A question about porn.

After reading a number of threads on this subject, I've noted that some defend porn on the grounds that they or others use it to, shall we say, release sexual tension. This raises the question: what did people do before the Internet, or even before film and the printing press? Are we to believe that self relief was impossible until these inventions came along? Or are modern people to lazy and/or too unimaginative to accomplish this without technical assistance?

So it definitely goes back a long time.

you make it sound as though that is only where it was.

Regular residences had male statues with enhance, erect cocks to be petted for luck when a visitor entered.
they had frescoes and time artwork of what we would consider porn in many of the bedrooms they have dug out.

sex was not stigmatized by them as it has been by our current asshole leaders.

Frankly, ted haggard would have been far happier in Pompeii, free to love and worship without harassment. he and his fairytale beliefs created his own prison of self-imposed hell. Had he only realized that being gay was NOT a sin, his life would have been far more meaningful and fun. now, he is just a hypocritical republican puke who lost his ministry.

which can lead to chafing. Which can lead to wars and stuff.

Stop the war...

addressed the original question!

thanx for asking...

:hi:

which coincides with the development of Arpanet, so I'd have to say yes, self relief was impossible without the internet.

Bryant
Check it out --> http://politicalcomment.blogspot.com

:thumbsup:

Eve used to yell at Adam ...

OR "Come on Adam, lets go eat that apple".

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=8746311242300238890&q=internet+is+for+porn&total=2841&start=0&num=100&so=0&type=search&plindex=1

:rofl:

but I prefer the Foster's version. I'm surprised you didn't post that one based on your "Bloo" nic.

:yourock:

This message brought to you by the Masturbation Council of America.

The Masturbation Council of America: We are the sound of one hand clapping.

My wit runs faster than my typing skills. So does a turtle.

Don't knock masturbation. It's sex with someone I love.

:rofl:

and you ignore a big problem we used to have/still have- rape used to be acceptable. If a man was feeling a bit tense, he could rape his wife or his daughters or some unattached female.

if all else failed. :yoiks:

and sheep molesting is a major hobby near where I live.

Are those really velcro chaps??? Ewww!

I figured sheep had been impromptu sex objects for quite a while. I mean, the Republican party had to have it's Genesis somewhere.....

:rofl:

isn't about sex. Can't help it is no excuse. Please inform yourself about the true nature of rape.

Did you somehow extrapolate that I supported such behavior? I was not describing an acceptable activity, was describing some of the less savory forms of entertainment our ancestors indulged in regularly.

As for "informing myself," I have whole books in my brain about abnormal human behavior that most people would rather stick their fingers in their ears and sing "la la la, I can't hear you!" rather than listen to me repeat. If you'd like to have a debate about this, feel free to continue to miss the point.

I extrapolated is that you were equating rape with natural sexual release. Release is natural, wouldn't you agree?

It sounds like you have an interesting mind. I, however, go with the experts who regard the following:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rape

It is assault; a form of domination. Even though I have strong reservations about porn, it is for the most part, I hope, not assault.

Does that make it acceptable behavior?

Rape is usually a power crime, but these things are rarely single cause. I could write a whole books on possible motives, which is why I didn't want to get into it.

I was simply pointing out the OP's naive omission of what happened in the "good old days without porn"

No. Killing and beating are not natural behaviors unless one's life is threatened. Then it would be very natural.

I'm sure your contributions would be welcomed in the field.

It is, by definition, about sex.

that most pagan religions refer to the "goddess".:puffpiece:

Porn porn porn porn porn! :rofl:

To answer your question refer to the karma sutra or any asian ancient sexual paintings. And of course belly dancing, vaudeville, the can-can etc. There has always been some naughty voyeuristic fun.

"As round above as they were round below..."

I saw The Damned a few months ago and they actually had a burlesque dancer! It was a hoot!

And it rawks to see teh hawt chicks getting screwed, aight?

Sex in History by Reay Tannahill

Available at Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Sex-History-Reay-Tannahill/dp/0812885406

But don't take my word for it. Read the reviews. :)

are the temple walls in India with the impossible(well, we'll say "improbable" :D) positions and huge numbers of people. They look like they're having fun :evilgrin:

That looked as you describe... the caption: Group Therapy

Oh, yeah, it was a fav... my boyfriend at the time didn't like the attention it got, so I gave him the shirt... he about wore it out and didn't give a hoot about the amount of attention it got;)

gotta get me one of those...ah sh*t. I live in a theocratic state. I'd get tied to a stake for that :rofl:

But the church IS awfully sexual in their torture. As my ex would say, "That's a sign that they aren't getting any!" :evilgrin:

Those who do it, do it... those who don't, talk about it:)

men barely needed to jerk off at all. They just grabbed the nearest ten-year-old and wham bam thank you ma'am. Ever read "My Secret Life"?

My dad's second wife had a copy of that... I read it twice when I was 18! Shocking!

Thank goddess we've evolved! Well, a good number of us anyway.

Unfortunately, we aren't shocked by anything anymore.

There was a 6-part documentary on the history of porn; among other things, it was a tool used to ridicule aristocrats during the French Revolution.

... I was thinking "hunting and gathering"?

I just am agaist the commodification of sex... free and plentiful is soo much better! :hippie:

so.. same thing then.

In Late Greek, the word literally meant "writing about prostitutes" and was often done on a wall as a sort of menu.

There were also Adult bookstores, called adult because of the nature of the subject. But the fundies all had to force their views on others riding the country of adult bookstores and stopping the news stands from selling magazines that make one think of SEX!

Fantasy has been around since before Eve bit into the apple if you believe that story.

if you believe that story.


I feel for the poor puritan soles who have banished every thought of SEX from their conscience, if that is possible. Wait, my wife can do that.

Make your own movies in your own head!

Ever read "My Secret Garden" by Nancy Friday--a collection of sexual fantasies. Exhibitionism, public sex, group sex, sex-slavery, incest, bestiality, inanimate objects, you name it. That's the book of women's fantasies by the way. The one she did about men's fantasies, "Men in Love" was, oddly enough, much tamer. You guys gotta get vivid in your heads.

... just like each culture has what it deems to be arousing and pleasing, there are cultural standards for "porn" also. While the farther that you go back in time, the fewer artifacts we have available to us, we *do* find "porn" or "erotica" in virtually every culture and era.

Name an ancient culture - they had porn. Even the Victorians. It mightn't be interesting to us "moderns", but it was "porn" then... and some of it might just be plain confusing.

rape was so common and acceptable!

The elbows and the ankles were considered shameful to display but the breasts were pushed way up and out and men wore codpieces?

Fascinating way to look at historical culture.

Here's a sample of Greek stuff... but they were open and honest enough that this mightn't have even rated as "porn".






I think it's amusing how often this comes up... it's like one of the questions that you *know* you'll get when people find out you're an Archaeologist...

> This raises the question: what did people do before
> the Internet, or even before film and the printing
> press?

Botticelli.



And many others.

Tesha

Show us what kind of "porn" you speak of.

the earth is only 10,000 years old crowd trying to shove their brand of morality on everyone....

... there are also Feminists who want to free the world by removing porn from the Human race.


Peace :hippie:

But I don't think they're really feminists. They're just a different flavor of authoritarian.

wow

just wow

i don't think i can give you the history of porn in one small post, suffice it to say that carvings of nekkid ladies and men's, er, features are among the earliest carvings ever discovered

porn is probably older than homo sapiens as a species

sheesh!!!!! i can only hope your question was meant as humor because otherwise it really speaks to how ignorant people are of human history

aren't people at least told of the bawdy poems and songs of the middle ages?

writing, drawing, plays, paintings, dance, photos, etc.

there where daguerrotypes?

pornography means "pictures of whores"... apparently or something similar. It's just a depiction of someone with their genitalia visible, or other eroticized parts. There are plenty of totems and carvings and idols of people with representations of genitalia from ancient days. Like Chinese screens of various sexual positions, tantra, etc. I am almost wondering if the thing is that men in particular in tribal days got to look at scads of naked women every day, in Africa where we originated. And when we moved into colder climates that stopped and they didn't get to see it as much. Or perhaps with the growth of the population the territorial instincts kicked in, one of which was to cover women so they wouldn't be 'stolen' by rivals or rival tribes. Not all cultures had this kind of ethic of 'control' of 'their' women, and many variations exist and existed simultaneously, like the more gynocentric cultures that patriarchal biblical tribes overran. Even today there are cultures that have a different standard than us, like one in polynesia where women go topless but female tourists are told not to wear short shorts because revealing the upper thigh is considered immodest. Or another in the same region where they essentially go naked and practice polyandry, with each woman taking as many as four husbands. What constitutes porn is cultural, always. As far as depicting sex acts, who knows. Maybe our species, before we got big brains and learned to think too much, used to be like bonobos or whatever. I think that we are a country founded on puritanism, and influenced by the Victorian era. For 5 thousand years we've basically had patriarchy except in small pockets...and patriarchy divides women up into good (asexual i.e. sexual with one man who has pinkslips)and bad (sexual). The men do this, I mean, the women don't do it (the women aren't in a position of power to do that but they do cast aspersions on other women I think to make men doubt the paternity of kids they might sire from these women). it's possible that what porn is used for nowadays prostitution was used more for in another time. I'm certain that there have always been artistic renderings of naked people though (like huge men with erect phalluses carved into hillsides, lol) in one way or another. There is a culture somewhere in the himilayas that each house has a very beautifully painted penis on the side of it. It is near another group/culture that is matrifocal...like there was a dueling ethic there. Sorry to go on about non-linear concepts, I just find this stuff fascinating.