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An eye-opening and somewhat frightening non-fiction book that explores women’s experience of watching porn and how porn has affected relationships in their lives. The book is divided into chapters which keys in on a particular viewpoint that highlights wider issues in society. For instance how porn can be positive for women who’ve been repressed and a safe place for them to explore their sexuality and what they like especially if they come from a religious background where sex isn’t spoken about or if their sexuality is still a taboo. However porn has its downsides too which is explored in other chapters like how often anyone can upload homemade videos onto Pornhub and sometimes even nonconsensual videos get posted where it’s clear that the woman is being raped or how easily available increasingly violent videos are getting which is providing “excuses” and sometimes shaping young men into becoming violent. It’s frightening! The chapter about how porn will come into virtual reality (VR) technology and used to further commodify sex is scary. This is just the tip of the iceberg, the book explores a lot more issues that are topical. There’s lots of interviews with women from diverse backgrounds and it’s clear the author has really researched the topic and looked into the capitalism side of porn. A chilling but necessary book, that I highly recommend if you’re looking for thought provoking nonfiction.
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The author of this book interviewed 100 women and essentially wrote a book on the different outlooks when it comes to porn. It was really interesting and informative, especially coming from a privileged and western country with no religious affiliations, it was interesting to read that side of it. Of course there is a darker side to porn and its effects we are all used to speaking about, but there were a few opinions and thought pieces here that really made me think and will stay with me. Really good.
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You didn’t expect that choice of book, did you? You didn’t expect anyone talking about it? That’s exactly why we are doing it. And also why it was written in the first place.
Women on Porn: One Hundred Stories. One Vital Conversation.
The fact that Vera-Gray hoped to get a few women’s testimonies and got hundreds of responses, out of which she chose hundred for in-depth interviews, shows that there is something to talk about.
When you think of porn, you almost want to start humming James Brown’s This is a Man’s World. But it’s not. And actually, if you listen to the lyrics, you will find it goes on with “but it wouldn’t be noting without a woman or a girl”. Quite fitting I would say.
In this book, Vera-Gray looks at the porn industry, how women are represented in it, how we navigate it, how it’s labelled (is women’s porn for women, by women, or with women in it? And if it is for us, is that what we want?), what attracts us to it and what repulses us (yes, that’s definitely the word).
And while it’s an interesting start, in my opinion that’s only the beginning. The real conversation is listening to the 100 women talk about their experiences and notice how little we talk about things. While women are generally known to share and chat, porn is not part of the conversation.
Actually, you will find parallels between your experiences and these women, be it the first time you were exposed to it, with friends or by coming across something at home, your reaction, the feelings upon seeing it. Even the decades are very different, between women who grew up with the internet and those who found books on their parents’ bookshelves – somewhere in there, something will resonate with you.
But there’s also very obvious issues in the industry: Violence is an entire chapter of its own and a recurring topic is how women are treated and portrayed on mainstream sites aimed mostly at men, but also showing unrealistic expectations of sex, which some generations grow up with as their only example of what it should be.
It’s not a feel-good beach reach, but it’s a book I recommend you to read, even in a few sittings. Full disclosure: I skipped a few pages within the violence chapter because it wasn’t for me, and I had read enough for the point to get across. So it won’t always be comfortable, but it’s a conversation we need to have. Not only to notice that we are not alone in those feelings and experiences, but also to have an awareness of how others feel or use it. As a survey showed, parents are unaware of how old their children are when they first come across it (girls in particular, of course) and therefore can’t react.
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Really enjoyed this book, found it super insightful and a topic in which should not be taboo, yet here we are. Some of the experiences in the book I could relate too but also makes me cautious of how I approach topics like this with the next generation. It didn't feel rushed, the writing was great and it flowed from story to story between each person very easily.
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I thought this was quite an interesting read. I don't have anything really intelligent to say about it aside from the fact that I liked how this book was structured and enjoyed seeing so many different perspectives. A short and insightful read.
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Women on Porn by Dr. Fiona Vera Gray delves into some of the most difficult questions about what pornography means in the context of women's lives. Through the book, Dr. Grey presents us with insights into the contradictions, inconsistencies, and complexities involved in how women perceive and consume porn. She uses anecdotal evidence based on interviews with over 100 women across the spectrum of race, religion, and age. This book helped me understand how women's sexuality, desires, and body image are not only shaped by popular media but also by pornography.
Although the book deals with an intense and difficult subject, I found it surprisingly easy to read. Dr.Gray has presented her data, inferences, and conclusions without using heavy academic jargon, which is quite common in many research-based books. But it was hard to get through some of the chapters. This was not because of the language, but the subject of the chapter. For example, the part about how porn validates sexual violence tendencies in a lot of men. Or how porn helps or dissuades victims of sexual violence to get back to intimacy. Dr. Gray gives us perspectives on porn from several different viewpoints. For instance, some women feel sex positivity is the same as toxic positivity which puts undue pressure to appear too cool about sex. Meanwhile, for some other women, sex positivity is what helped to earn more about their desires.
To conclude, I think everyone must read this book, teens as well as adults. The only problem I have with the book is that it is limited to a sample space of heteronormative and able-bodied individuals. Expanding the scope of the book to make it more intersectional and inclusive would have really helped to learn about the sexual experiences of everyone who identifies as a woman. I think this would have made the book truly complete.
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Such an interesting read.
Really thought provoking.
Loved the layout and how fluid the book was. She managed to keep the conversation interesting whilst getting multiple perspectives on topics. I really appreciated the fact that it was not just a pro porn conversation but included lots of perspectives and differing opinions.
Fully recommend, haven’t stopped talking about it since I started page 1.
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Thank you Netgalley for this ARC!
I enjoyed reading this book and may even be waiting for the hard copy so I can share it to friends and own one!
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An interesting and frankly eye-opening book on a topic considered taboo/controversial, from a neutral perspective that reveals the pros, the cons, and perhaps most importantly give voice to women in relation to porn's role and expectations in society, something which is arguably been long needed, as it broaches really difficult subtopics within porn such as sexual violence.
As for who the book is for at times it feels more accessible than at others, but overall it should be a relatively easy read to those without an academic background.
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A good read and much needed conversation about a topic that gets shadowed enough. Refreshing take to ask the women about their opinions.
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Fiona Vera-Gray's research and documentation in Women on Porn is a fascinating and often eye-opening conversation on a topic that is still considered taboo. By interviewing 100 women of different ages and nationalities, the resulting study highlights the pros and cons of viewing porn, how it is still primarily treated as a tool for cishet men, how alternative realities from the mainstream are empowering women and queers, and whether porn's virtual future is a dangerous one or optimistic. This can be a particularly important book for people that are not too familiar with its subject, and the writing is consistently tactful and mindful, which keeps it from ever getting too gross or explicit.
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really a good read - a space to hear all these voices was so needed, and resonated with me so much. highly recommend for anyone who wants to know more on this topic, of women's voices on porn.
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Based on social research and interviews conducted with a hundred women, Dr Fiona Vera-Grey discusses themes about how women use porn to discover their own bodies, process their own personal experiences, and discover male expectations of them. Using the interviews as reference points as opposed to transcripts, the author uses real life experiences to draw out and explore different areas of impact.
I thought this book was really well-written and Dr Vera-Grey’s clever use of statistics, media coverage and personal experiences creates a cleverly balanced narrative on porn’s role in society. Women on Porn is a fascinating insight into what porn means for women as active and non-active participants.
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This is an interesting and in depth exploration of a fascinating topic and I especially enjoyed the analysis of how technology has impacted both the industry and the people who access it. Some of the case studies are a bit repetitive but overall this is insightful and balanced.
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One of the last taboos... insightful, provocative and relatable (yes it is!).
Whatever your experience with the subject matter, there will be someone or something here that you can relate to. And if you feel there isn't... well then this is clearly an education waiting for you. It's not graphic but it is honest, and it is a subject that is so, so important.
As a parent of a now 13-year-old, this is a subject that I've had to broach already. And one I'm sure I'll need to broach again from the female perspective.
This gave a lot of examples of women in every age range and demographic and their experiences with pornography, from first becoming aware of it to its varied uses in their lives, or not at all and the positives and negatives it has brought.
The author easily moves from one story to another, it is smooth and well-connected, with a lot of detail on the industry and how things have changed, what problems there are, and for both anyone interested in the sociological side of this as well as parents like me who are trying to navigate the sticky (sorry - pun was not intended there) subject - this is illuminating, sobering and well worth reading.
With thanks to Netgalley for providing a sample reading copy.
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Going into Women On Porn. I was expecting something akin to Polly Barton's Porn: An Oral History. Although based on interviews, Vera-Gray's book isn't that but it is a comprehensive, wide-ranging, and incredibly interested look at porn in the modern day through the experiences of women. I particularly appreciated the studies and evidence used to back up or expand on points made by the women interviewed. I did however feel it would have been useful to have some kind of list of the women and demographics covered, because with their quotes threaded into the broader, slightly academic discussion, it was easy to forget who they were. Also, despite mentioning her efforts to speak to as diverse a range of women as possible, I did feel the pool of interviewees was slightly limited. Ultimately, this is a very readable and engaging addition to the growing literature aimed at the general reader on such a taboo subject.
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💫 Book Review 💫
Women on Porn by Dr Fiona Vera-Gray
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Publication date: 08 February 2024
This book is a study made up of interviews of 100 women and their experiences of porn. It took me right back to my uni days of studying sociology at university and I loved it. One of my favourite modules with sex and sexuality and this would have been a perfect book for it.
I liked that a wide range of women were interviewed and the author acknowledged that a white women’s experience of porn isn’t going to be the same as asian women. It would have been nice to hear from some trans women too.
The book isn’t written in interview format and instead broken into chapters about pleasure, body image and violence for example and the quotes from the interviews are used to back up the academic argument.
It was nice to hear about real women and Dr Vera-Gray must have had fantastic interviewing skills as some of the women really open up to her.
Thank you to @netgalley, Dr Vera-Gray and Transworld Digital for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.
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Too often, the conversation around the world's oldest art form descend into binary positions. For and against; good and bad. Reality as always runs deeper than this, and the rousing pieces in this collection present a view of pornography; its history and its presence in our lives and culture.
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This was an incredibly well researched and detailed book. Vera-Gray carefully and methodically explains the history of porn, its origins and the future of the genre, all while still making this book accessible and palatable. With interviews from dozens of women ranging in age, sexuality, race, religion and gender identity, this book provides a comprehensive overview of something that so many women are afraid to talk about.
Covering several subtopics within porn, including difficult ones such as rape and sexual violence, Vera-Gray pairs real life experiences with statistics and theory. Other chapters include the impact porn has on young women, society and relationships, and overall covers such a broad topic well. This book takes the society imposed shame away from porn, and exposes the real world behind the often “taboo” concept, laying it bare and breaking it down to its fundamentals.
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I found it interesting that while the research that underpins this book was funded by a Leverhulme post doc fellowship award, the text itself covers some of the same material as the 'popular' and unscholarly [book:Porn: An Oral History|61889842] by [author:Polly Barton|16470058] that came out last year. Vera-Gray is an academic so it does feel as if she's rather pulling her punches in this crossover book: I mean, it's interesting to hear a random sample of 100 women talking on the topic of porn but, numbers aside, that was also what Barton's book did, albeit with her friendship circle only and including men.
There are clear indications that Vera-Gray is knowledgeable about the topic but the scope of this book doesn't allow more that the raising of questions: what does research tell us about the links between porn and sexualised violence? does porn reflect or shape our desires? how do women who work in the sex industry really feel about what they do? what is the future of virtual reality porn given we're already hearing scare stories of women being virtually assaulted and raped in the metaverse? How might porn feed into the sex positive movement? What of attempts to make it less misogynistic and racist?
Porn isn't really a taboo topic in the academe: from feminist and sociological approaches (think Andrea Dworkin, for example) to historicist research into 'pornography' as a literary category, there has been huge interest in the subject taking its lead from second wave feminism. From that perspective it's good to see Vera-Gray move the debate along, even if some of the older questions are still pertinent. She talks about 'pornographies' rather than a single entity, automatically adding nuance to the discussion and making it clear this is not a pejorative approach.
It is, naturally, always interesting to hear women talking about porn - but I think, for me, I'd like to read the next academic book that Vera-Gray writes using the raw material of this one in a more analytical and programmatic way.