Cultural scientist, political activist, enlightener: Madita Oeming wants to bring porn films out of the taboo zone. Because a lot of people watch it, but almost no one talks about it.
Madita Oeming is wearing her mission on her T-shirt that day: “Knowledge instead of shame” is written in white capital letters on black fabric. The 37-year-old cultural scientist from Göttingen wants to get people to talk openly about porn and lust instead of just watching sex films secretly, shamefully or even with feelings of guilt. “Porn is part of everyday culture,” emphasizes Oeming.
At first porn was only available in video stores for people over 18, then came the Internet. Today they are available anytime and anywhere on smartphones, tablets and PCs. “If we learned from the start to develop a culture of discussion about this, then that would be helpful,” says Oeming. According to a representative survey, 96 percent of men and 79 percent of women have watched porn.
Shitstorm with massive threats
The Bonn native, who grew up in Berlin, has been studying porn scientifically since 2014. After studying economics, cultural studies and American studies in Göttingen, she took up a doctoral position at the University of Paderborn. She also had teaching positions at other universities such as the University of Münster. The analysis of porn is a topic for cultural studies because porn is part of our culture, says Moritz Baßler, German studies professor at the University of Münster.
After announcing a seminar for the FU Berlin in 2019, Oeming experienced a shitstorm with sexist hostility and massive threats. “Conservative and right-wing groups are anti-porn, anti-sex, anti-pleasure and anti-women,” she observes.
She doesn’t fit into the university system
Although there were no hate messages, the young lecturer also experienced taunts and offensive comments in the academic world. “If you’re the porn aunt at university, you’re constantly met with resistance. A colleague once said that I should leave my private life at home.”
Also because she realized that she didn’t fit into the university system, Oeming became self-employed in May 2022. “Of course the tax office doesn’t have the porn scientist box, but I think this word works well: everyone knows what it means and you have a nice moment of irritation.”
As an independent porn scientist, Oeming gives lectures and seminars. According to her, there are connecting points in many research fields such as film studies, gender research, sex education and media psychology.
She is currently on a reading tour with her non-fiction book “Porno. An Outrageous Analysis,” which was published in August. Her publisher Rowohlt describes the author as a sex-positive feminist and pleasure activist who sees herself as a bridge builder between academia, the porn industry and the general public.
“I feel like the porn popess”
At some events, such as the Literary Salon in Hanover (November 6th), Oeming takes part in the conversation together with the porn producer Paulita Pappel. According to her publisher Ullstein, Pappel’s book “Pornopositiv” is about pornography as a “tool of emancipation.”
For a long time, radical feminists saw things completely differently: Alice Schwarzer started the PorNO campaign in 1987 and advocated for a porn ban. According to Oeming’s analysis, the rhetoric of this movement still determines the “public image of porn as degradation of and violence against women.” “We have to stop saying porn when we mean violence,” she emphasizes. Pornography should be measured in terms of consensual consent.
Because the films are available everywhere, young people are coming into contact with them at an increasingly early age. “At the moment, porn is slipping into the role of enlightenment, but that’s not what it’s designed for,” says Oeming. “It’s exaggerations, productions. Porn is action films, not documentaries.” But this should not be countered with bans. Oeming offers the “porn driving license” course, which, in her words, aims to teach pornography skills.
After events or performances, many people confide in the scientist about their personal porn experiences. Sometimes it’s a taxi driver, sometimes a sound engineer or a professor at a medical conference. “It often has a confessional character,” says Oeming. “I feel like the porn popess who then says it’s okay and gives absolution. I don’t actually want that role.”
Then she prefers the role of the enlightener, who also includes personal things in her non-fiction book and wears a gold ring with the word “Milf” written on it. This stands for “Mother I’d like to fuck”. According to Oeming, milf has become a porn term. For her book, she researched that MILFs had overtaken teens when it came to popular search terms. “I associate it less with a hot mother than with an experienced, sexually confident woman,” says Oeming. “And I can definitely identify with that.”
Website of Madita Oeming Verlag Rowohlt for the book “Porno. An outrageous analysis”