A1 Refereed original research article in a scientific journal
Glimmers of the forbidden fruit – Reminiscing pornography, conceptualizing the archive
Subtitle: Reminiscing pornography, conceptualizing the archive
Authors: Katariina Kyrölä, Susanna Paasonen
Publisher: Sage
Publication year: 2016
Journal: International Journal of Cultural Studies
Journal acronym: IJCS
Volume: 19
Issue: 6
First page : 595
Last page: 610
Number of pages: 16
ISSN: 1367-8779
eISSN: 1460-356X
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/1367877915580625
Web address : http://ics.sagepub.com/content/early/2015/05/11/1367877915580625
Abstract
The article explores theoretical and methodological understandings of the archive, drawing
on a research project that investigates reminiscences of using and encountering pornography
in Finland. The contributors’ reminiscences of what they have done with porn can be seen as
forming an archive of feelings, which sheds light on attachments and practices often considered
ephemeral and hidden, and focuses attention on the queer significance of those practices. We
further consider the blurred boundaries between an archive, a collection and a stash in terms of
their secrecy, publicness and affective intensity. Finally, we propose that the notion of somatic
archives allows for analysis of how encounters with pornography layer through time in our
bodies, contributing to forms of sexual knowledge. The article thus examines interconnections
between memory work archives, personal porn stashes and somatic archives while analysing
the importance and power of pornography in and for everyday life, sexual histories and cultural
memory.
The article explores theoretical and methodological understandings of the archive, drawing
on a research project that investigates reminiscences of using and encountering pornography
in Finland. The contributors’ reminiscences of what they have done with porn can be seen as
forming an archive of feelings, which sheds light on attachments and practices often considered
ephemeral and hidden, and focuses attention on the queer significance of those practices. We
further consider the blurred boundaries between an archive, a collection and a stash in terms of
their secrecy, publicness and affective intensity. Finally, we propose that the notion of somatic
archives allows for analysis of how encounters with pornography layer through time in our
bodies, contributing to forms of sexual knowledge. The article thus examines interconnections
between memory work archives, personal porn stashes and somatic archives while analysing
the importance and power of pornography in and for everyday life, sexual histories and cultural
memory.
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