230482 Allies or Antagonists? Pornography and Sex Education (S) (WiSe 2024/2025)

In this digital age, Internet pornography is only a click away. Accessible anytime, anywhere it is ready to be consumed by minors, too - sometimes against their will. Exposure to pornographic material is a daily reality, while much needed discussion of its contents and responses to these are not. Mainstream pornography's often problematic representations of bodies, genders, skin colors and the sexual act as such are left widely unexplored, and sex education at schools makes no exception. At the same time, pornography is often consumed as sex education, as an easy and straightforward way to learn about sex, and it often makes up for a lack of formal sex education by parents and teachers.
Looking at pornography through the lens of education throws several Issues into sharp relief: what we know about porn, what we are prepared to discuss when it comes to porn, what we know and are taught about sex and who teaches us. This class seeks to discuss these points at length with the help of scholarly research. There will be no explicit materials.