With the ubiquitous presence and accessibility
of online pornography and the gradual yet drastic rise of porn studies as an
interdisciplinary field of investigation, pornography has become a recurrent theme
in media studies, gender studies, sociology, and cultural studies curricula. Existing
literature on pornography and university pedagogy nevertheless makes it evident
that this is not simply a topic among others but a potential source of tension
in the classroom, within the university, with the media and public opinion. Drawing on my own experiences of teaching pornography
in Finnish universities since 2005, this article examines the reasons for
including pornography in the curriculum (the basic question as to “why”) and
the different ways of doing this (the questions as to “how” and “what”). This
pedagogical focus is tied to exploration of both the ethical concerns and
affective dynamics involved in bringing porn to the classroom, namely the
questions of how the affective dynamics of pornographic materials may be
handled and how this translates as, or connects to academic teaching as
affective labor