Dr. Gail Dines, Professor of Sociology and Women’s Studies at Wheelock College, graced the Boston College campus with her vibrant presence this past Monday, October 17th. Her talk, entitled “Navigating Sexual Identity & Body Image in a Digitized Porn Culture,” was based off of her book, Pornland: How Porn Has Hijacked Our Sexuality. Dr. Dines was funny, witty, and engaging with her audience to foster a refreshing and collaborative environment around a topic that audience members could initially view as taboo.

In just over an hour, Dr. Dines covered everything from the “glaring whiteness” of women in media, the porn culture, health effects of pornography, the future of the porn industry, and much more. She described some of the downfalls of pornography, including that it is affordable, anonymous, and accessible to everyone, even adolescents and children. Dr. Dines stated that children as young as 11 years old are being taught unhealthy misconceptions about sex, and this can negatively affect their relationships as they get older. Dr. Dines also discussed how watching pornography is an addiction for many people - it even releases more dopamine than many hard drugs. 

While Dr. Dines discussed the power of the porn industry, she made it clear that there is still much work to be done. Her own program called Culture Reframed is working to address some of the negative consequences of pornography, viewing it as a public health crisis of the digital age.

The Women’s and Gender Studies Program would like to thank all attendees at the talk and, of course, Dr. Gail Dines for giving an incredible presentation. Look out for more speakers coming to BC in the following newsletters!