School of shock: film, television and anal education

Since their inception, film and television have been accused of having all kinds of magical powers to alter behaviour, coerce malfeasance and encourage debauchery. Decades of media theory later, the powers of persuasion are in fact thought to be much more modest. One area where popular media is considered to be particularly influential is education, with film and television being perceived to have a role in teaching audiences about certain topics, notably sexuality. This paper focuses specifically on the education provided by film and television about anal heterosex. Screen depictions have a function in not just putting such a sex act onto the audience agenda but in guiding viewers' reception. In this paper, the use of pleasure, pain and power frames is examined to explore the specifics of the anal education provided by screen fiction.