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Sex Is Hard Work

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Bodies of Work

Part of the book series: Dynamics of Virtual Work ((DVW))

Abstract

This chapter signals a shift from considering the ways in which the porn user is embedded in digital forms of productivity to the modes of work undertaken by the porn performer. It asserts the vital connection between these immaterial and material forms of digital labour, understanding dominant trends in contemporary mainstream pornography as profoundly connected to attentional and informational modes of accumulation. This chapter uncovers a fundamental change in the representational rationale of mainstream pornographic film, from a genre concerned with representing sexual pleasure to one concerned with representing bodily labour.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    The female protagonist is initiated eventually into a phallic sexual world where, as the final sex scene demonstrates, her sexual pleasure has become unproblematically aligned with male sexuality, as penetration and blow jobs become the basis of her own sexuality and pleasure.

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Saunders, R. (2020). Sex Is Hard Work. In: Bodies of Work. Dynamics of Virtual Work. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-49016-4_4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-49016-4_4

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  • Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-030-49015-7

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-030-49016-4

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