Polysemy and Porn
The many meanings contained within a hentai gif
A big problem with doing feminist media criticism1 of visual porn is that most visual porn is intensely polysemic: that is, it has many different meanings which are equally justified in the text.
A picture of a cat putting his head into a tea cup really has only one textually justified interpretation: “Aww! How cute!” Even if you happen to prefer snakes and are indifferent to the beauty of anything with fur, it’s clear that the expected audience is supposed to coo over the adorableness of kitties.
Porn is not like this.
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