History Of Pornography And Censorship

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States:

Webster's International Dictionary defines pornography as "writing, pictures, etc. intended to arouse sexual desire." This definition is quite weak. Is the model on the billboard who strategically holds the product over certain parts of her body a pornographic model? What about the actress who has a brief nude scene in an art film? Is the dancer who must go topless in an artistic dance revue in Las Vegas a pornographic dancer? Or does true pornography start in the pages of magazines which show naked women smiling at the camera? Perhaps pornography requires a film or a photo of a sexual act to be considered as such. Obviously the definition of pornography is as varied as its medium. Though there is little consensus on where art stops and pornography and even obscenity begin, everyone tends to agree that modern pornography includes films, videos, erotic novels, magazines and internet sites. However, the volume of sources wherein one might be able to obtain ...

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has been produced in magazines and films throughout the twentieth century. Early on magazines such as Captain Billy's Whiz Bang presented the aforementioned French postcards. In 1953, Playboy Magazine hit the shelf, the first such magazine to depict completely naked women in national publication. Many others followed shortly thereafter.
Originally pornographic "stag" films were imported. Domestic films were first produced in the 1960's. Upon the advent of the videocassette player, the pornographic film industry exploded. In 1991 alone, 410 million adult films were rented.
By the mid to late nineties a new means to present pornography was developed and made available to nearly ...

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