The Sexual Workshop: A Technology and Phenomenology of Internet Porn

This thesis is an attempt to develop a synthetic philosophical analysis that will shed light on the meanings of online pornography for contemporary masculinity, set against the background of longstanding feminist debate about the nature and role of pornography in contemporary societies, and borrowing strongly from ideas found in Heidegger's writing on technology and Dasein, as well as Marcuse's analysis of eros. I argue that the “others” of our erotic fantasies are replacing the humans we are closest to, as we ourselves are being transformed into “others” by the technologies that surround us. This view is in contrast with much of the discourse on sexuality up to the present day, a discourse that is strongly influenced by a subject-object dualistic framework strongly influenced by Freud. I suggest that often self-produced, interactive pornography, is emerging as a new kind of “incitement mechanism” in regards to human sexuality. Yet, interactive pornography is still at an early stage of development and its future is far from clear. It might potentially open up alternative, potentially liberating, modes of sexual experience, or simply reproduce existing forms of masculine oppression.