poverty porn
1
9.6
- noun
- /ˈpɑːvərti pɔrn/
- NSFW
:
pornografía de la pobreza
- The charity's promotional materials were labeled as poverty porn for their sensationalized portrayals of impoverished communities.
Examples
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Thayil manages to avoid this by acknowledging the existence of poverty-stricken slums, but without that sort of "poverty porn" that titillates at the expense of a larger human narrative.
Blog text (14) -
Many documentaries have been criticized for their use of poverty porn, focusing on the struggles of the poor to elicit viewer sympathy.
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Alright, poverty porn
Blog text (27) -
Some Westerners are entranced by so-called poverty porn from Third World countries.
Blog text (21) -
Critics argue that poverty porn distorts the reality of poverty by reducing people to mere subjects of pity and shock.
Synonyms
Stories or images that try to make people feel sorry to get attention and money
How Exploitative
Surface Forms
Morphology
poverty + porn
The compound transparently combines 'poverty' (lack of money) with 'porn' (pornography), so a learner can infer it refers to representations of poverty treated like a voyeuristic/consumable spectacle; however the use of 'porn' here is metaphorical (meaning sensationalising or exploitative) rather than literal sexual content. Because that metaphoric extension may not be fully predictable to a B1 learner and can be misread, the expression is only partially transparent.
Etymology
The term poverty porn puts poverty next to porn to create a strong image of people watching poor people's suffering like a show. One popular story says critics used it for ads and programs that treat suffering as 'entertainment' or a way to get 'sympathy'. That's why the phrase means media that show poverty in a way that uses people to make viewers feel sorry or shocked.