Sanna Spišák
Biographic Data
| ID | 139499 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Sanna Spišák |
| GIVEN NAMES | Sanna |
| FAMILY NAME | Spišák |
| SIGNATURE | SPIŠÁK S |
| AFFILIATIONS | University of Turku |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-4768-9752 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 12 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 13 |
| WORKS AS AUTHOR | 12 |
| WORKS AS EDITOR | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2015 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2025 |
| H-INDEX | 2 |
I would just like to be straight.’ Boys and young men’s concerns about being gay in the questions sent to a Finnish sexual counselling service
This article delves into the experiences of boys and young men grappling with anxiety surrounding potential ‘homosexual’ orientation, particularly within the context of societal expectations of normative heterosexuality. Using data from queries submitted to a Finnish sexual counselling service between 2017 and 2019, we highlight a dissonance between societal equality initiatives and the lived experiences of boys and young men in Finland. Drawing …
Sonic Intimacies and Digital Boundary Work
This article examines how Finnish young people (ages 16-19) navigate digital intimacy through voice, privacy, and platform use. Drawing on reflexive thematic analysis of asynchronous focus group discussions conducted on Discord, the study explores how participants manage exposure and vulnerability in digital spaces through selective boundary work. Voice, in particular, emerges as a key marker of intimacy and privacy: a conduit for affective conne…
It’s a generational thing, really’. Understandings of sexual rights in a digital age
Deriving from a large-scale research project on intimacy in data-driven culture in Finland, I build on a sub-study examining Finland’s presumed sexual digital divide between generations. I analysed in-depth, semi-structured research discussions with six social media users who actively participated in the online discussion following the posting of a video on TikTok by the National Board of Investigation on the potential risks and dangers of sendin…
‘Keep your private stuff private!’
This article explores Finnish regulatory authorities’ attempts to mitigate young people’s participation in mediated sexuality. Previous studies have argued that both attempted regulation and education about media and sexuality are often out of touch with many adolescents’ lives. This study uses a Foucauldian inspired critical investigative method to unpack the pedagogical messages that frame official statements and the approaches used by Finnish …
Social Networking Sites' Gag Order
This article critically investigates the reasoning behind social media content policies and opaque data politics operations regarding sexual visual social media practices and sexual talk, asking what is at stake when social media giants govern sexual sociability on an international scale. Focusing on Facebook, in particular, this article proposes an alternative perspective for handling various expressions of sexuality in social media platforms by…
"May the Shame Be With You. Always." Mitigating Young People's Intimate Exchanges Online
Cultural anxiety about the impact of young people's intimate exchanges online has increased over the past 15 years. Sexual media and 'digital intimacies' are routinely understood to be a source of harm and adverse outcomes. This paper engages with Finland's National Bureau of Investigation's $2 video campaign, the Police of Finland's public announcements on 'teen sexting' between 2017–2019 and young Finns responses to such educational efforts by …
The intimacy effect
Drawing on an online survey that was conducted as part of the media education awareness campaign of a Finnish online youth club, this article explores girls’ conceptions of the difference between pornographic representations and ‘actual sex’. As a result of the analysis, the greatest detachment between these two occurs concerning intimacy. Thus, this article will explore the pervasive influence of the notion of romantic intimacies, which provides…
Malleable identities, leaky taxonomies
Bad education? Childhood recollections of pornography, sexual exploration, learning and agency in Finland
This article draws on a memory-work project on the childhood experiences and memories of pornography in Finland to argue that the autobiographical younger self used in these reminiscences is a creature distinct from the cultural figure of a child at risk, and that the forms of learning connected to pornography are more diverse and complex than those limited to sexual acts alone. The notion of an asexual child susceptible to media effects remains …
‘Everywhere they say that it’s harmful but they don’t say how, so I’m asking here’
Debate about pornography and minors has mainly centred on questions of control, regulation and media policy; the urge to protect children from dangers of sexually explicit content being the primary motivator of these conversations. Instead of discussing the use of pornography by minors in the light of relevant research findings, public discourse on these issues is more usually shaped by views of sexual cultures as inherently dangerous to minors, …
Negotiating Norms
Drawing on 91 pornography-related submissions sent by young Finns to a moderated question and answer forum on sexual health, this article explores the personal narratives of adolescents on pornography use. Special attention is given to the submissions by girls to explore the widely circulated narratives on the sexualization of adolescence more precisely. In focusing on these accounts of sexual exploration, learning and the pursuit of pleasure, th…
‘Pervy role-play and such’
Sexting is one of the recurring causes of concern in public discussion of young people and network media. This paper builds on findings from a survey with 1269 Finnish female respondents aged 11–18 conducted using a popular online community for girls on their experiences of and views on online messages concerning sex and sexuality. Sixty-five per cent of respondents had received messages related to sex from either adults or minors while 20% had a…
Negotiating Norms
Drawing on 91 pornography-related submissions sent by young Finns to a moderated question and answer forum on sexual health, this article explores the personal narratives of adolescents on pornography use. Special attention is given to the submissions by girls to explore the widely circulated narratives on the sexualization of adolescence more precisely. In focusing on these accounts of sexual exploration, learning and the pursuit of pleasure, th…
Social Networking Sites' Gag Order
This article critically investigates the reasoning behind social media content policies and opaque data politics operations regarding sexual visual social media practices and sexual talk, asking what is at stake when social media giants govern sexual sociability on an international scale. Focusing on Facebook, in particular, this article proposes an alternative perspective for handling various expressions of sexuality in social media platforms by…
Bad education? Childhood recollections of pornography, sexual exploration, learning and agency in Finland
This article draws on a memory-work project on the childhood experiences and memories of pornography in Finland to argue that the autobiographical younger self used in these reminiscences is a creature distinct from the cultural figure of a child at risk, and that the forms of learning connected to pornography are more diverse and complex than those limited to sexual acts alone. The notion of an asexual child susceptible to media effects remains …
It’s a generational thing, really’. Understandings of sexual rights in a digital age
Deriving from a large-scale research project on intimacy in data-driven culture in Finland, I build on a sub-study examining Finland’s presumed sexual digital divide between generations. I analysed in-depth, semi-structured research discussions with six social media users who actively participated in the online discussion following the posting of a video on TikTok by the National Board of Investigation on the potential risks and dangers of sendin…
‘Pervy role-play and such’
Sexting is one of the recurring causes of concern in public discussion of young people and network media. This paper builds on findings from a survey with 1269 Finnish female respondents aged 11–18 conducted using a popular online community for girls on their experiences of and views on online messages concerning sex and sexuality. Sixty-five per cent of respondents had received messages related to sex from either adults or minors while 20% had a…
‘Everywhere they say that it’s harmful but they don’t say how, so I’m asking here’
Debate about pornography and minors has mainly centred on questions of control, regulation and media policy; the urge to protect children from dangers of sexually explicit content being the primary motivator of these conversations. Instead of discussing the use of pornography by minors in the light of relevant research findings, public discourse on these issues is more usually shaped by views of sexual cultures as inherently dangerous to minors, …
Negotiating Norms
Drawing on 91 pornography-related submissions sent by young Finns to a moderated question and answer forum on sexual health, this article explores the personal narratives of adolescents on pornography use. Special attention is given to the submissions by girls to explore the widely circulated narratives on the sexualization of adolescence more precisely. In focusing on these accounts of sexual exploration, learning and the pursuit of pleasure, th…
Bad education? Childhood recollections of pornography, sexual exploration, learning and agency in Finland
This article draws on a memory-work project on the childhood experiences and memories of pornography in Finland to argue that the autobiographical younger self used in these reminiscences is a creature distinct from the cultural figure of a child at risk, and that the forms of learning connected to pornography are more diverse and complex than those limited to sexual acts alone. The notion of an asexual child susceptible to media effects remains …
Malleable identities, leaky taxonomies
"May the Shame Be With You. Always." Mitigating Young People's Intimate Exchanges Online
Cultural anxiety about the impact of young people's intimate exchanges online has increased over the past 15 years. Sexual media and 'digital intimacies' are routinely understood to be a source of harm and adverse outcomes. This paper engages with Finland's National Bureau of Investigation's $2 video campaign, the Police of Finland's public announcements on 'teen sexting' between 2017–2019 and young Finns responses to such educational efforts by …
The intimacy effect
Drawing on an online survey that was conducted as part of the media education awareness campaign of a Finnish online youth club, this article explores girls’ conceptions of the difference between pornographic representations and ‘actual sex’. As a result of the analysis, the greatest detachment between these two occurs concerning intimacy. Thus, this article will explore the pervasive influence of the notion of romantic intimacies, which provides…
Social Networking Sites' Gag Order
This article critically investigates the reasoning behind social media content policies and opaque data politics operations regarding sexual visual social media practices and sexual talk, asking what is at stake when social media giants govern sexual sociability on an international scale. Focusing on Facebook, in particular, this article proposes an alternative perspective for handling various expressions of sexuality in social media platforms by…
‘Keep your private stuff private!’
This article explores Finnish regulatory authorities’ attempts to mitigate young people’s participation in mediated sexuality. Previous studies have argued that both attempted regulation and education about media and sexuality are often out of touch with many adolescents’ lives. This study uses a Foucauldian inspired critical investigative method to unpack the pedagogical messages that frame official statements and the approaches used by Finnish …
It’s a generational thing, really’. Understandings of sexual rights in a digital age
Deriving from a large-scale research project on intimacy in data-driven culture in Finland, I build on a sub-study examining Finland’s presumed sexual digital divide between generations. I analysed in-depth, semi-structured research discussions with six social media users who actively participated in the online discussion following the posting of a video on TikTok by the National Board of Investigation on the potential risks and dangers of sendin…
I would just like to be straight.’ Boys and young men’s concerns about being gay in the questions sent to a Finnish sexual counselling service
This article delves into the experiences of boys and young men grappling with anxiety surrounding potential ‘homosexual’ orientation, particularly within the context of societal expectations of normative heterosexuality. Using data from queries submitted to a Finnish sexual counselling service between 2017 and 2019, we highlight a dissonance between societal equality initiatives and the lived experiences of boys and young men in Finland. Drawing …
Sonic Intimacies and Digital Boundary Work
This article examines how Finnish young people (ages 16-19) navigate digital intimacy through voice, privacy, and platform use. Drawing on reflexive thematic analysis of asynchronous focus group discussions conducted on Discord, the study explores how participants manage exposure and vulnerability in digital spaces through selective boundary work. Voice, in particular, emerges as a key marker of intimacy and privacy: a conduit for affective conne…
Psychology (12 works) · Sociology (12 works) · Gender, Feminism, and Media (11 works) · Gender Studies (10 works) · Social Psychology (9 works) · Human sexuality (8 works) · Sexuality, Behavior, and Technology (6 works) · Law (5 works) · Political science (5 works) · Internet privacy (4 works)