AAP Undergraduate Poster Prize
Awarded to the best poster by an undergraduate student at our annual conference.
Sponsored by Taylor and Francis.
More information about the prize, judging criteria
2021 Winner
Georgia Fagan
‘The Compatibility of Feminism and Violent Pornography’
This paper argues that pornography, namely violent pornography, need not be incompatible with the feminist project of gender equality. Many research studies asserting to have found positive correlations between porn consumption and sexual assault rates are being heralded by researchers and politicians alike as sufficient reason to impose further restrictions on both the production and/or accessibility of particular forms of pornography. I will interrogate the concept of ‘violent pornography’, highlighting the ways in which it is uncritically and passively taken to be synonymous with moral wrongs in both contemporary research and academic discourse. Secondly, I will argue that even if particular depictions of women’s bodies were found to definitively increase the likelihood that men rape women, the desirable solution would not be to censor these depictions. This solution, I argue, shares particular characteristics with victim blaming culture, where the onus of change is placed on those who are determined to be cause of said injustice rather than on perpetrators. I will conclude by discussing Richard Rorty’s pragmatist conception of utopias, arguing that a future where a variety of pornography is readily accessible is a much more desirable aim for the feminist project than one in which pornography is absent or heavily censored.
2021 Commendation
Will Cailes
"Repugnance, Transitivity and Satisficing"
2021 Commendation
Benjamin Cramer
"Praise & Blame: Their Role in Distributed Moral Actions
Clear articulation and/or representation of the problem or question
Clear and coherent argument (s) for the position(s) held
Appropriate recognition of some existing work on the question
Some recognition of objections to the position presented and some attempt to respond to them
Extent to which the poster itself succeeds in representing, illustrating and enhancing understanding of the argument(s)