By Peter Berton

LOS ANGELES – There’s no doubt about it: Chauntelle Anne Tibbals, PhD, has one of the most fascinating jobs on the planet. A sociologist specializing in gender and sexualities, especially where those topics intersect the workplace, media and popular culture, “Dr. Chauntelle” is the kind of professional-yet-perky, outgoing, down-to-earth college professor we all wish we’d had. Right now the lucky stiffs in Porn Valley get that honor, because Tibbals is a visiting scholar at the University of Southern California.

Tibbals’ most recent research explores the connections and conflicts between U.S. law, pornography and social attitudes. “When Law Moves Quicker Than Culture: Key Jurisprudential Regulations Shaping the U.S. Adult Content Production Industry,” published in the most recent issue of The Scholar: St Mary’s Law Review on Race and Social Justice (2013, 15:2), studies court proceedings, technological developments, and intersections between porn and wider society. Tibbals’ conclusion? Legal findings continue to outpace socio-cultural evolution.

YNOT.com: In true academic style, your curriculum vitae is awash with big words and impressive titles — but what do you really do?

Dr. Chauntelle Tibbals: On a general, theoretical level, I specialize in gender, sexualities, work and media. But on a “what I actually do level,” my research centers on everything porn.

I’ve now spent almost 10 years exploring the adult industry. My research and my public sociological projects, like my blog PVVOnline.com, cover a lot of ground: relevant law, workplace safety, women’s experiences in the business and content, to name a few. All this work operates collectively, working towards one main goal: to uncomplicate popular understandings of porn and explain how and why it’s important to us all.

Tell us more about your new paper in St. Mary’s Law Review. Why this project at this time?

In this research, I used historical sociology to try to figure out why, in spite of its legal and protected status, adult content and adult content production still make up such a stigmatizing and polarizing dimension of U.S. culture. In other words, why after all these years — decades, actually — are we still so divided about porn?

I looked at key legal cases, technological developments and intersections between the industry and wider society starting in the 1970s through 2012. Though there’s no way to cover everything, each example I talk about points to legal findings out-pacing socio-cultural evolutions. In terms of adult entertainment and the industry, law helped us develop civil rights. This happened without a conventional social movement or demands from wider culture.

As far as why I worked on this specific project, it really has to do with the wider goals I have for my work. I was interested in learning about all the different ways that, through porn, our civil rights as a society have developed. And that’s just another piece in the overall “why porn is socially significant” puzzle.

By the way, anyone who’d like to read the paper may email me for a copy.

Of the material you uncovered during your research, what left the biggest impression?

Goodness, so many things — namely, that by challenging attacks on various fronts, members of the adult industry were able to carve out their space in the world. Rights were never given to the adult industry — they had to be fought for. And members of the community have had to continue to fight to maintain these rights for decades.

Further, all this happened in the courts. This was the most fascinating part to me. While various groups within wider culture struggled — and continue to struggle — with the mere existence of porn, law wasn’t nearly as conflicted. This, in general, prompted legal action to outpace social sentiments.

The irony in all this, of course, centers on the fact that law itself is a human social creation. But that’s a whole other topic!

To the layman, it often seems like U.S. law is far behind U.S. sexual culture.

Actually, on the basis of my research, it’s exactly the opposite. If we’re talking about social progress in terms of free speech, civil liberties and adult content production, law is actually way ahead of U.S. culture.

But this is not to suggest that law is more progressive than society in every way, much less in every way related to sexualities. It’s not. To this day, there are endless outdated and extremely discriminatory laws on the books at every level. As to why these continue to exist, I could only begin to speculate.

Without trying to “lead the witness” here, we wonder whether some of the repressed sexual energy in U.S. society is redirected into violence. Could removing the repression ultimately make society safer?

Well, I would imagine that repression of any kind could lead to some type of violence. Depending on the circumstances, the nature of the repression and the person surviving it, anything could happen.

So, with this in mind — and always being mindful of issues surrounding consent and autonomy — I would imagine that not compelling others to repress their sexual desires would alleviate a wealth of negative outcomes, such as violence, depression and self-harm.

It’s interesting that porn is so commonly looked at as having a negative influence on society and individuals. In many ways, it actually helps folks with their repressed desires. Adult content provides a window into various worlds that some folks may desire but aren’t able to access. The why of this question — “Why do some folks sexually desire things they can’t access?” — gets at much larger psychological and social structural issues that were not created by porn. It’s funny who and what we continue to blame, though.

How has your research been received?

Generally, once it’s out there, very well.

Regarding this specific paper, there are always going to be folks who wonder why, for example, I discussed X but not Y. That’s a legitimate thing to wonder about, and as a consequence, is to be expected.

Law is huge, and history is even bigger. There’s no way I can fit every possible thing into any one study. My ultimate goal, though, as I’ve said, is to work on demystifying the bigger picture … one puzzle piece at a time! This work contributes to that in a really significant way.

But I’m not going to lie: Over the years, it has been very difficult to get my work published. To those not directly involved, the entire industry is so mysterious, and porn seems to incite very strong feelings in people across the board. This includes academics and scholars.

Consequently, I often find myself in situations where people are unfamiliar with the day-to-day things I’m discussing, the applications of specific theories and references, and the implications of all this on a wider social level. And when you’re talking research that depends on peer review, this can be tricky.

What’s up next for you?

Honestly, more of the same. I always have talks lined up, both academic and public. I’m currently working on two new research projects: one about the sponsored bills and ordinances currently impacting [Los Angeles] and the California industry, and another on music in [adult] content over the years. That one’s really fun.

As I’ve said, the whole shebang — my work, haha — is all about exploring porn’s social and cultural significance. Anything that comes up that helps me to do that … well, I’m there.

I love talking to people about my work and findings and the bigger issues, so if anyone reading has any ideas or opportunities to those ends, let me know. Ultimately, this work will benefit us all. Email me, tweet me and check out PVVOnline.com.