"O Canada": Recognizing Gay Pornography as a Part of Canadian Culture

In 2014, the CRTC warned three adult channels to conform to Canadian content regulations. The general response by op-ed writers and bloggers surrounding this issue was one of trivialization. These writers believed and argued the CRTC was wasting its time, as well as taxpayers’ money, enforcing Canadian content regulations in pornography — a product thought to have no redeeming social or cultural value. However, this capstone takes a different stance on the issue, arguing pornography and its industry as a product and business like any other with cultural and economic implications in Canada and the rest of the world that must be taken seriously. This paper argues that Canadian-produced gay pornography not only fits the Canadian government’s definition of a cultural product, but also the CRTC’s criteria for a Canadian product. In the end, this capstone argues gay pornography as a part of Canadian culture worth studying and critiquing like any other mediated text.