Middlesex University Research Repository An open access repository of Middlesex University research http://eprints.mdx.ac.uk Macleod, Patricia (2018) Conscionable consumption: a feminist grounded theory of porn consumer ethics. PhD thesis, Middlesex University. [Thesis] Final accepted version (with author’s formatting) This version is available at: https://eprints.mdx.ac.uk/25930/ Copyright: Middlesex University Research Repository makes the University’s research available electronically. Copyright and moral rights to this work are retained by the author and/or other copyright owners unless otherwise stated. The work is supplied on the understanding that any use for commercial gain is strictly forbidden. A copy may be downloaded for personal, non-commercial, research or study without prior permission and without charge. 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See also repository copyright: re-use policy: http://eprints.mdx.ac.uk/policies.html#copy Conscionable Consumption: A Feminist Grounded Theory of Porn Consumer Ethics Patricia Jean Annand Macleod, BA Hons. (Dunelm), MA M00505367 A thesis submitted to Middlesex University in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Faculty of Arts and Creative Industries, Department of Media September 2018 1 Abstract Much scholarship on pornography consumption has revolved around porn harms or porn empowerment discourses. Moving away from pro- and anti-porn agendas, the research presented in this thesis was designed as an exploratory, qualitative investigation of consumer experiences of pornography, using grounded theory in an effort to transcend the polarised porn debates. By means of a two-stage data collection process involving an online group activity and in-depth interviews, this research set out to extend our understanding of how feminists experience, understand and articulate their engagements with porn. Grounded theory’s focus on iterative data collection, structured analysis and inductive theory development lent itself to several key aims for this project: (a) eschewing, as far as possible, commonly-held assumptions about the research topic and research subjects; (b) resisting agenda-driven frameworks that seek to validate pro- or anti-porn stances; and (c) allowing for the voices of porn consumers themselves to be heard and taken seriously, in a way that hasn’t tended to be prioritised in pornography effects research or the public arena more widely (Mowlabocus and Wood 2015: 119). The iterative approach to data collection advocated by grounded theory also enabled participants to take a more agentive role in determining the direction of the research. As a result, certain elements of the project took unforeseen trajectories, shedding light on additional substantive areas for inquiry beyond those initially intended. Namely, the study provided key insights into the interaction between ethics and practice in porn consumption amongst London feminists. This gave rise to the development of the 'conscionable consumption' model; a theoretical framework for conceptualising the experiences and processes described. Results indicated that feminists’ experiences of porn consumption were heavily influenced by their beliefs about what constituted ‘ethical enough’ (conscionable). These were accompanied by contemplative moments, whose nature tended to correlate with the degree to which the individual felt they had strayed from their own conceptions of conscionable practice, and the degree to which these decisions could be justified or dismissed afterwards. Respondents described an interactive relationship between such reflections and future intentions and/or attitudes, illustrating a cycle of evolving and adapting behaviour complemented by fluctuating definitions of conscionability. In this 2 way, rather than referring to an achieved or failed ‘ethical consumer’ status, the porn ethics project was conceptualised as an ongoing process of ‘conscionable’ negotiation. Such findings enhance our understanding of the ways in which ethics and porn use are woven together and navigated by feminist consumers of pornography, whilst simultaneously extending our knowledge of a demographic hitherto unexplored within both the fields of porn studies and consumer ethics research alike. Keywords: feminism, pornography, consumer ethics, conscionable consumption 3 Acknowledgements To the truly wonderful people who have held my hand – both literally and metaphorically – as I wrote this beast. The parental ones, supervisory ones, examining ones, study- buddying one, dancing one, one that always cheats, one with the mad-half-hours, anoraky one, gobby one, and my most important one. You are irreplaceable. My gift to you: permission to stop reading after the acknowledgements. You’re welcome. 4 Contents Abstract ___________________________________________ 2 Acknowledgements __________________________________ 4 Contents ___________________________________________ 5 1. Introduction ______________________________________ 8 Foundations ______________________________________________ 9 2. Project Scoping: Literature Review ___________________ 13 Porn Audience Research ___________________________________ 14 Seed Concepts____________________________________________ 17 a. Definitions of ‘pornography’ _________________________________ 17 Content-Based Understandings ______________________________ 19 Context-Based Understandings _______________________________ 22 Construct-Based Understandings _____________________________ 23 A working definition of pornography __________________________ 26 b. Definitions of feminism _____________________________________ 27 Naturalising Approaches ____________________________________ 27 Psychoanalytic Approaches __________________________________ 28 Materialist Approaches _____________________________________ 29 Post-Structural and Constructivist Approaches __________________ 29 Intersectional Approaches and Black Feminism __________________ 30 Postcolonial Approaches ____________________________________ 31 Defining ‘Feminist’ Audiences ________________________________ 32 c. The Feminist Porn Wars ____________________________________ 32 Anti-porn perspectives _____________________________________ 33 Pro-porn perspectives ______________________________________ 34 Porn-critical perspectives ___________________________________ 34 Resisting a singular feminist porn position ______________________ 35 Concluding Remarks _______________________________________ 36 3. Methodology ____________________________________ 37 Methodological Approach __________________________________ 37 Ontological and Epistemological Framework ___________________ 39 Philosophical-Methodological Negotiations ____________________ 41 Grounded Theory in Practice ________________________________ 44 Methods ________________________________________________ 49 Participants and Recruitment __________________________________ 50 Fieldwork Stage 1 – Online Group Ideation Activity _________________ 52 Demographic Survey _________________________________________ 56 Fieldwork Stage 2 – In-Depth Interviews _________________________ 57 Analysis _________________________________________________ 62 Ethics ___________________________________________________ 66 Concluding Remarks _______________________________________ 67 4. The Conscionable Consumption Model ________________ 68 Consumer Ethics and the Ethical Consumption Gap ______________ 70 5 Philosophical Approaches _____________________________________ 72 Methodological Critiques _____________________________________ 75 Social-/Psychological Approaches: Cognitive Modelling _____________ 78 Theoretical Framework ____________________________________ 85 5. Core Category i: Influences _________________________ 93 Context and Conditions (562 references) ______________________ 93 Financial conditions__________________________________________ 95 Physio-affective conditions ____________________________________ 96 Social and familial conditions __________________________________ 98 Cultural and historical context ________________________________ 101 Politico-economic context ___________________________________ 104 Knowledge and information (123 references) __________________ 106 Tastes (105 references) ___________________________________ 109 Attitudes and beliefs (1618 references) ______________________ 115 Attitudes towards ethical consumption: ________________________ 115 Politico-economic beliefs: ____________________________________ 119 Feminist beliefs ____________________________________________ 122 Beliefs about porn __________________________________________