Pornography in the United States
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
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Early American stag films included Wonders of the Unseen World (1927), An Author's True Story (1933), Goodyear (1950s), Smart Alec (1951), and Playmates (1956–58). Breakthrough films, such as 1969's Blue Movie by Andy Warhol, 1972's Deep Throat, 1973's The Devil in Miss Jones and 1976's The Opening of Misty Beethoven by Radley Metzger, launched the so-called "porno chic" phenomenon in the United States and enabled the commercialization of the adult film industry. In this period America's most notorious pornographer was Reuben Sturman. According to the U.S. Department of Justice, throughout the 1970s, Sturman controlled most of the pornography circulating in the country. |
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Pornography in the United States of America has existed since the country's origins. First introduced by immigrants and then later produced domestically, pornography has been ever present, but not readily acknowledged until its "mainstreaming" in the 21st century. Advanced by technological development, it has gone from a hard to find "back alley" item to being readily available and accessible by anyone with a computer connected to the internet.
It has been subject to attempts to have it eliminated in a number of strategies, including outright bans, prohibiting its sale, censorship or rating schemes, and by claiming it is prostitution, among other means. These are reactions from the anti-pornography movement in the United States. There have been court decisions dealing with aspects of pornography, including relating to the definition of pornography and obscenity, covering personal possession of pornography, and its relation to prostitution, and in relation to the right of expression.
Advocates for pornography are staunch defenders of the 1st Amendment, free speech, and the arts; while its critics and detractors have blamed it for a succession of societal ailments as well as a general religious downfall.
North American pornographic films
In the United States, distribution of pornography changed radically after the 1980s, with videotape and cable television largely displacing X-rated theaters. Video distribution in turn is in the process of being replaced by DVD (and Internet distribution for niche markets). Distribution of pornography is a large industry that involves major entertainment companies such as Time Warner (which profits from pornography through its cable channels, and in-room movies provided by hotel chains).(see Pornography in the United States)
The porn industry in Canada is mainly situated in Montréal, Québec, the third largest porn producing city in the world after Los Angeles and Amsterdam. Canada has previously seen a major court case where pornographic writings involving children were deemed to be legal. Certain communities such as Medicine Hat, Alberta have seen divisive battles where restrictions have been placed on the sale of pornography. In Medicine Hat, Jim Ogston led an unsuccessful battle against the new restrictions for businesses to have the right to sell pornography.
Pornography generates billions of dollars in sales in the United States alone, and economists have suggested that it has now gotten to the point where the outlawing of the industry, which has been tried on many occasions, could have a major negative economic impact upon the country, and a prohibition-style legislated ban might spark a rise in organized crime much similar to that of the prohibition ban on alcohol did. An estimated 211 new pornographic films are made every week in the United States.
American adult magazines which have the widest distribution do not violate the Miller test and can be legally distributed. Adult magazines have been largely put into mainstream by the pioneer Playboy. However, during the so-called Pubic Wars in the 1960s and 1970s Penthouse established itself as a more explicit magazine. Screw magazine moved the bar toward hardcore when it first came out in 1968 and with Hustler appearing in 1974 the move to hardcore was complete. By the mid-'90s magazines like Playboy had become noncompetitive and even hardcore publications like Penthouse and Hustler struggled. According to Laura Kipnis, a cultural theorist and critic, "the Hustler body is an unromanticized body—no vaselined lens or soft focus: this is neither the airbrushed top-heavy fantasy body of Playboy, nor the ersatz opulence, the lingeried and sensitive crotch shots of Penthouse, transforming female genitals into objets d'art. It's a body, not a surface or a suntan: insistently material, defiantly vulgar, corporeal". µ Many adult magazines in the United States are usually sold wrapped to avoid incidental viewing by minors and are now highlighted by special features or themes. For instance, a primarily softcore magazine, Barely Legal, focuses on models between 18 and 23 years of age. Hustler's Leg World is focused on the female legs and feet. Perfect 10 publishes images of women untouched by plastic surgery or airbrushing.
Pornographic bookstores have been subject to U.S. zoning laws.
See also
