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Pornographic studies require an evocative sense of the carnal power and appeal of sexualized images and sounds to properly understand their effect on bodies and media technologies. Scholarly projects exploring this aspect of pornography range widely in their goals and stakes from hermeneutic tendencies to strident critique; but all share an attempt at capturing some of this sensational affective intensity in textual form.

Close reading, watching and listening practices such as those employed in pornography scholarship present unique challenges to critical practice. Following Barthes, this approach may involve seeking bodily affectation through study of pornographic objects – creating the effect of studying them like pastiche. At the same time, these studies can also invoke doubt about critic’s point of entry – creating closeness that threatens critical distancing strategies – thus prompting further closeness that threatens critical practice itself.