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Pornography (from Greek πορνογραφια pornographia — literally writing about or drawings of harlots) is the representation of the human body or human sexual behaviour with the goal of sexual arousal, similar to, but (according to some) distinct from, erotica.
Pornography may use any of a variety of media — written and spoken text, photos, sculpture, drawings, moving images (including animation), and sound such as heavy breathing. Pornographic films combine moving images, spoken erotic text and/or other erotic sounds, while magazines often combine photos and written text. Novels and short stories provide written text, sometimes with illustrations. In addition to media, a live performance may also be called pornographic.
In its original meaning, pornography was literally "writing about prostitutes", from the classical Greek roots πορνη and γραφειν. It was, however, a made-up word coined in England about 1850 that had a spurious air of age and scholarship about it. There is no evidence that anyone at that time, or earlier, was writing about prostitutes per se except as they figured as characters in written erotica of that epoch. It quickly came to mean writing about anything sexual, especially in a base manner, when the creation, presentation, or consumption of the material was for sexual stimulation. The term now refers to sexually related material of all kinds, both written and graphical. The term "pornography" often has negative connotations of low artistic merit, as compared to the more esteemed erotica. Euphemisms such as adult film, adult video and adult bookstore are generally preferred within the industry producing these works (namely the adult industry). Pornography can also be contrasted with ribaldry, which uses sexual titillation in the service of comedy. Having said that, the definition of pornography is highly subjective, with generally accepted works of art such as Michelangelo's David being considered pornographic by some people.
A distinction is sometimes made between softcore pornography and hardcore pornography. The former generally refers to materials that feature nudity and sexually suggestive scenes, while hardcore or X-rated pornography contains close-ups of aroused genitalia and sexual activities including penetration. Within the industry itself, informal classification breaks down even further. The distinctions may seem trivial to many people, but the precarious legal definition and differing standards at different outlets (pay cable channels like Cinemax versus the Playboy Channel versus domestic home video versus foreign markets) cause producers to shoot and edit different cuts of films and to first screen those differing versions for their legal teams. The internal rating decision is primarily made by considering the exposure of an erect penis, inclusion and duration of close-up shots of genitals and penetration, types of penetration, and the presence or lack of an external ejaculation.
In some jurisdictions the depiction of urination or defecation contributes to the conclusion that a particular image is pornographic (see e.g. Arizona Criminal Code , 9f, 11), in combination with , A2, and for Utah , 8h).
Pornography has possibly a very long history. Specific evidence suggests that depictions of sexuality and human progress go hand in hand and that pornographers today remain on the cutting edge. Sexual artwork is among the oldest known to exist; explict photographs date to the beginning of photography and among the earliest films are works depicting nudity and explicit sex. But does depiction imply intent to arouse?
Nude human beings and sexual activities are depicted in some paleolithic art (i.e. Venus Figurines), however it is not certain that the purpose was sexual arousal, the images may have had instead a spiritual significance. There are numerous pornographic paintings on the walls of ruined Roman buildings in Pompeii. One notable example is a brothel in which the various sexual services are advertised in murals above each door. In Pompeii you can also see phalluses (an erect penis) and testicles engraved in the sidewalks, pointing the way to the prostitution and entertainment district, to aid visitors in finding their way (see Erotic art in Pompeii).
Pornographic comic books known as Tijuana bibles began appearing in the US in the 1920s.
In the second half of the 20th century, pornography evolved from the so-called "men's magazines" such as Playboy and Modern Man of the 1950s. These magazines featured nude or semi-nude women, sometimes apparently engaging in the act of masturbation, although their genitals or pubic hair were not actually displayed. By the late 1960s, however, these magazines, which now included Penthouse, began to evolve into more explicit displays, eventually, by the 1990s, featuring sexual penetration, lesbianism and homosexuality, group sex, and fetishes.
Pornography has been a driving force behind the adoption of many technologies. Mass-distributed pornography is as old as the printing press. Almost as soon as photography was invented, it was being used to produce pornographic photographs.
The movie camera has also been used for pornography throughout its history, and with the arrival of the home video cassette recorder the pornographic movie industry grew massively, people being able not only to view pornography in the privacy of their own home without having to go out to a theater, but also to make their own pornography.
Pornographic computer games have also existed almost since the start of the industry - some of the earliest were Mystique's Atari 2600 video games, including Custer's Revenge, Beat 'Em And Eat 'Em and Gigolo. The Japanese company Hacker International, which also published games under the name Super PIG, produced several pornographic titles for the Nintendo Famicom - three of these, renamed to Bubble Bath Babes, Hot Slots and Peek-A-Boo Poker, were distributed in the USA by Panesian. However, such games are no longer produced for current consoles, largely due to the increased costs and potential legal problems associated with developing a game without the approval of the console manufacturer. Pornographic games are now released mostly for personal computers, with Japanese hentai games of various genres being the largest category.
A lot of pornography is digitally manipulated in sophisticated image editors such as Adobe Photoshop. This practice ranges from applying mild changes to photographs to improve the appearance of the models, such as removing skin defects, improving brightness and contrast of the photo, to extensive editing to produce images of non-existent creatures such as catgirls, or celebrities who may not have themselves ever consented to be filmed for pornography.
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. However, until the late 1990s it could not be produced cost-effectively. In early 2000s it became a growing segment, as the modelling and animation software matured and rendering capabilities of computers improved. The strongest advantage of computer generated pornography is the ability to realistically render sexual fantasies that are impossible or illegal to film in reality. 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 will feature topless pictures of the title character from the Internet, the availability of pornography increased greatly. Many of the most successful internet entrepreneurs are those who operate pornographic internet sites. As well as conventional photographic or video pornography, some sites offer "interactive" video-game-like entertainment. Due to the international character of the Internet, it provides an easy means for consumers of pornography that is illegal in their country to simply acquire such material from sources in another country where it is legal or not prosecuted. See internet pornography.
The almost-zero cost of copying and shipping of digital data boosted the formation of private circles of people swapping pornography. This type of exchange is especially popular for material that is illegal, most notably child pornography. With the advent of peer to peer file sharing applications such as Kazaa, pornography swapping has reached new heights. Free pornography became available en masse from other users and is no longer restricted to private groups. Large amounts of free pornography on the Internet is also distributed for marketing purposes to encourage subscriptions to paid content.
On the Internet pornography is often referred to as pr0n which is misspelled p0rn — porn written with zero, a common style in a so called leet speak.
The legal status of pornography varies widely. Most countries allow at least some form of pornography and soft core pornography is usually tame enough to be sold in general stores and (in some countries) to be shown on TV. Hardcore pornography, on the other hand, is usually regulated. Child pornography is illegal almost everywhere and most countries have restrictions on pornography involving violence or animals.
Some people, including pornography producer Larry Flynt and the famous writer Salman Rushdie, have argued that pornography is vital to freedom and that a free and civilised society should be judged by its willingness to accept pornography.
Most countries attempt to restrict minors' access to hard core materials, so that it is only available in adult bookstores, via mail-order, in some countries over special satellite TV channels, and sometimes in gas stations. Many of these efforts have been rendered moot by the wide availability of internet pornography.
There are recurring urban legends of snuff movies, in which murders are filmed for pornographic purposes. Extensive work by law enforcement officials to ascertain the truth of these rumours have been unable to find any such works.
The potential ability to create realistic images using computer graphics or digital manipulation led to some debates on its legality. For instance, the Supreme Court of the United States struck down in 2002 the Child Pornography Prevention Act of 1996 that prohibited, among other things, simulated child pornography. The court ruled that it violated the First Amendment to ban material depicting fictional illegal conduct when no such conduct had been involved in production.
Criticisms of pornography come from two directions: conservative and religious forces, and feminism. Religious conservatives, exemplified by US Rev. Jerry Falwell, decry pornography because they see it as immoral; sex is reserved for married couples, and pornography is thought to lead to an overall increase in what they consider to be immoral behavior in society.
In the United States, a 1968 Supreme Court decision which held that people could view whatever they wished in the privacy of their own homes caused Congress to fund and President Lyndon B. Johnson to appoint a commission to study pornography. The commission's report recommended sex education, funding of research into the effects of pornography, restriction of children's access to pornography, and recommended against any restrictions for adults. The report was widely criticized and rejected by Congress.
In 1983, prosecutors in California tried to use pandering and prostitution state statutes against a producer of and actors in a pornographic movie; the California Supreme Court ruled in 1988 that these statutes do not apply to the production of pornography (). Some speculate that this decision implictly condones pornography and was one of the reasons most modern American porn is produced in California.
In 1985, President Ronald Reagan appointed another commission to study pornography issues, specifically to overturn the findings of the Lockhart commission. It was headed by Attorney General Edwin Meese and is generally known as the Meese commission. The commission's report, released in 1986, found that pornography is harmful and can lead to violent acts. This report has been criticised for allegedly producing findings that were politically expedient rather than reflecting the empirical evidence; among those criticising it were some of the scientists who gathered that evidence and reported a conclusion to the Meese commission much different from the conclusion the commission later announced.
The feminist position on pornography is divided. Sex-positive feminists view pornography as a crucial part of the sexual revolution which led to women's liberation, and see conservative views of morality as designed to fortify an oppressive status quo. Other feminists, most vocally Andrea Dworkin and Catharine MacKinnon, see pornography as degradation of women which leads to violence against women. They have attempted to create laws which allow sexually abused and otherwise affected women to sue pornographers in civil court. One such attempt in Indianapolis was struck down by the US Supreme Court in 1986. In a 1992 decision, the Canadian Supreme Court upheld the Canadian obscenity law, accepting the feminist argument that the law is intended to create gender equality and prohibits materials that harm women, rather than "immoral" materials. Dworkin herself favors a civil law approach and opposes all criminal pornography prohibitions.
The criticisms of Linda Boreman, who herself worked as a porn actor under the name Linda Lovelace, focus on the exploitative practices of the porn industry, rather than on pornography's societal effects.
It has long been theorized that there may be a link between pornography, particularly violent pornography, and an increase in sex crime. This theory has relatively little empirical support and indeed Japan, which is noted for violent pornography, has the lowest reported sex crime rate in the industrialized world, which has led some researchers to speculate that an opposite relationship may in fact exist, namely, that wide availability of pornography may reduce crimes by giving potential offenders a socially accepted way of regulating their own sexuality.
Milton Diamond and Ayako Uchiyama write in "Pornography, Rape and Sex Crimes in Japan" (International Journal of Law and Psychiatry 22(1): 1-22. 1999) :
That hypothesis is challenged by a recent increase in sex crimes in Japan which, however, parallels an increase in all crimes. Also, there have been substantial movements to support victims of rape through laws and public educations. Nevertheless, some in Japan have blamed the increase on violent pornography and indeed, some sex offenders report having been inspired by themes in commonly available pornography. The counter argument is, of course, that some sex offenders will likely use any defense they can to lower their culpability.
Morality in Media has compiled an extensive paper with a number of sources that purport to show that there is a link between violent crime and pornography.
Pornographic work contains a number of conventions. Although pornography targeted at heterosexual males often includes interaction between females, interaction between males is taboo. In hardcore materials, a male generally ejaculates outside his partner's body, in full view. Penises are almost always shown fully erect. Women tend to be unrealistically vocal and loud during hardcore scenes.
In the "cheaper" magazines the copy accompanying the text is often derogatory to the female subjects: references to sluts, slags and whores abound.
The production and distribution of pornography are economic activities of some importance. The exact size of the economy of pornography and the influence that it plays in political circles are matter of controversy.
Main article: Pornography in the United States
A few large companies operating out of Southern California's San Fernando Valley are responsible for much of the pornography produced in the United States. The distribution of pornography changed radically after the 1980s, with videotape and cable television largely displacing X-rated theaters. Video distribution in turn is in the process of being replaced by DVD (and Internet distribution for niche markets). Distribution of pornography is a large industry that involves major entertainment companies such as Time Warner (which profits from pornography through its cable channels, and in-room movies provided by hotel chains).
Men in heterosexual pornography tend to be older than the females and are often heavily muscled, whereas men in gay pornography are, on the average, younger. Gay actors, though, can range from slim and androgynous ("twinks") to very large and extremely hairy ("bears"). American pornography movies often attempt to promote pornographic stars, and the boxes for video tapes tend to be extremely gaudy. Plot in pornographic movies has diminished constantly over the last three decades and is now generally minimal. There are, however, some pornographic movies called couples films that are deliberately made for the female and/or heterosexual couple market, and these have more elements of plot in them as well as a generally more romantic treatment of the sexual aspects.
European hardcore pornography is dominated by a few pan-European producers and distributors, the most notable of which is the Private organization. Most European countries also have local pornography producers. Both of these compete with imported American pornography. Hungary is a haven for European pornography producers with an ample supply of beautiful and young female performers and liberal pornography laws. Women in European pornography typically have a so-called "more natural" look than in American pornography, with less emphasis on breast implants. The once very flourishing currents of Euro-chic and stylish pornography represented by directors such as Lasse Braun, Joe d'Amato, Jean Rollin have lost much ground and Pierre Woodman style video shoots attract more audience. Few directors like Luca Damiano and Alain Payet resist to keep on with the cinematographic and dramatic aspects, which distinguish European pornography from others.
In the UK, British-made pornography tends to focus on a rough-and-ready semi-amateur look rather than the more stylized look of mainland European pornography. Producers such as Ben Dover concentrate on producing "girl-next-door" or "candid" material. Some British pornography concentrates on sexual fetishism, particularly erotic spanking and rubber fetishism.
The three main producers of pornography in Asia are Japan, Hong Kong, and Thailand. Japan has a large pornography industry (see Pornography in Japan) which features more natural looking women usually wearing little makeup servicing multiple men who tend to be anonymous. Women in some Asian pornography often act as if the sexual act was painful. In Japan, fetish pornography has a great variety, ranging from well-known bukkake to tamakeri. Hong Kong and Thailand produces much print pornography but less video. The men in Thai pornography tend to be younger than in Japanese or American pornography.
In the Islamic World, production of pornography seems to be limited due to social pressure rather than legal regulations. Turkey, with its deeply-rooted secular attitudes towards Islam, is an exception. After a long period of producing Italian-inspired softcore comedies in 1970s, the first hardcore film Öyle Bir Kadin Ki (She is Such a Woman) was legally distributed in 1979, followed by many more until the 1980 coup d'état, which strictly prohibited graphic sex in cinema. In the late 1990s, Turkish pornography lived a relatively humble revival, producing material of much lower quality. Contemporary producers of Turkish porn (e.g. Trimax) are centred in Germany, although they still recruit their performers from Turkey.
Canada has recently seen a major court case where writings about child porn were deemed to not be illegal. Certain communities such as Medicine Hat have seen divisive battles where restrictions have been placed on the sale of pornography. In Medicine Hat Jim Ogston led an unsuccessful battle against the new restrictions for businesses to have the right to sell pornography.
The Canadian porn industry is mainly situated in Montreal, Quebec, the third largest porn producing city in the world after Los Angeles and Amsterdam.
See also the main list at List of erotic authors
Pornography is also a title of 1960 novel by Witold Gombrowicz and a 2003 movie based on that novel, directed by
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