Pornography (colloquially called porn, or porno) is sexually suggestive material, such as pictures, videos, text, or audio intended for sexual arousal. Over the course of human history, pornographic depictions have taken many forms, from stone carvings in the Upper Paleolithic, to virtual reality experiences in the present day. It is almost always made for consumption by adults. A distinction is often made between pornography and erotica, although some viewers may not distinguish between them.
Human fascination with sexual imagery has been a constant throughout history. The oldest artifacts considered pornographic were discovered in Germany in 2008 and are dated to be at least 35,000 years old. However, the reception of such imagery has varied hugely by cultural context. The Indian Sanskrit text Kama Sutra (3rd century CE) contained prose, poetry, and illustrations regarding sexual behavior, and the book was celebrated; while the British English text Fanny Hill (1748), considered "the first original English prose pornography," has been one of the most prosecuted and banned books. In 1896, a film by Thomas Edison that depicted a kiss was denounced as obscene in the United States, whereas Eugène Pirou's film Bedtime for the Bride from the same year was received very favorably in France.
Starting from the mid-20th century, societal attitudes towards sexuality became more lenient in the Western world where legal definitions of obscenity were made limited. In 1969, Blue Movie by Andy Warhol became the first film to depict unsimulated sex that received a wide theatrical release in the United States. This was followed by the "Golden Age of Porn" (1969–1984). The introduction of home video and the World Wide Web in the late 20th century led to global growth in the pornography business. Beginning in the 21st century, greater access to the Internet and affordable smartphones made pornography more mainstream.
Pornography has been vouched to provision a safe outlet for sexual desires that may not be satisfied within relationships and be a facilitator of sexual fulfillment in people who do not have a partner. Pornography consumption is found to induce psychological moods and emotions similar to those evoked during sexual intercourse and casual sex. Pornography usage is considered a widespread recreational activity in-line with other digital activities such as social media or video games. People who regard porn as sex education material were identified as more likely not to use condoms in their own sex life, thereby assuming a higher risk of contracting sexually transmitted infections (STIs); performers working for pornographic studios usually undergo regular testing for STIs, unlike much of the general public. Comparative studies indicate higher tolerance and consumption of pornography among adults tends to be associated with their greater support for gender equality. Among feminist groups, some seek to abolish pornography, believing it to be harmful, while others oppose censorship efforts, insisting it is benign. A longitudinal study ascertained pornography use is not a predictive factor in intimate partner violence. Porn Studies, started in 2014, is the first international peer-reviewed, academic journal dedicated to critical study of pornographic products and services.
Pornography is a major influencer of people's perception of sex in the digital age; a few pornographic websites rank among the top 50 most-visited websites worldwide. Called an "erotic engine", pornography has been noted for its key role in the development of various communication and media processing technologies. For being an early adopter of innovations and a provider of financial capital, the pornography industry has been cited to be a contributing factor in the adoption and popularization of new media-related technologies. The exact economic size of the porn industry in the early 21st century is unknown, although in 2023 estimates of the total market value stood at over US$172 billion. The legality of pornography varies across countries. From the mid-2010s, unscrupulous pornography, such as deepfake pornography and revenge porn have become issues of concern.
Etymology and definition
The word pornography is a conglomerate of two ancient Greek words: () "fornicators", and () "writing, recording, or description". In Greek language, the term pornography connotes depiction of sexual activity; no date is known for the first use of the term pornography, the earliest attested, most related word found is () i.e. "someone writing about harlots" in the 3rd century CE work Deipnosophists by Athenaeus.
The oldest published reference to the word pornography as in 'new pornographie,' is dated back to 1638 and is credited to Nathaniel Butter in a history of the Fleet newspaper industry. The modern word pornography entered the English language as the more familiar word in 1842 via French "," from Greek "".
The term porn is an abbreviation of pornography. The related term () "prostitute" in Greek, originally meant "bought, purchased" similar to "to sell", from the proto-Indo-European root per-, "to hand over" — alluding to act of selling.
The word pornography was originally used by classical scholars as "a bookish, and therefore inoffensive term for writing about prostitutes", but its meaning was quickly expanded to include all forms of "objectionable or obscene material in art and literature". In 1864, Webster's Dictionary published "a licentious painting" as the meaning for pornography, and the Oxford English Dictionary: "obscene painting" (1842), "description of obscene matters, obscene publication" (1977 or earlier).
Definitions for the term "pornography" are varied, with people from both pro- and anti-pornography groups defining it either favorably or unfavorably, thus making any definition very stipulative. Nevertheless, academic researchers have defined pornography as sexual subject material such as a picture, video, text, or audio that is primarily intended to assist sexual arousal in the consumer, and is created and commercialized with "the consent of all persons involved". Arousal is considered the primary objective, the raison d'etre a material must fulfill for it to be treated as pornographic. As some people can feel aroused by an image that is not meant for sexual arousal and conversely cannot feel aroused by material that is clearly intended for arousal, the material that can be considered as pornography becomes subjective.
History
Prehistoric times Pornography is viewed by historians as a complex cultural formation. Depictions of a sexual nature existed since prehistoric times as seen in Venus figurines and rock art. People across various civilizations created works that depicted explicit sex; these include artifacts, music, poetry, and murals among other things that are often intertwined with religious and supernatural themes. The oldest artifacts, including the Venus of Hohle Fels, which is considered to be borderline pornographic, were discovered in 2008 CE at a cave near Stuttgart in Germany, radiocarbon dating suggests they are at least 35,000 years old, from the Aurignacian period.
Ancient and medieval times Vast number of artifacts discovered in ancient Mesopotamia region had explicit depictions of heterosexual sex. Glyptic art from the Sumerian Early Dynastic Period frequently showed scenes of frontal sex in the missionary position. In Mesopotamian votive plaques from the early second millennium (), a man is usually shown penetrating a woman from behind while she bends over drinking beer through a straw. Middle Assyrian lead votive figurines often portrayed a man standing and penetrating a woman as she rests on an altar. Scholars have traditionally interpreted all these depictions as scenes of hieros gamos (an ancient sacred marriage between a god and a goddess), but they are more likely to be associated with Inanna, the Mesopotamian goddess of sex and sacred prostitution. Many sexually explicit images, including models of male and female sexual organs were found in the temple of Inanna at Assur.
Depictions of sexual intercourse were not part of the general repertory of ancient Egyptian formal art, but rudimentary sketches of heterosexual intercourse have been found on pottery fragments and in graffiti. The final two thirds of the Turin Erotic Papyrus (Papyrus 55001), an Egyptian papyrus scroll discovered at Deir el-Medina, consists of a series of twelve vignettes showing men and women in various sexual positions. The scroll was probably painted in the Ramesside period (1292–1075 BCE) and its high artistic quality indicates that it was produced for a wealthy audience. No other similar scrolls have yet been discovered.
Archaeologist Nikolaos Stampolidis had noted that the society of ancient Greece held lenient attitudes towards sexual representation in the fields of art and literature. The Greek poet Sappho's Ode to Aphrodite (600 BCE) is considered an earliest example of lesbian poetry. Red-figure pottery invented in Greece (530 BCE) often portrayed images that displayed eroticism. The fifth-century BC comic Aristophanes elaborated 106 ways of describing the male genitalia and in 91 ways the female genitalia. Lysistrata (411 BCE) is a sex-war comedy play performed in ancient Greece.
In India, Hinduism embraced an inquisitive attitude towards sex as an art and a spiritual ideal. Some ancient Hindu temples incorporated various aspects of sexuality into their art work. The temples at Khajuraho and Konark are particularly renowned for their sculptures, which had detailed representations of human sexual activity. These depictions were viewed with a spiritual outlook as sexual arousal is believed to indicate the embodying of the divine. "pornography is sometimes characterised as the symptom of a degenerate society, but anyone even noddingly familiar with Greek vases or statues on ancient Hindu temples will know that so-called unnatural sex acts, orgies and all manner of complex liaisons have for millennia past been represented in art for the pleasure and inspiration of the viewer everywhere. The desire to ponder images of love-making is clearly innate in the human – perhaps particularly the male – psyche." — Tom Hodgkinson Kama, the word used to connote sexual desire, was explored in Indian literary works such as the Kama Sutra, which dealt with the practical as well as the psychological aspects of human courtship and sexual intercourse. The Sanskrit text Kama sutra was compiled by the sage Vatsyayana into its final form sometime during the second half of the third century CE. This text, which included prose, poetry, as well as illustrations regarding erotic love and sexual behavior, is one of the most celebrated Indian erotic works. Koka shastra is another medieval Indian work that explored kama.
When large-scale archaeological excavations were undertaken in the ancient Roman city of Pompeii during the 18th century, much of the erotic art in Pompeii and Herculaneum came to light, shocking the authorities who endeavored to hide them away from the general public. In 1821, the moveable objects were locked away in the Secret Museum in Naples, and what could not be removed was either covered or cordoned off from public view.
Other examples of early art and literature of sexual nature include: Ars Amatoria (Art of Love), a second-century CE treatise on the art of seduction and sensuality by the Roman poet Ovid; the artifacts of the Moche people in Peru (100 CE to 800 CE); The Decameron, a collection of short stories, some of which are sexual in nature by the 14th-century Italian author Giovanni Boccaccio; and the fifteenth-century Arabic sex manual The Perfumed Garden.
Early modern period