Editor’s note: This is the first in a four part series discussing pornography.

by NIKKI ROBERTI
Lifestyles Reporter

Thirty-five to 40 years ago, X-rated films were not part of mainstream America, Associate Sociology Professor Ken B. Muir said.

Now they are.

Society has changed—and in more ways than technological advancements.

“Now most people think our reactions to the adult movies of 35 to 40 years ago to be quite quaint,” Muir said.

In a recent poll conducted by The Appalachian, 50 male and 50 female students were asked their opinions regarding pornography and their own personal use of such material.

Forty-six percent said pornography was a normal and a common part of life, whereas 34 percent said it was disgusting and wrong.

Twenty percent had no opinion.

Sophomore graphic design major Gabriella D. Grani was part of the 46 percent.

“Even though it’s kind of underground, a lot of people watch porn and I think a lot of people are kind of into it,” she said.

Specialty stores Expressions and Night Secrets sell erotica items for men and women to enjoy. Social and technological changes have brought porn and erotica into the mainstream in stores and on the Internet raising questions about the degradation of women. Photo by Aubryn Gates.

However, of those surveyed, 43.4 percent said they never view porn.

The other 57.6 percent said they view it anywhere from every other month to every day. Those who said they watched porn every week made up 18.2 percent of the poll.

Amy D. Page, assistant sociology professor, said pornography is mainstream in our society, though the definition of mainstream has changed over the years.

“Cum shots are mainstream where men ejaculate in women’s faces. There’s derogatory language, gang bangs with one or multiple women is mainstream,” she said. “Things are mainstream now that once were not.”

Page does not think sexually explicit material is bad, nor does she believe in censorship; however, she said the difference between pornography and other sexually explicit material, such as erotica, which is the degradation of women.

“Erotica is fine and doesn’t have the degradation and power differential porn has,” Page said. “I don’t care how much porn makes it look like women like it, I don’t believe women enjoy being ejaculated on in the face.”

Muir is the national chair of the Eros, Pornography and Popular Culture section of the Popular Culture Association. He said the definition of pornography and erotica is still controversial.

“Many so-called radical feminists would say that pornography is any depiction of sexual activity that is explicit and demeaning to women, while erotica can be defined as anything that is sexually explicit,” he said. “Most definitions of erotica and pornography are, logically, subjective.”

Page defines erotica as focused more on the sexual encounter.

Mainstream pornography includes other genres, Page said, including rape pornography and pornography featuring 18 year old women in a child-like way that mirrors children ages 13 to 15. Because the women are 18 years old, it is legal and not considered child pornography.

“If people find that arousing, what does that say about our society?” Page said. “I think it provides an interesting commentary on our society to see porn becoming a $60 billion plus industry and that’s not with underground porn calculated in.”

When asked if pornography is or can be degrading towards women, 78.8 percent polled said yes.

“As a professor trained in the Marxist and feminist traditions, I fully appreciate how some people would find certain aspects of eros and pornography to be deeply intertwined in a patriarchal system of keeping women submissive,” Muir said. “That argument begins to fall apart when we accept the fact that eros and pornography have been around for thousands of years and have existed in every type of society imaginable.”

Muir said a misconception of pornography is people think it constitutes too a large portion of the Internet. However, research suggests pornography makes up less than 3 percent of all Web sites, he said.

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