Abstract

After the “digital turn,” expansion of sexual representations has taken shape quantitatively (thanks to the multiplication of production and distribution channels) and qualitatively (giving rise to a plurality of new representational forms). In this context, several social groups – including women and non-normative sexual subcultures – have obtained full citizenship rights within the “pornosphere,” moving beyond their traditional marginalization or, indeed, exclusion. These “nonconventional” pornographies exist in a dialectical relationship with mainstream production in so far as they are at the same time a development and a repudiation of the latter (on an aesthetic, economic and political level). This volume investigates the emergences of alternative pornographies, highlighting their discursive heterogeneity, their cultural status and connections to identities and non-normative practices, and their role in redefining the very idea of pornography. The publication maps the main areas relating to alternative pornographies, such as alt porn, queer pornography, indie porn, post porn, feminist pornography, and amateur porn.