SANTA BARBARA, Calif. — XBIZ News Editor Gustavo Turner spoke yesterday about the “War on Porn” as part of professor Constance Penley’s film and media studies class on pornography at the University of California, Santa Barbara.
Professor Penley is past chair of UCSB's film and media studies department, founding director of the Carsey-Wolf Center for media research and an acclaimed scholar who has been a pioneer in researching and teaching in the cultural studies field of porn studies.
Her noted four-unit elective class, Topics in Popular Culture: Pornography, in the UCSB film and media studies department, covers three tracks with academic rigor: a history of moving-image pornographies, a survey of methods for studying pornographies and an exploration of the contemporary adult industry and its workers.
In an interview-format presentation moderated by professor Penley’s students, Turner covered current issues of censorship in the U.S. and worldwide, political and legislative topics — including Section 230 and FOSTA/SESTA — sex worker rights, diversity and representation, and the current economics and status of the contemporary adult industry.
Students also asked questions about Turner’s scholarly background, his professional career as a writer and journalist in both mainstream and adult industry media, and his other career as a thriving art photographer.
Professor Penley described Turner’s visit as “stimulating” and said his contextualization of the adult business in the current social, political and cultural landscape was “exactly everything they needed to hear as an introduction to help make the rest of the class make sense.”
“I could not have more admiration for professor Penley — a fellow UC Berkeley alum — and her pioneering work not only in porn studies, but also in feminist film studies, avant garde film, fan culture studies and the study of the impact of audiovisual content in American and world culture in general,” Turner said.
“Her students were well-prepared, curious, open-minded and full of empathy and insight for the often misunderstood and maligned world of adult entertainment,” he added. “In a time of creeping censorship from both self-described conservatives and liberal/progressives, it was heartening to see that — as Pete Townshend sang in a different century — the kids are all right.”