Porn

Where does the adult entertainment industry go with the increasing spread of porn into popular culture?

Delving into the world of porn turned out to be fun for researcher Jenny Burton. Female porn users showed little embarrassment, speaking in public places or opening their doors to her. One woman, for example, invited her to the home she shared with her parents.

"She wasn't embarrassed. . . about me going over there," reports Burton. "Her whole family knew. I'm surprised they weren't there, actually, to listen in."

Porn has gone so mainstream that for users like this woman (a "bubbly" artist), it's nothing to be ashamed of. Thanks to the internet, anyone can instantly indulge a passion for spanking or buffed studs or horny grandmothers. No need to sneak into a cinema or order an X-rated videos.

Even conventional media has embraced a soft-porn aesthetic. Recently, a morning TV news program covered the American porn film awards as if they were just another Hollywood event. And this newspaper recently listed porn star Jenna Jameson among Hollywood "celebrities" backing Hillary Clinton for the US presidency. Meanwhile, pole dancing features on So You Think You Can Dance and Brazilian waxes, the porn star's signature look, have entered the popular lexicon.

Pornography is sexually explicit material made for the purpose of giving people sexual pleasure. Much of this stuff has traditionally been restricted. But with the growth of the internet and DIY video technologies, there has been an explosion of freely available porn. At the same time, sexualised imagery in the world of mainstream entertainment has become increasingly explicit (a trend often described as "raunch culture").