New meanings for pornography?

[Wilson Gray]

Somewhere or other, somewhen or other, I read that pornography is
defined as soft-core, regardless of the amouunt of split beaver,
unless an erect penis is visible in the picture or in the movie. The
point of the article was that there is a way to permit the
publication, distribution, and sale of legitimate nudist material,
while preventing the publication, distribution, and sale of real,
plain-brown-wrapper, hard-core pornography.

-Wilson

On 10/29/06, David Bergdahl <dlbrgdhl at gmail.com> wrote:
> ---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       David Bergdahl <dlbrgdhl at GMAIL.COM>
> Subject:      Re: New meanings for pornography?
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Charles & Ron have it exactly right: "R-rated" material is not considered
> pornographic, only "XXX" material.
> -db
>
> On 10/29/06, RonButters at aol.com <RonButters at aol.com> wrote:
> >
> > ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> > -----------------------
> > Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> > Poster:       RonButters at AOL.COM
> >
> > Subject:      =?ISO-8859-1?Q?Re:=20=A0=20=A0=20=A0=20[ADS-L]=20New=20meanings=2
> >               0?= =?ISO-8859-1?Q?for=20pornography=3F?=
> >
> > -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> >
> > I think that Charlie Doyle is right in his post when he says that
> > pornograph=
> > y=20
> > implies illegality for many people. And it is also the case that not
> > every=20
> > attempt at sexual titilation is pornography, and what constitutes
> > prurience=20=
> > is a=20
> > matter of taste. I suspect that what this young woman meant was that
> > her=20
> > costume was not beyond acceptable levels of sexual titilationosity, and
> > that=
> > she=20
> > would not expect normal people to find it prurient. There are, for
> > instance,=
> > an=20
> > enormous number of print advertisements for normal products such as=20
> > undergarments, perfumes, and colognes that are quite erotic but most
> > people,=
> > I think,=20
> > would not call them pornographic.
> >
> > I have not done a survey, but I suspect that a very large percentage of
> > the=20
> > American public today--maybe a majority (depending on the ages of the=20
> > interviewees) would not consider anything pornography that did not involve
> > a=
> > t least=20
> > naked below-the-belt genitals and/or simulated or actual sexual
> > intercourse=20=
> > of=20
> > one sort or another. Soft-core pornography generally involves simulated
> > sex.
> >
> > I'd call PLAYBOY risqu=E9, but not pornographic (as I remember it).
> >
> > In a message dated 10/27/06 9:00:08 AM, db.list at PMPKN.NET writes:
> >
> > >=20
> > > =A0=A0 "'It's not like it's pornography,' said Pamela Runsick, 22,
> > > =A0 =A0 a senior from Melbourne majoring in advertising and public
> > > =A0 =A0 relations, who stripped down to a black lace bra, panties
> > > =A0 =A0 and high heels for a test shoot. 'It's Playboy. It's
> > > =A0 =A0 glamorous.'"
> > >=20
> > > 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.
> > >=20
> > >=20
> >
> > ------------------------------------------------------------
> > The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
> >
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>


--
Everybody says, "How hard it is that we have to die"---a strange
complaint to come from the mouths of people who have had to live.
-----
Whoever has lived long enough to find out what life is knows how deep
a debt of gratitude we owe to Adam, the first great benefactor of our
race. He brought death into the world.

--Sam Clemens

------------------------------------------------------------
The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org