From here:

The new academic journal Porn Studies, due to start publication in spring 2014, has called for submissions of articles, scholarly papers and book reviews.

U.K. publisher Taylor & Francis says it will be “the first dedicated, international, peer-reviewed journal” devoted to the study of pornographic products and services in the contexts of culture, history, economy, society and the law.

Content will explore the “intersection of sexuality, gender, race, class, age and ability.”

Several educators and authors have provided endorsements for the journal, which will be edited by two women – British academics Feona Attwood and Clarissa Smith.

“Porn Studies is a wonderful and much-needed resource for anyone interested in pornography and its relationship to wider cultural contexts,” Ronald Weitzer of George Washington University said. “The journal addresses virtually every aspect of porn and will challenge readers with novel, cutting-edge articles on the topic.”

In 1964 when Justice Potter Stewart made the famous observation that, although he could not define pornography, he knew it when he saw it, he could not have anticipated that in 2013, academics would still be trying to figure out just what it is “in the contexts of culture, history, economy, society and the law”.

I suppose the heartening thing about this is that there must still be a vestige of shame left in academia. After all, everyone knows that these prurient pedants simply want to look at naughty magazines but at least they have the decency to erect a smoke screen of respectability to conceal their scholarly concupiscence.