Dr. Peter Alilunas is an Associate Professor of Cinema Studies at the University of Oregon, where he teaches courses in film and media history and theory. Dr. Alilunas’s research investigates the historical intersections of industry, technology, and regulation, and uncovers forgotten or neglected histories of sexually explicit media. In this episode, Wendy and Alilunas talk about the complexities of explicit media, where it came from, when it started, and what we can do to make the industry more ethical.

Connect with Dr. Alilunas

Dr. Peter Alilunas is an Associate Professor of Cinema Studies at the University of Oregon, where he teaches courses in film and media history and theory, and a member of the editorial board of the Porn Studies journal. His book Smutty Little Movies: The Creation and Regulation of Adult Video, is the first history of the home video era of pornography, and has been described by scholar Whitney Strub as “a brilliant piece of scholarship that resituates the entire field of Porn Studies.” Dr. Alilunas’s research investigates the historical intersections of industry, technology, and regulation, and uncovers forgotten or neglected histories of sexually explicit media. He is at work on Pr0n 1.0, which traces the pre-history of online pornography in order to ask: what role did sexually explicit media play in the roots of the Internet, how has that history impacted cultural relationships between desire and regulation, and what can this history tell us our about present and potential futures in terms of sexualities, behaviors, and beliefs, online and off?

Website: peteralilunas.com