Samira van Bohemen is a cultural sociologist. She researches sexuality, especially among young people. For example, she has researched what young people consider good sex. Van Bohemen is part of the Erasmus Love Lab, a research lab that conducts research on love, sexuality and intimate relationships.
Why did you choose to research online pornography?
“It started with the idea of exploring the social side of sex and sexual desire. I believe we can do this by studying pornography, because porn makes the social side of sex very explicit. It has clear categories, both in its characters and genres.
“Besides, pornography is a popular medium. If we look at the three most popular porn sites in the world, we know that more than half a million people watch it every minute. So we’re talking about millions of viewers a day and billions a year. It’s very popular, but we still don’t know much about it.”
What do you mean that pornography makes the social side of sex explicit? Is that because it is not real sex, it’s staged?
“It’s because it’s very explicit in everything: the titles, the ideas about gender relations, ethnicity and race. Things that people are much more implicit about in their daily lives are made explicit in pornography.”
So pornography acts as a microscope on society?
“It can indeed be a bit of a microscope for what is happening more broadly in society, because people also find things attractive based on what they’ve learned in their social circle. On the other hand, what you see in pornography is not necessarily what people want in their daily lives. We still see it as a different sphere, but then again, it can help us learn more about the social side of sex and desire.”
What are stereotypes in online pornography?
“Stereotypes of gender, for example, that women are submissive or always available for sex and that men are dominant. There are also stereotypes about race and ethnicity.”
But those stereotypes also apply in real life.
“Exactly. The narrative in pornography also comes from a broader context in society and history, like colonialism. That’s why we still have some of these stereotypes, like exotic Asian women or the Black men with high libido or large genitalia. These stereotypes stem from a long history of social inequality.”
How do you conduct the research?
“First, we work with a software engineer to find out what social stereotypes are popular: what do people like to watch or what do they look for, and does this change over time? The second part is a survey to find out if people from different social backgrounds actually enjoy different types of stereotypes. And for the third part, we will interview young people aged 16 to 25 about their viewing behaviour, stereotypes they encounter and how this relates to their sexual developments.”
You work with a software engineer, so you don’t have to watch porn?
“I do have to watch some porn in which there are popular stereotypes according to the metadata. I will continue to look at and analyse those stereotypes.”
As a cultural sociologist, how do you view pornography?
“I wouldn’t say it’s necessarily negative. You will probably get a different answer if you ask a psychiatrist who helps porn addicts. But I think we have to admit that it can be pleasurable. That’s why I want to know how this pleasure relates to stereotypes and what implications that has for people’s sexuality and for society in general. I think that is something that still needs to be researched.”
