Starting in 2020, the University of Exeter will offer its first porn module, the first in the UK. The Humanities department's new module will be introduced as part of the Art History and Visual Culture course.
The module will be taught by Dr João Florêncio, who has warned that explicit materials will be covered in the course. The module guide claims that certain students might find the ‘visual and literary materials of a graphic, controversial and/or of explicit nature’.
According to the module guide, it introduces main theories and debates that surround the production, dissemination and consumption of pornographic images. Such theories will be covered in academic reading that is described as "dense and difficult to read sometimes". The module will cover a range of erotic material, historically-censored films, gay and feminist porn as well as photography.
Dr Florêncio told Exposé, the University of Exeter's student newspaper, that "I am really proud that the University of Exeter will be joining other institutions like UC Berkeley... and become part of only a handful of global universities offering academically-rigorous modules on such an important and widespread genre of contemporary visual culture"
"This new interdisciplinary module aims to give students a better understanding of the history of porn and of its conventions,"
Chuffed to bits that my new undergrad module “Pornography: Bodies, Sex, and Representation” has been accredited and that Exeter will be the first UK University with one such module! Porn literacy matters!
— João Florêncio (@NoisyBits) 13 December 2018
Dr Florêncio has also expressed his excitement for his new accredited module on twitter. He tweeted, "Chuffed to bits that my new undergrad module 'Pornography: Bodies, Sex, and Representation' has been accredited and that Exeter will be the first UK University with one such module! Porn literacy matters!" He also hopes that students will leave the module with a better ability to think critically about the power, desires and pleasures of modern as well as contemporary pornography.
