Clarissa Smith

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.