Student profile

Aurélie Petit

Faculty

Program

Aurélie Petit is a PhD Candidate in Film Studies at Concordia University, Montréal. As a researcher, she works on the intersection of technology and animation, with a focus on gender and sexuality. During the last years, she has held research positions on the topic of AI, adult content, and online governance with the Canada Research Chair in Digital Regulation at Work and in Life, the AI + Society Initiative, and the Social Media Collective at Microsoft Research. She is the Guest Editor for the Porn Studies journal's special issue on "Artificial Intelligence, Pornography, and Sex Work." Her research-creation intermedia projects have been part of the MUTEK Forum 2024, MUTEK Forum 2025, and HTMlles 2026.

2025: Emru Townsend Award - Society of Animation Studies
2025: Canada Research Chair on Digital Regulation at Work and in Life Bursary
2024: GenAI Studio Seeding Funding, Applied AI Institute
2024: CanStudyUS Fellowship, The Dais, Toronto Metropolitan University
2023: AI + Society Initiative Research Fellowship in AI and Inclusion, University of Ottawa
June 2020: Fine Arts Travel Award
November 2019: Conference and Exposition Award
June 2019: Conference and Exposition Award
2018-2021: Faculty of Fine Arts Fellowship
2018-2019, 2021: Merit Award Scholarship

Supervisor: Dr. Marc Steinberg

Thesis: Of Tentacles and Men: How anime shaped the internet as we know it

Research Interests:

animation studies; platform; feminism; porn studies; online governance; fandom

Teaching

FMST 320: Digital Media and Animation (Instructor Fall 2022)
FMST 398: Studies in Fandom (Instructor Winter 2022)
FMST 392: Queer Cinema (TAship Fall 2021)
FMST 320: Digital Media and Animation (TAship Winter 2021)
FMST 398: Cinema and the Internet (TAship Fall 2020)
FMST 218: The History of Animated Film (TAship Winter 2020)

Selected Publications:

Aurélie Petit, B̷l̷a̷c̷k̷ ̷P̷u̷d̷d̷i̷n̷g̷: A Speculative Visual Index. Representational limits of Generative AI during creative porn productions. (under review)

Marie-Josée Saint-Pierre, Aurélie Petit, Sexualités et érotismes dans le court-métrage d’animation : la prise de pouvoir féministe des réalisatrices indépendantes (under review)

Aurélie Petit (2025) The limits of “zero tolerance” policies for animated pornographic media. Porn Studies, “Artificial Intelligence, Pornography, and Sex Work,” pp. 1-18.

Aurélie Petit (2024) The hentai streaming platform wars. Porn Studies, pp. 1-16.

Aurélie Petit (2024) Designing adult mods for the Sims 4: An interview with TURBODRIVER. ROMchip, December 2024 Issue

Aurélie Petit (2022) “Do female anime fans exist?”: The impact of women-exclusionary discourses on rec.arts.anime. Internet Histories. Volume 6, Issue 4, pp. 352-368.

Aurélie Petit (2019) Enjeux économiques et industriels de l’animation pornographique et érotique française. Revue française des sciences de l’information et de la communication, dossier « L’animation comme industrie culturelle ? Concevoir et produire le dessin animé », n°18, pp. 1-16.

Website: www.aurelie-petit.com

Twitter: @aurelievpetit

Email: aurelievirginiepetit@gmail.com

Favourite Film: Knit's Island (Ekiem Barbier, Quentin L'Helgoualc'h, Guilhem Causse, 2023)