Val Webber received their PhD in Community Health & Humanities from Memorial University investigating occupational health protocols used in pornography production. They hold a Masters of Public Health from Memorial University and a Masters in Medical Anthropology from McGill University. Their undergraduate degree from Concordia University was in Anthropology and Interdisciplinary Studies in Sexuality. They are currently the board chair of PASS (Performer Availability Screening Services), a non-profit focused on health and safety in the adult industry, and serve as an advisor to the owners of Pornhub/Aylo, Ethical Capital Partners. Then have been a postdoctoral research fellow with Dr. Matthew Numer's SHaG Lab at Dalhousie University since 2022.
Experience
2022–present
Postdoctoral fellow, Dalhousie University
Publications
2023
No Respect: Sex Research as Sex Work, Porn Studies, online first
2023
The impact of rurality on vulvodynia diagnosis and management – primary care providers and patient perspectives, Canadian Journal of Rural Medicine, 28(3):107-115
2023
Pornhub & Policy: Erasure of Sex Workers in Canadian Pornography Platform Governance, Canadian Journal of Communication, (48)2: 381-404
2023
Sex Exceptionalism and Erasure in Porn Health Protocols, Culture, Health & Sexuality, 26(1): 126-141
2021
Crossovers and Consent: Underlying Assumptions in Porn Health Protocol, Synoptique, 9(2): 183-200
2020
Vulvodynia viewed from a disease prevention framework: Insights from patient perspectives, Sexual Medicine, 8(4): 757-766
2018
Assessing Risk to Researchers: Using the Case of Sexuality Research to Inform Research Ethics Board Guidelines, Forum Qualitative Sozialforschung/Forum: Qualitative Social Research, 19(3), Art. 2
2018
Constructing a Crisis: Porn Panics and Public Health, Porn Studies, 5(2): 192-196
2018
“I'm not gonna run around and put a condom on every dick I see”: Tensions in Safer Sex Activism Among Queer Communities in Montreal, Quebec, Sexuality & Culture, 22(3): 758-777
2015
Stigmatizing Surveillance: Blood-borne Pathogen Protocol and the Dangerous Doctor, Critical Public Health, 26(4): 359-367
2015
Public Health versus Performer Privates: Measure B’s Failure to Fix Subjects, Porn Studies, 2(4): 299-313
2013
Shades of Gay: Performance of Girl-on-Girl Pornography and Mobile Authenticities, Sexualities, 16(1/2): 217-235