Pornographic Film
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Pornographic films (pornos), erotic films, sex films, and 18+ films are films that present sexually
explicit Explicit refers to something that is specific, clear, or detailed. It can also mean: * Explicit knowledge, knowledge that can be readily articulated, codified and transmitted to others * Explicit (text) The explicit (from Latin ''explicitus est'', ...
subject matter in order to
arouse AROUSE OSU is an Internet radio station run by students of Ohio State University, broadcasting exclusively online. AROUSE OSU is overseen by an executive board of Undergraduate students, and faculty from The Ohio State University's Department of ...
and satisfy the viewer.
Pornographic 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,
films present
sexual fantasies A sexual fantasy or erotic fantasy is a mental image or pattern of thought that stirs a person's sexuality and can create or enhance sexual arousal. A sexual fantasy can be created by the person's imagination or memory, and may be triggered aut ...
and usually include erotically stimulating material such as nudity ( softcore) and sexual intercourse (
hardcore Hardcore, hard core or hard-core may refer to: Arts and media Film * ''Hardcore'' (1977 film), a British comedy film * ''Hardcore'' (1979 film), an American crime drama film starring George C Scott * ''Hardcore'' (2001 film), a British documen ...
). A distinction is sometimes made between "erotic" and "pornographic" films on the basis that the latter category contains more explicit sexuality, and focuses more on arousal than storytelling; the distinction is highly subjective. Pornographic films are produced and distributed on a variety of media, depending on the demand and technology available, including traditional film stock in various formats,
home video Home video is prerecorded media sold or rented for home viewing. The term originates from the VHS and Betamax era, when the predominant medium was videotapes, but has carried over to optical disc formats such as DVD, Blu-ray and streaming me ...
,
DVD The DVD (common abbreviation for Digital Video Disc or Digital Versatile Disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any kind ...
s, Internet download, cable TV, in addition to other media. Today, pornographic films are sold or rented on DVD; shown through Internet streaming, special channels and pay-per-view on cable and satellite; and viewed in rapidly disappearing
adult theater An adult movie theater is a euphemistic term for a movie theater dedicated to the exhibition of pornographic films. Adult movie theaters show pornographic films primarily for either a respectively heterosexual or homosexual audience. For the pat ...
s. By law, they are generally not permitted to be shown in
mainstream media In journalism, mainstream media (MSM) is a term and abbreviation used to refer collectively to the various large mass news media that influence many people and both reflect and shape prevailing currents of thought.Chomsky, Noam, ''"What makes mai ...
, or on
free-to-air Free-to-air (FTA) services are television (TV) and radio services broadcast in unencrypted form, allowing any person with the FTA Receiver, appropriate receiving equipment to receive the signal and view or listen to the content without requiring ...
television. Films with risqué content have been produced since the invention of motion picture in the 1880s. Production of such films was profitable, and a number of producers began to specialize in their production. Various groups within society considered such depictions
immoral Immorality is the violation of moral laws, norms or standards. It refers to an agent doing or thinking something they know or believe to be wrong. Immorality is normally applied to people or actions, or in a broader sense, it can be applied to g ...
, labeled them "pornographic", and attempted to have them suppressed under
obscenity laws An obscenity is any utterance or act that strongly offends the prevalent morality of the time. It is derived from the Latin ''obscēnus'', ''obscaenus'', "boding ill; disgusting; indecent", of uncertain etymology. Such loaded language can be us ...
, with varying degrees of success. Such films continued to be produced, and could only be distributed by underground channels. Because the viewing of such films carried a
social stigma Social stigma is the disapproval of, or discrimination against, an individual or group based on perceived characteristics that serve to distinguish them from other members of a society. Social stigmas are commonly related to culture, gender, ra ...
, they were viewed at brothels, adult movie theaters, stag parties, home, private clubs, and night cinemas. In the 1970s, during the
Golden Age of Porn https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MediaWiki_talk:Spam-whitelist/Archives/2018/01#Another_Worthy_Journal_Article_on_Wordpress ---> The term "Golden Age of Porn", or "porno chic", refers to a 15-year period (1969–1984) in commercial American porno ...
, pornographic films were semi-legitimized; by the 1980s, pornography on home video achieved wider distribution. The rise of the Internet in the late 1990s and early 2000s changed the way pornographic films are distributed, complicating
censorship Censorship is the suppression of speech, public communication, or other information. This may be done on the basis that such material is considered objectionable, harmful, sensitive, or "inconvenient". Censorship can be conducted by governments ...
regimes around the world and legal prosecutions of "obscenity".


Classification

Pornographic films are typically categorized as either softcore or hardcore pornography. In general, softcore pornography is pornography that does not depict explicit
sexual activity Human sexual activity, human sexual practice or human sexual behaviour is the manner in which humans experience and express their sexuality. People engage in a variety of sexual acts, ranging from activities done alone (e.g., masturbation) ...
,
sexual penetration Sexual penetration is the insertion of a body part or other object into a body orifice, such as the mouth, vagina or anus, as part of human sexual activity or animal sexual behavior. The term is most commonly used in statute law in the contex ...
or extreme
fetishism A fetish (derived from the French , which comes from the Portuguese , and this in turn from Latin , 'artificial' and , 'to make') is an object believed to have supernatural powers, or in particular, a human-made object that has power over ot ...
. It generally contains
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 ...
or partial nudity in sexually suggestive situations. Hardcore pornography is pornography that depicts penetration or extreme fetish acts, or both. It contains graphic sexual activity and visible penetration. A pornographic work is characterized as hardcore if it has any hardcore content. Pornographic films are generally classified into subgenres which describe the
sexual fantasy A sexual fantasy or erotic fantasy is a mental image or pattern of thought that stirs a person's sexuality and can create or enhance sexual arousal. A sexual fantasy can be created by the person's imagination or memory, and may be triggered auto ...
which the film and actors attempt to create. Subgenres can also be classified into the characteristics of the performers or the type of sexual activity on which it concentrates and not necessarily on the
market Market is a term used to describe concepts such as: *Market (economics), system in which parties engage in transactions according to supply and demand *Market economy *Marketplace, a physical marketplace or public market Geography *Märket, an ...
to which each subgenre appeals. The subgenres usually conform to certain conventions, and each may appeal to a particular audience.


History


Early years: 20th century

Production of erotic films commenced almost immediately after the invention of the motion picture. Two of the earliest pioneers were Frenchmen Eugène Pirou and Albert Kirchner. Kirchner (under the name "Léar") directed the earliest surviving erotic film for Pirou. The 7-minute 1896 film had Louise Willy performing a bathroom
striptease A striptease is an erotic or exotic dance in which the performer gradually undresses, either partly or completely, in a seductive and sexually suggestive manner. The person who performs a striptease is commonly known as a "stripper" or an "ex ...
.Richard Abel
''Encyclopedia of early cinema''
Taylor & Francis, 2005, , p.518
Other French filmmakers also considered that profits could be made from this type of risqué films, showing women disrobing. Also in 1896 ''Fatima's Coochie-Coochie Dance'' was released as a short
nickelodeon Nickelodeon (often shortened to Nick) is an American pay television television channel, channel which launched on April 1, 1979, as the first cable channel for children. It is run by Paramount Global through its List of assets owned by Param ...
kinetoscope The Kinetoscope is an precursors of film, early motion picture exhibition device, designed for films to be viewed by one person at a time through a peephole viewer window. The Kinetoscope was not a movie projector, but it introduced the basic ...
/film featuring a gyrating
belly dancer Belly dance (Egyptian Arabic: رقص بلدي, translated: Dance of the Country/Folk Dance, romanized: Raks/Raas Baladi) is a dance that originates in Egypt. It features movements of the hips and torso. It has evolved to take many different f ...
named Fatima. Her gyrating and moving pelvis was censored, one of the earliest films to be censored. At the time, there were numerous risque films that featured exotic dancers. In the same year, '' The May Irwin Kiss'' contained the very first kiss on film. It was a 47-second film loop, with a close-up of a nuzzling couple followed by a short peck on the lips ("the mysteries of the kiss revealed"). The kissing scene was denounced as shocking and obscene to early moviegoers and caused the Roman Catholic Church to call for censorship and moral reform - because kissing in public at the time could lead to prosecution. Perhaps in defiance and "to spice up a film", this was followed by many kiss imitators, including ''
The Kiss in the Tunnel ''The Kiss in the Tunnel'', also known as ''A Kiss in the Tunnel'', is a 1899 in film, 1899 film UK, British Short subject, short silent film, silent comedy film, produced and directed by George Albert Smith (inventor), George Albert Smith, sh ...
'' (1899) and ''The Kiss'' (1900). A
tableau vivant A (; often shortened to ; plural: ), French for "living picture", is a static scene containing one or more actors or models. They are stationary and silent, usually in costume, carefully posed, with props and/or scenery, and may be theatrica ...
style was used in short film ''The Birth of the Pearl'' (1901) featuring an unnamed long-haired young model wearing a flesh-colored body stocking in a direct frontal pose that provides a provocative view of the female body. The pose is in the style of
Botticelli Alessandro di Mariano di Vanni Filipepi ( – May 17, 1510), known as Sandro Botticelli (, ), was an Italian painter of the Early Renaissance. Botticelli's posthumous reputation suffered until the late 19th century, when he was rediscovered ...
's ''
The Birth of Venus ''The Birth of Venus'' ( it, Nascita di Venere ) is a painting by the Italian artist Sandro Botticelli, probably executed in the mid 1480s. It depicts the goddess Venus arriving at the shore after her birth, when she had emerged from the sea ...
''. In Austria, cinemas organised men-only theatre nights (called ) at which adult films were shown.
Johann Schwarzer Johann Schwarzer (30 August 1880 – 10 October 1914) was an Austrian photographer and pioneer producer of adult films through his Saturn-Film ( de) company. Schwarzer was born in Javornik, then part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire and now locat ...
formed his Saturn-Film production company which between 1906 and 1911 produced 52 erotic productions, each of which contained young local women fully nude, to be shown at those screenings. Before Schwarzer's productions, erotic films were provided by the
Pathé Pathé or Pathé Frères (, styled as PATHÉ!) is the name of various French people, French businesses that were founded and originally run by the Pathé Brothers of France starting in 1896. In the early 1900s, Pathé became the world's largest ...
brothers from French produced sources. In 1911, Saturn was dissolved by the censorship authorities which destroyed all the films they could find, though some have since resurfaced from private collections. There were a number of American films in the 1910s which contained female
nudity in film In film, nudity may be either graphic or suggestive, such as when a person appears to be naked but is covered by a sheet. Since the birth of film, depictions of any form of sexuality have been controversial, and in the case of most nude scene ...
. Because Pirou is nearly unknown as a pornographic filmmaker, credit is often given to other films for being the first. In '' Black and White and Blue'' (2008), one of the most scholarly attempts to document the origins of the clandestine 'stag film' trade, Dave Thompson recounts ample evidence that such an industry first had sprung up in the brothels of
Buenos Aires Buenos Aires ( or ; ), officially the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires ( es, link=no, Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires), is the capital and primate city of Argentina. The city is located on the western shore of the Río de la Plata, on South ...
and other South American cities by the turn of the 20th century, and then quickly spread through Central Europe over the following few years. However, none of these earliest pornographic films are known to have survived. According to Patrick Robertson's ''Film Facts'', "the earliest pornographic motion picture which can definitely be dated is " made in France in 1908. The plot depicts a weary soldier who has a tryst with a servant girl at an inn. The Argentinian , whose original title could have been (''The Satyr''), might be even older; it has been dated to somewhere between 1907 and 1912. He also notes that "the oldest surviving pornographic films are contained in America's Kinsey Collection. One film demonstrates how early pornographic conventions were established. The German film (1910) is a ten-minute film which begins with a woman masturbating alone in her bedroom, and progresses to scenes of her with a man performing straight sex ,
fellatio Fellatio (also known as fellation, and in slang as blowjob, BJ, giving head, or sucking off) is an oral sex act involving a person stimulating the penis of another person by using the mouth, throat, or both. Oral stimulation of the scrotum may ...
, and penile anal penetration."


1920s–1940s suppression

Pornographic movies were widespread in the
silent movie ''Silent Movie'' is a 1976 American satirical comedy film co-written, directed by and starring Mel Brooks, released by 20th Century Fox in the summer of 1976. The ensemble cast includes Dom DeLuise, Marty Feldman, Bernadette Peters, and Sid Cae ...
era of the 1920s, and were often shown in brothels. Soon illegal, stag films, or blue films, as they were called, were produced underground by amateurs for many years starting in the 1940s. Processing the film took considerable time and resources, with people using their bathtubs to wash the film when processing facilities (often tied to organized crime) were unavailable. The films were then circulated privately or by traveling salesmen, but anyone caught viewing or possessing them risked a prison sentence.


1950s: home movies

The post-war era saw technological developments that further stimulated the growth of a mass market and amateur film-making, particularly the introduction of the 8 mm and super-8 film gauges, popular for the home movie market. Entrepreneurs emerged to meet the demand. In Britain, in the 1950s,
Harrison Marks George Harrison Marks (6 August 1926 – 27 June 1997) was an English glamour photographer and director of nudist, and later, pornographic films. Personal life Born in Tottenham, Middlesex in 1926, Marks was 17 when he married his first wife ...
produced films which were considered risqué, and which today would be described as "soft core". In 1958, as an offshoot of his magazines, Marks began making short films for the 8mm market of his models undressing and posing topless, popularly known as "glamour home movies". To Marks, the term "glamour" was a euphemism for nude modeling/photography.


1960s: Europe and United States

On the European continent, sex films were more explicit. Starting in 1961,
Lasse Braun Lasse Braun (born Alberto Ferro; 11 January 1936 – 16 February 2015) was an Italian pornographer, film director, producer, screenwriter, novelist and researcher. He initially produced so-called loops, ten-minute hardcore movies that he sold to ...
was a pioneer in quality colour productions that were, in the early days, distributed by making use of his father's diplomatic privileges. Braun was able to accumulate funds for his lavish productions from the profit gained with so-called loops, ten-minute
hardcore Hardcore, hard core or hard-core may refer to: Arts and media Film * ''Hardcore'' (1977 film), a British comedy film * ''Hardcore'' (1979 film), an American crime drama film starring George C Scott * ''Hardcore'' (2001 film), a British documen ...
movies which he sold to
Reuben Sturman Reuben Sturman (August 16, 1924 – October 27, 1997), sometimes referred as the "Walt Disney of Porn", was an American pornographer and businessman from Ohio, who co-founded sex toys company Doc Johnson. He was featured as a subject in Eric Sch ...
, who distributed them to 60,000 American
peep show A peep show or peepshow is a presentation of a live sex show or pornographic film which is viewed through a viewing slot. Several historical media provided voyeuristic entertainment through hidden erotic imagery. Before the development of the ci ...
booths. Braun was always on the move, and made his hardcore movies in a number of countries, including Spain, France, Sweden, Denmark and the Netherlands. In December 1960, American female director
Doris Wishman Doris Wishman (June 1, 1912 August 10, 2002) was an American film director, screenwriter, and producer. She is credited with having directed and produced at least 30 feature films during a career spanning over four decades, most notably in the ...
began producing a series of eight
pornographic Pornography (often shortened to porn or porno) is the portrayal of Human sexual activity, sexual subject matter for the exclusive purpose of sexual arousal. Primarily intended for adults,
films, or
nudist Naturism is a lifestyle of practising non-sexual social nudity in private and in public; the word also refers to the cultural movement which advocates and defends that lifestyle. Both may alternatively be called nudism. Though the two terms ar ...
films without sex scenes, including ''
Hideout in the Sun ''Hideout in the Sun'' is a 1960 nudist film, produced by Doris Wishman and co-directed by Wishman and Larry "Lazarus" Wolk. It stars Greg Conrad, Dolores Carlos and Earl Bauer. Plot Brothers Duke and Steve Martin (Conrad and Bauer) hold up a ba ...
'' (1960), '' Nude on the Moon'' (1961) and '' Diary of a Nudist'' (1961). She also produced a series of
sexploitation A sexploitation film (or sex-exploitation film) is a class of independently produced, low-budget feature film that is generally associated with the 1960s and early 1970s, and that serves largely as a vehicle for the exhibition of non-explicit s ...
films. In the 1960s, social and judicial attitudes towards the explicit depiction of sexuality began to change. For example, Swedish film ''
I Am Curious (Yellow) ''I Am Curious (Yellow)'' (, meaning "I Am Curious: A Film in Yellow") is a 1967 Swedish erotic drama film written and directed by Vilgot Sjöman, starring Sjöman and Lena Nyman. It is a companion film to 1968's ''I Am Curious (Blue)''; the t ...
'' (1967) included numerous frank nude scenes and simulated sexual intercourse. In one particularly controversial scene, Lena kisses her lover's flaccid penis. The film was exhibited in mainstream cinemas, but in 1969 it was banned 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 ...
allegedly for being pornographic. The ban was challenged in the courts, with the
Supreme Court of the United States The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all U.S. federal court cases, and over state court cases that involve a point o ...
ultimately declaring that the film was not obscene, paving the way for other sexually explicit films. Another Swedish film ''
Language of Love ''Language of Love'' () is a 1969 Swedish sex educational film directed by Torgny Wickman. It was an international success. It gained publicity when 30,000 people gathered on Trafalgar Square in London to protest against a nearby movie theatre ...
'' (1969) was also sexually explicit, but was framed as a quasi-documentary sex
educational film An educational film is a film or movie whose primary purpose is to educate. Educational films have been used in classrooms as an alternative to other teaching methods. History Determining which videos should count as the first educational films ...
, which made its legal status uncertain though controversial. In 1969, Denmark became the first country to abolish all censorship laws, enabling pornography, including hardcore pornography. The example was followed by toleration in the Netherlands, also in 1969. There was an explosion of pornography commercially produced in those countries, including, at the very beginning,
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 ...
and bestiality porn. Now that being a pornographer was legal, there was no shortage of businessmen who invested in plant and equipment capable of turning out a mass-produced, cheap, but quality product. Vast amounts of this new pornography, both magazines and films, needed to be smuggled into other parts of Europe, where it was sold "under the counter" or (sometimes) shown in "members only" cinema clubs. In the United States, producers of pornographic films formed the
Adult Film Association of America The Adult Film Association of America (AFAA) was the first American association of pornographic film producers. It fought against censorship laws, attempted to defend the industry against prosecution for obscenity, and held an annual adult film ...
in 1969, after the release of ''
Blue Movie ''Blue Movie'' (also known as ''Fuck'') is a 1969 American erotic film written, produced and directed by Andy Warhol. It is the first adult erotic film depicting explicit sex to receive wide theatrical release in the United States, and is re ...
'' by
Andy Warhol Andy Warhol (; born Andrew Warhola Jr.; August 6, 1928 – February 22, 1987) was an American visual artist, film director, and producer who was a leading figure in the visual art movement known as pop art. His works explore the relationsh ...
, to fight against censorship, and to defend the industry against
obscenity An obscenity is any utterance or act that strongly offends the prevalent morality of the time. It is derived from the Latin ''obscēnus'', ''obscaenus'', "boding ill; disgusting; indecent", of uncertain etymology. Such loaded language can be use ...
charges."10th Annual Erotic Awards," ''Adam Film World'', January 1987, p. 7


1970s: adult theaters and movie booths in the United States

In the 1970s, there was a more tolerant judicial attitude to non-mainstream films. Mainstream theatres did normally not screen even softcore films, leading to a rise of
adult theater An adult movie theater is a euphemistic term for a movie theater dedicated to the exhibition of pornographic films. Adult movie theaters show pornographic films primarily for either a respectively heterosexual or homosexual audience. For the pat ...
s in the United States and many other countries. There was also a proliferation of coin-operated "movie booths" in
sex shop A sex shop is a retailer that sells products related to adult sexual or erotic entertainment, such as sex toys, lingerie, pornography, and other related products. An early precursor of the modern sex shop was a chain of stores set up in t ...
s that displayed pornographic "loops" (so called because they projected a movie from film arranged in a continuous loop). Denmark started producing comparatively big-budget theatrical feature film sex comedies such as ''
Bordellet ''Bordellet'' is a 1972 Danish theatrical sex comedy film made by pornographic pioneer Ole Ege and was Denmark's first full-length hardcore pornographic feature film. The story is set around 1900 and involves a young girl, a brothel, and a hid ...
'' (1972), the ''Bedside''-films (1970–1976) and the ''Zodiac''-films (1973–1978), starring mainstream actors (a few of whom even performed their own sex scenes) and usually not thought of as "porno films" though all except the early ''Bedside''-films included hardcore pornographic scenes. Several of these films still rank among the most seen films in Danish film history and all remain favourites on home video. In 1969, ''
Blue Movie ''Blue Movie'' (also known as ''Fuck'') is a 1969 American erotic film written, produced and directed by Andy Warhol. It is the first adult erotic film depicting explicit sex to receive wide theatrical release in the United States, and is re ...
'' by
Andy Warhol Andy Warhol (; born Andrew Warhola Jr.; August 6, 1928 – February 22, 1987) was an American visual artist, film director, and producer who was a leading figure in the visual art movement known as pop art. His works explore the relationsh ...
was the first
adult erotic film Erotic photography is a style of art photography of an erotic, sexually suggestive or sexually provocative nature. Erotic photography is often distinguished from nude photography, which contains nude subjects not necessarily in an erotic situation ...
depicting explicit sex to receive wide theatrical release in the United States. The film was a seminal film in the
Golden Age of Porn https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MediaWiki_talk:Spam-whitelist/Archives/2018/01#Another_Worthy_Journal_Article_on_Wordpress ---> The term "Golden Age of Porn", or "porno chic", refers to a 15-year period (1969–1984) in commercial American porno ...
and, according to Warhol, a major influence in the making of ''
Last Tango in Paris ''Last Tango in Paris'' ( it, Ultimo tango a Parigi; french: Le Dernier Tango à Paris) is a 1972 erotic drama film directed by Bernardo Bertolucci. The film stars Marlon Brando, Maria Schneider and Jean-Pierre Léaud, and portrays a recently w ...
'', an internationally controversial erotic drama film, starring
Marlon Brando Marlon Brando Jr. (April 3, 1924 – July 1, 2004) was an American actor. Considered one of the most influential actors of the 20th century, he received numerous accolades throughout his career, which spanned six decades, including two Academ ...
, and released a few years after ''Blue Movie'' was made. The first explicitly pornographic film with a plot that received a general theatrical release in the U.S. is generally considered to be ''
Mona the Virgin Nymph ''Mona'' (1970) (also promoted as ''Mona; the Virgin Nymph'') is a sexually explicit adult film that contains a number of unsimulated non-penetrative sex scenes as well as penetrative ones. The film is regarded as the second sexually explicit f ...
'' (also known as ''Mona''), a 59-minute 1970 feature by
Bill Osco Bill Osco (born William Osco in 1947) is an American film producer and director. Career Osco's first production job (in an uncredited capacity) was the 1970 film '' Mona'', one of the first adult films, after Andy Warhol's 1969 film '' Blue Mov ...
, who created the relatively high-budget hardcore/softcore (depending on the release) 1974 cult film ''
Flesh Gordon ''Flesh Gordon'' is a 1974 American sex comedy feature film serving as a spoof of Universal Pictures first (of three) ''Flash Gordon'' serial films from the 1930s. The film was produced by Walter R. Cichy, Bill Osco, and Howard Ziehm. It was co ...
'' and later, in 1976, the X-rated musical-comedy film ''
Alice in Wonderland ''Alice's Adventures in Wonderland'' (commonly ''Alice in Wonderland'') is an 1865 English novel by Lewis Carroll. It details the story of a young girl named Alice who falls through a rabbit hole into a fantasy world of anthropomorphic creatur ...
''. The 1971 film '' Boys in the Sand'' represented a number of pornographic firsts. As the first generally available gay pornographic film, the film was the first to include on-screen credits for its cast and crew (albeit largely under pseudonyms), to parody the title of a mainstream film (in this case, '' The Boys in the Band''), and, after the 1969 film ''
Blue Movie ''Blue Movie'' (also known as ''Fuck'') is a 1969 American erotic film written, produced and directed by Andy Warhol. It is the first adult erotic film depicting explicit sex to receive wide theatrical release in the United States, and is re ...
'', one of the first to be reviewed by ''
The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
''. Other notable American hardcore feature films of the 1970s include '' Deep Throat'' (1972), ''
Behind the Green Door ''Behind the Green Door'' is a 1972 American feature-length pornographic film, widely considered one of the genre's "classic" pictures and one of the films that ushered in The Golden Age of Porn (1969–1984).Williams, p. 299 Featuring Marilyn ...
'' (1972), ''
The Devil in Miss Jones ''The Devil in Miss Jones'' is a 1973 pornographic film, written, directed and produced by Gerard Damiano and starring Georgina Spelvin and Harry Reems. It is widely regarded as a classic adult film, released during the Golden Age of Porn (19 ...
'' (1973),
Radley Metzger Radley Metzger (also known as Radley Henry Metzger, Radley H. Metzger and by the pseudonyms, "Jake Barnes", "Erich Farina" and "Henry Paris") (January 21, 1929 – March 31, 2017) was an American pioneering filmmaker and film distributor, mos ...
's ''
The Opening of Misty Beethoven ''The Opening of Misty Beethoven'' is an American pornographic comedy film released in 1976. It was produced with a relatively high budget and filmed on elaborate locations in Paris, New York City and Rome with a musical score, and owes much to ...
'' (1976) and ''
Debbie Does Dallas ''Debbie Does Dallas'' is a 1978 pornographic film starring Bambi Woods. The plot of the film focuses on a team of cheerleaders attempting to earn enough money to send the title character to Dallas, Texas to try out for the famous "Texas Cowgirl ...
'' (1978). These were shot on film and screened in mainstream movie theaters. The prediction that frank depictions of onscreen sex would soon become commonplace did not materialize.
William Rotsler Charles William Rotsler () was an American artist, cartoonist, pornographer and science fiction author. Rotsler was a four-time Hugo Award winner and one-time Nebula Award nominee. Rotsler's papers including dozens of matted color drawings, un ...
expressed this in 1973, "Erotic films are here to stay. Eventually they will simply merge into the mainstream of motion pictures and disappear as a labeled subdivision. Nothing can stop this." In Britain, ''Deep Throat'' was not approved in its uncut form until 2000 and not shown publicly until June 2005. The U.S. was ''
Miller v. California ''Miller v. California'', 413 U.S. 15 (1973), was a landmark decision of the U.S. Supreme Court modifying its definition of obscenity from that of "utterly without socially redeeming value" to that which lacks "serious literary, artistic, polit ...
'' was an important court case in 1973. The case established that
obscenity An obscenity is any utterance or act that strongly offends the prevalent morality of the time. It is derived from the Latin ''obscēnus'', ''obscaenus'', "boding ill; disgusting; indecent", of uncertain etymology. Such loaded language can be use ...
was not legally protected, but the case also established the
Miller test The Miller test, also called the three-prong obscenity test, is the United States Supreme Court's test for determining whether speech or expression can be labeled obscene, in which case it is not protected by the First Amendment to the United St ...
, a three-pronged test to determine obscenity (which is not legal) as opposed to
indecency Inappropriateness refers to standards or ethics that are typically viewed as being negative in a society. It differs from things that are illicit in that inappropriate behavior does not necessarily have any accompanying legal ramifications. C ...
(which may or may not be legal).


1980s: new technology and new legal cases

With the arrival of the home
video cassette recorder A videocassette recorder (VCR) or video recorder is an electromechanical device that records analog audio and analog video from broadcast television or other source on a removable, magnetic tape videocassette, and can play back the recordin ...
in the late 1970s and early 1980s, the pornographic movie industry experienced massive growth and spawned adult stars like
Traci Lords Traci Lords (born Nora Louise Kuzma; May 7, 1968) is an American actress and singer. She entered the adult film industry using a fake birth certificate to conceal that she was two years under the legal age of eighteen. Lords starred in adult fi ...
, Seka, Christy Canyon,
Ginger Lynn Ginger Lynn Allen (born December 14, 1962), known professionally as Ginger Lynn, is an American pornographic actress and model who was a premier adult-entertainment star of the 1980s. She also had minor roles in various B movies. ''Adult Vide ...
,
Nina Hartley Marie Louise Hartman (born March 11, 1959), known professionally as Nina Hartley, is an American pornographic film actress described by CNBC as "a legend in the adult world". Early life and education Hartley was born on March 11, 1959 in Berk ...
, and directors such as
Gregory Dark Gregory Dark (born Gregory Hippolyte Brown on July 12, 1957, in Los Angeles) is an American film director, film producer, music video director, and screenwriter. Dark is an adult filmmaker who transitioned into directing Hollywood movies. He ...
. By 1982, most pornographic films were being shot on the cheaper and more convenient medium of
videotape Videotape is magnetic tape used for storing video and usually sound in addition. Information stored can be in the form of either an analog or digital signal. Videotape is used in both video tape recorders (VTRs) and, more commonly, videocassett ...
. Many film directors resisted this shift at first because videotape produced a different image quality. Those who did change soon were collecting most of the industry's profits, since consumers overwhelmingly preferred the new format. The technology change happened quickly and completely when directors realized that continuing to shoot on film was no longer a profitable option. This change moved the films out of the theaters and into people's homes. This marked the end of the age of big-budget productions, and the beginning of the mainstreaming of pornography. It soon went back to its earthy roots and expanded to cover nearly every fetish possible, since the production of pornography was now inexpensive. Instead of hundreds of pornographic films being made each year, thousands were being made, including compilations of just the sex scenes from various videos. One could now not only watch pornography in the comfort and privacy of one's own home, but also find more choices available to satisfy specific fantasies and fetishes. Similarly, the
camcorder A camcorder is a self-contained portable electronic device with video and recording as its primary function. It is typically equipped with an articulating screen mounted on the left side, a belt to facilitate holding on the right side, hot-swa ...
spurred changes in pornography in the 1980s, when people could make their own amateur sex movies, whether for private use, or for wider distribution. The ''
de facto ''De facto'' ( ; , "in fact") describes practices that exist in reality, whether or not they are officially recognized by laws or other formal norms. It is commonly used to refer to what happens in practice, in contrast with ''de jure'' ("by la ...
'' result of the 1987 legal case
California v. Freeman ''People v. Freeman'' was a criminal prosecution of Harold Freeman, a producer and director of pornographic films, by the U.S. state of California. Freeman was charged in 1987 with pandering - procurement of persons "for the purpose of prostituti ...
effectively legalized hardcore pornography in the U.S.. The prosecution of Harold Freeman was initially planned as the first in a series of legal cases to effectively outlaw the production of such movies.


1990s: DVD and the Internet age

In the late 1990s, pornographic films were distributed on DVD. These offered better quality picture and sound than the previous video format (
videotape Videotape is magnetic tape used for storing video and usually sound in addition. Information stored can be in the form of either an analog or digital signal. Videotape is used in both video tape recorders (VTRs) and, more commonly, videocassett ...
) and allowed innovations such as "interactive" videos that let users choose such variables as multiple camera angles, multiple endings and computer-only DVD content. The introduction and widespread availability of 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 '' network of networks'' that consists of private, pub ...
further changed the way pornography was distributed. Previously, videos were ordered from an adult bookstore or through mail-order; with the Internet, people could watch pornographic movies on their computers, and instead of waiting weeks for an order to arrive, a movie could be downloaded within minutes (or, later, within a few seconds). Pornography can be distributed over the Internet in a number of ways, including
paysite A paysite or pay site, in the adult entertainment industry, is a website that charges money to become a member and view its content, and often produces original adult content. They can be contrasted with "free-sites", which do not charge a members ...
s,
video hosting service An online video platform (OVP), provided by a video hosting service, enables users to upload, convert, store and play back video content on the Internet, often via a structured, large-scale system that may generate revenue. Users will generally u ...
s and
peer-to-peer Peer-to-peer (P2P) computing or networking is a distributed application architecture that partitions tasks or workloads between peers. Peers are equally privileged, equipotent participants in the network. They are said to form a peer-to-peer n ...
file sharing File sharing is the practice of distributing or providing access to digital media, such as computer programs, multimedia (audio, images and video), documents or electronic books. Common methods of storage, transmission and dispersion include r ...
. While pornography had been traded electronically since the 1980s, the invention of 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 1991, as well as the opening of the Internet to the general public around the same time, led to an explosion in online pornography.
Viv Thomas Vivian "Viv" Leonard Thomas (born 10 January 1948) is a South African-born British producer of pornographic movies. He has produced hundreds of features over the course of his 15+ year career. He specializes in producing lesbian pornography ...
, Paul Thomas, Andrew Blake,
Antonio Adamo Antonio Adamo (born 30 July 1957, Naples, Italy) is an Italian pornographic film film director, director. He won the 2003 AVN Award for "Best Director, Foreign Release" for the film ''Gladiator I''. References External links

* 1957 birth ...
, and
Rocco Siffredi Rocco Siffredi (born Rocco Antonio Tano; 4 May 1964) is an Italian Pornographic film actor, pornographic actor, director and producer. He took his stage name from the character Roch Siffredi played by Alain Delon in the French gangster film '' ...
were prominent directors of pornographic films in the 1990s. In 1998, the
Danish Danish may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to the country of Denmark People * A national or citizen of Denmark, also called a "Dane," see Demographics of Denmark * Culture of Denmark * Danish people or Danes, people with a Danish a ...
,
Oscar Oscar, OSCAR, or The Oscar may refer to: People * Oscar (given name), an Irish- and English-language name also used in other languages; the article includes the names Oskar, Oskari, Oszkár, Óscar, and other forms. * Oscar (Irish mythology) ...
-nominated film production company
Zentropa Zentropa, or Zentropa Entertainments, is a Danish film company started in 1992 by director Lars von Trier and producer Peter Aalbæk Jensen. Zentropa is named after the train company Zentropa in the film ''Europa'' (1991), which started the colla ...
became the world's first mainstream film company to openly produce
hardcore Hardcore, hard core or hard-core may refer to: Arts and media Film * ''Hardcore'' (1977 film), a British comedy film * ''Hardcore'' (1979 film), an American crime drama film starring George C Scott * ''Hardcore'' (2001 film), a British documen ...
pornographic films, starting with ''
Constance Constance may refer to: Places *Konstanz, Germany, sometimes written as Constance in English *Constance Bay, Ottawa, Canada * Constance, Kentucky * Constance, Minnesota * Constance (Portugal) * Mount Constance, Washington State People * Consta ...
'' (1998). That same year, Zentropa also produced ''
Idioterne ''The Idiots'' ( da, Idioterne) is a 1998 Danish dark comedy-drama film written and directed by Lars von Trier. It is his first film made in compliance with the Dogme 95 Manifesto, and is also known as Dogme #2. It is the second film in von Tr ...
'' (1998), directed by
Lars von Trier Lars von Trier (''né'' Trier; 30 April 1956) is a Danish filmmaker, actor, and lyricist. Having garnered a reputation as a highly ambitious, polarizing filmmaker, he has been the subject of several controversies: Cannes, in addition to nominat ...
, which won many international awards and was nominated for a
Golden Palm The Palme d'Or (; en, Golden Palm) is the highest prize awarded at the Cannes Film Festival. It was introduced in 1955 by the festival's organizing committee. Previously, from 1939 to 1954, the festival's highest prize was the Grand Prix du Fe ...
in Cannes. The film includes a shower sequence with a male erection and an orgy scene with close-up penetration footage (the camera viewpoint is from the ankles of the participants, and the close-ups leave no doubt as to what is taking place). ''Idioterne'' started a wave of international mainstream arthouse films featuring explicit sexual images, such as
Catherine Breillat Catherine Breillat (; born 13 July 1948) is a French filmmaker, novelist and professor of auteur cinema at the European Graduate School. In the film business for over 40 years, Catherine Breillat chooses to normalize previously taboo subjects in ...
's ''
Romance Romance (from Vulgar Latin , "in the Roman language", i.e., "Latin") may refer to: Common meanings * Romance (love), emotional attraction towards another person and the courtship behaviors undertaken to express the feelings * Romance languages, ...
'', which starred pornstar
Rocco Siffredi Rocco Siffredi (born Rocco Antonio Tano; 4 May 1964) is an Italian Pornographic film actor, pornographic actor, director and producer. He took his stage name from the character Roch Siffredi played by Alain Delon in the French gangster film '' ...
. In 1999, the Danish TV channel
Kanal København Kanal København (Channel Copenhagen) is a Danish commercial television channel, which can be seen in most parts of Denmark. It is a Pay-TV and Cable TV channel delivered by providers like Stofa, Waoo!, Dansk Bredbaand and others. It is quite un ...
started broadcasting hardcore films at night, uncoded and freely available to any viewer in the
Copenhagen Copenhagen ( or .; da, København ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a proper population of around 815.000 in the last quarter of 2022; and some 1.370,000 in the urban area; and the wider Copenhagen metropolitan ar ...
area (as of 2009, this is still the case, courtesy of
Innocent Pictures Innocent Pictures ApS is a Danish independent film company founded in 2001, originally as a subsidiary of Lars von Trier's film company Zentropa, which is best known for the production of the erotic feature film ''All About Anna'' (2005), starring ...
, a company started by Zentropa). Once people could watch adult movies in the privacy of their own homes, a new adult market developed that far exceeded the scope of its theater-centric predecessor. The Internet served as catalyst for creating a still-larger market for porn, a market that is even less traditionally theatrical. By the 2000s, there were hundreds of adult film companies, releasing tens of thousands of productions, recorded directly on video, with minimal sets. The market was further expanded by webcams and webcam recordings, in which thousands of pornographic actors work in front of the camera to satisfy pornography consumers' demand.


2000s: competition and contraction

By the 2000s, the fortunes of the pornography industry had changed. With reliably profitable DVD sales being largely supplanted by
streaming media Streaming media is multimedia that is delivered and consumed in a continuous manner from a source, with little or no intermediate storage in network elements. ''Streaming'' refers to the delivery method of content, rather than the content it ...
delivery over 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 '' network of networks'' that consists of private, pub ...
, competition from bootleg, amateur and low-cost professional content on the Internet had made the industry substantially less profitable, leading to it shrinking in size. At the same time this gave rise to video sharing platforms such as
Pornhub Pornhub is a Canadian-owned internet pornography website. It is one of several pornographic video-streaming websites owned by MindGeek. , Pornhub is the 10th-most-trafficked website in the world and the second-most-trafficked adult website aft ...
,
YouPorn YouPorn is a free pornographic video sharing website and one of the 100 most accessed websites in the world. Since launching in August 2006, it grew to become one of the most popular pornographic website on the internet, and, in November 2007 ...
and
XHamster xHamster is a Cypriot pornographic media and social networking site headquartered in Limassol, Cyprus. xHamster serves user-submitted pornographic videos, webcam models, pornographic photographs, and erotic literature and incorporates social ...
.


Pornographic film industry


Economics

Globally, pornography is a large-scale business with revenues of nearly $100 billion, which includes the production of various media and associated
products Product may refer to: Business * Product (business), an item that serves as a solution to a specific consumer problem. * Product (project management), a deliverable or set of deliverables that contribute to a business solution Mathematics * Produ ...
and
services Service may refer to: Activities * Administrative service, a required part of the workload of university faculty * Civil service, the body of employees of a government * Community service, volunteer service for the benefit of a community or a p ...
. The
industry Industry may refer to: Economics * Industry (economics), a generally categorized branch of economic activity * Industry (manufacturing), a specific branch of economic activity, typically in factories with machinery * The wider industrial sector ...
employs thousands of
performers The performing arts are arts such as music, dance, and drama which are performed for an audience. They are different from the visual arts, which are the use of paint, canvas or various materials to create physical or static art objects. Perfor ...
along with support and production staff. It is also followed by dedicated industry publications and trade groups as well as the mainstream press, private organizations ( watchdog groups), government agencies, and political organizations. According to a 2005
Reuters Reuters ( ) is a news agency owned by Thomson Reuters Corporation. It employs around 2,500 journalists and 600 photojournalists in about 200 locations worldwide. Reuters is one of the largest news agencies in the world. The agency was estab ...
article, "The multi-billion-dollar industry releases about 11,000 titles on DVD each year." Pornographic films can be sold or rented out on DVD, shown through Internet and special channels and pay-per-view on cable and satellite, and in
adult theater An adult movie theater is a euphemistic term for a movie theater dedicated to the exhibition of pornographic films. Adult movie theaters show pornographic films primarily for either a respectively heterosexual or homosexual audience. For the pat ...
s. However, by 2012, widespread availability of illegally copied content and other low-cost competition on the Internet had made the pornographic film industry smaller and reduced profitability. The global pornographic film industry is dominated by the United States, with the
San Fernando Valley The San Fernando Valley, known locally as the Valley, is an urbanized valley in Los Angeles County, California. Located to the north of the Los Angeles Basin, it contains a large portion of the City of Los Angeles, as well as unincorporated ar ...
area of
Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...
being the heart of the industry. In 1975, the total retail value of all the hardcore pornography in the United States was estimated at $5–10 million. The 1979, Revision of the Federal Criminal Code stated that "in Los Angeles alone, the porno business does $100 million a year in gross retain volume." According to the 1986 Attorney General's Commission on Pornography, American adult entertainment industry has grown considerably over the past thirty years by continually changing and expanding to appeal to new markets, though the production is considered to be low-profile and clandestine. the total current income of the country's adult entertainment is often estimated at $10–13 billion, of which $4–6 billion are legal. The figure is often credited to a study by
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; McL ...
and was lowered in 1998. In 2007 ''
The Observer ''The Observer'' is a British newspaper published on Sundays. It is a sister paper to ''The Guardian'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', whose parent company Guardian Media Group Limited acquired it in 1993. First published in 1791, it is the w ...
'' newspaper also gave a figure of $13 billion. Other sources, quoted by
Forbes ''Forbes'' () is an American business magazine owned by Integrated Whale Media Investments and the Forbes family. Published eight times a year, it features articles on finance, industry, investing, and marketing topics. ''Forbes'' also re ...
(Adams Media Research, Veronis Suhler Communications Industry Report, and IVD), even taking into consideration all possible means (video networks and pay-per-view movies on cable and satellite, websites, in-room hotel movies, phone sex, sex toys, and magazines) mention the $2.6–3.9 billion figure (without the cellphone component). ''USA Today'' claimed in 2003 that websites such as Danni's Hard Drive and Cybererotica.com generated $2 billion in revenue in that year, which was allegedly about 10% of the overall domestic porn market at the time. The adult movies income (from sale and rent) was once estimated by AVN Publications at $4.3 billion but the figure obtaining is unclear. According to the 2001 ''Forbes'' data, the annual income distribution is the following: ''The Online Journalism Review'', published by the Annenberg School of Communication at the
University of Southern California The University of Southern California (USC, SC, or Southern Cal) is a Private university, private research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Founded in 1880 by Robert M. Widney, it is the oldest private research university in C ...
, weighed in with an analysis that favored ''Forbes number. The financial extent of adult films, distributed in hotels, is hard to estimate—hotels keep statistics to themselves or do not keep them at all. The world's largest adult movie studio
Vivid Entertainment Vivid Entertainment Group is an American pornographic film production company,
generates an estimated $100 million a year in revenue, distributing 60 films annually, and selling them in video stores, hotel rooms, on cable systems, and on the Internet. The Spanish-based studio
Private Media Group Private Media Group, Inc. is a Swedish Swedish or ' may refer to: Anything from or related to Sweden, a country in Northern Europe. Or, specifically: * Swedish language, a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Sweden and Finland ** Swedi ...
was listed on the
NASDAQ The Nasdaq Stock Market () (National Association of Securities Dealers Automated Quotations Stock Market) is an American stock exchange based in New York City. It is the most active stock trading venue in the US by volume, and ranked second ...
until November 2011. Video rentals soared from just under 80 million in 1985 to a half-billion by 1993. Some
subsidiaries A subsidiary, subsidiary company or daughter company is a company owned or controlled by another company, which is called the parent company or holding company. Two or more subsidiaries that either belong to the same parent company or having a sa ...
of major corporations are the largest pornography sellers, like
News Corporation News Corporation (abbreviated News Corp.), also variously known as News Corporation Limited, was an American multinational mass media corporation controlled by media mogul Rupert Murdoch and headquartered at 1211 Avenue of the Americas in Ne ...
's
DirecTV DirecTV (trademarked as DIRECTV) is an American multichannel video programming distributor based in El Segundo, California. Originally launched on June 17, 1994, its primary service is a digital satellite service serving the United States. It ...
.
Comcast Comcast Corporation (formerly known as American Cable Systems and Comcast Holdings),Before the AT&T merger in 2001, the parent company was Comcast Holdings Corporation. Comcast Holdings Corporation now refers to a subsidiary of Comcast Corpora ...
, the nation's largest cable company, once pulled in $50 million from adult programming. Revenues of companies such as ''
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 ...
'' and ''
Hustler Hustler or hustlers may also refer to: Professions * Hustler, an American slang word, e.g., for a: ** Con man, a practitioner of confidence tricks ** Drug dealer, seller of illegal drugs ** Male prostitute ** Pimp ** Business man, more gener ...
'' were small by comparison.


Production

Pornographic films are produced and directed at the target audience, who buy and view the films. Traditionally, the audience of pornographic films has been predominantly the straight male. In this situation, the main male actor acted as proxy for the viewer enacting the sexual fantasy of the genre of the film. A typical pornographic film featured a female performer on whom the film focused. Her male partner traditionally had no distinctive features other than a large penis. However, there has been an increase in female viewers over time, and there have recently been efforts to increase the
sexualization Sexualization (or sexualisation) is to make something sexual in character or quality or to become aware of sexuality, especially in relation to men and women. Sexualization is linked to sexual objectification. According to the American Psychologi ...
of male performers also. New features such as men with smaller penises, charming facial features and well-built bodies are becoming predominant in pornographic films, as well as the emergence of
feminist pornography Feminist pornography is a genre of film developed by or for those within the sex-positive feminist movement. It was created for the purpose of promoting gender equality by portraying more bodily movements and sexual fantasies of women and member ...
. In recent times a gay audience has also developed, and the scenarios of the films have adjusted accordingly. Pornographic films attempt to present a sexual fantasy and the actors selected for a particular role are primarily selected on their ability to create that fantasy. Depending on the genre of the film, the on-screen appearance and physical features of the main actors and their ability to create the sexual mood of the film is of critical importance. Most actors specialize in certain genres. In general, pornographic films follow a number of conventions. For example, irrespective of the genre, most actors are required to appear nude in pornographic films. In films directed to a heterosexual male audience, the primary focus is on the female actors in them, who are mostly selected for their on-screen appearance. The female actors are commonly presented in erotic, provocative or suggestive clothing. If they are wearing shoes, they are usually high-heel. They do not normally wear jewellery or glasses. They are usually in the high range of
physical attractiveness Physical attractiveness is the degree to which a person's physical features are considered aesthetically pleasing or beautiful. The term often implies sexual attractiveness or desirability, but can also be distinct from either. There are many ...
. Most male performers in heterosexual pornography are selected less for their looks than for their sexual prowess. They are presented as being able to fulfill the desires of the male watching audience as their on-screen proxies.


Legal status

In the United States, the
Supreme Court A supreme court is the highest court within the hierarchy of courts in most legal jurisdictions. Other descriptions for such courts include court of last resort, apex court, and high (or final) court of appeal. Broadly speaking, the decisions of ...
held in 1969 that State laws making mere private possession of obscene material a crime are invalid. Further attempts were made in the 1970s in the United States to close down the pornography industry, this time by prosecuting those in the industry on
prostitution Prostitution is the business or practice of engaging in Sex work, sexual activity in exchange for payment. The definition of "sexual activity" varies, and is often defined as an activity requiring physical contact (e.g., sexual intercourse, n ...
charges. The prosecution started in the courts in California in the case of '' People v. Freeman''. The California Supreme Court acquitted Freeman and distinguished between someone who takes part in a sexual relationship for money (prostitution) versus someone whose role is merely ''portraying'' a sexual relationship on-screen as part of their acting performance. The State did not appeal to the
United States Supreme Court The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all U.S. federal court cases, and over state court cases that involve a point o ...
making the decision binding in California, where most pornographic films are made today. At present, no other state in the United States has either implemented or accepted this legal distinction between commercial pornography performers versus prostitutes as shown in the Florida case where sex film maker Clinton Raymond McCowen, aka "Ray Guhn", was indicted on charges of "soliciting and engaging in prostitution" for his creation of pornography films which included "McCowen and his associates recruited up to 100 local men and women to participate in group sex scenes, the affidavit says." The distinction that California has in its legal determination in the Freeman decision is usually denied in most states' local prostitution laws, which do not specifically exclude performers from such inclusion. In some cases, some states have ratified their local state laws for inclusion to prevent California's ''Freeman'' decision to be applied to actors who are paid a fee for sexual actions within their state borders. One example is the state of Texas whose prostitution law specifically states: :An offense is established under Subsection (a)(1) whether the actor is to receive or pay a fee. An offense is established under Subsection (a)(2) whether the actor solicits a person to hire him or offers to hire the person solicited. In the United States, federal law prohibits the sale, distribution or dissemination of obscene materials through the mail, over the broadcast airwaves, on cable or satellite TV, on the Internet, over the telephone or by any other means that cross state lines. Most states also have specific laws banning the sale or distribution of obscene pornography within state borders. The only protection for obscene material recognized by the
Supreme Court of the United States The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all U.S. federal court cases, and over state court cases that involve a point o ...
is personal possession in the home ('' Stanley v. Georgia''). The
Supreme Court of the United States The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all U.S. federal court cases, and over state court cases that involve a point o ...
affirmed in ''
Miller v. California ''Miller v. California'', 413 U.S. 15 (1973), was a landmark decision of the U.S. Supreme Court modifying its definition of obscenity from that of "utterly without socially redeeming value" to that which lacks "serious literary, artistic, polit ...
'' that obscenity was not protected speech. Further, the court ruled that each community is responsible for setting its own standards about what is considered to be obscene material. If pornographic material is prosecuted and brought to trial, a jury can deem it obscene based on: # whether "the average person, applying contemporary community standards" would find that the work, taken as a whole, appeals to the prurient interest # whether the work depicts or describes, in a patently offensive way, sexual conduct specifically defined by applicable state law and # whether the work, taken as a whole, lacks serious literary, artistic, political or scientific value. In many countries pornography is legal to distribute and to produce, but there are some restrictions. Pornography is also banned in some countries, in particular in the
Muslim world The terms Muslim world and Islamic world commonly refer to the Islamic community, which is also known as the Ummah. This consists of all those who adhere to the religious beliefs and laws of Islam or to societies in which Islam is practiced. I ...
and
China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...
, but can be accessed through the Internet in some of these nations.


Health issues

Sex acts in pornographic films have traditionally been performed without the use of
condom A condom is a sheath-shaped barrier device used during sexual intercourse to reduce the probability of pregnancy or a sexually transmitted infection (STI). There are both male and female condoms. With proper use—and use at every act of in ...
s, with an accompanying risk of
sexually transmitted disease Sexually transmitted infections (STIs), also referred to as sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) and the older term venereal diseases, are infections that are spread by sexual activity, especially vaginal intercourse, anal sex, and oral ...
among performers. In 1986, there was an outbreak of
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 immune ...
infection which led to the deaths through
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 m ...
of several actors and actresses. This led to the creation in 1998 of the
Adult Industry Medical Health Care Foundation The Adult Industry Medical Associates P.C. (formerly Adult Industry Medical Healthcare Foundation), also known simply as AIM or AIM Medical, was a non-profit organization devoted to STD testing of pornographic actors for HIV and other STDs on a s ...
, which helped set up a monitoring system in the U.S. pornographic film industry, which required pornographic film actors to be tested for HIV every 30 days. , HIV infection of performers in the U.S. pornography industry has been rare, with only a few outbreaks being recorded over the subsequent three decades. The AIM closed its doors in May 2011 and filed for bankruptcy as a result of a court case arising from an inadvertent leak by it of confidential information on clients, including names and STD results.


Terminology

* Compilation – a release based on highlights from other adult films or video, unused footage, or that feature a particular genre * Mature – used to refer to performers in or of the genre referred to as
MILF MILF (, as if read as "milf") is an acronym that stands for "Mother I'd Like to Fuck". This abbreviation is used in colloquial English, instead of the whole phrase. It connotes an older woman considered sexually attractive, typically one who has ...
porn * Raincoat – a term used to refer to a
condom A condom is a sheath-shaped barrier device used during sexual intercourse to reduce the probability of pregnancy or a sexually transmitted infection (STI). There are both male and female condoms. With proper use—and use at every act of in ...
* Other terms synonymous with pornography: **Porn or porno **Adult film **Blue movie **Stag film **Skin flick


See also

*
List of pornographic film awards This is a list of pornographic film awards from around the world. While pornographic films may not have been around as long as other forms of pornography, they have quickly become the most popular form in which pornography is viewed. The industry ...
*
Adult theater An adult movie theater is a euphemistic term for a movie theater dedicated to the exhibition of pornographic films. Adult movie theaters show pornographic films primarily for either a respectively heterosexual or homosexual audience. For the pat ...
*
Amateur pornography Amateur pornography is a category of pornography that features models, actors or non-professionals performing without pay, or actors for whom this material is not their only paid modeling work. Reality pornography is made porn that seeks to em ...
*
Cartoon pornography Cartoon pornography, or animated pornography, is the portrayal of illustrated or animated fictional cartoon characters in erotic or sexual situations. Animated cartoon pornography or erotic animation, is a subset of the larger field of adult an ...
*
Cum shot A cum shot is the depiction of human ejaculation, especially onto another person. The term is usually applied to depictions occurring in pornographic films, photographs, and magazines. Cum shots have become the object of fetish genres like bukk ...
*
List of pornographic film studios The following is a list of pornographic film studios. A * Abbywinters.com (AUS) * Active Duty (includes gay content) * Adam & Eve (USA) * Anabolic Video (USA) * Athletic Model Guild (includes gay content) B * Bang Bros * Beate Uhse AG (DE ...
*
Pornography addiction Pornography addiction is the controversial application of an addiction model to the use of pornography. Pornography may be part of compulsive sexual behavior with negative consequences to one's physical, mental, social, or financial well-being. Wh ...
*
Porn groove Music in pornography is the non-diegetic soundtrack behind pornographic films. Like in other visual media, music in pornography is considered high-quality when it is unnoticed by viewer, but is nonetheless considered an integral part of the e ...
*
Porn parody A pornographic parody film is a subgenre of the pornographic film industry genre where the basis for the production's story or plotline is the parody of a mainstream television show, feature film, public figure, video game or literary works. This ...
*
Pornography by region Pornography laws by region vary throughout the world. The production and distribution of pornographic films are both activities that are lawful in many, but by no means all countries so long as the pornography features performers aged above a c ...
* STDs in the porn industry *
Unsimulated sex In the film industry, unsimulated sex is the presentation of sex scenes in which actors genuinely perform the depicted sex acts, rather than simulating them. Although it is ubiquitous in films intended as pornographic, it is very uncommon in o ...
*
X-rated An X rating is a rating used in various countries to classify films that have content deemed suitable only for adults. It is used when the violent or sexual content of a film is considered to be potentially disturbing to general audiences. Aust ...


References

Notes Bibliography * Patrick Robertson: ''Film Facts'', 2001, Billboard Books,


External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Pornographic Film Films Film genres