The Politics of Amateurism in Online Pornography
Abstract
The histories of both photography and pornography are intertwined with a belief that the realities of bodies and sex can be captured by media and a deep suspicion of the falsity and fakery of image-making. This chapter talks about the amateur in relation to online pornography and considers how the rise of the amateur and the public display of sexual imagery impacts on established ideas about seeing and being seen. It discusses the debates around whether the amateur is representative of a new democratisation of sexually explicit photography, and also considers how amateur photography and what has been called the pornification of mainstream culture might be understood within a broader culture of public visibility. The popularity of amateur style and performance has meant that amateurism has become important to the adult entertainment industries. Koskela argues that the crucial thing about image-making is agency; how able people are to control how and where they are photographed and how their images are circulated.