internet porongraphy

nternet pornography

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Internet pornography is pornography that is distributed by means of various sectors of the Internet, primarily via websites, peer-to-peer file sharing, or Usenet newsgroups. While pornography had been traded over the Internet since the 1980s, it was the invention of the World Wide Web in 1991 as well as the opening of the Internet to the general public around the same time that led to an explosion in online pornography.

Like videotapes and DVDs, the Internet has proved popular for distributing pornography because it allows people to view pornography (essentially) anonymously in the comfort and privacy of their homes. It also allows access to pornography by people whose access is otherwise restricted for legal or social reasons

History and methods of distribution

While pornography had seen limited distribution over the Internet in the early 90's often as ASCII porn, it was not until the Internet became more accessible to the general public that Internet pornography became a widespread phenomenon. Online distribution of pornography then often consisted of Internet users uploading scanned photos from adult magazines to Usenet newsgroups. This type of distribution was generally free (apart from fees for Internet access), and provided a great deal of anonymity. The anonymity made it safe and easy to ignore copyright restrictions, as well as protecting the identity of uploaders and downloaders. Around this time frame, pornography was also distributed via pornographic Bulletin Board Systems such as Rusty n Edie's. These BBSes could charge users for access, leading to the first commercial online pornography (though not "Internet pornography," since BBSes were not accessed via the Internet).

The invention of the World Wide Web spurred both commercial and non-commercial distribution of pornography. The rise of pornography websites offering photos, video clips and streaming media including live webcam access allowed greater access to pornography.

Free vs. commercial

On the Web, there are both commercial and free pornography sites. The bandwidth usage of a pornography site is relatively high, and the income a free site can earn through advertising may not be sufficient to cover the costs of that bandwidth. One recent entry into the free pornography website market are Thumbnail gallery post sites. These are free websites that post links to commercial sites, providing a sampling of the commercial site in the form of thumbnail images, or in the form of Free Hosted Galleries—samplings of full-sized content provided and hosted by the commercial sites to promote their site. Some free websites primarily serve as portals by keeping up-to-date indexes of these smaller sampler sites. When a user purchases a subscription to a commercial site after clicking through from a free thumbnail gallery site, the commercial site makes a payment to the owner of the free site. There are several forms of sites delivering adult content^[1].

TGP

Most common form of adult content is actually a categorized list (more often it's a table) of small pictures (so called "thumbs") linked to galleries. These sites are called a TGP (Thumbnailed Gallery Post), as a rule, these sites sort thumbs by category and type of content available on a linked gallery. Actually TGP is a site that contains table of thumbs that lead to galleries that provide adult content in a form of pictures, but because of significantly increased bandwidth of Internet users, many of galleries provide materials in a form of video. These type of free porn picture TGP sites like pussy.org, Toppornpictures and HornyKaren have become very popular. Sites containing thumbs that lead to galleries with video content are actually called MGP (Movie Gallery Post). The main benefit of TGP/MGP is that surfer can get first impression of a content provided by gallery without actually visiting it. The most abusive form of TGP is a so called CJ, that contains links that mislead surfer to sites he or she actually didn't wish to see.

LinkLists

It seems that it was the first web form of free adult content providers, because of low bandwidth requirements, linklists unlike TGP/MGP sites do not list a huge amount of pictures. LinkList is a (frequently) categorised web list of links to so called "freesites*", but unlike TGP links are provided in a form of text, not thumbs. It's still a question which form is more descriptive to a surfer, but many webmasters trends that thumb for is more productive, and simplifies searching. On the other hand, LinkLists have large amount of unique text, so that helps them to improve their positions in search engine listings.

TopLists

Actually TopLists are the same LinkLists, but internal ranking of freesites is based on incoming traffic from that freesites. Except that, freesites designed for TopLists have much more galleries.

Another free source of pornography on the Internet are the Usenet newsgroups that were the first home to such material. Newsgroups tend to be poorly organized and flooded with content that is off-topic or spam. Commercial software and websites are available that allow browsing the images or videos on newsgroups, sometimes with galleries of thumbnail images.

Peer-to-peer

Peer-to-peer file sharing networks provide another form of free access to pornography. While such networks have been associated largely with the illegal sharing of copyrighted music and movies, the sharing of pornography has also been a popular use for file sharing. Many commercial sites have recognized this trend and have begun distributing free samples of their content on peer-to-peer networks.

Empornium was one of the first BitTorrent web sites founded on the sharing of pornographic media files. In July 2006, as a result of the TargetPoint buyout of Empornium, a splinter group of administrators launched cheggit.net. ^[2]

Internet pornography formats

Image files

Image files, particularly of the JPEG format, are one of the most common formats for distributing pornography. Images may be either scanned into the computer from photographs or magazines, produced with a digital camera, or a frame from a video.

Video files and streaming video

Video files formats such as MPEG, WMV, and QuickTime have been used to distribute pornographic video clips. More recently VCD and DVD image files allow distribution of whole VCDs and DVDs. Many commercial porn sites exist that allow one to view pornographic streaming video. Recently (mid-2006), some Internet pornography sites have begun offering High Definition Video content in WMV HD format.

Since mid-2006, advertising-supported free pornographic video hosting service websites based on the YouTube concept have appeared. Referred to as Porn 2.0, these sites generally use Flash technology to distribute videos that were uploaded by users; these include user-generated content as well as scenes from commercial porn movies and advertising clips from pornographic websites. Major contenders are PornoTube, YouPorn and sex2ube; in September 2007 Alexa's list contained YouPorn as the highest-ranked pornography website, belonging to the top-50 websites overall.

Webcams

Another format of adult content that emerged with the advent of the Internet is live webcams. It is unique as compared to images and movies in that it did not exist before the Internet, and there is no offline equivalent. Webcam content can generally be divided into two categories: group shows offered to members of an adult paysite, and 1-on-1 private sessions usually sold on a pay-per-view basis. Currently the most popular video format for streaming live webcams is Flash Video FLV.

Server-based webcam sex shows spur unique international economics: adult models in third world countries (many in Asia) perform live webcam shows and chat for clients in affluent countries. This kind of activity is sometimes mediated by companies which will set up websites, manage finances and maintain "office" space for the models to perform from. At times, such companies will exploit the models - making them work long shifts, and paying them only a small fraction of the money they collect from clients.

Other formats

Other formats include text and audio files. While pornographic and erotic stories, distributed as text files, web pages, and via message boards and newsgroups, have been semi-popular, audio porn, via formats like MP3 and FLV, have seen only very limited distribution. Audio porn can include recordings of people having sex or reading erotic stories. Pornographic magazines are available in Zinio format, which provides a reader program to enable access.

Combination formats, such as webteases that consist of images and text have also emerged.

Legal status

Main article: Legal status of Internet pornography

Since the Internet is an international network and there are currently no international laws regulating pornography, each country deals with Internet pornography differently. Generally, in the United States, if the act depicted in the pornographic content is legal in the jurisdiction that it is being distributed from then the distributor of such content would not be in violation of the law regardless of whether it is accessible in countries where it is illegal. This does not apply to those who access the pornography, however, as they could still be prosecuted under local laws in their country. Due to enforcement problems in anti-pornography laws over the Internet, countries that prohibit or heavily restrict access to pornography have taken other approaches to limit access by their citizens, such as employing content filters.

Many activists and politicians have expressed concern over the easy availability of Internet pornography, especially by minors. This has led to a variety of attempts to restrict children's access to Internet pornography such as the 1996 Communications Decency Act in the United States. Some companies use an Adult Verification System (AVS) to deny access to pornography by minors. However, most Adult Verification Systems charge fees that are substantially higher than the actual costs of any verification they do (for example, in excess of $10/month) and are really part of a revenue collection scheme where sites encourage users to sign up for an AVS system, and get a percentage of the proceeds in return.

In response to concerns with regard to children accessing age-inappropriate content, the adult industry, through the Association of Sites Advocating Child Protection (ASACP), began a self-labeling initiative called the Restricted to Adults label (RTA). This label is recognized by many web filtering products and is entirely free to use.

Most employers have distinct policies against the accessing of any kind of online pornographic material from company computers,^{[citation needed]} in addition to which some have also installed comprehensive filters and logging software in their local computer networks.

One area of Internet pornography that has been the target of the strongest efforts at curtailment is child pornography. Because of this, most Internet pornography websites based in the U.S. have a notice on their front page that they comply with 18 USC Section 2257, which requires the keeping of records regarding the age of the people depicted in photographs, along with displaying the Name of the company record keeper. Some site operators outside the U.S. have begun to include this compliance statement on their websites as well.

Web filters and blocking software

A variety of content-control software is available to block pornography and other classifications of material from particular computers or (usually company-owned) networks. Commercially available Web filters include Bess, Net Nanny, SeeNoEvil, and others. Various work-arounds and bypasses are available for some of these products; Peacefire is one of the more notable clearinghouses for such countermeasures.

One laptop per child project

On July 20, 2007, Reuters reported on a minor scandal when the News Agency of Nigeria claimed that several units of XO-1 seen by its reporters had been used to navigate pornographic websites. In response, the OLPC program decided upon the inclusion of mandatory filtering on future models.^[3]

Anti pornography movement

Anti-pornography movement

A French caricature on "the great epidemic of pornography".

Main article: Anti-pornography movement

Opposition to pornography comes generally, though not exclusively, from several sources: law, religion and feminism. Some critics from the latter two camps have expressed belief in the existence of "pornography addiction."

Effect on sexual aggression

In the 70's and 80's, feminists such as Dr. Catharine MacKinnon and Andrea Dworkin criticized pornography as essentially dehumanizing women and as likely to encourage violence against them. It has been suggested that there was an alliance, tacit or explicit, between anti-porn feminists and fundamentalist Christians to help censor the use of or production of pornography.^[17]

According to researchers N.M. Malamuth, T. Addison and M. Koss, "high pornography use is not necessarily indicative of high risk for sexual aggression," but go on to say, "if a person has relatively aggressive sexual inclinations resulting from various personal and/or cultural factors, some pornography exposure may activate and reinforce associated coercive tendencies and behaviors".^[18]

Feminist objections

Feminist critics of pornography, such as Andrea Dworkin and Catharine MacKinnon, generally consider it demeaning to women. They believe that most pornography eroticizes the domination, humiliation, and coercion of women, reinforces sexual and cultural attitudes that are complicit in rape and sexual harassment, and contributes to the male-centered objectification of women. Some feminists distinguish between pornography and erotica, which they say does not have the same negative effects of pornography. However, many Third-wave feminists and postmodern feminists disagree with this critique of porn, claiming that appearing in or using pornography can be explained as each individual woman's choice, and is not guided by socialization in a capitalist patriarchy.

Pornography by and for women

"We came up with the idea for the Feminist Porn Awards because people don't know they have a choice when it comes to porn," said Chanelle Gallant, manager of Good for Her and the event's organizer. "Yes, there's a lot of bad porn out there. But there is also some great porn being made by and for women. We wanted to recognize and celebrate the good porn makers as well as direct people to their work."

Some recent pornography has been produced under the rubric of "by and for women". According to Tristan Taormino, "Feminist porn both responds to dominant images with alternative ones and creates its own iconography."^[19]

Legal objections

This article or section deals primarily with the United States and does not represent a worldwide view of the subject. Please improve this article or discuss the issue on the talk page.

In the United States, distribution of "obscene" materials is a Federal crime,^[20] The determination of what is obscene is up to a jury in a trial, which must apply the Miller test; however, due to the prominence of pornography in most communities most pornographic materials are not considered obscene by the Miller Test. In explaining its decision to reject claims that obscenity should be treated as speech protected by the First Amendment, in Miller v. California, the US Supreme Court found that

The dissenting Justices sound the alarm of repression. But, in our view, to equate the free and robust exchange of ideas and political debate with commercial exploitation of obscene material demeans the grand conception of the First Amendment and its high purposes in the historic struggle for freedom. It is a "misuse of the great guarantees of free speech and free press . . . ." Breard v. Alexandria, 341 U.S., at 645.

and in Paris Adult Theatre I v. Slaton that

In particular, we hold that there are legitimate state interests at stake in stemming the tide of commercialized obscenity, even assuming it is feasible to enforce effective safeguards against exposure to juveniles and to passersby. 7 [413 U.S. 49, 58] Rights and interests "other than those of the advocates are involved." Breard v. Alexandria, 341 U.S. 622, 642 (1951). These include the interest of the public in the quality of life and the total community environment, the tone of commerce in the great city centers, and, possibly, the public safety itself... As Mr. Chief Justice Warren stated, there is a "right of the Nation and of the States to maintain a decent society . . .," [413 U.S. 49, 60] Jacobellis v. Ohio, 378 U.S. 184, 199 (1964) (dissenting opinion)... The sum of experience, including that of the past two decades, affords an ample basis for legislatures to conclude that a sensitive, key relationship of human existence, central to family life, community welfare, and the development of human personality, can be debased and distorted by crass commercial exploitation of sex.

Partly because Denmark decriminalized pornography in 1967 with few adverse effects and partly because of the 1968 United States Supreme Court decision which held that people could view whatever they wished in the privacy of their own homes, in 1968 Congress created the President's Commission on Obscenity and Pornography to investigate the effects of obscenity and pornography on the people of the United States with each member personally appointed by President Lyndon B. Johnson. In what became the most detailed and comprehensive investigation into pornography to date, the commission in its final report found that pornography could not be shown to do harm to individuals or to society, and recommended the repeal of obscenity and pornography legislation as it related to adults. Released during the presidency of Richard Nixon the report generated a brief bout of controversy but was ultimately ignored by the administration.

Attorney General for Ronald Reagan, Edwin Meese, also courted controversy when he appointed the "Meese Commission" to investigate pornography in the United States; their report, released in July 1986, was highly critical of pornography and itself became a target of widespread criticism. That year, Meese Commission officials contacted convenience store chains and succeeded in demanding that widespread men's magazines such as Playboy and Penthouse be removed from shelves,^[21]a ban which spread nationally^[22] until being quashed with a First Amendment admonishment against prior restraint by the D.C. Federal Court in Meese v. Playboy (639 F.Supp. 581).

In the United States in 2005, Attorney General Gonzales made obscenity and pornography a top prosecutorial priority of the Department of Justice.^[23]

Religious objections

Some religious groups often discourage their members from viewing or reading pornography, and support legislation restricting its publication. These positions derive from broader religious views about sexuality. In some religious traditions, for example, sexual intercourse is limited to the express function of procreation. Thus, sexual pleasure or sex-oriented entertainment, as well as lack of modesty, are considered immoral. Other religions do not find sexual pleasure immoral, but see sex as a sacred, godly, highly-pleasurable activity that is only to be enjoyed with one's spouse. These traditions do not condemn sexual pleasure in and of itself, but they impose limitations on the circumstances under which sexual pleasure may be properly experienced. Pornography in this view is seen as the secularization of something sacred, and a violation of spouses' intimate relationship.

Though the Torah (Jewish written law) has a great many prohibitions of about sexual behaviors, pornography is not specifically mentioned. However, the Tzniut requires Jewish women to be covered from ankle to wrist (thereby forbidding pornographic modeling or acting for women). The halakhah states that sexually arousing images are to be avoided. ^[24]

The Qur'an 24:31 states "And tell the believing women to lower their gaze and keep covered their private parts, and that they should not show-off their beauty except what is apparent, and let them cast their shawls over their cleavage. And let them not show-off their beauty except to their husbands... "^[25]

Christianity condemns both the production and use of pornography. Jesus states, "Ye have heard that it was said, Thou shalt not commit adultery: but I say unto you, that every one that looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart." (Mathew 5:27-28). In the first verse Jesus is quoting the Torah (Exodus 20:14), reminding his Jewish listeners that adulery is forbidden. He goes on to remind them that looking at a woman lustfully is also sinful conduct. The seriousness of the actual commission of adultery is seen in Leviticus 20:10 "And the man that committeth adultery with another man's wife, even he that committeth adultery with his neighbor's wife, the adulterer and the adulteress shall surely be put to death."

Paragraph 2354 of the Catechism of the Catholic Church states:

Pornography... offends against chastity because it perverts the conjugal act, the intimate giving of spouses to each another. It does grave injury to the dignity of its participants... since each one becomes an object of base pleasure and illicit profit for others. It immerses all who are involved in the illusion of a fantasy world. It is a grave offence.

In addition to expressing concerns about violating sexual morality, some religions take an anti-pornography stance claiming that viewing pornography is addictive, leading to self-destructive behavior. Proponents of this view compare pornography addiction to alcoholism, both in asserting the seriousness of the problem and in developing treatment methods.

See also

affect of pornography on sex related crime

Effect on sex crimes

Main article: Public health effects of pornography

A lower per capita crime rate and historically high availability of pornography in many developed European countries (e.g. Netherlands, Sweden) has some researchers to conclude that there is an inverse relationship between the two, such that an increased availability of pornography in a society equates to a decrease in sexual crime.^[12] Some researchers speculate that wide availability of pornography may reduce crimes by giving potential offenders a socially accepted way of regulating their own sexuality. Moreover, there is some evidence that states within the U.S. that have lower rates of internet access have a greater incidence of rape.^[13]

Japan, which is noted for its large output of rape fantasy pornography, has the lowest reported sex crime rate in the industrialized world. However, some argue that reported sex crime rates are low in Japan because the culture (a culture that greatly emphasizes a woman's "honor") is such that victims of sex crime are less likely to report it (e.g. chikan^[14]). However, a 1995 study comparing crime statistics since 1972 when pornography changed from totally prohibited to freely available with no age restrictions found that:^[15]

"sex crimes in every category, from rape to public indecency, sexual offenses from both ends of the criminal spectrum, significantly decreased in incidence. Most significantly, despite the wide increase in availability of pornography to children, not only was there a decrease in sex crimes with juveniles as victims but the number of juvenile offenders also decreased significantly. We hypothesized that the increase in pornography, without age restriction and in comics, if it had any detrimental effect, would most negatively influence younger individuals. Just the opposite occurred. The number of victims decreased particularly among the females younger than 13. In 1972, 8.3% of the victims were younger than 13. In 1995 the percentage of victims younger than 13 years of age dropped to 4.0%; a reduction of greater than 50%. In 1972, 33.3 % of the offenders were between 14-19 years of age; by 1995 that percentage had decreased to 9.6%.."

However, a review of controlled studies has found that extensive viewing of the type of pornographic material commonly sold at adult bookstores was positively correlated with leniency in the sentencing of a person convicted of rape in a mock trial setting, decreased satisfaction of participants with their sex lives and partners, and an increased self-reported willingness to commit rape or other forced sexual acts.^[16]

history of porn

History

This section is missing citations or needs footnotes. Using inline citations helps guard against copyright violations and factual inaccuracies. (November 2007)

Oil lamp artifact depicting coitus more ferarum

For more details on this topic, see History of erotic depictions.

The depiction of sexual acts is as old as civilization (and can be found painted on various ancient buildings), but the concept of pornography as understood today did not exist until the Victorian era. Previous to that time, though some sex acts were regulated or stipulated in laws, looking at objects or images depicting them was not. In some cases, specific books, engravings or image collections were censored or outlawed, but the trend to compose laws that restricted viewing of sexually explicit things in general was a Victorian construct. 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. They did not know what to do with the frank depictions of sexuality, and endeavored to hide them away from everyone but upper class scholars. The moveable objects were locked away in the Secret Museum in Naples, Italy and what could not be removed was covered and cordoned off as to not corrupt the sensibilities of women, children and the working class. Soon after, the world's first law criminalizing pornography was enacted by the Parliament of the United Kingdom in 1857 in the Obscene Publications Act. The Victorian attitude that pornography was for a select few can be seen in the wording of the Hicklin test stemming from a court case in 1868 where it asks, "whether the tendency of the matter charged as obscenity is to deprave and corrupt those whose minds are open to such immoral influences." Despite their suppression, depictions of erotic imagery are common throughout history, and remain so.^[1]

Sub-genres

Main article: List of pornographic sub-genres

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

Pornography is of different forms depending on physical characteristics of the participants, fetish, sexual orientation etc. Reality and voyeur pornography, animated videos, legally prohibited acts also depicted. Some popular genres of pornography:

• Amateur pornography
• Fetish pornography
• Homosexual pornography (gay pornography; lesbian pornography)
• Orgy pornography
• Race-oriented pornography (e.g. Asian, black, Latino, interracial)
• Voyeur pornography (e.g. hidden camera pornography, "upskirt" pornography)

Economics

Main article: Porn industry

On the set of a Lucas Entertainment pornographic film: Actors, producer, director, cameramen, lighting and makeup are a few of the jobs represented in the photograph.

Revenues of the adult industry in the United States have been difficult to determine. In 1970, a Federal study estimated that the total retail value of all the hard-core porn in the United States was no more than $10 million^[2]

In 1998, Forrester Research published a report on the online "adult content" industry estimating $750 million to $1 billion in annual revenue. As an unsourced aside, the Forrester study speculated on an industry-wide aggregate figure of $8-10 billion, which was repeated out of context in many news stories,^[3] after being published in Eric Schlosser's book on the American underground economy.^[4] Studies in 2001 put the total (including video, pay-per-view, Internet and magazines) between $2.6 billion and $3.9 billion.^[5]

A significant amount of pornographic video is shot in the San Fernando Valley, which has been a pioneering region for producing adult films since the 1970s, and has since become home for various models, actors/actresses, production companies, and other assorted businesses involved in the production and distribution of porn.

The porn industry has been considered influential in deciding format wars in media; including being a factor in VHS v. Betamax (the videotape format war)^[6][7] and a factor in the Blu-ray vs. HD DVD format war.^[6][7][8]

Non-Commercial Pornography

As well as the porn industry, there is a large amount of non-commercial pornography. This should be distinguished from commercial pornography falsely marketed as featuring "amateurs". The Alt Sex Stories Text Repository focuses on prose stories collected from Usenet. Various Usenet groups are focussed on non-commercial pornographic photographs.

Technology

Mass-distributed pornography is as old as the printing press. Almost as soon as photography was invented, it was being used to produce pornographic images. Some claim^{[attribution needed]} that pornography has been a driving force in the development of technologies from the printing press, through photography (still and motion), to video, satellite TV, DVD, and the Internet. With the invent of tiny cameras and wireless equipments voyeur pornography is gaining ground. Mobile cameras are used to capture pornographic photos or videos, and forwarded as MMS.

Computer-generated images and manipulations

Digital manipulation requires the use of source photographs, but some pornography is produced without human actors at all. The idea of completely computer-generated pornography was conceived very early as one of the most obvious areas of application for computer graphics and 3D rendering.

Until the late 1990s, digitally manipulated pornography could not be produced cost-effectively. In the early 2000s, it became a growing segment, as the modelling and animation software matured and the rendering capabilities of computers improved. As of 2004, computer-generated pornography depicting situations involving children and sex with fictional characters, such as Lara Croft, is already produced on a limited scale. The October 2004 issue of Playboy featured topless pictures of the title character from the BloodRayne video game.^[9]

Production and distribution by region

Main article: Pornography by region

The production and distribution of pornography are economic activities of some importance. The exact size of the economy of pornography and the influence that it has in political circles are matters of controversy.

Pornography in Japan: Rates of pornography use in Japan have climbed in the 20th century. Despite this, no correlation has been found between pornography use and rape or other sex crimes. Indeed, during this period, rates of sexual assault have dropped. Japan has the lowest levels of reported rape and the highest levels of arrests and convictions in any developed nation in the world.^[10]

Legal status

See List of pornography laws by region for detailed list

The legal status of pornography varies widely from country to country. Most countries allow at least some form of pornography. In some countries, softcore pornography is considered tame enough to be sold in general stores or to be shown on TV. Hardcore pornography, on the other hand, is usually regulated. The production and sale, and to a slightly lesser degree the possession, of child pornography is illegal in almost all countries, and most countries have restrictions on pornography involving violence or animals.

Most countries attempt to restrict minors' access to hardcore materials, limiting availability to adult bookstores, mail-order, via television channels that parents can restrict, among other means. There is usually an age minimum for entrance to pornographic stores, or the materials are displayed partly covered or not displayed at all. More generally, disseminating pornography to a minor is often illegal. Many of these efforts have been rendered practically irrelevant by widely available Internet pornography.

In the United States, a person receiving unwanted commercial mail he or she deems pornographic (or otherwise offensive) may obtain a Prohibitory Order, either against all mail from a particular sender, or against all sexually explicit mail, by applying to the United States Postal Service.

There are recurring urban legends of snuff movies, in which murders are filmed for pornographic purposes. Despite extensive work to ascertain the truth of these rumors, law enforcement officials have been unable to find any such works.

The Internet has also caused problems with the enforcement of age limits regarding performers and subjects. In most countries, males and females under the age of 18 are not allowed to appear in porn films, but in several European countries the age limit is 16, and in Denmark it is legal for women as young as 16 to appear topless in mainstream newspapers and magazines.^{[citation needed]} This material often ends up on the Internet and can be viewed by people in countries where it constitutes child pornography, creating challenges for lawmakers wishing to restrict access to such material.

Some people, including pornography producer Larry Flynt and the writer Salman Rushdie,^[11] have argued that pornography is vital to freedom and that a free and civilized society should be judged by its willingness to accept pornography.

The UK Government is planning to outlaw possession of what it terms "extreme pornography" after a campaign following the highly publicised murder of Jane Longhurst.

from wikipedia

know porn

Pornography

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Jump to: navigation, search

Pornographic entertainment advertised in a sex shop window

"Porn" redirects here. For other uses, see Porn (disambiguation).

For other uses, see Pornography (disambiguation).

Pornography or porn is the explicit depiction of sexual subject matter, especially with the sole intention of sexually exciting the viewer. It is to a certain extent similar to erotica, which is the use of sexually-arousing imagery for mainly artistic purposes. Over the past few decades, an immense industry for the production and consumption of pornography has grown, due to emergence of the VCR, the DVD, and the Internet, as well as the emergence of social attitudes more tolerant of sexual portrayals. Performers in pornography are referred to as pornographic actors (or actresses), or the more commonly known title, "porn star", and are generally seen as qualitatively different from their non-pornographic counterparts.

Pornography may use any of a variety of media—printed literature, photos, sculpture, drawing, painting, animation, 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 striptease may be considered similar, but not identical, to pornography.

In most countries pornography is treated as a separate entity, both culturally and legally, from depictions of naked persons in art or photography. See "nudity" for more information.

from wikipedia

sex addiction treatment

Sex Addict Treatment - Causes and Factors
There are six different types of sex addicts. Represented among these varying types is a wide spectrum of causes and complicating factors. Common to all types is a basic compulsion to act-out on sexual impulses. Any given sex addict can struggle with one or more than one type and it is possible to exhibit features of all six, however rare.

Sex Addict Treatment - Identifying the Type of Addiction
The rarest type is the Spiritual sex addict; the most common is the Biological. The four other types include Psychological, Trauma-based, Sexually Anorexic, and Mood-disordered. Biological sex addition is not only the most common but it is the simplest to heal with a solid behavioral treatment plan. This type usually starts around puberty when the pre-addict begins masturbating to images, fantasies, objects, or people. Upon climax, the highest level of endorphins and enkephalins are released into the body, hitting the excitement center of the brain and creating a "high" that is four times as strong as heroine. Over time, this behavior and whatever is being imagined or viewed at that moment are reinforced, creating neurological pathways in the brain and conditioning the body to become aroused by these stimuli. Unfortunately, the cycle of behavior continues and worsens, hence the addiction.

Those struggling with a Psychological type addiction are most often survivors of some kind of abuse. In fact, 90% are emotionally, 80% sexually, and 70% physically abused. This type of addict is characterized by "a soul in pain" who has chosen sex as a way to "medicate" this pain. Acting-out sexually becomes an escape from the painful reality of daily life. Similarly, Trauma-based addiction lies in the compulsion to repeat the ordeal of the sexual abuse incurred in an attempt to gain control over the injury and recreate or undo the injury through pleasure. Neither the Psychological or Trauma-based addicts are responsible for the neglect and abuse they've endured-they are, however, the only one who can take the responsibility for their healing.

Sexually Anorexic, Mood-disordered, and Spiritual sex addicts are less prevalent, but each feature unique aspects. Sexual or Relational Anorexia is the intentional or unconscious sabotaging of intimacy in a relationship-understood as "acting-in," intimacy is feared and therefore avoided by the addict through behaviors such as withholding love, withdrawing emotionally, blaming, shaming, and/or controlling. Conversely, a Mood-disordered sex addict, while very capable of relationships, has difficulty controlling his mood, usually because of an imbalance in brain chemistry-just like the liver or pancreas can stop working correctly, needing dialysis or causing diabetes, respectively, the brain, being an organ can malfunction in its flow of neurotransmitters affecting mood. This type of addiction, often diagnosed as Depression or Bipolar Disorder, can be treated successfully using anti-depressants and/or mood-stabilizers. Lastly, the purely Spiritual sex addict, although uncommon, is usually someone who is simply looking for spirituality and/or connection in all the wrong places. Sensing a void in their life, they have chosen to fill it with sexual experiences, becoming "hooked" on the temporary excitement and the momentary fulfillment it brings, not realizing that they are limiting the other lasting aspects of their existence.

Sex Addict Treatment - Being Set Free
The good news is all types of sex addiction can be treated. In fact, men all over the world are being set free from the guilt, shame, and drain that this compulsion causes. Most men report feeling more wholeness and a decrease in anxiety and depression-both common among sex addicts but left behind once in recovery. In fact, some men even double their income in the first year of staying clean! This, no doubt is attributable to the extra energy, creativity, and excitement that replace the emptiness of addiction. If you are struggling and would like to change for the better, don't waste another minute -- reach out for the help available to you and begin your new life of freedom from addiction. You will discover gifts you never realized you had and make supporting, encouraging relationships you never thought possible. Most of all, God will redeem the years of struggle you've endured-that's right, other men in your life also need to hear this message and God may use you to help them. There is nothing more satisfying than seeing another man set free. Remember, just like the man who is shot is not responsible for the crime but is in charge of having the bullet removed, we sex addicts may not be to blame for some of what caused the addiction, but we are certainly liable and accountable for getting the healing we need!

from: http://www.allaboutlifechallenges.org/sex-addict-treatment.htm

are you sex addict?

A Useful Tool for Self-Assessment

Answer these twelve questions to assess whether you may have a problem with sexual addiction.

1. Do you keep secrets about your sexual or romantic activities from those important to you? Do you lead a double life?
2. Have your needs driven you to have sex in places or situations or with people you would not normally choose?
3. Do you find yourself looking for sexually arousing articles or scenes in newspapers, magazines, or other media?
4. Do you find that romantic or sexual fantasies interfere with your relationships or are preventing you from facing problems?
5. Do you frequently want to get away from a sex partner after having sex? Do you frequently feel remorse, shame, or guilt after a sexual encounter?
6. Do you feel shame about your body or your sexuality, such that you avoid touching your body or engaging in sexual relationships? Do you fear that you have no sexual feelings, that you are asexual?
7. Does each new relationship continue to have the same destructive patterns which prompted you to leave the last relationship?
8. Is it taking more variety and frequency of sexual and romantic activities than previously to bring the same levels of excitement and relief?
9. Have you ever been arrested or are you in danger of being arrested because of your practices of voyeurism, exhibitionism, prostitution, sex with minors, indecent phone calls, etc.?
10. Does your pursuit of sex or romantic relationships interfere with your spiritual beliefs or development?
11. Do your sexual activities include the risk, threat, or reality of disease, pregnancy, coercion, or violence?
12. Has your sexual or romantic behavior ever left you feeling hopeless, alienated from others, or suicidal?

If you answered yes to more than one of these questions, we would encourage you to seek out additional literature as a resource or to attend a Sex Addicts Anonymous meeting to further assess your needs.