Leiden University Student Repository

Guet-Frapard, Barbara 2021

Powerhub: The sexual discourse produced by Pornhub’s curation

Bachelor thesis | Kunstgeschiedenis (BA)

closed access

This research uses the concepts of discourse and power/knowledge as defined by Michel Foucault to determine what sexual discourse is produced by Pornhub’s curation, through which curatorial...Show moreThis research uses the concepts of discourse and power/knowledge as defined by Michel Foucault to determine what sexual discourse is produced by Pornhub’s curation, through which curatorial features, and by which actors of curation. It establishes Pornhub as a discursive space, in which knowledge is produced, and power relations are at play, demonstrating that the site sets parameters for the curation of online pornographic content, focusing on categories, tags, titles, and thumbnails as key curatorial features. These features are manipulated by three actors: Pornhub which bases its algorithm on them, uploaders who use them when framing their content, and visitors when navigating content. The knowledge produced by these features remains male-dominated and colonial. This sexual discourse is perpetuated because uploaders and Pornhub aim for profit, which depends on visibility and thus visitors. Visitors are led by desire, they internalized the curation and the discourse it produces, and thus rely on the current modes of curation to find content.Show less