The History of Pornography

The History of Pornography

The making and watching of pornography is a controversial issue in the world today as it has been for hundreds of years. This is especially prevalent because in the age of technology porn is becoming more and more readily accessible. In a 2008 Study that was published in the Journal of Adolescent research it was found that out of 813 American University students 87% of men and 31% or women had at one point used porn for sexual stimulation. This brings up some questions that I will attempt to answer in this post:

1.     What is the importance and role of porn in society?

2.     What is the history of porn?

3.     Was it ever considered acceptable?

4.     Why is it so taboo in the world today even though it is so commonly used?

5.     Can it in fact be harmful?

So why is porn so tempting for us as humans. Evolutionarily it makes sense in terms of reproduction and the ability to pass down our genes from generation to generation. If we are attracted to the naked form of the opposite species then we are much more likely to have sexual intercourse and produce a child with them.

Porn dates back till the beginning of civilization. Archeologists have found sculptures of nude figures that date back 30,000 years. However it is unknown if these were used for sexual purposes or it they were idols of goddesses used primarily for religious purposes.

Later on in history the ancient Greeks and Romans created public sculptures and frescos depicting sexually explicit material such as heterosexual and homosexual intercourse, threesomes, fellatio and cunnilingus.

Some of the earliest publications which documented pornographic images where sex manuals which were popular in the Orient. The most well known example of this was the Kama Sutra, which is believed to be created sometime in the 2^nd century. This book is half sex manual and half relationship handbook. The Ancient Indians also feared that these paper manuals would not survive the pressures of time so they built large sculptures on temple walls of numerous people having sex.

Some other examples of early pornography are the sexual images painted on ceramic pottery by the people of ancient Puru and the erotic woodblock prints that aristocrats in 16th century Japan created.

In the Western world pornography was banned by Christian beliefs as they were expected to only depict saints. Despite of this porn was actually quite popular throughout the Renaissance. An interesting example of porn in this time period is the work of Rafaels apprentice Julio Romano who due to a disagreement with the pope painted an entire hall of the Vatican with sexual images. This of course sparked heated controversy and debate and was eventually removed

In the 18^th century France was the leading forerunner in the production and spread of pornographic images. Images of nude bodies in compromising sexual positions were spread on playing cards, posters, post cards and so on. Interestingly the French also used porn for political means, French revolutionaries used it as a way to satirize the aristocracy.

The 1800s marked the point in time when pornography began to be perceived as bad because it was created for the sole reason of sexual stimulation. In the western world, people caught spreading porn where arrested and/or forced to pay fines.  Even though erotic novels had been in print since the 1600s in France (the authors had to keep their identity a secret for their own safety) the first full-length English pornographic novel called “Memoirs of a Woman of Pleasure” AKA “Fanny Hill” wasn’t published until 1748. The novel by John Cleland portrayed, bisexualism, voyeurism, group sex , sadomasochism and several other sexual acts that were perceived to be outside of the norm. The novel became infamous as it is one of the most banned books in history and the authors were accused of “corrupting the King’s subjects”.

Innovations in technology lead to new and easily accessible means of depicting pornography. In 1839 the first camera called the daguerreotype was able to create the first primitive photographs. Not surprisingly this was immediately take up by the pornography industry. The oldest found daguerreotype dated back to 1846 and depicted “a rather solemn man gingerly inserting his penis into the vagina of an equally solemn and middle aged woman”.

With the creation of film the porn industry began and really took off.  French silent films depicting clips like “Le Coucher de la Marie” in which a women performs a strip tease were popularized around 1839. However hard-core pornography did not start until after 1900 and this porn was nothing like the porn so easily found on the Internet today. One researcher commented, “They look like your Grandparents having sex. They were quint, but it was real intercourse”. These stage filme were also only viewed in all male gatherings at erotic cinemas.

With new technologies such as the digital camera and the Internet pornography became increasingly more common and available. Now porn could be downloaded or bought and watched in the privacy of ones own home. This meant that men especially became more likely to watch films that depicted sex acts there were out of the norm. in 1994 Carniege Mellon did a study of early porn on computer Bulletin Board systems (old World Wide Web). He found that 48% of downloads were considered to be fetish films and depicted sex acts such as bestiality, pedophilia and incest. Only approximately 5% had traditional vaginal sex. Another notable study published in 2008 by professor Chyng Sun analyzed best selling porn films. Sun found that physical and verbal aggression towards women were found in 90% of films. Even more surprisingly the films directed by women contained just as much aggression as the ones directed by men.

This brings up questions related to the harmfulness of pornography on real life sexual relationships:

1.     Is sex leading to unhealthy body images especially for women?

2.     Does the presence of physical and verbal aggression in porn have any affect on relationships?

3.     Should porn be considered good or bad? Should there be laws regulating it?

What do you think?

-Indigo M

Sources
http://www.livescience.com/8748-history-pornography-prudish-present.html
http://english.pravda.ru/society/sex/11-07-2007/94805-pornography-0/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pornography