ABSTRACT
This chapter reviews the historical developments in pornographic media, popularity, and consumption patterns since the late 1960s. Pornography is a protean term but may be defined as “Material deemed sexual, given the context, that has the primary intention of sexually arousing the consumer”. The adult film industry used the Video Home System to increase public exposure, relying on the technology’s “length” capacity (two to four hours) and low production costs. The tendency to see the pornography industry as a monolith, along with the social stigmas attached to both researching and discussing it openly, makes it relatively difficult to ascertain distinct trends in pornography consumption. Pornography has long featured or portrayed very young women. The chapter presents data from our interviews with female pornography users, including their views on aggression and violence, thus adding our own original contribution to this important, yet understudied, area of research.
