Activity: Talk or presentation › Invited talk
‘Mediated forms of sex have become more commonplace and commercial sex products, services and representations have become steadily more visible" (Attwood and Smith 2014) In their first issue of the Porn Studies journal, Attwood and Smith (2014) argued that “mediated forms of sex have become more commonplace and commercial sex products, services and representations have become steadily more visible.” Nearly ten years later, in the wake of #MeToo, SESTA/FOSTA, the rise of abortion bans and the Gender Recognition Act Reform, discussions of the role of sex and people’s relationship to sex and sexual practices in our society have a new urgency both in the UK and beyond. In this current climate, the many iterations of media have offered sex and sexuality increasing visibility, providing platforms to construct and express the body and its sexual practices. Yet, the arts and new media forms have also become a ground for a hostile discourse, sanitization and legal censorship towards sex and sexuality. Now we see this complex relationship play out in a way where freedom of sexual expression and complete body autonomy conflict with the policing and regulation of these media forms. Representations of sexual culture within media are now sites of enquiry, highlighting the social, cultural and political contexts that surround it. Sex in Contemporary Media brings together interdisciplinary perspectives on both emerging and ongoing issues surrounding sex and media. The conference will be a free 3-day hybrid event, taking place from the 4 - 6 October 2023. The first two days of the conference will be held on Zoom. The final day will be held as a hybrid event at the University of Warwick, with the opportunity to also join via Zoom.