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    Sign of the times?

    The article to be found here may or may not be of interest to you all*. The reason I bring it up is that I am curious about what you all think about the state of Pornography's acceptance in the US(where this company is based) or whichever country you happen to call home. Immediately, two thoughts jump to the forefront of my mind.
    1) This is a sign that pornography is becoming more accepted (morally) by society.
    2) This has nothing to do with any sort of moral shift in regards to porn but instead is just indicitive of corporate America fully recognizing the profit potential of porn in an attempt to raise their bottom line (did I use that term correctly?).

    If, in the case of the first thought, the moral compass is shifting in regards to porn, why is it doing so?

    If, however, it is really just a case of a simple cost benefit analysis coming out in favor of offering hard core porn to viewers, can we then expect a subsequent shift in soceties views on porn? And what will that shift be? A reactionary swing against the acceptance of porn? Or will porn slowly slide its way into acceptability?


    *Article summary: Adelphia (a huge US broadband and cable provider) is now offering hardcore porn subscriptions, a first for US T.V.





    #2
    I think your question should really address the US situation only. Hardcore porn has been on Dutch cable (probably most European cable/satellite networks) since the early eighties. Okay, it used to be X first, XX a little later, and full-on XXX for at least 15 years, including XXX gay/bi porn. When I say cable, I mean: delivered by cable/satellite, but behind a separate decoder. Freely available to anyone on any cable network here anyway. There are a number of independent cable operators, and they all carry it. The company providing it here (CanalPlus) is not some sleazy backwater company, it is a respectable movie/sports channel, and a European co-producer (Studio Canal+) for many top-rate movies. So, I guess the moral compass has shifted about everywhere, except the US (the largest producer of porn ...).

    P.S.: added clarification: CanalPlus's encoded signal is carried by all cable operators. You need a decoder to watch the two CanalPlus channels. Hardcore porn is a daily item on one of those channels, every day around midnight. CanalPlus also has a satellite component (needing a decoder/card and a dish) called CanalDigital - this one competes with the cable stations, because it delivers over 100 ordinary digital TV channels, plus three CanalPlus channels, the two mentioned above, plus a 16:9 movie channel.
    Last edited by Quartz; 3 February 2005, 01:22 AM.

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      #3
      No hardcore porn on UK TV though this situation may change as a new Communications Act recently passed has changed the test on whether material is suitable for broadcast from 'taste and decency' to 'harm and offence'. What is currently broadcast is anything goes as long as you can't see an erect penis or actual vaginal/anal penetration. Cumshots are fine though (as long as you can't see where they're cumming, I mean coming, from).

      I'm 95% sure that German channels are also forbidden to carry hardcore material.

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        #4
        I think porn has always been, and still is, a guilty pleasure that most Americans enjoy in some form but would never publicly admit. The fact that they can now get XXX piped directly to the tv and have it appear only as a line item on the monthly bill only encourages Americans to be two-faced about it. The country with the largest porn production trumpets right wing "moral values" in an election. hmmmm... But I digress.

        Soft-core and slightly harder porn has been a major profit center for hotels for years. Straight-laced, married businessmen routinely ask to have the movies on a seperate bill, so that they can maintain their image with the boss or the wife. In one hotel I worked for, the charge slip for a movie listed both the title and number, and when transferring the charge to a guest account, we always showed only the number, to avoid embarrasing a guest who had to turn in receipts for an expense report. If we messed up and showed the title, we would invariably get a panicked phone call within hours and have to adjust the charge entirely.

        As long as Americans (and I am one) view sex as something secretive, shameful, and dirty, I can hardly be suprised by such news. And I doubt it helps how we're seen by the rest of the world.

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          #5
          The worst thing that could happen to pornography is that it would become entirely acceptable--then it would not be "forbidden fruit".

          And remember, some of those upright (pun intended) rightwing tight-assed Moral Majoritarians take advantage of those innocuous credit card billing systems!

          As long as it is more acceptable to show someone's head getting blown off on TV than to show an erect penis, there will exist a serious problem in our country. It amazes me how the so-called Christians (Pharisees, actually) get on their high horse about gay marriage and porn and abortion and then support capital punishment and pre-emptive war. It's a major reason I identify myself as a Christian only in certain circumstances--I don't wanna be lumped in with those fools!

          Good gracious, I am in a feisty mood this morning... perhaps I should look at some beautiful girl instead.

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            #6
            As I see the porn problem in the U.S., it's that we have spineless politicians whose only goal is to be re-elected. And they figure the best way to do that is to appeal to a wider audience by taking the safest position on any question of substance or controversy.
            Example: Where I live, any time someone proposes a topless bar (which are very tame in these parts) to move into a different neighborhood, some politician will jump on the backs of 80 year old ladies who haven't had a man look at them in a quarter-century, but know the neighborhood will immediately go to hell with pimps, drugs and murders as soon as the first tit is bared. Never will a politician say, "This is a matter of choice. There is a market for it. We won't stand for a topless bar next to a school, but what's the harm in bringing a legitimate business into an area where factories have closed and there is no commerce."
            Let's not look at Adelphia as taking a risk in favor of free speech either. This is a company in bankruptcy, whose owner's family brought it down through profligate spending for their personal benefit. The current Adelphia management, trying to stay afloat while it closes its regional sports channel, realizes there is a market in hard-core porn. The company has nothing to lose if hard-core puts it out of business; Adelphia is going out of business anyway. If it should become viable again, you can bet it would find religion and dump hard-core in a minute in a burst of self-righteousness.
            Meanwhile, hot-blooded American males drive across the border to Canada, taking their dollars with them, to have hot young girls grind their naked bodies all over them. Now that's a country!

            Comment


              #7
              It is interesting to note the effect that porn has had on the economy.

              Why did video cassette players drop in price? Because tons of people bought them to view their X-Rated movies on.

              Why did the internet become so widely available? Because porn was available there for private viewing.

              Why did credit cards become so easy to use on the internet? Because porn needed a way to pay for the movie and web site viewing.

              But rarely is credit given where credit is due. It's the old double standard and it dies very hard.

              Comment


                #8
                Interesting idea, Big Spud--just perverse enough to be true! No, we won't ever see the CEO of Bank America thanking all Christy Canyon for stimulating the economy while she stimulated her audience!

                It seems like whatever the medium, nudity and/or pornography are there at its inception, or shortly thereafter. And it's an old, old tradition. In the ruins of Pompeii, there is a room (that can only be entered by adults) with a painting of a man and woman celebrating an even older custom. Plus ca change...

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                  #9
                  Porn in the USA - The great Hypocrisy

                  In respect to the article - I don't feel that there is any "loosening" of Moral Standards here in the US of A. I do think we are "losing" our Moral Standards however. The advertisers idiom "Sex Sells" has infiltrated just about every aspect of our culture - even the political aspect it seems. The best way to keep it selling is to "moralize" it, restrict it, saturate the media with it and then commence to sell it to the kids. (have you picked up a Teen magizine lately - or noticed the thongs for tot's at the Kid's section of K-Mart? (what does an 11 year old need with a thong or undies with "Flirt " on them?)

                  Sex over the last few decades has found itself in a new role - the pundit. As BigSpud mentioned above, the electronic era has thrust Sex into our living rooms, chatting us up with its beguiling charms and hypnotizing us with its repetitive single-minded allure. Now that it’s got our undivided attention why not move past fast cars and weak beer (no offense all you bud/miller drinkers – it is Superball Sunday after all and somebody’s got to get rid of the stuff) and into the realm of “Morality”.

                  How can Sex achieve this seemingly contradictory roll reversal? How does Sex help the morality minority cause? Simple, strip every vestige of EROS from it. Cut, tuck and distill it down to a drippy gooey mass of triple X Wall to Wall Gonzo Cum Sluts. Now, restrict that for a few years to the back walls of Video stores, stir in a few controversal “scenes” in some select films and “contentious pics” in a few magazines, but all the while doing all you can to shame nudity and slander erotic pleasure. “Leave the job to professionals folks; you could get hurt trying this in your own home.” Keep those damn artists at bay.

                  Then pipe the remaining crap down upon the masses – let them know this isn’t for kids and really shouldn’t be allowed at all, but for $9.99 a month we’ll give you 24/7 raunchy and randy rum runts. Many will find the stuff intolerable (Great for the politicians! Lets make some headlines! “Something needs to be done about that Spongebob Character alright!”. Others (like myself) will be drawn to the odd raw appeal that still lurks under the gloss – and hope to glimpse ‘real’ eros and validate our lust for the stuff.

                  Thankfully in comes some heroes like Betty Dodson (illustrator & sexologist), The folk’s who run Good Vibrations (sex positive toy store), and Abbey Winters (who gives us real, natural, eros) to help enlighten the masses and take Sex back from the moral minority and restore it to some semblance of truth. Get it off the streets and into your lives again before it resembles nothing of its origins -- chicks with dicks? Come on.

                  -bif

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                    #10
                    Hmmm... mabye I better lay off the caffine after midnight...

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                      #11
                      No biff. Brew yourself another pot. It was a good read.

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                        #12
                        That was wholly entertaining in its own right there Bif.....well said!!

                        And I agree with Smitten too...make another pot!!

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