New meanings for pornography?

[Charles Doyle]

Well, the term "pornography" frequently implies illegality.  There are still places in which Playboy Magazine can be read (even sold) lawfully.

--Charlie
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---- Original message ----
>Date: Fri, 27 Oct 2006 09:59:34 -0400
>From: David Bowie <db.list at PMPKN.NET>
>Subject: New meanings for pornography?
>To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
>
>So Playboy recently conducted a tryout session/preliminary photo shoot
>here in Orlando to find, um, models for its upcoming "Girls of
>Conference USA" issue: story at
>http://www.orlandosentinel.com/orl-playboy2406oct24,0,4636626.story
>
>(Sidebar: Girls of Conference USA? The SEC, Big 12, Big 10, PAC 10, even
>the Big East i can understand. But Conference USA? There's some
>barrel-bottom scraping going on here, it seems to me.)
>
>Anyway, aside from the bemusement that occurs when you see former
>students quoted in a news article like this one, what most caught my
>attention was this quote:
>
>   "'It's not like it's pornography,' said Pamela Runsick, 22,
>    a senior from Melbourne majoring in advertising and public
>    relations, who stripped down to a black lace bra, panties
>    and high heels for a test shoot. 'It's Playboy. It's
>    glamorous.'"
>
>Since any definition of "pornography" i've ever run across before seems
>to have, at core, the purpose of some sort of sexual titillation or
>prurience involved, it seems to me that Playboy counts.
>
>Of course, the most recent Playboy i've seen was one from the early 70s
>i ran across in the basement of the house i grew up in. Times have
>changed, maybe all the models wear parkas now or something.
>
>More seriously, it sounds like this student is using "pornography" to
>mean something like what i'd have to use an adjective for: "hard-core
>pornography". Anyone else seen anything similar lately, or have i just
>not noticed something that's been obvious to everybody else?
>
>--
>David Bowie                               University of Central Florida

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