"Going to bed with a camera"

My colleague JH recently brought this new book to my attention. Sounds like there is much potential for interesting visual anthropology here...

Going to bed with a camera: On the visualization of sexuality and the production of knowledge

by Ori Schwarz (Hebrew University of Jerusalem)

Abstract: Many sexual encounters are nowadays photographed by the participants. The article examines the photographed sex in the historical contexts of the visualization of sexuality, pleasure and desire, and the new norms of photographed self-documentation. Based on research conducted in Israel, I show that photographed sex produces not only new sorts of pleasure, but also knowledge: about one’s self, partner, sexuality and relationship. This ‘objective’ visual knowledge is often privileged over subjective, haptic knowledge. Photography also introduces new peformativities, and encourages borrowing from media-representations of sex and rational self-improvement.  

Link:  http://ics.sagepub.com/content/13/6/637.abstract