn’, ‘pro-porn’, ‘sex-positive’ and ‘sex-critical’ approaches, and the rec...
Critical porn studies
Porn studies journal
Anti-porn
Pro-porn
Sex-positive feminism
Sex-critical approach
Pornography debate
Porn studies
Neoliberalism and sex
Postfeminism
Porn industry analysis
Pornography discourse
Feminist porn critique
Sexual politics
Porn research
Porn scholarship
Media and sexuality
Cultural studies of porn
Pornography theory
Feminist perspectives on porn
Critical sexuality studies
Journal: Journal of Law and Society
• March 2010
This article begins with an exploration of section 5 of the recent Criminal Justice and Immigration Act 2008, otherwise known as the ‘Dangerous Pictures Act’ which outlaws the possession of ‘extreme i...
Pornographication
Extreme pornography
Dangerous pictures
Sexual violence
Media regulation
Legislation impact
Criminal justice and immigration act
Extreme images
Media spectacularization
Viewer psychology
Online porn
Porn laws
Sexual content regulation
Visual culture
Explicit media
Personal freedoms
Journal: Watching Game of Thrones: How Audiences Engage with Dark Television
• June 2021
Game of Thrones was an international sensation, and has been looked at from many different angles. But to date there has been little research into its audiences: who they were, how they engaged with a...
Watching game of thrones
Game of thrones
Audiences
Audience engagement
Dark television
Favourite characters
Fantasy
Relish and anguish
Controversial elements
Emotions
Television audiences
Qualiquantitative questionnaire
10
000 responses
International research
Viewer response
Thinking about our own world
Media reception
Tv fandom
Television studies
Character identification
Viewer psychology
Emotional response
Popular culture
Fantasy television
Viewer analysis
Audiences for game of thrones
Favourite survivors
Winter is coming
Gender studies
Sexualities
Porn studies
Journal: MAI: Feminism & Visual Culture
• June 2021
In 2020 Cardi B and Megan Thee Stallion’s Summer hit WAP entered Billboard’s Hot 100 at No. 1. The song’s unapologetically bawdy lyrics were amplified in an accompanying video which caused some critic...
Objectification
Feminism
Female sexuality
Popular culture
Wap
Music videos
Gender politics
Sexual empowerment
Capitalism and sexuality
Commodification
Feminist critique
Sexual subjects
Media controversy
Cultural debate
Pornification
Sexual expression
Sexual autonomy
Feminist media studies
Certified freaks
Wet ass pussy
The male gaze
Self-representation
Sexual agency
Media reception
Performance of sexuality
Cultural critique
Certified freak
Feminist debate
Sex
Fantasy
Journal: University of Sunderland
• June 2019
The digital age makes new forms of connection possible, enabling ‘digital intimacies’ including the many practices of communicating, producing and sharing intimate content (‘sexting’; selfies; making,...
Digital intimacies
Youth sexuality
Digital media
Online sexual expression
Sexting
Selfies
Sexual content
Hookup apps
Digital literacy
Online safety
Sex education
Youth agency
Media regulation
Online harms
Censorship
Sexual identity
Digital culture
Youth empowerment
Policymaking
Ethics
Media and intimacy
Kink
Fantasy
Sexual expression
Consent
Media panic
Generational difference
Online privacy
Sexual autonomy
Journal: Routledge Handbook of Leisure Studies
• July 2020
How might we understand sex as one of the Big Seven leisure pursuits? What is sex? On an entirely functional level, sex is the physical means by which the species engages in procreation — sex is a phy...
Leisure sex
Sexual activity
Sexual identity
Sexual liberation
Erotic pleasure
Sexual culture
Western sexuality
Sex romance
Intimacy desire
Perversion fantasy
Sexual confidence
Sexual fulfilment
Sexual deviance
Sex media
Erotic expression
Sexual orientation
Sex
Journal: Digital Media: Transformations in Human Communication
• January 2017
This research explores the complex landscape of porn consumption and its varying significance across different demographics and life stages. It highlights the role of pornography within diverse cultur...
Computer
Social media
Pornography
Online audiences
Sexuality
Cultural context
Identity
Heterosexuality
Personal narratives
Media consumption
Life stages
Sex
Fantasy
Masturbation
Kink
Bdsm
Journal: Porn Studies
• February 2024
This article traces the recent history of porn studies as a field, focusing on key developments between 1984 and 2014, on a range of initiatives by academics to establish the study of pornography thro...
Porn studies
Pornography studies
Porn studies journal
Pornography
Porn
Sexuality research
Media studies
Cultural studies
Academic journals
Sexual expression
Fantasy
Kink
Masturbation
Bdsm
Sex
Online pornography
Representation
Sexual identity
Gender
Sadism
Public visibility
Sexual content
Amateur porn
Fetish
Power dynamics
Journal: The Feminist Porn Book: The Politics of Producing Pleasure
• February 2013
Emotional Truths and Thrilling Slide Shows: The Resurgence of Antiporn Feminism - SURE Close menu Study International study Open Days and Events Research About Help and Advice Sunderland more... Subje...
Antiporn feminism
Feminist movement
Pornography critique
Sexual politics
Emotional truths
Feminist protest
Anti pornography
Slide show activism
Feminist backlash
Cultural morality
Feminist revival
Porn harm debate
Feminist discourse
Sexual ethics
Feminist criticism
Visual campaigns
Journal: Objectification: On the Difference between Sex and Sexism
• August 2020
This is a concise and accessible introduction into the concept of objectification, one of the most frequently recurring terms in both academic and media debates on the gendered politics of contemporar...
Objectification
Sexism
Sexualization of culture
Media representation
Gender politics
Male gaze
Body norms
Feminist activism
Film spectatorship
Visual culture
Beauty standards
Media and gender
Sexual harassment
Pornography representation
Selfies and identity
Gendered media
Journal: The Routledge Companion to Media, Sex and Sexuality
• August 2017
The Routledge Companion to Media, Sex and Sexuality is a vibrant and authoritative exploration of the ways in which sex and sexualities are mediated in modern media and everyday life.
The 40 chapte...
Media sex
Sexuality studies
Mediated sexuality
Post feminism
Queer identities
Media activism
Media technology
Sexualisation culture
Pornography erotica
Sex advice
Masculinity studies
Social media
Mobile media
Cultural studies
Media sociology
Gender representation
Media
Sex
Sexuality
Journal: Sex Education
• August 2011
This special issue has grown out of a small British Academy-funded project in the United
Kingdom that ran from 2008 to 2010 and aimed to examine ways of developing research
on young people’s sexual...
Young people
Sexual cultures
Media
Sexuality
Sex education
Media literacy
Pornography
Sexual knowledge
Identity formation
Technology
Cultural studies
Sexualization
Youth culture
Health education
Cultural citizenship
Policy debates
Sexual representation
Media influence
Sex and relationships
Critical engagement
Youth
Adolescents
Digital media
Online porn
Sexting
Sexual health
Intimacy
Gender identity
Sexual identity
Body image
Sociology of sex
Technological impact
Social media
Internet culture
Media saturation
Critical media studies
Popular culture
Feminism
Gender politics
Moral panic
Public policy
Sexual norms
Youth agency
Representation of youth
Media and sex
Consent culture
Sex positivity
Visual culture
Media effects
Neoliberalism
Ethics of representation
Media consumption
Participatory culture
Youth expression
Regulation of media
Peer influence
Media engagement
Self-representation
Digital sexuality
Risk and harm
Cultural narratives
Intersectionality
Power and sexuality
Journal: Sex Education
• August 2011
This article discusses ‘The Sexualisation of Young People’ review, authored by Dr Linda Papadopoulos in 2010 for the UK Home Office. The article examines the review as an academic piece of work, consi...
Sexualization of young people
Papadopoulos review
Uk home office
Youth and sexuality
Sexualization debate
Media influence
Moral panic
Sexualization rhetoric
Youth violence
Cultural critique
Policy and sexuality
Media and youth
Academic review
Public discourse
Gender and youth
Sexuality politics
Youth representation
Research and sexualization
Rhetorical lament
Young people and media
Sexualization
Lamenting sexualization
Journal: Sex Education
• August 2011
This special issue has grown out of a small British Academy-funded project in the United Kingdom that ran from 2008 to 2010 and aimed to examine ways of developing research on young people’s sexual cu...
Youth sexual culture
Media and sexuality
Sexually explicit media
Sexual artefacts
Digital intimacy
Media saturation
Technology and sexuality
Sex education
Sexual identity
Sexual norms
Gender and sexuality
Youth relationships
Cultural studies
Media influence
Sexual behaviour
Representation of sex
Kink
Fantasy
Sexual agency
Media regulation
Uk youth sexuality
Sex and technology
Journal: New Views on Pornography: Sexuality, Politics, and the Law
• April 2015
As Henry Jenkins has argued, we know less about the audiences of pornog-
raphy than “probably any other genre of popular entertainment.”1 Indeed,
what little we do know often comes from representati...
Porn consumption
Porn audiences
Porn addiction
Media representation
Cyberporn
Pornography stigma
Sexual media
Porn stereotypes
Male viewership
Porn myths
Porn harm
Porn research
Deviant sexuality
Porn impact
Porn and youth
Porn studies
Sexuality
Politics
Journal: Queer Sex Work
• April 2015
A small but important niche, queer porn has grown out of initiatives like the Porn Film Festival Berlin in Europe, the Canadian Feminist Porn Awards and productions by American-based filmmakers such a...
Queer porn
Queering porn audiences
Porn film festival berlin
Canadian feminist porn awards
Shine louise houston
Courtney trouble
Madison young
Representation
Politics
Normative sexual identities
Stereotyping
Desire and pleasure
Collaboration
“rhetoric of artificiality”
Mainstream pornography
Florian cramer
Queer sexualities
Alternative pornographies
Feminist porn
Sexual expression
Political valence
Queer pornography
Journal: University of Sunderland
• April 2014
As we finished the final edit of this chapter, UK television channel C4 kicked off its
autumn season with a documentary ‘Porn on the Brain’ (TX: 30.09.2013: 22.00) which
purported to investigate how...
Teenage sexuality
Youth and pornography
Digital media
Internet culture
Pornography consumption
Adolescent behavior
Moral panic
Media sensationalism
Media effects
Public health narratives
Brain development
Porn addiction discourse
Neuroscience and media
Sexual development
Sex education
Media literacy
Sexual culture
Fantasy
Masturbation
Sex
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