The Centre for International Communication Research (CICR) the Media
Industries Research Centre (MIRC) and the Institute of Communications
Studies at the University of Leeds are inviting you to a conference on

Porn Cultures: Regulation, Political Economy, and Technology
Monday 15th and Tuesday 16th of June in Leeds.

The pornography industry is an under-researched culture industry. Its links
to mainstream media and to the sex industry are intensifying. The
mainstreaming of certain aspects of the industry in global popular culture
raises questions about the adequacy, efficiency or appropriateness of
existing policy. Other aspects of the industry, such as its labour
conditions, its geographies of production and consumption practices
associated with it have largely fallen under the radar of scholarly
analysis, while much more attention has been paid to the potential for
emancipatory uses of aspects of sexually explicit cultural expression.
Meanwhile, technological aspects of the industry’s operation are challenging
our assumptions about ‘choice’ ‘privacy’ and ‘freedom’. With the
proliferation of the pornographic product embedded in everyday life now more
than ever before existing and new questions require our urgent attention
about human rights, migrants, workers and communication rights, media
literacy, media ecology and the public sphere, global production and
consumption cultures as well as underlying politics of gender, class and
‘race’. 
This conference aims to bring together scholars, policymakers and activists
to discuss the global pornography complex. It is the second of two
conferences organised within the British Academy funded project
Socialisation of the global sexually explicit imagery: challenges to
regulation and research. The project has given birth to an international
Porn Cultures and Policy Network, which involves scholars from a number of
countries, engaged in comparative studies with an emphasis on policy. We are
inviting colleagues to take part in this debate and colleagues who would be
interested in working with the existing network to join us. Information on
this and our first conference can be found on http://sgsei.wordpress.com.
Please send your 200 word abstract, along with a 50-word bio and contact
details to Steven McDermott ([log in to unmask]) by March 15th or earlier. 

There will be a small fee to cover catering and room facilities. Please let
us know if you require an earlier decision regarding your paper. If you
would like to discuss a panel/round-table proposal and /or your paper please
contact Katharine Sarikakis ([log in to unmask]).

 Speakers include 
Prof Alison Beale
Co-Director, Centre for Policy Studies on Culture and Communities, Simon
Fraser University Vancouver
Julie Bindel, POPPY Project
Dr Karen Boyle, Glasgow University
Dr Marcus Breen, Northeastern University Boston 
Prof Gail Dines, Professor of American Studies, Wheelock College Boston
Elizabeth Law, UK Board Member, European Women’s Lobby
Dr Stephen Maddison, University of East London
Dr Valentina Marinescu, University of Bucharest Romania
Prof Clare McGlynn, Deputy Head of Law School, Durham Law School, Durham
University
Murray Perkins, Senior Examiner (18 and R18 Categories) British Board of
Film Classification
Prof Julian Petley, Brunel University
Prof Karen Ross, Liverpool University 
Dr Rebecca Sullivan, University of Calgary 
Dr Liza Tsaliki, University of Athens
Prof Ian Walden, Acting Chair of Internet Watch Foundation, Institute of
Computer and Communications Law Centre for Commercial Law Studies Queen
Mary, University of London
Dr Rebecca Whisnant, University of Dayton