Pornography definition:

The portrayal of sexual acts solely for the purpose of . " is the portrayal of erotic behavior designed to cause sexual excitement. It is words, acts, or representations that are calculated to stimulate feelings independent of the presence of another loved and chosen human being. It is divorced from reality in its sole purpose to stimulate erotic response. It is preoccupied with and concentrates on sex organs for the purpose of . It emphasizes them and focuses on them in varying ways calculated to incite sexual desire.

"Art and pornography are distinguished as follows: True art conveys a thought, a speculation, or a perception about the human condition. Pornography is the pictures of sex organs and their usage devoid of all other meaning-the personality having no place. They bear in upon one a sense of increasing ugliness and degradation of the human being."

"Pornography can be usefully divided into three categories: (1) explicit sex with violence, (2) explicit sex without violence but which subjects people to treatment that is degrading or dehumanizing, and (3) explicit sex without violence that is neither degrading nor dehumanizing. Violence in this context includes both actual physical violence and threats of physical violence.... Sex coupled with crime, horror or cruelty will sometimes involve violence. Cruelty, for instance, will usually do so. But, even in the absence of violence, sex coupled with crime, horror or cruelty may fall within the second category.

"Some segments of society would consider that all three categories of pornography cause harm to society because they tend to undermine its moral fibre. Others would contend that none of the categories cause harm. Furthermore there is a range of opinion as to what is degrading or dehumanizing. Because this is not a matter that is susceptible of proof in the traditional way and because we do not wish to leave it to the individual tastes of judges, we must have a norm that will serve as an arbiter in determining what amounts to an undue exploitation of sex. That arbiter is the community as a whole.

"The courts must determine as best they can what the community would tolerate others being exposed to on the basis of the degree of harm that may flow from such exposure. Harm in this context means that it predisposes persons to act in an anti social manner as, for example, the physical or mental mistreatment of women by men, or, what is perhaps debatable, the reverse. Anti social conduct for this purpose is conduct which society formally recognizes as incompatible with its proper functioning. The stronger the inference of a risk of harm the lesser the likelihood of tolerance. The inference may be drawn from the material itself or from the material and other evidence. Similarly evidence as to the community standards is desirable but not essential.

"The portrayal of sex coupled with violence will almost always constitute the undue exploitation of sex. Explicit sex which is degrading or dehumanizing may be undue if the risk of harm is substantial. Finally, explicit sex that is not violent and neither degrading nor dehumanizing is generally tolerated in our society and will not qualify as the undue exploitation of sex unless it employs children in its production."

Pornography or porn is the portrayal of explicit sexual subject matter for the purposes of sexual excitement and erotic satisfaction.

Pornography may use any of a variety of media, ranging from books, magazines, postcards, photos, sculpture, drawing, painting, , sound recording, film, video, or video game. However, when sexual acts are performed for a live audience, by definition, it is not pornography, as the term applies to the depiction of the act, rather than the act itself. Thus, portrayals such as sex shows and are not classified as pornography.

A pornographic poses for pornographic photographs. A pornographic actor or porn star performs in pornographic films. In cases where limited dramatic skills are involved, a performer in pornographic films may be called a pornographic model.

Pornography has often been subject to censorship and legal restraints on publication on grounds of . Such grounds and the very definition of what is or is not pornography have differed in different historical, cultural, and national contexts.[1]

Since the last few decades of the 20th century, an immense industry for the production and consumption of pornography has grown, with the increasing use of home video and the , as well as the emergence of social attitudes more tolerant of sexual portrayals. distributed via the Internet has become widely popular.

In general, softcore refers to pornography that does not depict penetration (usually genitals are not shown on camera), and hardcore refers to pornography that explicitly depicts penetration.

Pornography is classified according to the physical characteristics of the participants, fetish, , etc, as well as the types of sexual activity featured. Reality and voyeur pornography, animated videos, and legally prohibited acts also influence the classification of pornography. The of pornography are based on the type of activity featured and the category of participants, such as:

 Amateur pornography  Fetish pornography  Sexual-orientation-based pornography (heterosexual pornography; ; lesbian pornography; )  Orgy pornography  Race-oriented pornography (e.g. Asian, black, Latino, interracial)   Soft pornography  , involving, for example, use of hidden camera or "upskirt" . Alt porn (also known as alt-porn, altporn, alternaporn, or simply alt), a shortening of "alternative pornography", tends to involve members of such as goths, punks, or ravers and is often produced by small and independent websites or filmmakers. It often features models with body modifications such as tattoos, piercings, or scarifications, or temporary modifications such as dyed hair. The term indie porn is also sometimes used, though this term is more generally used as a synonym for independent pornography, regardless of affinity with any kind of alternative .

Amateur pornography is a category of pornography that features models or actors performing without pay, or for whom this material is their first or only paid modeling work. Reality pornography is professionally made porn which seeks to emulate the style of amateur pornography.[1] Amateur porn has been called one of the most profitable and long-lasting genres of pornography.

Sexual fetishism, or erotic fetishism, is the sexual arousal a person receives from a physical object. The object of interest is called the fetish, the person a fetishist who has a fetish for that object.[1] may be regarded, e.g. in psychiatric medicine, as a disorder of sexual preference or as an enhancing element to a relationship causing a better sexual bond between the partners.[2] Arousal from a particular body part is classified as partialism.

Sexual fetishism describes a pattern of emotional, romantic, or to men, women, both genders, neither gender, or another gender. According to the American Psychological Association, sexual orientation is enduring[1] and also refers to a person's sense of "personal and social identity based on those attractions, behaviors expressing them, and membership in a community of others who share them."[2] The current consensus among scholars is that sexual orientation is not a choice.[3][4][5] No simple, single cause for sexual orientation has been conclusively demonstrated, but research suggests that it is by a combination of genetic, hormonal, and environmental influences,[6] with biological factors involving a complex interplay of genetic factors and the early uterine environment.[7]

Group sex is sexual behavior involving more than two participants. can occur amongst people of all sexual orientations and genders. While this article discusses group sex among humans, the behavior also occurs in other animal species such as bighorn sheep and bonobos.

Group sex may take place in public (for instance, at beaches or outdoor events or nightclubs); at parlors, brothels or soaplands; at sex parties or, in some jurisdictions, at purpose-built locations such as sex clubs or gay bathhouses. In places where non-monogamous sex is taboo or illegal, group sex takes place in private or clandestine locations, including homes, hotel rooms, or private clubs.

Group sex

Ethnicity plays a prominent role in pornography.[1] Distinct genres of pornography focus on performers of specific ethnic groups, or on the depiction of interracial sexual activity. typically employs ethnic and racial stereotypes in its depiction of performers.[ Reality pornography is a of pornography where staged scenes, usually shot in cinéma vérité fashion, set up and precede sexual encounters. These scenes may either have the cameraman directly engaging in sex (see ) or merely filming others having sex. The genre presents itself as "real couples having real sex".[1] It has been described as professionally made porn which seeks to emulate the style of amateur pornography.[2] The niche's popularity grew significantly in the latter half of the first decade of the 2000s.[3] Examples include the Girls Gone Wild and Girls Who Like Girls Series.[1] The work of Bruce Seven has been called reality porn, due to his not using scripts, and asking his performers to act naturally in their own character.[4] [5]

For legal reasons, the vast majority of so-called reality porn involves professional actors and actresses posing as so-called "amateurs." Even though the women who perform in these films typically appear on many reality websites within a short span of time, most of these websites claim that each female is an amateur.

Another variant of reality pornography consists of normal couples that are filmed by professionals, in which case the only obvious distinction from amateur pornography is the higher quality of production, filming and editing.

Softcore pornography is a form of filmic or photographic pornography or that is less sexually explicit than . depicts nude and semi-nude performers engaging in casual social or non-graphic representations of or . Softcore porn precludes explicit depictions of vaginal or anal penetration, cunnilingus, and . Visual representations of genitalia (full nudity) are typically permissible in a softcore context in printed media,[1] and increasingly so in film[2] and television.[3] of the penis may not be allowed (see Mull of Kintyre Test), although attitudes towards this are changing.[4]

Portions of images which are considered too explicit may be obscured (censored) through various means. These techniques include the use of draped hair or clothing, carefully positioned hands or other body parts, carefully positioned foreground elements in the scene (often plants or drapery), and carefully chosen camera angles.

In most cases the sexual acts depicted in softcore pornography are entirely simulated by the actors; no actual penetration occurs. Often the actors wear latex genital covers to prevent physical contact. Film directors go to great lengths to obscure such covers on screen, but often fail to completely hide them. The comedian Pablo Francisco joked about this "facade" during one of his routines: "The reason they call it soft porn [is] 'cause it doesn't get you hard."[5]

Hardcore film makers will sometimes make edited softcore versions of their films for the hotel pay-per-view market, cutting in less explicit angles of the sex scenes.[6]

In clinical psychology, voyeurism is the sexual interest in or practice of spying on people engaged in intimate behaviors, such as undressing, sexual activity, or other activity usually considered to be of a private nature.[1][2] In popular imagination the term is used in a more general sense to refer to someone who habitually observes others without their knowledge, with no necessary implication of sexual interest.

Voyeurism (from the French voyeur, "one who looks") can take several forms, but its principal characteristic is that the voyeur does not normally relate directly with the subject of their interest, who is often unaware of being observed.

voyeurism

Causes of Dr. Patrick Carnes, a pioneer in research, has outlined four core beliefs common in most sexual addicts. They usually result from growing up in a dysfunctional family, especially one with rigid rules, little warmth and affirmation, abandonment, and sexual or emotional abuse. The core beliefs are the following: I am basically a bad, unworthy person, No one would love me as I am, My needs are never going to be met if I have to depend upon others, Sex is my most important need. The root of sexual addiction usually begins in childhood. Carnes writes, "When a child's exploration of sexuality goes beyond discovery to routine self-comforting because of the lack of human care, there is potential for addiction. Sex becomes confused with comforting and nurturing. For example, a lonely and abused 13 year old finds comfort in masturbation and pornography. More and more, he or she uses that for solace. As years go by, the type of sexual acting out may change. It can involve , affairs, visiting massage parlors or prostitutes, and even viewing ."

Cybersex

Cybersex, also called computer sex, Internet sex, netsex, mudsex, TinySex and, colloquially, cybering, is a encounter in which two or more persons connected remotely via computer network send each other sexually explicit messages describing a sexual experience. It is a form of sexual roleplay in which the participants pretend they are having actual sex. In one form, this fantasy sex is accomplished by the participants describing their actions and responding to their chat partners in a mostly written form designed to stimulate their own sexual feelings and fantasies.[1]

Cybersex sometimes includes real life masturbation.[2] The quality of a cybersex encounter typically depends upon the participants' abilities to evoke a vivid, visceral mental picture in the minds of their partners. Imagination and suspension of disbelief are also critically important. Cybersex can occur either within the context of existing or intimate relationships, e.g. among lovers who are geographically separated, or among individuals who have no prior knowledge of one another and meet in virtual spaces or and may even remain anonymous to one another. In some contexts cybersex is enhanced by the use of a to transmit real-time video of the partners.

Channels used to initiate cybersex are not necessarily exclusively devoted to that subject, and participants in any Internet chat may suddenly receive a message with any possible variation of the text "Wanna cyber?", "Wanna cam?" or a request for "C2C"/"C4C" ("cam to cam" and "cam for cam", respectively).

Cybersex is commonly performed in Internet chat rooms (such as IRC, or web chats) and on systems. It can also be performed using , voice chat systems like Skype, or online games and/or virtual worlds like . The exact definition of cybersex—specifically, whether real-life masturbation must be taking place for the online sex act to count as cybersex—is up for debate.[3] It is also fairly frequent in on-line role-playing games, such as MUDs and MMORPGs, though approval of this activity varies greatly from game to game. Some online social games like Red Light Center are dedicated to cybersex and other adult behaviors. These online games are often called AMMORPGs. In other games of the wider MMORPG genre, it ranges from widely accepted to the point of game masters/moderators taking part, such as in Final Fantasy Online[citation needed], to moderated based on player reports, as in World of Warcraft[citation needed], to grounds for a suspension from play or a permanent banishment, as in EVE Online and Anarchy Online[citation needed]. Cybersex may also be accomplished through the use of avatars in a multiuser software environment. It is often called mudsex or netsex in MUDs. In TinyMUD variants, particularly MUCKs, the term TinySex (TS) is very common.[4][5]

Though text-based cybersex has been in practice for decades,[6] the increased popularity of webcams has raised the number of online partners using two-way video connections to "expose" themselves to each other online—giving the act of cybersex a more visual aspect. There are a number of popular, commercial webcam websites that allow people to openly masturbate on camera while others watch them.[7] Using similar sites, couples can also perform on camera for the enjoyment of others.

Cybersex differs from in that it offers a greater degree of anonymity and allows participants to meet partners more easily. A good deal of cybersex takes place between partners who have just met online.[citation needed] Unlike phone sex, cybersex in chat rooms is rarely commercial. In online worlds like Second Life and via webcam-focused chat services, however, Internet sex workers engage in cybersex in exchange for both virtual and real-life currency.[8]

Uses of cybersex

Cybersex can be utilised to write co-written original fiction and fanfiction by role-playing in third person. It can also be used to gain experience for solo writers who want to write more realistic sex scenes, by exchanging ideas.

One approach to cybering is a simulation of "real" sex, when participants try to make the experience as close to real life as possible, with participants taking turns writing descriptive, sexually explicit passages. Alternatively, it can be considered a form of sexual roleplay that allows the participants to experience unusual sexual sensations and carry out sexual experiments they cannot try in reality. Amongst "serious" roleplayers, cybering may occur as part of a larger plot–the characters involved may be lovers or spouses. In situations like this, the people typing often consider themselves separate entities from the "people" engaging in the sexual acts, much as the author of a novel often does not completely identify with his or her characters. Due to this difference, such roleplayers typically prefer the term "erotic roleplay" rather than cybersex to describe their actions. In "real cybering" personas often remain in character throughout the entire life of the contact, to include evolving into phone sex, and meatspace encounters while in character, as a form of improvisation, or, nearly, a performance art. Often these personas develop complex past histories for their characters to make the fantasy/roleplay even more life like, thus the evolution of the term "real cybering".

Advantages

 Since cybersex can satisfy some sexual desires without the risk of a sexually transmitted disease (STD) or , it is a physically safe way for young people(such as with teenagers)to experiment with sexual thoughts and emotions. Additionally, people with long-term ailments (including HIV) can engage in cybersex as a way to safely achieve sexual gratification without putting their partners at risk.  Cybersex allows real-life partners who are physically separated to continue to be sexually intimate. In geographically separated relationships, it can function to sustain the sexual dimension of a relationship in which the partners see each other only infrequently face to face. Also, it can allow partners to work out problems that they have in their that they feel uncomfortable bringing up otherwise.

 It can enable participants to act out fantasies which they would not act out (or perhaps would not even be realistically possible) in real life through roleplaying due to physical or social limitations[9] and potential for misunderstanding, such as extreme BDSM, , or .

 It takes much less effort and resources on the Internet than in real life to connect to a person like yourself or with whom a more meaningful relationship is possible.

Criticism

Cybersex is often criticized because the partners frequently have little verifiable knowledge (including gender) about each other.[10] However, since for many the primary point of cybersex is the plausible simulation of sexual activity, this knowledge is not always desired or necessary.

Privacy concerns are a difficulty with cybersex, since participants may log or record the interaction without the other's knowledge, and possibly disclose it to others or the public.[11]

Debate continues on whether cybersex is a form of . While it does not involve physical contact, critics claim that the powerful emotions involved can cause marital stress, especially when cybersex culminates in an Internet . In several known cases Internet adultery became the grounds for which a couple divorced.[12][13] Therapists report a growing number of patients addicted to this activity,[14] a form of both Internet addiction and sexual addiction, with the standard problems associated with addictive behavior.