“In the past, there were alleys of prostitution, today there are these web windows,” according to Vincenzo Susca, the sociologist from Montpellier.

Vincenzo Susa, sociologist and lecturer-researcher at Paul-Valéry University in Montpellier. Giovanna Landi

In order to understand why adult content platforms are so popular, Vincenzo Susca, sociologist and lecturer-researcher at Paul-Valéry University in Montpellier, analyzes the change in individual behavior and the vision of pornography in society. Interview.

Since the Covid-19 pandemic, adult content platforms have been increasingly used. How can we explain this phenomenon? ? Has the health crisis really had an impact? ?

The health crisis has accelerated and radicalized a condition: a series of processes that had already been underway for a long time, particularly with regard to the mediatization of existence. That is to say, the media had already been becoming, for a long time, another landscape and language. This condition involves a broad series of dynamic behaviors and processes of daily life from romantic relationships to sex, culture, etc. So yes, there has been a real impact.

By multiplying online content, does the individual want to expose his body more? ? What are he looking for? ?

On the one hand, the mediatization of the world of existence implies a dematerialization of the body. That is to say, the body goes through a digital mutation that modifies its flesh, what I call electronic flesh. Consequently, the body feels the need to experience sensitivity and sensuality. And so what it loses in terms of flesh-bone relationship, it seeks in digital corporeality. This is that of sex, that of violence, of the mystical, of new religions… The staging of the body also implies a certain form of renunciation of oneself, of the fact that one is autonomous in the management of the body but also that it truly belongs to us. When we put it online, we realize that it no longer really belongs to us.

It may be a need to give one's body online. Offering one's body online, in exchange for affection, reciprocity, love, likes, sometimes money, is a return to communion but in a very pagan way. The pandemic has in some way pushed us to reconnect through this gift.

Eroticism and pornography have often been associated with lust, notions that remain taboo. Are we witnessing a loss of inhibition in society? ?

We are talking about going beyond pornography into porn culture. Porn becomes culture. It permeates digital connections, daily life, advertisements, politics, sports, art… This is what I address in my book Pornnoculture – Voyage au bout de la chair* co-written with Claudia Attimonelli. The development of the web in the 2000s implies the end of the imaginary, of the transgression linked to eroticism and sex. Porn culture is the fact that the staging of the body, outrageous sexuality concerns everyone like adolescents, the elderly or even minorities.

Porn consists of putting at the center of the scene a carnal, erotic link, where pleasure, ecstasy and enjoyment are completely uninhibited.

Today, lust is no longer considered a sin, it has become a pleasure displayed and playful. Just go to rue de la Loge or place Saint Come in Montpellier, you can find the erotic shops Passage du désir and Lilou plaisir, to find these cool and festive codes, in a totally uninhibited way.

Platforms are sometimes the antechamber of prostitution. According to you, they represent a danger or a space of expression for individuals ?

They are both things at the same time. These platforms are the new public space in its lewd, dark and sensual dimension. In the past, there were the alleys of prostitution, today there are these web showcases. We must see prostitution in a more general way, it is not simply the sexual service for a salary, it is rather the fact of giving oneself to the other, of seducing and being seduced. It is a service that modifies social relations in some way.

It is no longer an area reserved for prostitution. It goes well beyond the economic question. Even if we have the impression that it is linked to an economic exchange, the true nature of this widespread prostitution is not just for money, we notice it in particular with the photos on Instagram.

OnlyFans and MYM are a continuation of X (ex-Twitter) and Instagram. These platforms are almost the ultimate truth of these social networks devoid of everything else. This is where we put other types of content in parentheses, there is only the body. This is a real new territory of space: a real slaughterhouse of humanism.

* Pornoculture – Voyage au bout de la chair. 2017. Vincenzo Susca and Claudia Attimonelli. Éditions Liber. I subscribe to read the rest