Pornography

Pornography may be presented in a variety of media, including books, magazines, postcards, photographs, sculpture, drawing, painting, animation, sound recording, writing, film, video, and video games. The primary subjects of present-day pornographic depictions are pornographic models, who pose for still photographs, and pornographic actors or "porn stars", who perform in pornographic films.

Pornographic films present sexual fantasies and usually include erotically stimulating material such as nudity and depictions of sexual intercourse.

Various groups within society have considered depictions of a sexual nature immoral, addictive, and noxious, labeling them pornographic, and attempting to have them suppressed under obscenity and other laws, with varying degrees of success.

Pornography addiction is an addiction model of compulsive sexual activity with concurrent use of pornographic material, despite negative consequences to one's physical, mental, social, or financial well-being.

Social attitudes towards the discussion and presentation of sexuality have become more tolerant in Western countries, and legal definitions of obscenity have become more limited, notably beginning in 1969 with Blue Movie by Andy Warhol, the first adult erotic film depicting explicit sex to receive wide theatrical release in the United States, and the subsequent Golden Age of Porn (1969-1984), leading to an industry for the production and consumption of pornography in the latter half of the 20th century.

Blue Movie, the first adult erotic film depicting explicit sex to receive wide theatrical release in the United States, is a seminal film in the Golden Age of Porn (1969–1984) and helped inaugurate the "porno chic" phenomenon in modern American culture, and later, in many other countries throughout the world.

Pornography (often abbreviated porn) is the portrayal of sexual subject matter for the exclusive purpose of sexual arousal.

For example, many people may find nudity, erotica or pornography sexually arousing.

The primary subjects of present-day pornographic depictions are pornographic models, who pose for still photographs, and pornographic actors or "porn stars", who perform in pornographic films. This industry employs thousands of performers along with support and production staff.

Most actors specialize in certain genres, such as gay sex, lesbian sex, bondage, strap-on sex, anal sex, double penetration, semen swallowing, teenage women, interracial or MILFs.

Social attitudes towards the discussion and presentation of sexuality have become more tolerant in Western countries, and legal definitions of obscenity have become more limited, notably beginning in 1969 with Blue Movie by Andy Warhol, the first adult erotic film depicting explicit sex to receive wide theatrical release in the United States, and the subsequent Golden Age of Porn (1969-1984), leading to an industry for the production and consumption of pornography in the latter half of the 20th century.

These films were the first adult erotic films depicting explicit sex to receive wide theatrical release in the United States.

More recently, sites such as Pornhub, RedTube, and YouPorn, in addition to much pirated porn posted by individuals, have served as repositories for home-made or semi-professional pornography, made available free by its creators (who could be called exhibitionists).

Pornhub is a Canadian pornographic video sharing website and the largest pornography site on the Internet.

This industry employs thousands of performers along with support and production staff.

The sex industry (also called the sex trade) consists of businesses which either directly or indirectly provide sex-related products and services or adult entertainment. The industry includes activities involving direct provision of sex-related services, such as prostitution, strip clubs, host and hostess clubs and sex-related pastimes, such as pornography, sex-oriented men's magazines, sex movies, sex toys and fetish and BDSM paraphernalia.

More recently, sites such as Pornhub, RedTube, and YouPorn, in addition to much pirated porn posted by individuals, have served as repositories for home-made or semi-professional pornography, made available free by its creators (who could be called exhibitionists).

RedTube is a pornographic video sharing site, which in September 2009 held an Alexa ranking within the world's top 100 sites.

Commercialized pornography accounts for over US$2.5 billion in the United States alone, including the production of various media and associated products and services.

The term sex toy can also include BDSM apparatus and sex furniture such as slings; however, it is not applied to items such as birth control, pornography, or condoms.

The word pornography was coined from the ancient Greek words πόρνη (pórnē "prostitute" and πορνεία porneía "prostitution" ), and γράφειν (gráphein "to write or to record", derived meaning "illustration", as in "graph"), and the suffix -ία (-ia, meaning "state of", "property of", or "place of"), thus meaning "a written description or illustration of prostitutes or prostitution".

It is one branch of the sex industry, along with pornography, stripping, and erotic dancing.

The more inclusive word erotica, sometimes used as a synonym for "pornography", is derived from the feminine form of the ancient Greek adjective ἐρωτικός (erōtikós), derived from ἔρως (érōs), which refers to lust and sexual love.

Erotica is any artistic work that deals substantively with subject matter that is erotically stimulating or sexually arousing but is not pornographic.

When large-scale excavations of Pompeii were undertaken in the 1860s, much of the erotic art of the Romans came to light, shocking the Victorians who saw themselves as the intellectual heirs of the Roman Empire.

A distinction is often made between erotic art and pornography, which also depicts scenes of sexual activity and is intended to evoke erotic arousal, but is not usually considered fine art.

Data suggests an increase in pornography viewing over the past few decades, and this has been attributed to the growth of Internet pornography since widespread public access to the World Wide Web in the late 1990s.

Internet pornography is any pornography that is accessible over the Internet, primarily via websites, peer-to-peer file sharing, or Usenet newsgroups.

Pornography is generally classified as either softcore or hardcore.

Hardcore pornography, or hardcore porn, is still photography or video footage that contains explicit forms of pornography, most commonly including depictions of sexual acts such as vaginal, anal or oral intercourse, cunnilingus, fellatio, fingering, anilingus, ejaculation, and fetish play.

The scholarly study of pornography, notably in cultural studies, is limited, perhaps due to the controversy about the topic in feminism.

Pornography has been one of the most divisive issues in feminism, particularly in anglophone countries.

Pornography is generally classified as either softcore or hardcore.

Softcore pornography or softcore porn is commercial still photography or film that has a pornographic or erotic component.

Amateur pornography

Amateur pornography is a category of pornography that features models, actors or non-professionals performing without pay, or actors for whom this material is not their only paid modeling work.

Alt porn

Alternative porn (also known as alt-porn, alternaporn, or simply alt), a shortening of "alternative pornography", tends to involve members of such subcultures as goths, punks, emos, scenes, skaters or ravers and is often produced by small and independent websites or filmmakers.

In 1969, Denmark became the first country to abolish censorship, thereby decriminalizing pornography, which led to an explosion in investment and of commercially produced pornography.

In 1969, Denmark became the first country in the world to legalize pornography.

Ethnic pornography

Ethnic pornography is a genre of pornography featuring performers of specific ethnic groups, or depictions of interracial sexual activity.

Through the 2010s, many pornographic production companies and top pornographic websites – such as PornHub, RedTube and YouPorn – were acquired by MindGeek, which has been described as "a monopoly".

MindGeek owns and operates many popular pornographic websites, including video sharing services Pornhub, RedTube, and YouPorn, as well as adult film production companies Brazzers, Digital Playground, Men.com, Reality Kings, and Sean Cody, among others.

Gay pornography

Softcore gay pornography also exists; it at one time constituted the genre, and may be produced as beefcake pornography for heterosexual female and homosexual male consumption.

Pornography may be presented in a variety of media, including books, magazines, postcards, photographs, sculpture, drawing, painting, animation, sound recording, writing, film, video, and video games.

The production or distribution of certain types of photograph has been forbidden under modern laws, such as those of government buildings, highly classified regions, private property, copyrighted works, children's genitalia, child pornography and less commonly pornography overall.

The first peer-reviewed academic journal about the study of pornography, Porn Studies, was published in 2014.

Porn Studies is a quarterly peer-reviewed academic journal covering the study of pornography.