Lara Karaian

Senior Fellow, Blogger

Associate Professor

Institute of Criminology and Criminal Justice, Carleton University

Lara Karaian is an Associate Professor in the Institute of Criminology and Criminal Justice at Carleton University. Her research examines the intersections between the body, sexuality, technology, representation, expression, legal regulation, and popular culture. She has researched and written on topics such as: teenage sexting and child pornography; ‘revenge porn’; accidental incest and ‘technology facilitated’ incest; virtual rape; ‘self-exploitation’; queer pornography; risk management; (self)surveillance; pregnant men and anti-discrimination law; transgender human rights; and, third wave feminisms, each of which is approached empirically and theoretically and through a post/intersectional lens. Dr. Karaian is in the process of completing a SSHRC Insight Development Grant (2012-2015) for her project titled “Selfies, Sexuality, and Teens: A Canadian Study”. As a result of her research Dr. Karaian has been invited to serve as an expert consultant by the Law Reform Committee of the Parliament of Victoria, Australia for their ‘International Consultation on Sexting Inquiry’ (2012). She has also served as an expert witness in two constitutional questions regarding the application of child pornography laws to teenage sexting scenarios, and as a consultant for the House of Commons’ Standing Committee on the Status of Women’s study on Violence against Young Women and Girls. For more information on her and her research please visit: http://carleton.ca/criminology/people/karaian-lara/

https://carleton-ca.academia.edu/LaraKaraian

Indicting Deepfakes?: Why Gender-Based Violence Frameworks and Censorship aren’t the Only (or Best) Way to Respond to AI Generated Pornography

Recently, Twitch streamer Brandon “Atrioc” Ewing was caught accessing deepfake pornography of popular female Twitch streamers, including QTCinderella, Sweet Anita, Pokimane, and Maya Higa.

Restricting young people’s access to porn won’t save them, but it will threaten sexual speech

A bill to restrict young people’s online access to sexually explicit material has been re-introduced by Senator Julie Miville-Dechêne. The so-called Protecting Young Persons from Exposure to Pornography Act, would make it “an offence for organizations to make sexually explicit material available to young persons on the Internet” and would empower a designated enforcement authority to take steps to prevent such access.

Censoring Consensual Sex Workers will not Save the Sex Trafficked

On April 11, 2018, President Trump signed into law two anti-trafficking bills which will not only censor consensual sex workers, but will also profoundly affect freedom of expression on-line.