Date of Award

Fall 12-10-2025

Degree Type

Honors Thesis

Major

Politics

Degree Name

Bachelor of Arts

Department

Political Science

First Advisor

Brian Weiner

Abstract

This research explores the potential effects of generative AI-produced pornographic materials through different feminist schools of thought. With the advent of this technology, nearly every social and industrial arena of life has been affected, including the sex industry. Second wave feminism took on pornography as an issue relevant to the movement and addressed sexual relations as gendered and politicized, making the history of this discourse topical and applicable to this research. As with the intra-movement ideological conflict imbued into the antipornography movement, discourse surrounding sexuality is often distorted by moralism and capitalism entrenched in U.S.-American politics — a pattern perpetuated in discussions around GenAI pornography.

Using a qualitative approach, conducting this research required relying on textual analysis of feminist theory, dividing the pertinent schools of thought into Liberal feminism, Marxist feminism, and radical feminism. The findings of this paper identify Marxist feminism as a particularly effective theoretical framework onto which to apply this research object. By understanding the consequences of GenAI pornography on bodily autonomy as inextricable from a labor dynamic, it is clearer to imagine solutions where harm can be mitigated or prevented.

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