Scientific studies about human sexuality are becoming more frequent than ever; they get funding because they are, by definition, “sexy,” and because it’s an area of human behavior that we still have much to learn about. But what makes a good sexuality study? To one set of researchers embarking on a new project, it’s one that is “unlike almost all the previous research that has been conducted,” in this case, on pornography. Researchers Clarissa Smith, Feonna Attwood, and Martin Baker, from the University of Sunderland, Sheffield Hallam University, and the University of Aberystwyth, respectively, feel that “In the past, pornography has overwhelmingly been assumed to be a ‘problem’, and the only really important questions to ask about it are – how much do people (and especially children) encounter it, and how great is the ‘harm’ that …
What Does a Good Sexuality Study Look Like?
3