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115-512: Myra Breckinridge was dismissed by some of the era's more conservative critics as pornographic at the time of its first publication in February 1968; nevertheless, the novel immediately became a worldwide bestseller and has since come to be considered a classic in some circles. "It is tempting to argue that Vidal said more to subvert the dominant rules of sex and gender in Myra than is contained in

230-485: A hit-and-run car accident , and while she is comatose in hospital her breast implants are removed. Upon discovering this when her plaster casts are taken off, Myra attempts suicide . The novel ends with a time-skip to three years in the future; Myra is now living as Myron and is married to Mary-Ann; the two have found moderate success in showbiz, and Myron wonders how he could ever have held such grandiose aspirations. Vidal first contemplated writing Myra Breckinridge as

345-521: A striptease . Pirou's film inspired a genre of risqué French films that showed women disrobing, and other filmmakers realized profits could be made from such films. Sexually explicit films opened producers and distributors to be liable for prosecution. Such films were produced illicitly by amateurs, starting in the 1920s, primarily in France and the United States. Processing the film was risky as

460-465: A 1976 Broadway revival that ran for 5,959 performances, making the show the longest-running revue in Broadway history, the second longest-running revival (after Chicago ), and the eighth longest-running Broadway show ever. The show sparked considerable controversy at the time due to its extended scenes of total nudity, both male and female. The title is taken from a painting by Clovis Trouille ,

575-553: A casting agent who has sex with the male clients she represents. Rusty, previously a gentle lover, has been transformed by his assault at Myra’s hands into a violent and brutish sex partner, to Letitia’s great delight. Myra’s lesbian overtures to Mary-Ann, conversely, are continually frustrated. Meanwhile, in a meeting in Buck’s office his lawyers produce a trump card: no death certificate exists for Myron Breckinridge in New York, and if he

690-469: A contest that eventually got labeled as the " Pubic Wars ". "We were the first to show full frontal nudity. The first to expose the clitoris completely. I think we made a very serious contribution to the liberalization of laws and attitudes. HBO would not have gone as far as it does if it was not for us breaking the barriers. Much that has happened now in the Western world with respect to sexual advances

805-566: A god and a goddess), but they are more likely to be associated with Inanna , the Mesopotamian goddess of sex and sacred prostitution . Many sexually explicit images, including models of male and female sexual organs were found in the temple of Inanna at Assur . Depictions of sexual intercourse were not part of the general repertory of ancient Egyptian formal art, but rudimentary sketches of heterosexual intercourse have been found on pottery fragments and in graffiti. The final two thirds of

920-485: A higher risk of contracting sexually transmitted infections (STIs); performers working for pornographic studios undergo regular testing for STIs unlike much of the general public. Comparative studies indicate higher tolerance and consumption of pornography among adults tends to be associated with their greater support for gender equality . Among feminist groups , some seek to abolish pornography believing it to be harmful, while others oppose censorship efforts insisting it

1035-465: A man rambles on about painting the fence and building a rock garden, his son talks about what girls really like. A newcomer to a masturbation game cannot seem to think of anything to masturbate to (this sketch's first draft was written by John Lennon ). Players come out to sing the finale, also doing voiceover as to what the theater patrons are really thinking about the experience. Examples include: "She has pretty eyes" (the joke being that all of

1150-586: A medium abound with porn became popular enough that in 1995 Time published a cover story titled "CYBERPORN" with the face of a shocked child as the cover photo. In the Reno v. ACLU (1997) ruling, the US Supreme Court upheld the legality of pornography distribution and consumption by adults over the Internet. The Court noted that government may not reduce the communication between adults to "only what

1265-404: A million and Penthouse about a hundred thousand, many magazines became online publications. As of 2005, the best-selling US adult magazines maintained greater reach compared to most other non-pornographic magazines, and often ranked among top-sellers. Modern-day pornography began to take shape from the mid-1980s when the first desktop computers and public computer networks were released. Since

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1380-528: A partner. It has been equated with journalism, as both offer a view into the unknown or the hidden aspects. Pornography use is considered a widespread recreational activity in-line with other digitally mediated activities such as use of social media or video games. Motivations for pornography use may include fantasy , habitual use, mood management , or as part of a relationship. People who regard porn as sex education material were identified as more likely not to use condoms in their own sex life , thereby assuming

1495-443: A picture, video, text, or audio that is primarily intended to assist sexual arousal in the consumer, and is created and commercialized with "the consent of all persons involved". Arousal is considered the primary objective, the raison d'etre a material must fulfill for it to be treated as pornographic. As some people can feel aroused by an image that is not meant for sexual arousal and conversely cannot feel aroused by material that

1610-532: A pornographic photo is dated back to about 1846, described as to depict "a rather solemn man gingerly inserting his penis into the vagina of an equally solemn and middle-aged woman". At one point of time, it was more expensive to purchase an erotic photograph than to hire a prostitute. The Parisian demimonde included Napoleon III 's minister, Charles de Morny , an early patron who delighted in acquiring and displaying erotic photos at large gatherings. Pornographic film production commenced almost immediately after

1725-433: A portrait of a reclining nude. Tynan came up with the idea of putting on an erotic revue in the early summer of 1966. Tynan had hoped that Harold Pinter would direct the production, in order to give it avant-garde legitimacy, but Pinter declined. Sketches were written by, among others, Samuel Beckett , John Lennon , Sam Shepard , Leonard Melfi , Edna O'Brien , Sherman Yellen , Jules Feiffer and Tynan, and featured

1840-654: A second-century CE treatise on the art of seduction and sensuality by the Roman poet Ovid ; the artifacts of the Moche people in Peru (100 CE to 800 CE); The Decameron , a collection of short stories, some of which are sexual in nature by the 14th-century Italian author Giovanni Boccaccio ; and the fifteenth-century Arabic sex manual The Perfumed Garden . A highly developed culture of visual erotica flourished in Japan during

1955-595: A separate publishing and bookselling business. Historians have identified the 18th century as an age of pornographic opulence. Written by anonymous authors, the titles: The Progress of Nature (1744); The History of the Human Heart: or, the Adventures of a Young Gentleman (1749), which had descriptions of female ejaculation ; and The Child of Nature (1774) have been noted as prominent pornographic fictional works from this period. The book Fanny Hill (1748),

2070-418: A shelf of queer theory treatises", wrote Dennis Altman. Critic Harold Bloom cites the novel as a canonical work in his book The Western Canon . Vidal called Myra the favorite of his books, and published a sequel, Myron , in 1974. The novel was adapted into a 1970 film of the same name , which was panned. Vidal disowned the film, calling it "an awful joke". In his 1995 memoir Palimpsest , Vidal said

2185-565: A sketch for the risqué revue Oh! Calcutta! but quickly decided to develop the story into a novel. He wrote the first draft in Rome over the course of a month. About two weeks into writing the novel, Vidal decided to make Myra transgender. The name "Breckinridge" was taken from Bunny Breckinridge , an associate of director Ed Wood , and a stage performer whose openly gay, flamboyantly transgressive life partly inspired Vidal's novel. According to critic Robert F. Kiernan, Myra Breckinridge explores

2300-403: A spiritual outlook as sexual arousal is believed to indicate the embodying of the divine. "pornography is sometimes characterised as the symptom of a degenerate society, but anyone even noddingly familiar with Greek vases or statues on ancient Hindu temples will know that so-called unnatural sex acts, orgies and all manner of complex liaisons have for millennia past been represented in art for

2415-410: A student’s party, after "mixing gin and marijuana ", Myra gets "stoned out of her head" and suffers visions before passing out in a bathroom. Myra attends an orgy arranged by a student. She intends only to observe but suffers a "rude intrusion" by a member of the band The Four Skins, from which she derives a perverse, masochistic enjoyment. Out of an obscure desire to be avenged on the male sex for

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2530-534: A subsequent decline in the sale of DVDs and adult magazines. Starting in the 21st century, greater access to the Internet and affordable smartphones made pornography more accessible and culturally mainstream. The total number of pornographic websites in 2012 was estimated to be around 25 million comprising 12% of all the websites. About 75 percent of households in the US gained Internet access by 2012. Data from 2015 suggests an increase in pornography consumption over

2645-622: A time period now called the Golden Age of Porn . In 1979, the British Committee on Obscenity and Film Censorship better known as the Williams Committee, formed to review the laws concerning obscenity reported that pornography could not be harmful and to think anything else is to see pornography "out of proportion". The committee declared that existing variety of laws in the field should be scrapped and so long as it

2760-552: A trade association, the Free Speech Coalition ; a labor union, Adult Performer Advocacy Committee ; and award shows, XBIZ Awards and AVN Awards . From the mid-2010s, unscrupulous pornography such as deepfake pornography and revenge porn have become issues of concern. The word pornography is a conglomerate of two ancient Greek words: πόρνος ( pórnos ) "fornicators", and γράφειν ( gráphein ) "writing, recording, or description". In Greek language,

2875-541: A year; while in the next ten months fifteen people were arrested under this law. This was partly due to the efforts of Anthony Comstock , who became a major figure in 1872 and held great power to control sexual related activities of people including the choice of abortion. The Comstock Act of 1873 is the American equivalent of the English Obscene Act. The anti-obscenity bill, drafted by Anthony Comstock,

2990-438: Is benign. A longitudinal study had ascertained that pornography use is not a predictive factor in intimate partner violence . Porn Studies , which began in 2014, is the first international peer-reviewed , academic journal dedicated to critical study of "products and services" deemed pornographic. Pornography is a major influencer of people's perception of sex in the digital age ; numerous pornographic websites rank among

3105-585: Is clearly intended for arousal, the material that can be considered as pornography becomes subjective. Pornography is viewed by historians as a complex cultural formation. Depictions of a sexual nature existed since prehistoric times as seen in Venus figurines and rock art . People across various civilizations created works that depicted explicit sex; these include artifacts, music, poetry, and murals among other things that are often intertwined with religious and supernatural themes. The oldest artifacts, including

3220-518: Is considered "the first original English prose pornography, and the first pornography to use the form of the novel." An erotic literary work by John Cleland , Fanny Hill was first published in England as Memoirs of a Woman of Pleasure . The novel has been one of the most prosecuted and banned books in history. The author John Cleland was charged for "corrupting the King's subjects." At around

3335-594: Is credited to Nathaniel Butter in a history of the Fleet newspaper industry. The modern word pornography entered the English language as the more familiar word in 1842 via French " pornographie ," from Greek " pornographos ". The term porn is an abbreviation of pornography. The related term πόρνη ( pórnē ) "prostitute" in Greek , originally meant "bought, purchased" similar to pernanai "to sell", from

3450-447: Is directly due to steps that we took." — Bob Guccione , Penthouse founder in 2004. The tussle between Playboy and Penthouse paled into obscurity when Larry Flynt started Hustler , which became the first magazine to publish labial "pink shots" in 1974. Hustler projected itself as the magazine for the working classes as opposed to the urban centered Playboy and Penthouse. During the same time in 1972, Helen Gurley Brown , editor of

3565-408: Is fit for children". With the introduction of broadband connections , much of the distribution networks of pornography moved online giving consumers anonymous access to a wide range of pornographic material. To have better control over their content on the Internet some professional pornographers maintain their own websites. Danni's Hard Drive started in 1995 by Danni Ashe is considered one of

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3680-542: Is likely to disappoint different people in different ways, but disappointment is the order of the night." Irving Wardle , writing in The Times in 1970, said: "I have seen better revues than Oh! Calcutta! but none based on ideas that strike me as more sympathetic. Namely that the ordinary human body is an object well worth attention: and that there is no reason why the public treatment of sex should not be extended to take in not only lyricism and personal emotion but also

3795-640: Is made-classifying it as pornography or erotica . The oldest artifacts considered pornographic were discovered in Germany in 2008 and are dated to be at least 35,000 years old. Throughout the history of erotic depictions , various people made attempts to suppress them under obscenity laws, censor , or make them illegal. Such grounds and even the definition of pornography have differed in various historical, cultural, and national contexts. The Indian Sanskrit text Kama Sutra (3rd century CE) contained prose, poetry, and illustrations regarding sexual behavior, and

3910-592: Is more regulated than softcore porn. Softcore porn was popular between the 1970s and 1990s. Oh! Calcutta! Oh! Calcutta! is an avant-garde , risqué theatrical revue created by British drama critic Kenneth Tynan . The show, consisting of sketches on sex-related topics, debuted Off-Broadway in 1969 and then in the West End in 1970. It ran in London for over 3,900 performances, and in New York initially for 1,314. Revivals enjoyed even longer runs, including

4025-512: Is not as chaste as he thinks she is. It was written by Sherman Yellen . A man participates in a sex study and the whole experience ends up turning into one big farce. The scene plays like the Marx Brothers at a sex research facility. A pre-recorded section, where the actors are nude outside doing interpretive dance ("Much Too Soon", music and lyrics by Jacques Levy, Dennis, Schickele and Walden). Another nude interpretive dance. After

4140-419: Is not dead his will has no legal bearing. At this juncture, Myra stands and reveals her vaginoplasty scars, disclosing that she and Myron are the same person and that she is thus entitled to Gertrude’s share of the property. Frightened, disgusted and sickened , Buck concedes defeat, privately commenting that if he could get away with murdering her he would. Soon after her triumph, Myra is severely injured in

4255-490: Is part of the machine. It keeps you happy. It keeps you running." — Andy Warhol Film scholar Linda Williams remarked that prurience "is a key term in any discussion of moving-image sex since the sixties. Often it is the "interest" to which no one wants to own up". In 1968, the Motion Picture Association of America created a new film ratings system in which any film that was not approved by

4370-576: Is prohibited from children, adults should be free to consume pornography as they see fit. The Meese Report in 1986 argued against loosening restrictions on pornography in the US. The report was criticized as biased, inaccurate, and not credible. In 1988, the Supreme Court of California ruled in the People v. Freeman case that "filming sexual activity for sale" does not amount to procuring or prostitution and shall be given protection under

4485-602: Is the first international peer-reviewed , academic journal that is exclusively dedicated to the critical study of the "products and services" identified to constitute pornography. Adult content is generally classified as either pornography or erotica . Considerations of distinctness between pornography and erotica is mostly subjective. Pornographic content is categorized as softcore or hardcore. Softcore pornography contains depictions of nudity but without explicit depiction of sexual activity. Hardcore pornography includes explicit depiction of sexual activity. Hardcore porn

4600-531: Is to “re-create the sexes and thus save the human race from certain extinction.” She comes to the Academy for Aspiring Young Actors and Actresses in Los Angeles , owned by her deceased husband Myron's uncle, Buck Loner, a former cowboy actor and current lecher. Myra’s purpose in visiting Buck is to claim her mother-in-law Gertrude’s share of the property, left jointly to Buck and Gertrude by their father when it

4715-518: The Cosmopolitan magazine, published a centerfold that featured actor Burt Reynolds in nude. His popular pose has been later emulated by many other famous people. The success of Cosmo led to the launch of Playgirl in 1973. At their peak, Playboy sold close to six million copies a month in the US, while Penthouse nearly five million. In the 2010s, as the market for printed versions of pornographic magazines declined, with Playboy selling about

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4830-571: The French Revolution (1789–99). Apart from the sexual component, pornography became a popular medium for protest against the social and political norms of the time. Pornography during this period was used to explore the ideas of sexual freedom for women and men, the various methods of contraception, and to expose the offenses of powerful royals and elites. The working and lower classes in France produced pornographic material en masse with themes of impotency, incest, and orgies that ridiculed

4945-451: The Golden globes and Oscars , are the two prominent award shows of the adult entertainment industry. Free Speech Coalition (FSC) is a trade association and Adult Performer Advocacy Committee (APAC) is a labor union for the adult entertainment industry based in the US. The scholarly study of pornography notably in cultural studies is limited. Porn Studies , which began in 2014,

5060-590: The Turin Erotic Papyrus (Papyrus 55001), an Egyptian papyrus scroll discovered at Deir el-Medina , consists of a series of twelve vignettes showing men and women in various sexual positions . The scroll was probably painted in the Ramesside period (1292–1075 BCE) and its high artistic quality indicates that it was produced for a wealthy audience. No other similar scrolls have yet been discovered. Archaeologist Nikolaos Stampolidis had noted that

5175-498: The U.S. Supreme Court upheld the right of an adult to possess obscene material in private. Subsequently, however, the Supreme Court rejected the claim that under Stanley there is a constitutional right to provide obscene material for private use or to acquire it for private use. The right to possess obscene material does not imply the right to provide or acquire it, because the right to possess it "reflects no more than ...

5290-598: The Venus of Hohle Fels , which is considered to be borderline pornographic, were discovered in 2008 CE at a cave near Stuttgart in Germany, radiocarbon dating suggests they are at least 35,000 years old, from the Aurignacian period. Vast number of artifacts discovered in ancient Mesopotamia region had explicit depictions of heterosexual sex. Glyptic art from the Sumerian Early Dynastic Period frequently showed scenes of frontal sex in

5405-704: The West End Royalty Theatre on September 30, 1970, running until January 27, 1974. The show then transferred to the Duchess Theatre on January 28, 1974, where it ran until February 1980, for a total of 3,918 performances. The London show was produced by Michael White . A revival opened on Broadway at the Edison Theatre on September 24, 1976, and closed on August 6, 1989 after 5,959 performances, again directed and choreographed by Levy and Sappington. The revival briefly became

5520-480: The World Wide Web became popular with the introduction of Netscape navigator in 1994. This development led to newer methods of pornography distribution and consumption. The Internet turned out to be a popular source for pornography and was called the "Triple A-Engine" for offering consumers "anonymity, affordability, and accessibility", while driving the business of pornography. The notion of Internet being

5635-470: The World Wide Web in the late 20th century led to global growth in the pornography business. Beginning in the 21st century, greater access to the Internet and affordable smartphones made pornography more mainstream. Pornography has been vouched to provision a safe outlet for sexual desires that may not be satisfied within relationships and be a facilitator of sexual fulfillment in people who do not have

5750-555: The first amendment . This ruling effectively legalized the production of X-rated adult content in the Los Angeles county , which by 2005 had emerged as the largest center in the world for the production of pornographic films. Pornographic films appeared throughout the twentieth century. First as stag films (1900–1940s), then as porn loops or short films for peep shows (1960s), followed by as feature films for theatrical release in adult movie theaters (1970s), and as home videos (1980s). Pornographic magazines published during

5865-424: The proto-Indo-European root per- , "to hand over" — alluding to act of selling. The word pornography was originally used by classical scholars as "a bookish, and therefore inoffensive term for writing about prostitutes", but its meaning was quickly expanded to include all forms of "objectionable or obscene material in art and literature". In 1864, Webster's Dictionary published "a licentious painting" as

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5980-443: The top 50 most visited websites worldwide. Called an "erotic engine", pornography has been noted for its key role in the development of various communication and media processing technologies. For being an early adopter of innovations and as a provider of financial capital , the pornography industry has been cited to be a contributing factor in the adoption and popularization of media related technologies. The accurate economic size of

6095-527: The 18th century that the Japanese government began to issue official edicts against them. Even so, Japanese erotica flourished with the works of artists such as Suzuki Harunobu achieving worldwide fame. Japanese censorship laws enacted in 1870 made the production of erotic works difficult. The laws remained in effect until the end of the Pacific War in 1945; nevertheless, pornography flourished through

6210-407: The 1990s, the Internet has made pornography more accessible and culturally visible. Before the 90s, Usenet newsgroups served as the base for what has been called the "amateur revolution" where non-professionals from the late 1980s and early 1990s, with the help of digital cameras and the Internet, created and distributed their own pornographic content independent of mainstream networks. The use of

6325-523: The Comstock act. The laws regarding pornography have differed in various historical, cultural, and national contexts. The English Act did not apply to Scotland where the common law continued to apply. Before the English Act, publication of obscene material was treated as a common law misdemeanor, this made effectively prosecuting authors and publishers difficult even in cases where the material

6440-531: The Internet led to a decline in the production of AVs. Other forms of adult entertainment such as hentai , which refers to pornographic manga and anime , and erotic video games have become popular in recent decades. In Europe, the Italian Renaissance work from the 16th century - I Modi ( The Ways ) also known as The Sixteen Pleasures became famous for its engravings that explicitly depicted sex positions . The publication of this book

6555-643: The Suppression of Vice . The act passed by the British Parliament in 1857 applied to the United Kingdom and Ireland . The act made the sale of obscene material a statutory offense, and gave the authorities the power to seize and destroy any material which they considered as obscene. For centuries before, sexually explicit material was considered a domain that is exclusive to aristocratic classes. When pornographic material flourished in

6670-524: The UK started his publication Penthouse , and published its first American issue in 1969 as a direct competitor to Playboy. In its early days, the images of naked women published in Playboy did not show any pubic hair or genitals. Penthouse became the first magazine to show pubic hair in 1970. Playboy followed the lead and there ensued a competition between the two magazines over publication of more racy pictures,

6785-602: The Victorian era that included fetish and taboo themes such as sadomasochism and 'cross-generational sex' are: My Secret Life (1888–1894) and Forbidden Fruit (1898). On accusations of obscenity many of these works had been outlawed until the 1960s. The world's first law that criminalized pornography was the English Obscene Publications Act 1857 , enacted at the urging of the Society for

6900-515: The Victorian-era England, the affluent classes believed they are sensible enough to deal with it, unlike the lower working classes whom they thought would get distracted by such material and cease to be productive. Beliefs that masturbation would make people ill, insane, or become blind also flourished. The obscenity act gave government officials the power to interfere in the private lives of people unlike any other law before. Some of

7015-468: The actors are nude at this point), "How come none of the guys have hard-ons ?" "That's my boyfriend—that IS a hard-on" and "If they showed this in Washington , Agnew would shit!" ("Coming Together, Going Together"). Clive Barnes , in his 1969 review for The New York Times , wrote that "the humor is so doggedly sophomoric and soporific", adding: "The failure here is almost exclusively a failure of

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7130-482: The association was released with an "X" rating. When pornographers began to release their productions with the rating X, the association adopted NC-17 rating for adults only films, leaving the X rating to pornography. Later the invented gimmick rating "XXX" became a standard for pornographic material. In 1970, the United States President's Commission on Obscenity and Pornography , set up to study

7245-535: The attention of the Metropolitan Police 's Obscene Publications Squad , which sent two officers to a preview of the show. One of the officers returned twice more, before recommending a prosecution under the Theatres Act 1968 for obscenity. The Director of Public Prosecutions sent its panel of experts, including two retired headmistresses, to see The Roundhouse production. Their judgement that it

7360-606: The authority of the Church-State, aristocrats, priests, monks, and other royalty. One of the most important authors of socially radical pornography was the French aristocrat Marquis de Sade (1740–1814), whose name helped derive the words "sadism" and "sadist". He advocated libertine sexuality and published writings that were critical of authorities, many of which contained pornographic content. His work Justine (1791) interlaced orgiastic scenes along with extensive debates on

7475-544: The book was celebrated; while the British English text Fanny Hill (1748), considered "the first original English prose pornography," has been one of the most prosecuted and banned books. In the late 19th century, a film by Thomas Edison that depicted a kiss was denounced as obscene in the United States, whereas Eugène Pirou 's 1896 film Bedtime for the Bride was received very favorably in France. Starting from

7590-426: The cast nude. Peter Schickele (also known as the creator of PDQ Bach ), Robert Dennis and Stanley Walden were the revue's composers , known as The Open Window. Beckett's contribution, Breath , was used as a Prologue in the original New York staging, but Beckett eventually withdrew permission for its use. Tynan commissioned British Pop artist Pauline Boty to make a series of paintings of erogenous zones on which

7705-703: The earliest online pornographic websites, coded by Ashe – a former stripper and nude model, the website was reported by CNN to had generated revenues of $ 6.5 million by 2000. According to some leading pornography providers on the Internet, customer subscription rates for a website would be about one in a thousand people who visit the site for a monthly fees averaging around $ 20. Ashe said in an interview that her website employs 45 people and she expects to earn $ 8 million in 2001 alone. The total number of pornographic websites in 2000 were estimated to be more than 60,000. The development of streaming sites, peer-to-peer file sharing (P2P) networks, and tube sites led to

7820-515: The early modern era. From at least the 17th century, erotic artworks became part of the mainstream social culture. Depictions of sexual intercourse were often presented on pictures that were meant to provide sex education for medical professionals, courtesans, and married couples. Makura-e (pillow pictures) were made for entertainment as well as for the guidance of married couples. The ninth-century Japanese art form " Shunga " that depicted sexual acts on woodblock prints and paintings became so popular by

7935-507: The editor from various newspapers from olden times in London and, later in the Suite, contemporary letters from sexual newspapers of the day. An uptight girl gets a lesson in loosening up after her lover is sick of her constantly stiff ways. A young couple starts to rethink getting into the swingers lifestyle after meeting the middle-aged couple who answers their ad. A chaste woman is caught by her admirer, who then proceeds to learn that she

8050-488: The effects of pornography, reported that there was "no evidence to date that exposure to explicit sexual materials plays a significant role in the causation of delinquent or criminal behavior among youths or adults". The report further recommended against placing any restriction on the access of pornography by adults and suggested that legislation "should not seek to interfere with the right of adults who wish to do so to read, obtain, or view explicit sexual materials". Regarding

8165-473: The first country that legalized pornography, including child pornography , which was later prohibited in 1980. The 1969 legislation, instead of resulting in a decline in pornography production, led to an explosion of investment in, and commercial production of pornography in Denmark, which made the country's name synonymous with sex and pornography. The total retail turnover of pornography in Denmark for

8280-617: The ills of property and traditional hierarchy in society. When large-scale archaeological excavations were undertaken in the ancient Roman city of Pompeii during the 18th century, much of the erotic art in Pompeii and Herculaneum came to light, shocking the authorities who endeavored to hide them away from the general public. In 1821, the moveable objects were locked away in the Secret Museum in Naples , and what could not be removed

8395-423: The indignities suffered by Myron during his long period of homosexuality, Myra preys upon a student named Rusty Godowski, a muscular ex- footballer , and ultimately anally violates him with a strap on . The rape causes Rusty’s relationship with Mary-Ann, his girlfriend and fellow student (whom Myra has taken under her wing), to deteriorate. The two break up, and Rusty begins a relationship with Letitia Van Allen,

8510-483: The invention of the motion picture in 1895. A pioneer of the motion picture camera, Thomas Edison , released various films, including The Kiss that were denounced as obscene in late 19th century America. Two of the earliest pioneers of pornographic films were Eugène Pirou and Albert Kirchner . Kirchner directed the earliest surviving pornographic film for Pirou under the trade name "Léar". The 1896 film, Le Coucher de la Mariée , showed Louise Willy performing

8625-485: The law's 'solicitude to protect the privacies of the life within [the home]'". In 1969, Blue Movie by Andy Warhol became the first feature film to depict explicit sexual intercourse that received a wide public theatrical release in the United States. Blue Movie was real . But it wasn't done as pornography—it was done as an exercise, an experiment. But I really do think movies should arouse you, should get you excited about people, should be prurient. Prurience

8740-537: The longest-running show in Broadway history. It remains Broadway's eighth longest-running show and the longest-running revue in Broadway history. The Spanish-language premiere production opened on October 9, 1977 at Teatro Príncipe in Madrid, Spain, directed by Juan José Alonso Millán, who also translated the show. A pay-per-view video production played on closed-circuit television in select cities in 1971, and

8855-512: The male genitalia and in 91 ways the female genitalia. Lysistrata (411 BCE) is a sex-war comedy play performed in ancient Greece . In India, Hinduism embraced an inquisitive attitude towards sex as an art and a spiritual ideal. Some ancient Hindu temples incorporated various aspects of sexuality into their art work. The temples at Khajuraho and Konark are particularly renowned for their sculptures, which had detailed representations of human sexual activity. These depictions were viewed with

8970-546: The meaning for pornography , and the Oxford English Dictionary : "obscene painting" (1842), "description of obscene matters, obscene publication" (1977 or earlier). Definitions for the term "pornography" are varied, with people from both pro- and anti-pornography groups defining it either favorably or unfavorably, thus making any definition very stipulative . Nevertheless, academic researchers have defined pornography as sexual subject material such as

9085-555: The mid-twentieth century have been noted for playing an important role in the sexual revolution and the liberalization of laws and attitudes towards sexual representation in the Western world . Hugh Hefner , in 1953 published the first US issue of the Playboy , a magazine which as Hefner described is a "handbook for the urban male". The magazine contained images of nude women along with articles and interviews covering politics and culture. Twelve years later, in 1965, Bob Guccione in

9200-416: The mid-twentieth century on, societal attitudes towards sexuality became more lenient in the Western world where legal definitions of obscenity were made limited. In 1969, Blue Movie by Andy Warhol became the first film to depict unsimulated sex that received a wide theatrical release in the United States. This was followed by the " Golden Age of Porn " (1969–1984). The introduction of home video and

9315-501: The mid-twentieth century. Starting from 1957 to 1997, the US Supreme Court made numerous judgments that redefined obscenity. The nineteenth-century legislation eventually outlawed the publication, retail and trafficking of certain writings and images that were deemed pornographic. Although laws ordered the destruction of shop and warehouse stock meant for sale, the private possession and viewing of (some forms of) pornography

9430-509: The missionary position. In Mesopotamian votive plaques from the early second millennium ( c.  2000  – c.  1500   BCE ), a man is usually shown penetrating a woman from behind while she bends over drinking beer through a straw. Middle Assyrian lead votive figurines often portrayed a man standing and penetrating a woman as she rests on an altar. Scholars have traditionally interpreted all these depictions as scenes of hieros gamos (an ancient sacred marriage between

9545-464: The mutability of gender-role and sexual-orientation as being social constructs established by social mores . The first novel whose main character undergoes a clinical sex-change, it was praised by Edmund Miller as "a brilliantly chosen image for satire of contemporary mores." Arnie Kantrowitz called the titular character a "comic surrogate [who] looks at life from both sides" and "wields a wicked dildo in her war against gender roles". Joseph Cady wrote that

9660-576: The notion that sexually explicit content is improper, the Commission found it "inappropriate to adjust the level of adult communication to that considered suitable for children". The Supreme Court supported this view. In 1971, Sweden removed its obscenity clause. Further relaxation of legislations during the early 1970s in the US, West Germany and other countries led to rise in pornography production. The 1970s had been described by Linda Williams as 'the "Classical" Era of Theatrically Exhibited Porn',

9775-458: The novel "skewers conventional American sexuality". Pornography Pornography (colloquially known as porn or porno ) is sexual subject material such as a picture, video, text, or audio that is intended for sexual arousal . Made for consumption by adults, pornographic depictions have evolved from cave paintings , some forty millennia ago, to modern virtual reality presentations. A general distinction of adults-only sexual content

9890-452: The opening song ("Taking Off the Robe" (Oh! Calcutta!)). A boy and a girl who just met are in their own playland, with the boy constantly trying to find ways to seduce the girl, who is afraid of him because he is a boy. The sketch ends with the girl in a coma after the boy rapes her. A song of five letters written by anonymous authors about their sexual preferences. They were actual letters to

10005-409: The past few decades which is attributed to the growth of Internet pornography . Technological advancements such as digital cameras , laptops , smartphones, and Wi-Fi have democratized the production and consumption of pornography. Subscription-based service providers such as OnlyFans , founded in 2016, are becoming popular as the platforms for pornography trade in the digital era. Apart from

10120-408: The people suspected for masturbation were forced to wear chastity devices. "Cures" and "treatment" for masturbation involved such measures like giving electric shock and applying carbolic acid to the clitoris. The law was criticized for being established on still yet unproven claims that sexual material is noxious for people or public health. In 1865, the US postal service was seen as a "vehicle" for

10235-561: The pleasure and inspiration of the viewer everywhere. The desire to ponder images of love-making is clearly innate in the human – perhaps particularly the male – psyche." — Tom Hodgkinson Kama , the word used to connote sexual desire, was explored in Indian literary works such as the Kama Sutra , which dealt with the practical as well as the psychological aspects of human courtship and sexual intercourse. The Sanskrit text Kama sutra

10350-529: The popular erotic literary works from the twentieth century include the novels: Story of the Eye (1928), Tropic of Cancer (1934), Tropic of Capricorn (1938), the French Histoire d'O ( Story of O ) (1954); and the short stories: Delta of Venus (1977), and Little Birds (1979). After the invention of photography , the birth of erotic photography followed. The oldest surviving image of

10465-585: The porn industry in the early twenty-first century is unknown. In 2015, estimates of the worldwide market value stood at US$ 97 billion, with the US revenue valued at $ 10 to $ 12 billion. The US revenue was estimated to have reached at least US$ 3.3 billion in 2020. Pornography in Japan was estimated to be worth over $ 20 billion in 2018. The legality of Pornography varies across Countries. The US pornography industry employs numerous performers along with production and support staff, and has its own industry-specific publications: XBIZ and AVN ;

10580-462: The professional pornographers, content creators on such platforms include others like; a physics teacher, a race car driver , a woman undergoing cancer treatment. In 2022, the total pornographic content accessible online was estimated to be over 10,000 terabytes . AVN and XBIZ are the industry-specific organizations based in the US that provide information about the adult entertainment business. XBIZ Awards and AVN Awards , analogous to

10695-507: The publication of written and visual material, which was essentially pornographic began. Heptaméron written in French by Marguerite de Navarre and published posthumously in 1558 is one of the earliest examples of salacious texts from this era. Beginning with the Age of Enlightenment and advances in printing technology, the production of erotic material became popular enough that an underground marketplace for such works developed in England with

10810-857: The revue would be based. Boty died of cancer in July 1966 so only managed to complete one painting, her last: BUM . The musical opened off-Broadway at the Eden Theatre on June 21, 1969, transferred to the Belasco Theatre on February 17, 1971, and closed on August 12, 1972, after a total of 1,314 performances. It was directed by Jacques Levy and choreographed by Margo Sappington . The cast included Sappington, future television stars Bill Macy and Alan Rachins , as well as Leon Russom , Nancy Tribush, Philip Gibson and George Welbes, and three "Open Window" composers. The musical premiered in London on July 27, 1970, at The Roundhouse , and transferred to

10925-452: The rich harvest of bawdy jokes." He noted that the enjoyment and lack of embarrassment of the cast helped the audience to accept the more insubstantial elements of the revue's material and that the stage sets' screen projections assisted the dance numbers considerably, concluding: "In many ways, it is a ghastly show: ill-written, juvenile, and attention-seeking. But it is not a menace." The 1970 production at The Roundhouse , London, attracted

11040-479: The sale of "erotic, grotesque, nonsense" (ero-guro-nansensu) periodicals, particularly in the Taishō era (1912–1926). From the 1960s, pink films , which portrayed sexual themes became popular in Japan. In 1981 the first Japanese Adult video (AV) was released. The Japanese pornography industry peaked in the early 2000s when about 30,000 AVs were made a year. From the mid-2010s, increased availability of free porn on

11155-408: The sale of sexual material nevertheless continued through "under the counter" means. Magazines specialising in a genre called "saucy and spicy" became popular during this time (1896 to 1955), titles of few popular magazines include; Wink: A Whirl of Girls , Flirt: A FRESH Magazine , and Snappy . Cover stories in these magazines featured segments such as "perky pin-ups" and "high-heel cuties". Some of

11270-663: The same time, erotic graphic art that began to be extensively produced in Paris came to be known in the Anglosphere as "French postcards". Enlightenment-era France had been noted by historians as the center of origin for modern-era pornography. The works of French pornography, which often concentrated on the education of an ingénue into libertine , dominated the sale of sexually explicit content. The French sought to interlace narratives of sexual pleasure with philosophical and anti-establishment basis. Political pornography began with

11385-462: The society of ancient Greece held lenient attitudes towards sexual representation in the fields of art and literature. The Greek poet Sappho 's Ode to Aphrodite (600 BCE) is considered an earliest example of lesbian poetry. Red-figure pottery invented in Greece (530 BCE) often portrayed images that displayed eroticism . The fifth-century BC comic Aristophanes elaborated 106 ways of describing

11500-423: The term pornography connotes depiction of sexual activity; no date is known for the first use of the term pornography , the earliest attested, most related word found is πορνογράφος ( pornographos ) i.e. "someone writing about harlots" in the 3rd century CE work Deipnosophists by Athenaeus . The oldest published reference to the word pornography as in 'new pornographie,' is dated back to 1638 and

11615-696: The term " masochism " was derived. The Sins of the Cities of the Plain (1881) is one of the first sole male homosexual literary work published in English, this work is said to have inspired another gay literary work Teleny, or The Reverse of the Medal (1893), whose authorship has often been attributed to Oscar Wilde . The Romance of Lust , written anonymously and published in four volumes during 1873–1876, contained graphical descriptions of themes detailing incest, homosexuality, and orgies. Other publications from

11730-428: The transmission of materials that were deemed obscene by the American lawmakers. An act relating to the postal services was passed, which made people pay a fine of $ 500 for knowingly mailing any "obscene book, pamphlet, picture print, or other publication". From 1865 to up until the first three months of 1872, a total number of nine people were held for various charges of obscenity, with one person sentenced to prison for

11845-513: The voice of Myra may have been inspired by the "megalomania" of Anaïs Nin 's diaries. Indeed, the story is told through increasingly erratic entries in Myra's own personal diary and recordings on events given by Buck Loner. A beautiful young woman, Myra Breckinridge is a film enthusiast with a special interest in the Golden Age of Hollywood —in particular the 1940s—and the writings of film critic Parker Tyler . In her notebook, she declares her mission

11960-710: The works published in the Victorian era are considered bold and graphic even by today's lenient standards. The English novel The Adventures, Intrigues, and Amours, of a Lady's Maid! written by anonymous "Herself" (c. 1838) professed the notion that homosexual acts are more pleasurable for women than heterosexuality which is linked to painful and uncomfortable experiences. Some of the popular publications from this era include: The Pearl (magazine of erotic tales and poems published from 1879 to 1881); Gamiani, or Two Nights of Excess (1870) by Alfred de Musset; and Venus in Furs (1870) by Leopold von Sacher-Masoch, from whose name

12075-407: The writers and the producers. The director, Jacques Levy, has done his best with the weak material at hand ... the nude scenes, while derivative, are attractive enough. The best effects—including the rather sweet grope-in immediately after the intermission—have been taken from Robert Joffrey 's ballet ' Astarte ', and the show uses the same projected media designers ... In sum, Oh! Calcutta!

12190-602: The year 1969 was estimated at $ 50 million. Much of the pornographic material produced in Denmark was smuggled into other countries around the world. In the United States, pornography is protected by the First Amendment to the United States Constitution unless it constitutes obscenity or child pornography that is produced with real children. Nevertheless, in Stanley v. Georgia (1969),

12305-459: Was an undeveloped orange grove, and through Myron’s will transmitted to her. The property is now worth $ 2 million. Intending to stall her as long as possible, Buck declares his lawyers will look into the matter; in the meantime, he offers Myra work at the Academy teaching the Empathy and Posture classes. Myra proves radically popular with the students, while soon becoming a thorn in Buck’s side. At

12420-575: Was clearly intended as pornography. However, neither the English, nor the United States Act defined what constituted "obscene", leaving this for the courts to determine. For implementing the Comstock act, the US courts used the British Hicklin test to define obscenity, the definition of which was first proposed in 1868, ten years after the passing of the English obscene act. The definition became cemented in 1896 and continued until

12535-453: Was compiled by the sage Vatsyayana into its final form sometime during the second half of the third century CE. This text, which included prose, poetry, as well as illustrations regarding erotic love and sexual behavior, is one of the most celebrated Indian erotic works. Koka shastra is another medieval Indian work that explored kama. Other examples of early art and literature of sexual nature include: Ars Amatoria (Art of Love) ,

12650-510: Was considered the beginning of print pornography in Rome . The second edition of this book was published in 1527, titled Aretino Postures , which combined erotic images with text - a first in the Western culture . The Vatican called for the complete destruction of all the copies of the book and imprisonment of its author Marcantonio Raimondi . With the development of printing press in Europe,

12765-604: Was debated for less than an hour in the US Congress before being passed into law. Apart from the power to seize and destroy any material alleged to be obscene, the law made it possible for the authorities to make arrests over any perceived act of obscenity, which included possession of contraceptives by married couples. Reportedly in the US, 15 tons of books and 4 million pictures were destroyed, and about 15 people were driven to suicide with 4,000 arrests. At least 55 people whom Comstock identified as abortionists got indicted under

12880-533: Was either covered or cordoned off from public view. During the Victorian era (1837–1901), the invention of the rotary printing press made publication of books easier, many works of lascivious nature were published during this period often under pen names or anonymity. In 1837, the Holywell Street (known as "Booksellers' Row") in London had more than 50 shops that sold pornographic material. Many of

12995-526: Was not made an offense until the twentieth century. Historians have explored the role of pornography in determining social norms . The Victorian attitude that pornography was only for a select few is seen in the wording of the Hicklin test , stemming from a court case in 1868, where it asked: "whether the tendency of the matter charged as obscenity is to deprave and corrupt those whose minds are open to such immoral influences". Although officially prohibited,

13110-505: Was released theatrically in 1972. In both cases, many cities and municipalities banned its screening. Frank Herold, an editor who worked on the film, commented on that in a brief post he contributed to the relevant Internet Movie Database page. Note: the revue takes place in the form of sketches. These are taken from the 1971 pay-per-view production with lyrics and music by Robert Dennis, Peter Schickele and Stanley Walden (unless otherwise noted). The actors dance and remove their robes to

13225-461: Was their distribution, which was strictly private. In the Western world , during the 1960s, social attitudes towards sex and pornography slowly changed. In 1967, Denmark repealed the obscenity laws on literature; this led to a decline in the sale of pornographic and erotic literature. Hoping for a similar effect, in the summer of 1969, legislators in Denmark abolished censorship on picture pornography, thereby effectively becoming, from July 1, 1969,

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