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Pornography (often shortened to porn or porno) is the portrayal of sexual subject matter for the exclusive purpose of sexual arousal. Primarily intended for adults,"Kids Need Porn Literacy"
– Marty Klein, ''Psychology Today'', 30 October 2016 pornography is presented in a variety of media, including magazines, art,
literature Literature is any collection of written work, but it is also used more narrowly for writings specifically considered to be an art form, especially prose fiction, drama, and poetry. In recent centuries, the definition has expanded to inclu ...
,
photography Photography is the visual art, art, application, and practice of creating durable images by recording light, either electronically by means of an image sensor, or chemically by means of a light-sensitive material such as photographic film. It i ...
, audio, film, animation, and
video games Video games, also known as computer games, are electronic games that involves interaction with a user interface or input device such as a joystick, controller, keyboard, or motion sensing device to generate visual feedback. This feedb ...
."The Evolution of Pornography"
– Robert Weiss, ''Psychology Today'', 2 July 2020 A distinction is often made as to whether to classify adult content as pornography or erotica."What Distinguishes Erotica from Pornography?"
– Leon F Seltzer, ''Psychology Today'', 6 April 2011 Throughout the history of erotic depictions, various groups within society have considered them to be noxious, and made attempts to have them suppressed under obscenity laws, censored, or made illegal. Such groundsand even the definition of pornographyhave differed in various historical, cultural, and national contexts. In the late 19th century, a film by
Thomas Edison Thomas Alva Edison (February 11, 1847October 18, 1931) was an American inventor and businessman. He developed many devices in fields such as electric power generation, mass communication, sound recording, and motion pictures. These invent ...
which depicted a kiss was denounced as obscene in the United States, while Eugène Pirou's 1896 film '' Bedtime for the Bride'' was received very favorably in France. Starting from the mid-twentieth century, societal attitudes towards sexuality have become more lenient in the
Western world The Western world, also known as the West, primarily refers to the various nations and states in the regions of Europe, North America, and Oceania.
, and legal definitions of obscenity made limited. In 1969, '' Blue Movie'' by Andy Warhol became the first film to depict unsimulated sex and receive a wide theatrical release in the United States. This was followed by the Golden Age of Porn (1969–1984), a time period when many high quality pornographic films played in theaters and became part of
popular culture Popular culture (also called mass culture or pop culture) is generally recognized by members of a society as a set of practices, beliefs, artistic output (also known as, popular art or mass art) and objects that are dominant or prevalent in ...
. The introduction of home video and the
Internet The Internet (or internet) is the global system of interconnected computer networks that uses the Internet protocol suite (TCP/IP) to communicate between networks and devices. It is a ''internetworking, network of networks'' that consists ...
in the late 20th century led to worldwide growth in the pornography business, generating billions of dollars annually. In 2001, commercialized pornography in the United States accounted for over US$2.5 billion, this included the costs for production of various
media Media may refer to: Communication * Media (communication), tools used to deliver information or data ** Advertising media, various media, content, buying and placement for advertising ** Broadcast media, communications delivered over mass el ...
, and associated products and services. In 2006, the worldwide revenue from pornography was estimated at 97 billion dollars, with the U.S. estimates at around $10–$12 billion. In 2018,
pornography in Japan Pornography in Japan has unique characteristics that readily distinguish it from western pornography. Pornographic films are known as "adult videos" (AV) in Japan, so Japanese adult videos are "JAV", referring to the Japanese pornographic ...
was estimated to be worth over $20 billion. The industry in the U.S. employs thousands of performers along with production and support staff. It has its own industry publication, ''AVN''; a trade association, the Free Speech Coalition; and an award show, the AVN Awards. Apart from coverage from mainstream press, the industry also receives considerable attention from private organizations, government agencies, and political organizations. In the 2020s, issues of popular pornographic sites hosting content by unscrupulous uploaders, and cybersex trafficking have been reported.


Etymology

The word ''pornography'' is a conglomerate of two Ancient Greek words: ( "prostitute" originally "purchased", related to "to sell", from the
Proto-Indo-European Proto-Indo-European (PIE) is the reconstructed common ancestor of the Indo-European language family. Its proposed features have been derived by linguistic reconstruction from documented Indo-European languages. No direct record of Proto-Indo- ...
root ''per-'' "to hand over", alluding to the notion of a person sold), and ( "a writing, recording, or description"). Thus meaning depiction of prostitutes or prostitution ( ). No date is known for the first use of the word in Greek; the earliest attested, most related word one could find in Greek, is , , i.e. "someone writing about harlots", in the '' Deipnosophists'' of
Athenaeus Athenaeus of Naucratis (; grc, Ἀθήναιος ὁ Nαυκρατίτης or Nαυκράτιος, ''Athēnaios Naukratitēs'' or ''Naukratios''; la, Athenaeus Naucratita) was a Greek rhetorician and grammarian, flourishing about the end of t ...
. The Modern Greek word () is a
reborrowing Reborrowing is the process where a word travels from one language to another and then back to the originating language in a different form or with a different meaning. This path is indicated by A → B → A, where A is the originating language, an ...
of the French . "" was in use in the French language during the 1800s. The word did not enter the English language as the familiar word until 1857 or as a French import in
New Orleans New Orleans ( , ,New Orleans
classical scholars Classics or classical studies is the study of classical antiquity. In the Western world, classics traditionally refers to the study of Classical Greek and Roman literature and their related original languages, Ancient Greek and Latin. Classics ...
as "a bookish, and therefore nonoffensive, term for writing about prostitutes", but its meaning was quickly expanded to include all forms of "objectionable or obscene material in art and literature". As early as 1864, ''
Webster's Dictionary ''Webster's Dictionary'' is any of the English language dictionaries edited in the early 19th century by American lexicographer Noah Webster (1758–1843), as well as numerous related or unrelated dictionaries that have adopted the Webster's n ...
'' defined the word as "a licentious painting", and the Oxford English Dictionary definitions being: from obscene painting (1842), description of obscene matters, obscene publication (1977 or earlier).
- OED, 2021 The more inclusive word '' erotica'', sometimes used as a synonym for "pornography", is derived from the feminine form of the Ancient Greek adjective ), derived from (), which refers to lust and sexual love. In informal language, ''pornography'' is often abbreviated to ''porn'' or ''porno''.


History

Depictions of a sexual nature have existed since
prehistoric Prehistory, also known as pre-literary history, is the period of human history between the use of the first stone tools by hominins 3.3 million years ago and the beginning of recorded history with the invention of writing systems. The use o ...
times, as seen in the Venus figurines and rock art. A vast number of artifacts have been discovered from ancient
Mesopotamia Mesopotamia ''Mesopotamíā''; ar, بِلَاد ٱلرَّافِدَيْن or ; syc, ܐܪܡ ܢܗܪ̈ܝܢ, or , ) is a historical region of Western Asia situated within the Tigris–Euphrates river system, in the northern part of the F ...
depicting explicit heterosexual sex. Glyptic art from the Sumerian Early Dynastic Period frequently shows scenes of frontal sex in the missionary position. In Mesopotamian votive plaques from the early second millennium BC, the man is usually shown entering the woman from behind while she bends over, drinking beer through a straw. Middle Assyrian lead votive figurines often represent the man standing and penetrating the woman as she rests on top of an altar. Scholars have traditionally interpreted all these depictions as scenes of hieros gamos (an ancient sacred marriage between a god and a goddess), but they are more likely to be associated with the cult of
Inanna Inanna, also sux, 𒀭𒊩𒌆𒀭𒈾, nin-an-na, label=none is an ancient Mesopotamian goddess of love, war, and fertility. She is also associated with beauty, sex, divine justice, and political power. She was originally worshiped in Su ...
, the goddess of sex and prostitution. Many sexually explicit images were found in the temple of Inanna at
Assur Aššur (; Sumerian: AN.ŠAR2KI, Assyrian cuneiform: ''Aš-šurKI'', "City of God Aššur"; syr, ܐܫܘܪ ''Āšūr''; Old Persian ''Aθur'', fa, آشور: ''Āšūr''; he, אַשּׁוּר, ', ar, اشور), also known as Ashur and Qal'at ...
, which also contained models of male and female sexual organs. Depictions of sexual intercourse were not part of the general repertory of ancient Egyptian formal art, but rudimentary sketches of heterosexual intercourse have been found on pottery fragments and in graffiti. The final two thirds of the Turin Erotic Papyrus (Papyrus 55001), an Egyptian papyrus scroll discovered at
Deir el-Medina Deir el-Medina ( arz, دير المدينة), or Dayr al-Madīnah, is an ancient Egyptian workmen's village which was home to the artisans who worked on the tombs in the Valley of the Kings during the 18th to 20th Dynasties of the New Kingdom of ...
, consist of a series of twelve vignettes showing men and women in various sexual positions. The scroll was probably painted in the Ramesside period (1292–1075 BC) and its high artistic quality indicates that it was produced for a wealthy audience. No other similar scrolls have yet been discovered. '' Fanny Hill'' (1748) is considered "the first original English
prose Prose is a form of written or spoken language that follows the natural flow of speech, uses a language's ordinary grammatical structures, or follows the conventions of formal academic writing. It differs from most traditional poetry, where the f ...
pornography, and the first pornography to use the form of the novel." It is an
erotic Eroticism () is a quality that causes sexual feelings, as well as a philosophical contemplation concerning the aesthetics of sexual desire, sensuality, and romantic love. That quality may be found in any form of artwork, including painting, ...
novel by John Cleland first published in England as ''Memoirs of a Woman of Pleasure''.Wagner, "Introduction", in Cleland, ''Fanny Hill'', 1985, p. 7. It is one of the most prosecuted and banned books in history. The authors were charged with "corrupting the King's subjects." When large-scale excavations of Pompeii were undertaken in the 1860s, much of the
erotic art Erotic art is a broad field of the visual arts that includes any artistic work intended to evoke erotic arousal. It usually depicts human nudity Nudity is the state of being in which a human is without clothing. The loss of body ...
of the Ancient Romans came to light, shocking the Victorians who saw themselves as the intellectual heirs of the
Roman Empire The Roman Empire ( la, Imperium Romanum ; grc-gre, Βασιλεία τῶν Ῥωμαίων, Basileía tôn Rhōmaíōn) was the post- Republican period of ancient Rome. As a polity, it included large territorial holdings around the Medite ...
. They did not know what to do with the frank depictions of sexuality and endeavored to hide them away from everyone but upper-class scholars. The moveable objects were locked away in the
Secret Museum The Secret Museum or Secret Cabinet ( it, Gabinetto Segreto) in Naples refers to the collection of 1st-century Roman erotic art found in Pompeii and Herculaneum, now held in separate galleries at the National Archaeological Museum in Naples, th ...
in
Naples Naples (; it, Napoli ; nap, Napule ), from grc, Νεάπολις, Neápolis, lit=new city. is the regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 909,048 within the city's adminis ...
and what could not be removed was covered and cordoned off as to not corrupt the sensibilities of women, children, and the working classes. After the modern invention of
photography Photography is the visual art, art, application, and practice of creating durable images by recording light, either electronically by means of an image sensor, or chemically by means of a light-sensitive material such as photographic film. It i ...
, photographic pornography was also born. The Parisian demimonde included
Napoleon III Napoleon III (Charles Louis Napoléon Bonaparte; 20 April 18089 January 1873) was the first President of France (as Louis-Napoléon Bonaparte) from 1848 to 1852 and the last monarch of France as Emperor of the French from 1852 to 1870. A neph ...
's minister, Charles de Morny, who was an early patron that displayed photos at large gatherings. The world's first law criminalizing pornography was the English Obscene Publications Act 1857 enacted at the urging of the Society for the Suppression of Vice. The Act, which applied to the
United Kingdom and Ireland United may refer to: Places * United, Pennsylvania, an unincorporated community * United, West Virginia, an unincorporated community Arts and entertainment Films * ''United'' (2003 film), a Norwegian film * ''United'' (2011 film), a BBC Two ...
, made the sale of obscene material a statutory offence, giving the courts power to seize and destroy offending material. The American equivalent was the Comstock Act of 1873''The Comstock Act'' which made it illegal to send any "obscene, lewd, and/or lascivious" materials through the mail. The English Act did not apply to
Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to th ...
, where the
common law In law, common law (also known as judicial precedent, judge-made law, or case law) is the body of law created by judges and similar quasi-judicial tribunals by virtue of being stated in written opinions."The common law is not a brooding omniprese ...
continued to apply. However, neither the English nor the United States Act defined what constituted "obscene", leaving this for the courts to determine. Before the English Act, the publication of obscene material was treated as a common law misdemeanour and effectively prosecuting authors and publishers was difficult even in cases where the material was clearly intended as pornography. Although nineteenth-century legislation eventually outlawed the publication, retail, and trafficking of certain writings and images regarded as pornographic and would order the destruction of shop and warehouse stock meant for sale, the private possession of and viewing of (some forms of) pornography was not made an offence until the twentieth century. Historians have explored the role of pornography in social history and the history of morality. The Victorian attitude that pornography was for a select few can be seen in the wording of the Hicklin test stemming from a court case in 1868 where it asks, "whether the tendency of the matter charged as obscenity is to deprave and corrupt those whose minds are open to such immoral influences." Although they were suppressed, depictions of erotic imagery were common throughout history. Pornographic film production commenced almost immediately after the invention of the motion picture in 1895. A pioneer of the motion picture camera,
Thomas Edison Thomas Alva Edison (February 11, 1847October 18, 1931) was an American inventor and businessman. He developed many devices in fields such as electric power generation, mass communication, sound recording, and motion pictures. These invent ...
, released various films which were denounced as obscene in late 19th century America. Two of the earliest pioneers were Eugène Pirou and
Albert Kirchner Albert Kirchner (1860–1902), better known under the pseudonym Léar, was a French photographer, manufacturer, exhibitor,Richard Abel''Encyclopedia of early cinema'' Taylor & Francis, 2005, , p.518 and filmmaker who is noted for producing severa ...
. Kirchner directed the earliest surviving pornographic film for Pirou under the trade name "Léar". The 1896 film showed Louise Willy performing a striptease. Pirou's film inspired a genre of risqué French films showing women disrobing and other filmmakers realised profits could be made from such films. Sexually explicit films opened producers and distributors to prosecution. Such films were produced illicitly by amateurs, starting in the 1920s, primarily in France and the United States. Processing the film was risky, as was their distribution. Distribution was strictly private. In 1969,
Denmark ) , song = ( en, "King Christian stood by the lofty mast") , song_type = National and royal anthem , image_map = EU-Denmark.svg , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of Denmark , establishe ...
became the first country to abolish censorship, thereby decriminalizing pornography, which led to an explosion in investment and of commercially produced pornography. However, it continued to be banned in other countries, and had to be smuggled in, where it was sold "under the counter" or (sometimes) shown in "members only" cinema clubs. Nonetheless, and also in 1969, '' Blue Movie'' by Andy Warhol, was the first adult erotic film depicting explicit sexual intercourse to receive wide theatrical release in the United States. The film was a seminal film in the Golden Age of Porn and, according to Warhol, a major influence in the making of '' Last Tango in Paris'', an internationally controversial erotic drama film, starring Marlon Brando, and released a few years after ''Blue Movie'' was made. Data from 2015 suggests an increase in pornography viewing over the past few decades, and this has been attributed to the growth of
Internet pornography Internet pornography is any pornography that is accessible over the internet, primarily via websites, FTP servers peer-to-peer file sharing, or Usenet newsgroups. The availability of widespread public access to the World Wide Web in late 19 ...
since widespread public access to the
World Wide Web The World Wide Web (WWW), commonly known as the Web, is an information system enabling documents and other web resources to be accessed over the Internet. Documents and downloadable media are made available to the network through web se ...
in the late 1990s. Through the 2010s, many pornographic production companies and top pornographic websites—such as Pornhub, RedTube and YouPorn—were acquired by MindGeek, which has been described as "a monopoly". The scholarly study of pornography, notably in cultural studies, is limited, perhaps due to the controversy about the topic in feminism. The first peer-reviewed academic journal about the study of pornography, ''
Porn Studies ''Porn Studies'' is a quarterly peer-reviewed academic journal covering the study of pornography. It is published by Routledge and was established in 2014. The editors-in-chief are Feona Attwood (Middlesex University), John Mercer (Birmingham City ...
'', was published in 2014.


Classification

Based on the content, pornography is generally classified as either softcore or hardcore. Both forms often contain
nudity Nudity is the state of being in which a human is without clothing. The loss of body hair was one of the physical characteristics that marked the biological evolution of modern humans from their hominin ancestors. Adaptations related to h ...
. Softcore pornography contains nudity or partial nudity in sexually suggestive situations, but without explicit sexual activity, sexual penetration or "extreme" fetishism, while hardcore pornography may contain graphic sexual activity and visible penetration, including unsimulated sex scenes.


Subgenres

Pornography encompasses a wide variety of genres. Pornography featuring heterosexual acts composes the bulk of pornography and is "centred and invisible", marking the industry as heteronormative. However, a substantial portion of pornography is not normative, featuring more nonconventional forms of scenarios and sexual activity such as "'fat' porn, amateur porn, disabled porn, porn produced by women, queer porn, BDSM, and body modification." Pornography can be classified according to the physical characteristics of the participants, fetish, sexual orientation, etc., as well as the types of sexual activity featured. Reality and voyeur pornography, animated videos, and legally prohibited acts also influence the classification of pornography. Pornography may fall into more than one genre. Some examples of pornography genres: *
Alt porn Alternative porn (also known as alt porn, alternaporn, or simply alt in context), a shortening of "alternative pornography", is a subgenre of pornography that is centered around alternative subcultures, such as goths, punks, emos, scenes, skater ...
* Amateur pornography * Bondage pornography * Ethnic pornography * Fetish pornography *
Group sex Group sex is sexual behavior involving more than two participants. Participants in group sex can be of any sexual orientation or gender. Any form of sexual activity can be adopted to involve more than two participants, but some forms have t ...
* Reality pornography * Porn parody *
Sexual orientation Sexual orientation is an enduring pattern of romantic or sexual attraction (or a combination of these) to persons of the opposite sex or gender, the same sex or gender, or to both sexes or more than one gender. These attractions are generally ...
-based pornography ** Gay pornography ** Lesbian pornography ** Bisexual pornography * Transgender pornography


Commercialism


Economics

Revenues of the adult industry in the United States are difficult to determine. In 1970, a Federal study estimated that the total retail value of hardcore pornography in the United States was no more than $10 million. In 1998,
Forrester Research Forrester is a research and advisory company that offers a variety of services including research, consulting, and events. Forrester has nine North America locations: Cambridge, Massachusetts; New York, New York; San Francisco, California; M ...
published a report on the online "adult content" industry estimating $750 million to $1 billion in annual revenue. Studies in 2001 put the total (including video, pay-per-view, Internet and magazines) between $2.6 billion and $3.9 billion. , pornography is becoming one of the biggest businesses in the United States; billions of dollars are spent annually on the industry's cable and satellite networks, theaters, in-room hotel movies, phone sex, sex magazines, and Internet sites. , the porn industry was believed to bring in more than $13 billion on a yearly basis in the United States.
CNBC CNBC (formerly Consumer News and Business Channel) is an American basic cable business news channel. It provides business news programming on weekdays from 5:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m., Eastern Time, while broadcasting talk sh ...
has estimated that pornography was a $13 billion industry in the US, with $3,075 being spent on porn every second and a new porn video being produced every 39 minutes. A significant amount of pornographic video is shot in the San Fernando Valley, which has been a pioneering region for producing adult films since the 1970s, and has since become home for various models, actors/actresses, production companies, and other assorted businesses involved in the production and distribution of pornography. The pornography industry has been considered influential in deciding
format war A format war is a competition between similar but mutually incompatible technical standards that compete for the same market, such as for data storage devices and recording formats for electronic media. It is often characterized by political a ...
s in media, including being a factor in the VHS vs. Betamax format war (the videotape format war) and in the
Blu-ray The Blu-ray Disc (BD), often known simply as Blu-ray, is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 2005 and released on June 20, 2006 worldwide. It is designed to supersede the DVD format, and capable of s ...
vs.
HD DVD HD DVD (short for High Definition Digital Versatile Disc) is an obsolete high-density optical disc format for storing data and playback of high-definition video. Supported principally by Toshiba, HD DVD was envisioned to be the successor to ...
format war (the high-def format war). Ron Wagner, Director of IT at a California porn studio: "If you look at the VHS vs. Beta standards, you see the much higher-quality standard dying because of
he porn industry's support of VHS He or HE may refer to: Language * He (pronoun), an English pronoun * He (kana), the romanization of the Japanese kana へ * He (letter), the fifth letter of many Semitic alphabets * He (Cyrillic), a letter of the Cyrillic script called ''He'' in ...
.. The mass volume of tapes in the porn market at the time went out on VHS."


Technology

Pornographers have taken advantage of each technological advance in the production and distribution of visual images. Pornography is considered a driving force in the development of technologies from the
printing press A printing press is a mechanical device for applying pressure to an inked surface resting upon a print medium (such as paper or cloth), thereby transferring the ink. It marked a dramatic improvement on earlier printing methods in which the ...
, through photography (still and motion), to satellite TV, home video, other forms of video, and the Internet. With commercial availability of tiny cameras and wireless equipment, "voyeur" pornography established an audience. Mobile cameras are used to capture pornographic photos or videos, and forwarded as MMS, a practice known as sexting.


Computer-generated images and manipulations

Digital manipulation requires the use of source photographs, but some pornography is produced without human actors at all. The idea of completely computer-generated pornography was conceived very early as one of the most obvious areas of application for computer graphics and 3D rendering. Further advances in technology have allowed increasingly photorealistic 3D figures to be used in interactive pornography. Until the late 1990s, digitally manipulated pornography could not be produced cost-effectively. In the early 2000s, it became a growing segment, as the modelling and animation software matured and the rendering capabilities of computers improved. As of 2004, computer-generated pornography depicting situations involving children and sex with fictional characters, such as Lara Croft, is already produced on a limited scale. The October 2004 issue of ''
Playboy ''Playboy'' is an American men's lifestyle and entertainment magazine, formerly in print and currently online. It was founded in Chicago in 1953, by Hugh Hefner and his associates, and funded in part by a $1,000 loan from Hefner's mother. K ...
'' featured topless pictures of the title character from the '' BloodRayne'' video game.


3D pornography

The first pornographic film shot in 3D was '' 3D Sex and Zen: Extreme Ecstasy'', released on 14 April 2011 in Hong Kong.


Consumption

The vast majority of US men use porn. According to
The Huffington Post ''HuffPost'' (formerly ''The Huffington Post'' until 2017 and sometimes abbreviated ''HuffPo'') is an American progressive news website, with localized and international editions. The site offers news, satire, blogs, and original content, and ...
, 70% of men and 30% of women watch porn. Sources: # # # https://web.archive.org/web/20130116164054/https://www.google.com/adplanner/static/top1000/ # # Quite probably, the majority of US population between ages 18 and 35 use porn at least once a week. According to a study from 2002, the majority of Norwegian population uses pornography. A survey conducted in 2008 on the use of pornography in 18- to 26-year-old American men shows that 87% of the participants view pornography at least once a month and nearly half view it at least once a week.


Production and distribution by region

The production and
distribution Distribution may refer to: Mathematics *Distribution (mathematics), generalized functions used to formulate solutions of partial differential equations *Probability distribution, the probability of a particular value or value range of a varia ...
of pornography are economic activities of some importance. The exact size of the economy of pornography and the influence that it has in political circles are matters of controversy. In the United States, the sex film industry is centered in the San Fernando Valley of Los Angeles. An analysis by MetaCert, a company that specializes on internet safety, revealed that the United States was the country that hosted the most porn, accounting for 60 percent of all websites containing pornographic content. In Europe,
Budapest Budapest (, ; ) is the capital and most populous city of Hungary. It is the ninth-largest city in the European Union by population within city limits and the second-largest city on the Danube river; the city has an estimated population ...
is regarded as the industry center. Piracy, the illegal copying and distribution of material, is of great concern to the porn industry. The industry is the subject of litigation and formalized anti-piracy efforts.


Effects

Research concerning the effects of pornography is concerned with multiple outcomes. Such research includes potential influences on rape, domestic violence,
sexual dysfunction Sexual dysfunction is difficulty experienced by an individual or partners during any stage of normal sexual activity, including physical pleasure, desire, preference, arousal, or orgasm. The World Health Organization defines sexual dysfunction ...
, difficulties with sexual relationships, and
child sexual abuse Child sexual abuse (CSA), also called child molestation, is a form of child abuse in which an adult or older adolescent uses a child for sexual stimulation. Forms of child sexual abuse include engaging in sexual activities with a child (whet ...
. While some literature reviews suggest that pornographic images and films can be addictive, insufficient evidence exists to draw conclusions. While it has not been proven that either porn or masturbation addiction exist, porn or masturbation compulsion probably exist. Several studies conclude the liberalization of porn in society may be associated with decreased rape and sexual violence rates, while others suggest no effect, or are inconclusive.Online.
Pdf.
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Laws and regulations

The legal status of pornography varies widely from country to country. Regulating hardcore pornography is more common than regulating
softcore pornography Softcore pornography or softcore porn, is commercial still photography or film that has a pornographic or erotic component but is less sexually graphic and intrusive than hardcore pornography, defined by a lack of visual sexual penetration. So ...
.
Child pornography Child pornography (also called CP, child sexual abuse material, CSAM, child porn, or kiddie porn) is pornography that unlawfully exploits children for sexual stimulation. It may be produced with the direct involvement or sexual assault of a chi ...
is illegal in almost all countries, and some countries have restrictions on rape pornography or animal pornography. Disseminating pornography to a minor is generally illegal. There are various attempts to restrict minors' access to pornography, including protocols for pornographic magazines or stores. One way this may be bypassed by minors is that many online sites only require the user to tell the website they are a certain age, and no other age verification is required. The Child Online Protection Act would have restricted access by minors to any material on the Internet defined as harmful to them, but it did not take effect. The
adult film industry regulations In '' People vs Freeman'' of 1988, the California Supreme Court stated that adult film production was to be protected as free speech under the First Amendment. They ruled that since such films did not include obscene images and indecency, and staye ...
in California require that all actors and actresses practice safe sex using condoms. It is rare to see condom use in pornography. Since porn does better financially when actors are unprotected, many companies film in other states. Miami is a major area for amateur porn. Twitter plays a big part in an actor's success: because Twitter does not censor content, actors can post freely without having to self-censor, unlike on Instagram and on Facebook. In the United States, a person receiving unwanted commercial mail he or she deems pornographic (or otherwise offensive) may obtain a Prohibitory Order, either against all mail from a particular sender, or against all sexually explicit mail, by applying to the United States Postal Service. Some people, including pornography producer Larry Flynt and the writer Salman Rushdie, have argued that pornography is vital to freedom and that a free and civilized society should be judged by its willingness to accept pornography. The UK government has criminalized possession of what it terms " extreme pornography", following the highly publicized murder of
Jane Longhurst Jane may refer to: * Jane (given name), a feminine given name * Jane (surname), related to the given name Film and television * ''Jane'' (1915 film), a silent comedy film directed by Frank Lloyd * ''Jane'' (2016 film), a South Korean drama fil ...
. Pornography can infringe into basic human rights of those involved, especially when sexual consent was not obtained. For example, revenge porn is a phenomenon where disgruntled sexual partners release images or video footage of intimate sexual activity, usually on the internet, without authorization from the other person. Lawmakers have also raised concerns about "upskirt" photos taken of women without their consent. In many countries there has been a demand to make such activities specifically illegal carrying higher punishments than mere breach of privacy or image rights, or circulation of prurient material. As a result, some jurisdictions have enacted specific laws against " revenge porn".


What is not pornography

In the U.S., a July 2014 criminal case decision in
Massachusetts Massachusetts (Massachusett language, Massachusett: ''Muhsachuweesut assachusett writing systems, məhswatʃəwiːsət'' English: , ), officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is the most populous U.S. state, state in the New England ...
, Commonwealth v. Rex, 469 Mass. 36 (2014), made a legal determination of what was not to be considered "pornography" and in this particular case "child pornography". It was determined that photographs of naked children that were from sources such as National Geographic magazine, a sociology textbook, and a nudist catalog were not considered pornography in Massachusetts even while in the possession of a convicted and (at the time) incarcerated sex offender. Drawing the line depends on time and place; Occidental mainstream culture got increasingly "pornified" (i.e. tainted by pornographic themes and mainstream films got to include unsimulated sexual acts).


Copyright status

In the United States, some courts have applied US
copyright A copyright is a type of intellectual property that gives its owner the exclusive right to copy, distribute, adapt, display, and perform a creative work, usually for a limited time. The creative work may be in a literary, artistic, education ...
protection to pornographic materials.Goussé, Caroline (16 February 2012)
"No Copyright Protection for Pornography: A Daring Response to File-Sharing Litigation"
Intellectual Property Brief. Retrieved 1 March 2012. Some courts have held that copyright protection effectively applies to works, whether they are obscene or not, but not all courts have ruled the same way. The copyright protection rights of pornography in the United States has again been challenged as late as February 2012.


STIs prevention and safer sex practices

Performers working in pornographic film studios undergo regular testing for STIs every two weeks. They have to test negative for
HIV The human immunodeficiency viruses (HIV) are two species of '' Lentivirus'' (a subgroup of retrovirus) that infect humans. Over time, they cause acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS), a condition in which progressive failure of the immu ...
, syphilis,
chlamydia Chlamydia, or more specifically a chlamydia infection, is a sexually transmitted infection caused by the bacterium '' Chlamydia trachomatis''. Most people who are infected have no symptoms. When symptoms do appear they may occur only several w ...
, gonorrhea,
trichomoniasis Trichomoniasis (trich) is an infectious disease caused by the parasite '' Trichomonas vaginalis''. About 70% of affected people do not have symptoms when infected. When symptoms occur, they typically begin 5 to 28 days after exposure. Symptoms c ...
, and
hepatitis B Hepatitis B is an infectious disease caused by the '' Hepatitis B virus'' (HBV) that affects the liver; it is a type of viral hepatitis. It can cause both acute and chronic infection. Many people have no symptoms during an initial infection. F ...
and C before showing up on a set, who are then inspected for sores on their mouths, hands and genitals before commencing work. The industry believes this method of testing to be a viable practice for safer sex, as its medical consultants claim: that since 2004, about 350,000 pornographic scenes have been filmed without condoms, and HIV has not been transmitted even once because of performance on a set. Dr. Allan Ronald, a Canadian doctor and
HIV/AIDS Human immunodeficiency virus infection and acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (HIV/AIDS) is a spectrum of conditions caused by infection with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), a retrovirus. Following initial infection an individual ...
specialist who did groundbreaking studies on transmission of STIs among prostitutes in Africa, said there's no doubt about the efficiency of the testing method, but he felt little uncomfortable: "because it’s giving the wrong message — that you can have multiple sex partners without condoms — but I can’t say it doesn’t work.” Pornographic actress Nina Hartley, who has a degree in
nursing Nursing is a profession within the health care sector focused on the care of individuals, families, and communities so they may attain, maintain, or recover optimal health and quality of life. Nurses may be differentiated from other health ...
, stated that the amount of time involved in shooting a scene can be very long, and with condoms in place it becomes a painful proposition; as their usage is uncomfortable despite the use of lube, causes friction burn, and opens up lesions in the genital mucosa. Advocating the testing method for performers in the industry, Hartley said, "Testing works for us, and condoms work for outsiders." Emphasizing that performers in the industry take necessary precautions like PrEP and are at lower risk to contract HIV than most sexually active persons outside the industry, many prominent female performers have vehemently opposed regulatory measures like
Measure B Measure B, also known as the ''County of Los Angeles Safer Sex In the Adult Film Industry Act,'' is the law that requires the use of condoms in all vaginal and anal sex scenes in pornography productions filmed in Los Angeles County, California ...
, which sought to make the use of condoms mandatory in pornographic films. The usage of condoms at work has been called an occupational hazard as they cause micro-tears, friction burn, swelling, and yeast infections; which altogether makes one more susceptible to contract STIs.


Views

Views and opinions of people on pornography are various; and differ according to the demography of the people concerned.


Feminist views

Many feminists, including Andrea Dworkin and
Catharine MacKinnon Catharine Alice MacKinnon (born October 7, 1946) is an American radical feminist legal scholar, activist, and author. She is the Elizabeth A. Long Professor of Law at the University of Michigan Law School, where she has been tenured since 1990, ...
, argue that all pornography is demeaning to women or that it contributes to
violence against women Violence against women (VAW), also known as gender-based violence and sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV), are violent acts primarily or exclusively committed against woman, women or Girl, girls, usually by Man, men or Boy, boys. Such ...
, both in its production and in its consumption. The production of pornography, they argue, entails the physical, psychological, or economic coercion of the women who perform in it, and where they argue that the abuse and exploitation of women is rampant; in its consumption, they charge that pornography eroticizes the domination, humiliation and coercion of women, and reinforces sexual and cultural attitudes that are complicit in rape and sexual harassment. Shrage, Laurie (Fall 2015),
Feminist perspectives on sex markets: pornography
, Sexual exclusionary feminists charge that pornography presents a severely distorted image of sexual relations, and reinforces sex myths; that it always shows women as readily available and desiring to engage in sex at any time, with any man, on men's terms, always responding positively to any advances men make. They argue that because pornography often shows women enjoying and desiring to be violently attacked by men, saying "no" when they actually want sex, fighting back but then ending up enjoying the act—this can affect the public understanding of legal issues such as consent to sexual relations. In contrast to these objections, other feminist scholars argue that the lesbian feminist movement in the 1980s was good for women in the porn industry. As more women entered the developmental side of the industry, this allowed women to gear porn more towards women because they knew what women wanted, both for actresses and the audience. This is believed to be a good thing because for such a long time, the porn industry has been directed by men for men. This also sparked the arrival of making lesbian porn for lesbians instead of men. Furthermore, many feminists argue that the advent of VCR, home video, and affordable consumer video cameras allowed for the possibility of feminist pornography. Consumer video made it possible for the distribution and consumption of video pornography to locate women as legitimate consumers of pornography. Tristan Taormino says that feminist porn is "all about creating a fair working environment and empowering everyone involved." Feminists "ranging from Betty Friedan and Kate Millett to Karen DeCrow, Wendy Kaminer and Jamaica Kincaid" supported the right to consume pornography. Feminist porn directors are interested in challenging representations of men and women, as well as providing sexually-empowering imagery that features many kinds of bodies. In a 1995 essay for ''
The New Yorker ''The New Yorker'' is an American weekly magazine featuring journalism, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons, and poetry. Founded as a weekly in 1925, the magazine is published 47 times annually, with five of these issue ...
'', writer Susan Faludi argued that porn was one of the few industries where women enjoy a power advantage in the workplace. "'Actresses have the power,' Alec Metro, one of the men in line, ruefully noted of the X-rated industry. A former firefighter who claimed to have lost a bid for a job to affirmative action, Metro was already divining that porn might not be the ideal career choice for escaping the forces of what he called 'reverse discrimination.' Female performers can often dictate which male actors they will and will not work with. They'' make more money than ''us''.' Porn—at least, porn produced for a heterosexual audience—is one of the few contemporary occupations where the pay gap operates in women's favor; the average actress makes fifty to a hundred per cent more money than her male counterpart. But then she is the object of desire; he is merely her appendage, the object of the object."


Religious views

Religious organizations have been important in bringing about political action against pornography. In the United States, religious beliefs affect the formation of political beliefs that concern pornography. According to Christianity Today, " ..Protestant men today who attend church regularly are basically the only men in America still resisting the cultural norm of regularized pornography use." However, a study by The Austin Institute for the Study of Family and Culture in the US found that of Christians that attend church, Protestants had a higher rate of viewing pornography in the last week than Catholics.


See also

*
Adult animation Adult animation, also known as mature animation, and infrequently as adult-oriented animation, is any type of animation, animated motion work that is catered specifically to adult interests, and is mainly targeted and marketed towards adults and ...
* ASMR erotica * Cartoon pornography * Effects of pornography * Erotic comics * Erotic hypnosis * Erotic literature * Erotic photography * Eroticism * History of erotic depictions * History of human sexuality * Literotica * Mobile porn * Right to sexuality * Sex in advertising * Sex worker * Sex-positive feminism * Sex-positive movement * Sexual and reproductive health and rights * Sexual Freedom Awards * Sexual revolution * Webcam model * Women's pornography


References


Further reading


Advocacy

* * Both of Bright's books challenge any equations between feminism and anti-pornography positions. * * * * Student run newspaper. * * Performance artists and literary theorists who challenge Dworkin and MacKinnon. * Defends the availability of pornography, and condemns feminist anti-pornography campaigns. * * * * * ::''Review of Strossen's book'': * Critique of Stoltenberg and Dworkin's positions on pornography and power. * ::''Also as'': *


Opposition

* Assiter advocates seeing pornography as epitomizing a wider problem of oppression, exploitation and inequality which needs to be better understood. * An argument for approaches to end harm to women caused by pornography. * (Online version before inclusion in an issue.) An illustration of Catharine Mackinnon's theory that pornography silence's women's speech, this illustration differs from one given by Rae Helen Langton, Rae Langton (below). * A critique of the pornographic industry within a Immanuel Kant#Moral philosophy, Kantian ethical framework. * A variety of essays that try to assess ways that pornography may take advantage of men. * Pdf. A description of Catharine Mackinnon's theory that pornography silence's women's speech, this description differs from the one given by Alex Davies (above). * * Pdf. An argument that pornography is one element of an unjust institution of the subordination of women to men. * Preview. An argument that pornography silences women therefore acting as an infringement of free speech (see Davies above, and Langton, also above). * * A defence of the Dworkin-MacKinnon definition and condemnation of pornography employing putatively relatively rigorous analysis. ::''See also'': A criticism of Vadas' paper. * An argument that pornography increases women's vulnerability to rape. * A representation of the causal connections between pornography and violence towards women. *


Neutral or mixed

* Collection of papers from 1982 conference; visible and divisive split between anti-pornography activists and lesbian S&M theorists.
Real Your Brain on Porn
Retrieved 2019-04-14. *


External links

Commentary * Interactive web site companion to a ''Frontline (U.S. TV series), Frontline'' documentary exploring the pornography industry within the United States. Economics * Government * Berl Kutchinsky, Kutchinsky, Berl, Professor of Criminology
The first law that legalized pornography
(Denmark) History * Law
American judge orders parents to pay $30,441 for disposing adult son's porn collection
(27 August 2021). Associated Press. Sociology * * Technology
From teledildonics to interactive porn: the future of sex in a digital age
(2014-06-06), ''Theguardian.com, The Guardian'' {{portal bar, Art, Books, Erotica and pornography, Film, Human sexuality, Internet, Literature, Sex work, Television Pornography, Sexuality