Pornography

Julie Knecht Pornography The history of pornographyis a little harder to find than most pornography is to  find today. Until recently, pornography was something that was rarely talked about openly if at all. It wasn’t until the 2nd half, more specifically the late second half, of the 21st century that porn became so mainstream. In the centuries before, pornography was viewed in a different way which is why the history of pornography is so hard to find. According to // Why is There No History of Pornography, // “most American historians and lawyers have tended to bring their respective talents to bear primarily on critical appraisals of the variety of attempts to censor pornography; they have not sought to understand it as a historical and cultural phenomenon” (Gubar & Hoff, 1989). Although many people believe this explains why the history of pornography is so hard to find, there are others who believe there is clear history of pornography. According to Foucault, “beginning in the seventeenth century, a sense of sexuality slowly emerged in the Western World. Not until the nineteenth century, did women becomeinstitutionalized repositories of sexuality…As a result, sexuality became problematized for society, and the word pornography came into common usage” (Gubar & Hoff, 1989). Again, pornography and mainstream pornography was not even talked about until its emergence in the 19th century. Another reason for its emergence was with the advancement of technology during this time. According to the same article, “by the end of the nineteenth century, this transformation of sex into sexuality was reinforced by the resurrection of the word pornography, more easily produced and distributed pornographic publications because of the technological improvements” (Gubar & Hoff, 1989. Although the history of pornography is somewhat inaccessible, modern day pornography is much easier to find due to the advancements in technology most importantly, the internet. ** __Pornography in Print:__ **It wasn’t until the publication of // Playboy // in 1953, did the western world get a real taste of pornography in print. Even today, with all the great advancements in technology, naked images in paper are still one of the most popular forms of porno graphy. Improved printing technology in the 1970s made improvements to print porn like glossy magazines which led to the entrance of Hustler. In 1995, Penthouse came in 3rd as the most popular magazine sold at military post exchanges only to People and the TV Guide. In a 1986 survey, six East Coast cities found 2,300 different pornographic magazine titles in 16 stores. Although these numbers are very high, there has been a slight decline since its peak in 1976 of 12 million copies sold. The decline is mostly due to advancements in technology like film and the internet (Coopersmith, 1998).
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** __Technology’s Impact:__ ** With thousandsor maybe even millions of websites of pornography or pornographic images, it is easy to see what the Internet has done to thepornography business. D’Orlando said “Over the Internet customers can buy (or get it for free) a greater variety and quanity of pornographic images with greater privacy” (D’Orlando, 2009). This helps to explain why the Internet has beat out print pornography since its invention. And in this day in age when everyone wants everything as fast as they can, being able to log onto the internet and immediately find pornography is what is making it so popular. According to Manning, there is a “Triple A Engine” in regards to porn. It stands for “accessibility, affordability and anonymity” (D’Orlando, 2009). According to Coopersmith, “Pornography has given many people a reason to spend time surfing the Internet, increasing their knowledge of the system, spreading word to others and providing revenue to the service providers” (Coopersmith, 1998). But what about other types of technology like television, digital cameras, cell phones and camcorders? According to Pornography, Technology, and Process, “what these communication technologies share is the ability to create, receive or send information in privacy with minimum effort…and on pornography’s importance in diffusing new technologies and how these technologies have reshaped the nature of pornography.” (Coopersmith, 1998). There are stories all over the news about adolescents sending pornographic images through their cell phones which can result in the mass distribution of those images over the internet. According to an article on “sexting”, “ Recent surveys suggest that anywhere from 20% to 39% of teenagers have engaged in sexting.” From that same article, “ 44% of boys say they have seen sexual images of girls in their school. Approximately 15% of boys admit to disseminating the images when they break up with the girls” (Seiverling, 2010). This is one of the problems that can occur in response to advances in technology dealing with pornography. At the same time, pornography producers and distributers are getting the best of the situation. The same article says, “these new technologies have democratized the pornography market by greatly lowering the barriers to entry and transaction costs.” The article also says, “As cost of access to pornography has decreased, usage has grown enormously” (Coopersmith, 1998). Due to the camcorder, “Do it yourself” pornography became very popular. Clearly, professionally produced films are still very popular but couples could create their own pornography in the privacy of their home because of Polaroid cameras and the camcorder. According to Coopersmith, “these technologies can be seen as liberating and empowering, allowing individuals to actively create, not just passively consume, their own pornography” (Coopersmith, 1998). The popularity of this type of “DIY” pornography caught on. In the early 1980s, one New York brothel offered a “fantasy room” to their customers which was equipped with a VCR and a camcorder (Coopersmith, 1998). Although some of this information is when VCR systems were still the rage, today there is still just as much “do it yourself” pornography within households except they are using DVDs instead. ** __Random Facts and Statistics:__ ** · On the first day of availability in March 195, Penthouse’s website received 802, 000 visits (Coopersmith, 1998) · Playboy received 620, 000 daily visits in 1995 and by 1997 it became 5 million visits daily (Coopersmith, 1998) · “Pornography revenue is now greater than the combined revenues of all football, baseball, and basketball franchises and is almost twice the combined revenues of ABC, CBS, and NBC” (D’Orlando, 2009) · “The Free Speech Coalition, a porn industry-lobbying group in the U.S., estimates that adult video/DVD sales and rentals amount to at least $4 billion annually while critics believe it might reach 10 billion” (Diamond, 2009) · “Revenues from phone sex alone are thought to exceed $1 billion”(Diamond, 2009) · “10,000–15,000 pornographic movies are produced annually in the United States” (Diamond, 2009) · “It has been estimated that 40 million U.S. Adults regularly visit pornographic Internet sites” (Diamond, 2009) ** __Works Cited:__ ** 1. Gubar, S & Hoff, J. (1989). For Adult Users Only. Indiana University: Midland Books. 2. Coopersmith, J. (1998). Pornography, Technology and Progess. 95-119. 3. D’Orlando, F. (2009). The Demand for Pornogrpahy//. Springer Science Business Media, // 52-75. 4. Seiverling, A. (2010). Do You Think I’m Sexty? Minors and Sexting: Teenage Fad or Child Pornography//. Journal of Legal, Ethical and Regulatory Issues //, 23-29. 5. Diamond, M. (2009). Pornography, Public Acceptance and Sex Related Crime: A Review//. International Journal of Law and Psychiatry //, 33, 197-199.