Pornography/Erotica

The term pornography is a compound of two Greek words: porno, meaning prostitute, and graphos, meaning writing or depiction; erotica is rooted in the Greek word eros, meaning passionate love. The inception of modern pornography is closely tied to technological development. At the forefront of each emerging medium is the application of the technology for producing or distributing pornography, such as printing capabilities in the 18th century and then photography in the 19th century, especially the production and trade of erotic postcards in the 1890s. In the early 20th century, short “stag films” or “loops” were produced on 8mm film. The porn industry took off in the 1970s, when feature-length pornographic films such as Boys in the Sand, Deep Throat, Behind the Green Door, Devil in Miss Jones, Score, and Debbie Does Dallas were given X ratings and shown in regular movie theaters. As VHS cassette tape technology was created in the late 1970s and toward the start of the 1980s, this technology became mainstream, bringing pornography into [Page 1122]private homes in America. Likewise, when DVDs were created and began to replace VHS tapes in the late 1990s, porn producers embraced this new medium.

The explosion of the Internet has had a profound effect on the porn industry. Today there is so much pirated pornography available that mainstream studios have given up trying to shut them down and instead provide video-on-demand options on their Websites so viewers can select and download millions of videos from a multitude of Websites onto their personal computers. In 2005, video sales and rentals were $4.28 billion and Internet sales were $2.5 billion. One year later, video sales had dropped to $3.62 and Internet sales increased to $2.84 billion a year. While China, Japan, and South Korea exceed the United States in video sales, the United States is home to about 90 percent of pornographic Websites. Currently, about 80 percent of pornography made in the United States is produced near Los Angeles, California. The major producers in the industry participate in the Adult Video News (AVN) Awards, an awards show held in Las Vegas that celebrates the achievements of producers, directors, and performers.

Legal Issues

Transcript

• So, you were asking me about the role models. You know, I feel that we are a voice, so yes, the young people do watch us and listen to us because sex does sell. It’s all over television, it’s all over radio, let’s be smart about it: we’re given these organs for a reason, let’s use them right. Let’s strap it up, let’s protect it, out there in the real world, the real world.
• In our world, though, we get paid to have sex for fun/pleasure with no condoms, so – but yes, definitely protect yourself first and foremost. Get educated people, it’s important.

Pornography has been subjected to censorship from three forces: second-wave feminists such as Catherine MacKinnon, Andrea Dworkin, and Gloria Steinem who argue that porn is in itself degrading to women; government agencies supported by conservative politicians; and fundamentalist religious groups such as the Family Research Council. In 1970, President Richard Nixon instigated the “Report of the Commission on Obscenity and Pornography,” emphasizing First Amendment rights to the consumption of pornography by adults and recommendations for education and restriction of access to porn by children. In 1986, President Ronald Reagan commissioned the Meese Report, a 1,960-page document describing the history of pornography, linking the industry to organized crime, and postulating about the negative social effects of pornography on society.

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