Understanding and Researching Women’s Experiences of Pornography: The Living with Porn(ography) Project

This thesis examines women’s lived experiences of pornography and pornography knowledge making processes. Historically, there has been much discussion about the impact of pornography on women but less research which asks women directly what they think. There are conflicting and polarised discussions around what pornography means for women. In this context making sense of how pornography is routinely experienced and managed in personal lives can be difficult. Additionally, there is no consensus on how to produce knowledge on pornography. There has been significant variation between the concepts and measures used to produce knowledge though this is not always acknowledged. There is a discrepancy between lived experience and empirical knowledge on pornography. This research proposed that if society is to better understand what women’s lived realities of pornography are, there is a necessity to ask women directly about their experiences and develop new methods for doing this.

Using an in-depth, small scale, participatory and collaborative research design, the Living with Porn(ography) Project sought to address this challenge. The research was framed through a feminist, participatory approach informed by Stanley and Wise’s (1993) ‘Fractured Foundationalism’. Working with eight women from the Sheffield area, together we produced knowledge on women’s experiences of pornography over a sustained period of fieldwork. The data we generated show that the women had had diverse experiences and there was no homogenous woman’s experience. A key finding was that this diversity in opinions and experiences was compatible with collective knowledge building, and empathy, understanding and common ground with one another. This highlights possibilities for understanding and reconciliation between the polarised pornography debates. Furthermore, this thesis offers methodological development as it demonstrated that the participatory approach enabled a much deeper understanding of the women’s experiences than would have been possible without a collaborative approach. The women’s experiential expertise was crucial in informing the questions and concepts through which their experiences were explored. The research highlighted the importance of addressing and reenvisaging the concepts, measures and frameworks upon which pornography knowledge is produced. The thesis concludes that this is essential in considering how to bridge the disconnect between lived experience and empirical knowledge.