And as always, crossposting to Beehiiv here: gwynesmith.beehiiv.com/p/it-almost-...
09.12.2025 06:40
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And as always, crossposting to Beehiiv here: gwynesmith.beehiiv.com/p/it-almost-...
New post - shorter summary of my article in Senses and Society looking at trans identity and smell: drgesmith.substack.com/p/it-almost-...
Had a really wonderful time at Lighting the Academy in TΔmaki Makaurau Auckland last week: so many great speakers, such an enthusiastic audience, and really proud to watch one of my doctoral students give his first conference presentation (on the use of humour by gay men on Chinese social media)
"If women can succeed at it, the logic goes, it must be easy."
Great article from Mark, who spoke with me and several others about the myth that OnlyFans is 'easy money' mashable.com/article/why-...
Thank you so much!
New from me in Porn Studies, discussing the emergence of AI generated porn and explaining why I don't think it's a serious threat to (most) of the sector: www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....
Screenshot of a journal abstract. Title: Pornographic aura, AI and the value of authenticity. Text: The emergence of generative artificial intelligence (AI) tools which can produce images and video from text inputs has prompted questions about the impacts of the technology on the pornography industry. While there has been extensive research into the implications of pornographic deepfakes, work which addresses the impacts of generative AI images and video that do not mimic a specific person is presently limited. Authenticity in pornography refers to multiple concepts, ranging from the depiction of non-simulated acts to the representation of βauthenticβ pleasure. Multiple types of pornographic authenticity add value to a scene and can enhance the viewersβ enjoyment. This article argues that generative AI is unlikely to significantly disrupt the pornography industry, because the material it produces lacks a kind of auratic authenticity which pornography that depicts human subjects does possess, ultimately undermining the pleasure derived by the viewer.
I suggest that conventionally produced porn has a kind of aura even though it can be reproduced, because it represents one specific occurrence of a sexual act/encounter, unlike AI porn which is unmoored in time and space. I also argue that porn has a "ritual value" (jorkin' it)
New article in Porn Studies! Using Benjamin's theory of aura to explain why I don't think the live-action porn industry will be meaningfully replaced by AI porn www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....
Appreciation to the sex workers for talking to me because they knew this was in the public interest.
And I think we need to have a conversation about some of the wider issues here.
Friday afternoon reading, on the mainstreaming of drag (especially interested in the observations here about performers feeling pressured to deliver performances and styles which new audiences will recognise from mainstream media/Drag Race) doi.org/10.1080/0038...
I found this really interesting, especially the detail about reliance on 'whale' clients (and how this might be more pronounced for trans performers) journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10....
i gained 100 new followers since the last time i posted about a new publication and today is finally time to do it again! this time @best.wel.moe and i dig into the $$$ flows on Chaturbate and investigate the links between visibility and income πππ (pls read)
journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10....
Sweden just expanded the Nordic Model, or "End Demand," to the internet. But we already know criminalization, including criminalizing buyers, is harmful policy www.404media.co/sweden-sex-w...
Crossposting here as well, if you aren't using Substack: gwynesmith.beehiiv.com/p/why-do-bro...
Image of a gold tap and velvet headboard, with the title "Why do brothels look like that?"
Wrote a shorter summary of one of my latest articles, looking at how many different things brothel interiors are asked to do: drgesmith.substack.com/p/why-do-bro...
Crossposting here as well, if you aren't using Substack: gwynesmith.beehiiv.com/p/why-do-bro...
Image of a gold tap and velvet headboard, with the title "Why do brothels look like that?"
Wrote a shorter summary of one of my latest articles, looking at how many different things brothel interiors are asked to do: drgesmith.substack.com/p/why-do-bro...
Please donate to bail out sex workers caught in Super Bowl sweeps.
Resharing my new article for the weekend crowd! I'm really enjoying this project and here I'm getting into a bit of the big picture of how trans, nb and gender diverse people experience and use smell and fragrance: www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....
Thank you! It's been such a fun project to work on, I've had such a good time chatting with people about it
Screenshot of the abstract of "Iβve adopted it as my smellβ: transgender identity and the olfactory
Hsu posits that a collection of all the scented items used by an individual, their βself- curated olfactory ambience,β offers βabundant information about their class, their rituals of self-care, and their olfactory presenceβ (Hsu 2019, 25). The participants in this project were acutely attuned to the information offered by their smell, and explained how in many cases they took pains to consider how to use scent as part of the sensory assemblage which would best allow them to manage the point of tension where their internal sense of identity interacted with the rest of the world. As Sione (they/them) put it, trans people βdo almost everything in advance to prepare for that moment of contact with someone who is not trusted, is not known to us.β Sione explained scent was part of how they managed these βmoments of contact,β where they were βhoping that either thereβll be some sort of engagement where . . . I can actually say that this is who I am, and this is how I am addressed.β Scent is transitory and permeable, and it communicates silently,invisibly, bridging space between the self and the other. As Sione points out, it can openup the possibility for productive discussions. Simultaneously, when used thoughtfully, itmight close off the possibility of upsetting interactions by communicating a genderidentity unmistakeably
In 2022/23 I spoke with some trans, nb, and gender diverse people about how they used and felt about smell, and my new article from that project is out, looking especially at identity and smell. www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....
Something interesting I found out was that for many people, smell was important to them realizing they were trans - several people told me about borrowing someone's deodorant and having a kind of "huh..." moment
Something interesting I found out was that for many people, smell was important to them realizing they were trans - several people told me about borrowing someone's deodorant and having a kind of "huh..." moment
I thought about the timing of walking in here saying that I have some interesting things to share about smells given the state of things, but so much of what people told me had care for themselves and from others woven through it, and that is something I want to share now
Screenshot of the abstract of "Iβve adopted it as my smellβ: transgender identity and the olfactory
Hsu posits that a collection of all the scented items used by an individual, their βself- curated olfactory ambience,β offers βabundant information about their class, their rituals of self-care, and their olfactory presenceβ (Hsu 2019, 25). The participants in this project were acutely attuned to the information offered by their smell, and explained how in many cases they took pains to consider how to use scent as part of the sensory assemblage which would best allow them to manage the point of tension where their internal sense of identity interacted with the rest of the world. As Sione (they/them) put it, trans people βdo almost everything in advance to prepare for that moment of contact with someone who is not trusted, is not known to us.β Sione explained scent was part of how they managed these βmoments of contact,β where they were βhoping that either thereβll be some sort of engagement where . . . I can actually say that this is who I am, and this is how I am addressed.β Scent is transitory and permeable, and it communicates silently,invisibly, bridging space between the self and the other. As Sione points out, it can openup the possibility for productive discussions. Simultaneously, when used thoughtfully, itmight close off the possibility of upsetting interactions by communicating a genderidentity unmistakeably
In 2022/23 I spoke with some trans, nb, and gender diverse people about how they used and felt about smell, and my new article from that project is out, looking especially at identity and smell. www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....
First piece of writing for 2025 is out, a review of the poppers-inspired olfactory component of Joie noire, one of the exhibitions at Artspace Aotearoa last year: www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....
Meri Kirihimete to those who celebrate and have a lovely Wednesday to those who don't! I know it's an expensive time of year, but for anyone who is in a position to help, Pandora is a treasured community member who's currently unhoused and needs help: givealittle.co.nz/cause/help-p...
Infographic which reads "we know stigma is a contributor to Violence. And that sometimes stigma is reinforced by media"
Infographic which reads "so our community came together to provide guidance for journalists who care about the safety of sex workers"
Today is International Day to End Violence Against SW - part of why my work focuses so intensively on media coverage is that we know it can contribute to stigma. I was part of the group who wrote these guidelines, aimed at journalists writing about our community #IDEVASW nzpc.org.nz/Best-practic...
This looks great π