Justin Kalinay WGS 640: Understanding the Pornographic and the Obscene Profs. Leonard, Caviness, Barr The Authentic Semiotics of Porn The interview is, in my opinion, one of the most difficult forms of social analysis, as there are many different mediums and variations on how one can express ideas, emotions, and subconscious, gut reactions. 1 The topic of the pornographic in particular seems to lead to a Foucauldian “incitement of discourse;” everyone has something to say, and they tend to have some strong, personal affect (be it a memory, a feeling of support or disgust, or a weighty ambivalence) to the subject. I interviewed three of my peers for this assignment, with my questions (attached) geared towards understanding how my interviewees: defined pornography; interacted with pornography; and how they constructed pornography both personally and sociopolitically (if there was any differentiation). Generally, I found agreement between all three of my collaborators on many of these questions, placing pornography as a taboo subject socially but one with often humorous personal affiliations and the potential for both education and radical, subversive change to contemporary U.S. sexual politics. Below I will first list the demographics of my participants, then offer a synopsized version of my findings through thematic analysis before drawing some conclusions on pornography and broaching avenues for further research. Demographics/Methodology: All three of my interviewees identified as female and as sexually active. Beth is a 30 year old Preschool teacher who identifies herself as queer. She has a Master’s in education, a teaching certificate, and is working on a degree in finance. Bessie is 25 years old, heteroflexible, and also works as a Preschool teacher. She has a Master’s in social work and a teaching certificate. Liz is 1 For a description of the interview as an anthropological method, see Mary Kay Gee and Charlotte Ullman’s Teacher/Ethnographer in the Workplace (1998) and Robert Emerson’s Contemporary Field Research (2001). 1