Pornography is the essential sexuality of male power: of hate, of ownership, of hierarchy; of sadism, of dominance. Andrea Dworkin, Pornography, Men Possessing Women, 1981
All for the man on the go, the man about town. The People vs Larry Flint 1996 starring Woody Harrelson & Courtney Love & Cody Block & Edward Norton & Richard Paul & James Cromwell & Donna Hanover & Crispin Glover & Vincent Schiavelli & Brett Harrelson & Ryan Post et al, director Milos Forman, salesman Flint
Playboy is mocking you. ibid. Flint to Playboy readers
Hustler magazine has reached national sales figures of an astonishing two million copies. ibid. 10 WGBE-TV news
I don’t especially like you too. I specialise in civil liberties. ibid. Norton to Harrelson
All I’m guilty of is bad taste. ibid. Harrelson to Norton
If we start throwing up walls against what some of us think is obscene, we may very well wake up one morning and realise that walls have been thrown in all kinds of places we never expected. ibid. Norton
God is working through me. Don’t you see that? ibid.
The reign of Christian terror at this magazine is now over. We’re smut peddlers again. We’re back to our roots. We are porn again. ibid.
2000 and Cum: A Face Odyssey. Ray Donovan s4e12: Rattus Rattus, guy in pawn shop buying cassette from Mickey, Showtime 2016
The tide of Spanish porn was stemmed. Sir Philip Sydney returned to London in triumph. Monty Python’s Flying Circus s3e10: E Henry Thripshaw’s Disease
Shooting pornos … Some porn stars find extreme ways to cope. Drugs Inc s7e3: X Rated High, National Geographic 2015
In the internet age porn stars playing ‘the girl next door’ are being replaced by the real thing. Hot Girls Wanted, 2015
Porn to Pay Tuition. ibid. CNN report
‘I will never run out.’ ibid. talent agent
California recently passed a law requiring the use of condoms in pornography. ibid.
‘It’s all my shit; it’s all me now.’ ibid. porn star
New girls typically film 3-5 scenes per week. ibid. caption
‘There is an influx of girls trying to do porn.’ ibid. talent agent
Unless she is a breakout success she will have to accept more niche-oriented jobs in order to keep working. ibid. caption
The law requires girls to prove they are at least 18 years old. ibid.
Nearly 40% of online pornography depicts violence against women. ibid.
After I got out of Porn I had $2,000 left in my bank account. ibid.
Perhaps illogically, of these sexual acts, fisting and urination are completely legal to perform in real life; and thus it is only the representation of these acts on film which may be considered obscene and therefore attract criminal liability. Consequently many pornographic film producers operate a ‘four finger rule’ to avoid the risk of criminal prosecution. This means that in such films only four fingers are inserted into the performers’ vagina or anus, rather than the entire fist. It could be argued that this is an entirely arbitrary distinction as the act of fisting itself is not illegal. However, many pornographic film producers remain risk-averse and therefore the presumption that urination and fisting are obscene has endured as it seems that no previous defendant has been prepared to test the law in this area by electing jury trial. Myles Jackman, defence solicitor R v Peacock, article New Statesman 7th January 2012, ‘Fisting on Trial
R v Peacock (2012): The acquittal of Michael Peacock, who was charged with distributing DVDs featuring male fisting, urination and sadomasochism, has cast doubt on the English obscenity law. The ‘deprave and corrupt’ test under the Obscene Publications Act 1959 has been controversial since its inception in England and Wales. One of the strengths of the 1959 Act is its ability for juries to recognise changing moral standards in accordance with modern social values. While such content has been found in the past to be capable of debasing and destroying the moral purity of its likely audience, the question put before the jury in R v Peacock was if this is the case nowadays. For some, the not guilty verdict represents a victory for freedom of expression and the end of an era; for others, moral degeneration. This article provides a more perceptive view of the implications of the Peacock outcome. It argues that we have not seen the demise of obscenity yet. On the contrary, more insidious obscenity provisions have replaced the ‘archaic’ 1959 Act and more censorship laws with real teeth are likely to be just over the horizon. Graduate Journal of Social Science (2013) summary of R v Peacock
This is Britain’s 21st century sex trade. The UK is the second highest consumer of porn in the world. This documentary follows four sex performers who are forging a living in the world of porn. The Sex Business s1e1: Porn Stars, Channel 5 2018
In 2016 the world’s largest porn site received 23 billion visits and almost 92 billion videos were viewed. ibid.
Jess and Billy are a couple trying to establish themselves as professional porn performers. ibid.
‘Just sitting around waiting.’ ibid. porn star
I’m really frisky. Trailer Park Boys s1e3: My Lahy’s Got My Video Tape, Bubbles in porn film
Testicle difficulty. Stand by. ibid. shooting porno film
I’ll do the hardcore stuff. Don’t worry about that. ibid. Bubbles
… And the TV room where his dad hid these: some of the tackiest video pornography the 1980s had to offer … A life’s worth of weird stuff is left behind … My Dead Dad’s Porno Tapes, short 13:38, 2018
A group struggling with internet porn addiction … Alex’s NoFap website has over 170,000 users. Dark Net s1e6: Rewired, Showtime 2016
Twitter: one of the biggest porn sites in the world. Generation Porn s1e1, dude, Channel 4 2019
In Britain we’ve become so worried there are now plans to block under 18s watching online porn. ibid.
The world’s biggest porn site: Porn Hub … 92 million visitors a day … Hardcore is now mainstream. ibid.
‘I can’t see myself doing anything else.’ ibid. internet porn babe
LA San Fernando Valley has been and still is a huge production hub for the US porn industry. ibid.
A huge revolution in porn – it’s an industry that’s mirrored changes in technology. ibid.
The iconic Penthouse magazine just about manages to survive. ibid.
We don’t yet know what the effect of the porn revolution will be. ibid.
Porn: it’s only ever a mouse click away. Whoever you are, wherever you are. No-one needs to know you’re looking at it. And it’s absolutely free. Generation Porn s1e2
Is Porn beginning to change us? ibid.
The masses of customer data collected by the free sites is also fed back to the producers so they can produce more of what’s popular … Who’s really making the choice about what porn we watch? ibid.
Porn can often be very secretive and grow into something compulsive. ibid.
‘Porn democratises pleasure.’ ibid. pornographer
It could be a matter of months or a few years if she’s lucky. ibid.
The porn revolution is moving fast. Generation Porn s1e3
It’s an industry worth billions. ibid.
All you need is a smart phone or a cheap camera to become a pornographer. ibid.
‘There is an entire generation growing up that believes that what you see in hardcore pornography is the way that you have sex.’ ibid. Cindy Gallop, ‘Make Love Not Porn’, Ted 2009
What the stats don’t tell us is how many people under 18 are looking at porn. ibid.
‘Porn teaches you that sex is a performance.’ ibid. Cindy Gallop
‘We are building a fantasy. That’s the idea. It’s not a show.’ Storyville: The Rise & Fall of a Porn Star, BBC 2020
Jonathan Agassi is one of the world’s leading porn stars. He has starred in 67 films that have been viewed over ten million times. This film follows Jonathan over seven years of his career. ibid. caption
Taylor Klein: I come from a long line of engineers … We’re all a bunch of nerds. Storyville: Another Body: My AI Porn Nightmare, BBC 2024
Deepfakes: Seeing my face looking at the cameras … They know where I’m from. ibid.
I didn’t want to feel like I was gonna get hurt … Who would do this? ibid.