The Rise of Porn

Aleisha Murrell

When I look at where we are now, as oppose to back then, porn has come a long way. I have never really been a fan of porn and I don’t give it very much of my attention. But that is because the porn sites that I grew up looking at was always degrading and a bit shameful in my eyes. Now porn seems to be very usual and common. Sex and porn is everywhere in the world I live in today. I recently saw an advertisement for a particular type of spring water, and on the front of the bottle there was a half-naked woman on the front drinking the water. To me, that is something ridiculous, that we now sell water through the woman’s body. Being a part of this culture where sex and porn tie together so easily leaves me dumbfounded. It is crazy how people are so interested to see men and women’s bodies plastered in the media as objects, rather than leaving personal and intimate romance in the bedroom. However, porn and sex didn’t start out this way, it has flourished over the years. The first picture of a naked woman was not until the 1800s [1]. Then around the 1900s exposed women and risky behaviors started to become alive when Hugh Hefner started a television show called “Playboy”. I remember the first playmates when growing up, and watching them on TV when I was a child. It was something like I had never seen before, I didn’t even realize what sexy really meant until after this show. In the 1960s and even the 70s porn was still not something that was very common. It wasn’t played on late TV like it is now. Porn had to be received from outside the home, for example at a Triple X Theatre [1]. It wasn’t until 1971 where there was the first gay pornography [1]. This goes to show how hidden porn was and how slowly it progressed. When I look at today’s world and see sex and porn everywhere and anywhere I go, it’s hard for me to believe that the first gay porn wasn’t until the 70s. The 80s is when the camcorder started to be used for at home productions so you could watch porn in the comfort of your home. This was the age of mainstreaming pornography [1]. And then in the 90s once the DVD came around porn became more exciting and even more entertaining. The DVD allowed a better quality, picture and even sound [1]. And now we are in the 2000s, where porn is everywhere. There is even free porn websites! As I look back at rise of sex/porn, and see it all come together, to what it is now, I am not surprised. In my opinion, people have always wanted porn and are always finding new and better ways to satisfy their needs. I was just shocked at the high demand. Its mind boggling that people are actually entertained by this, and are keeping porn such a big hit. Porn has come a long way, from the first naked picture to the first gay video. I see now that porn will always be alive and wanted.

 

Citation:

[1]. Moore, Crystal. “Native American Sexuality & Sexual Violation in the Conquest of the America’s”. Charlotte: The History of Sexuality in America from the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. Accessed January 14, 2014.