Works of sexual expression are often considered taboo, in common parlance. In academia, pornography remains a topic of research that while nominally acceptable, can still prompt questions about the personal qualities of the person pursuing the research. In her essay for our “Sexuality & Gender Studies Now” series, Celine Parreñas Shimizu details the history of her experiences as a research expert in boundary-breaking pornographic cinema. She brings our focus onto crucial social science questions, not only analyzing the gaze and production of these works, but also revealing the social biases that may challenge sexuality researchers when their subject itself breaks from the norm.
Celine Parreñas Shimizu
Celine Parreñas Shimizu is the Director of the School of Cinema at San Francisco State University. Her sole-authored books include The Proximity of Other Skins: Ethical Intimacy in Global Cinema (Oxford University Press, 2020), Straitjacket Sexualities: Unbinding Asian American Manhoods in the Movies (Stanford University Press, 2012), and The Hypersexuality of Race: Performing Asian/American Women on Screen and Scene (Duke University Press, 2007), winner of the 2009 Best Book Prize in Cultural Studies from the Association for Asian American Studies. She also coedited The Feminist Porn Book (Feminist Press, 2013). She was a 1999 Sexuality Research Fellowship Program Dissertation Fellow.