Lorena Rubia Pereira Caminhas

    Media Studies

    Biography

    I am an Assistant Professor/Lecturer in the Department of Media Studies at Maynooth University and hold a Ph.D. in Social Sciences from the State University of Campinas (Unicamp), Brazil. Prior to my current position, I held a FAPESP Postdoctoral Research Grant (2020/02268-4) and worked as a Postdoctoral Researcher in the Department of Anthroposophy at the University of Sao Paulo (USP) and as a Visiting Postdoctoral Researcher in the Department of Media Studies at the University of Amsterdam (UvA). 

    I teach BA modules and supervise MA level dissertations. My teaching for the 2024-25 academic year includes MD261 History and Theory of Documentary, MD321 Authorship in Film and Television and MD161 Introduction to Media and Cultural Studies 2. For the academic year 2025-26 I will be teaching MD341 Artificial Intelligence in Media and Arts, MD220 Media and Gender and MD261 History and Theory of Documentary.

    I welcome inquiries from individuals interested in researching digital media and the television and film industries, particularly through an intersectional lens, with a focus on inequalities and from a Global South perspective (Please see the research section for more information about my research and expertise). 

    Research Interests

    My research sits at the intersection of Media and Gender Studies, with a particular focus on digital media and platforms. It examines issues of labour, platform governance and intersectional inequalities related to gender, race, age, class and nationality. Over the past nine years, I have investigated the development of digital sex markets in Brazil, analysing the emergence of local sex platforms and their impact on labour conditions, regulatory frameworks and the legal systems governing digital sex work. My research also explores the dynamics of diversity and inequality within platform-based sex markets, shedding light on the structural challenges faced by workers in these digital economies.

    Beyond that, I have extensive experience in television and film studies and have conducted research on the representation of gender roles and gender-based violence in Brazilian telenovelas.

    My current research examines the adoption of generative artificial intelligence in audiovisual cultural production in the Global South and its impact on labour conditions, creative practices, fair pay and work, and the distribution of inequalities among cultural workers. Specifically, it focuses on Brazil’s creator economy, investigating how AI is integrated into the everyday working practices of beauty, health and fitness content creators. The study also explores the role of intermediaries and stakeholders, including marketing agencies that mediate relationships between creators and brands, as well as local governments and policymakers shaping AI regulations in Brazil’s cultural industries. By analyzing these dynamics, this research aims to provide a comprehensive understanding of AI’s implications for creative labor and policy frameworks in the region.

    Research Projects

    Title Role Description Start date End date Amount
    Digital platforms in Brazil’s sex trades: restructuring and reorganising the online commerce of sex Postdoctoral researcher This research project examines the role of digital platforms in reshaping Brazil’s sex trades, investigating how they function as key actors in structuring and regulating the online commerce of sex. The study is guided by two main objectives: (a) analysing the influence of platforms on the commercialisation of sex and erotic content and their impact on the management and organisation of sex work; and (b) exploring the social conventions and stratifications embedded in these platforms, which privilege certain profiles of sex workers while marginalising others. This is an interdisciplinary study drawing from both anthropological research on sex, eroticism and market formations and media studies on digital platforms, their economic models and moral frameworks. The methodology is rooted in digital ethnography, understood as a systematic approach to analysing the material, symbolic and interactive dynamics of online environments. The research was conducted in two phases: first, an in-depth immersion in the selected platforms—OnlyFans and Privacy—to map their governance structures and user interactions; and second, a series of in-depth interviews with platform-based sex workers to gain insights into their lived experiences, labor conditions, and strategies for navigating these digital marketplaces. 01/07/2021 28/02/2025
    Governing digital sex labour: Privacy and the regulation of online erotic content creation Postdoctoral researcher This research examines the governance model enforced by the Brazilian subscription-based erotic platform Privacy through its Terms of Service (ToS). Founded in 2020, Privacy operates similarly to OnlyFans, providing a marketplace for independent sex workers to sell erotic content. Since surpassing OnlyFans in access and usage in Brazil in mid-2022, Privacy has become the dominant platform in this market, effectively setting the rules and standards for sex work in the country. The study explores platform governance as a privatised mode of establishing digital norms and standards, with a particular focus on labour platforms that regulate not only content and user interactions but also working conditions. It situates Privacy within broader governance scholarship, highlighting its role in privately regulating digital sex labor—an area that remains underexplored. The central research question investigates how Privacy governs and regulates erotic labor through its ToS and how it enforces specific policies of data extraction. The study aims to unpack Privacy’s governance model by analysing how the platform structures sex work, imposes particular labour conditions, and collects and processes workers’ data. This analysis is based on an examination of Privacy’s Terms and Policies documents, applying an ethnographic approach alongside thematic analysis. 01/10/2023 30/09/2024

    Peer Reviewed Journal

    Year Publication
    2025 Lorena Caminhas (2025) 'Recognition in Dirty Works: Managing Stigma in Sex Work'. DADOS-REVISTA DE CIENCIAS SOCIAIS, 68 (2). https://doi.org/10.1590/dados.2025.68.2.364
    2025 Lorena Caminhas (2025) 'Precarity revisited: Exploring camming work in Brazil and experiences of precarity in platform-based (erotic) content production'. International Journal of Cultural Studies, . https://doi.org/10.1177/13678779241244410 [Full-Text]
    2024 Lorena Caminhas (2024) 'The erotic webcam industry in Brazil: moral disputes and controversies'. Sociologia & Antropologia, 14 (3). https://doi.org/10.1590/2238-38752024v1438
    2023 Lorena Caminhas (2023) 'Sex markets on digital platforms: the Brazilian case'. Revista Brasileira de Ciencias Sociais, (38). https://doi.org/10.1590/3811027/2023
    2022 Lorena Caminhas (2022) 'The politics of algorithmic rank systems in the Brazilian erotic webcam industry'. Porn Studies, 10 (2). https://doi.org/10.1080/23268743.2022.2083661
    2021 Lorena Caminhas (2021) 'Erotic commercial webcamming: new face of national sex markets'. Revista de Antropologia, (64). https://doi.org/10.11606/1678-9857.ra.2021.184482
    2021 Thales Lelo; Lorena Caminhas (2021) 'Disinformation about gender and sexuality and the disputes for the limits of morality'. Matrizes, 15 (2). [DOI]
    2020 Lorena Caminhas (2020) 'Gender violence and national telenovelas: a critical diagnosis'. Tempo Social: Revista de Sociologia da USP, 32 (2). https://doi.org/10.11606/0103-2070.ts.2020.162335
    2020 Lorena Caminhas (2020) 'Is The Regulation Of Prostitution A Demand For Justice?'. Revista Brasileira de Ciencias Sociais, 35 (103). https://doi.org/10.1590/3510310/2020
    2020 Lorena Caminhas; Thales Lelo (2020) 'Civic participation faces resentment: right-wing movements in Brazil and the crisis of democracy'. Culture e Studi del Sociale, 5 (2).
    2019 Lorena Caminhas (2019) 'Images of gender violence in Brazilian soap operas'. Estudos Feministas, 27 (1). [Link] https://doi.org/10.1590/1806-9584-2019v27n152253
    2018 Lorena Caminhas (2018) 'The mediatization of sex markets and the configuration of mediated erotic experience'. Galaxia, (37). [Link] https://doi.org/10.1590/1982-2554132548
    2018 Lorena Caminhas (2018) 'The many faces of gender violence: dialogues between telenovelas and national context'. Mana: Estudos de Antropologia Social, 24 (3). [Link] https://doi.org/10.1590/1678-49442018v24n3p033

    Book Chapter

    Year Publication
    2022 Lorena Caminhas (2022) 'Erotic Experience: Technology-Mediated Sex Markets' In: Mediatisation of Emotional Life. London : Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003254287
    2021 Lorena Caminhas (2021) 'Primetime Brazilian Telenovelas and Gender Violence Representation' In: Television Dramas and the Global Village: Storytelling Through Race and Gender. New York : Rowman & Littlefield. https://doi.org/10.5771/9781793613530
    2018 Lorena Caminhas; Thales Lelo (2018) 'Imaginário interditado? Acerca das tentativas recentes de cerceamento de obras de arte no Brasil' In: Imag(em)inário : imagens e imaginário na Comunicação. Porto Alegre : Editora Imaginalis. http://hdl.handle.net/10183/179288
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