History MediaNotes / Pornography

-->--'''''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jacobellis_v._Ohio Jacobellis v. Ohio]]''''', [[https://scholar.google.com/scholar_case?case=15356452945994377133&q=378+U.S.+184&hl=en&as_sdt=3,39#p197 378 U.S. 184, 197]] (1964) ('''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Potter_Stewart Stewart, J.]]''', concurring in the judgment) (on the meaning of "hardcore pornography").[[note]]Usually dropped from the quote is the remainder of that sentence, "...and the motion picture involved in this case is not that." The film in question was Creator/LouisMalle's 1958 drama ''Film/TheLovers'' , a popular {{French film|s}} that involved some (in retrospect fairly tame) sex scenes and a plotline that depicted [[SympatheticAdulterer a married woman's adultery in a sympathetic light]]. The State of UsefulNotes/{{Ohio}} officially declared the film obscene and prohibited it from being shown in theaters, and then prosecuted the manager of a UsefulNotes/{{Cleveland}}-area arthouse when he showed it anyway. He was convicted, and appealed all the way to the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court overturned the conviction on the grounds that the film was not obscene--but the members of the majority all presented different reasons for why ''The Lovers'' was not obscene. Of these, Stewart's was the most quotable. (Incidentally, Stewart himself was from Ohio--the only Ohioan on the Court at the time.) Stewart was a little bummed that this would be the quote he would be remembered for despite all his other work over the years, but he still accepted the fame.[[/note]]

A quick note: There is a section near the end titled ''Porn is made up, not real''. This is a very important section to read if you enjoy pornography, but are lacking in RealLife experience. To put it simply here - watching an [[ActionGenre action movie]] in ''no way'' prepares you on how to handle a terrorist situation in RealLife, so in no way should you expect the porn you like to prepare you for any real life sexual experience. Reality is always... well, real.

[[TheMagazineRule Pornographic magazines]] first appeared in France in the beginning of the 20th century and, er, spread. Magazines advertising a "nudist lifestyle" were published with the stated intention of celebrating the nudist lifestyle, but were flimsy excuses to sell pictures of young naked people. There was (and still exists) [[UsefulNotes/{{Nudism}} a large non-sexual family nudist movement at the time]], and money was made through this loophole then as it is today. Even legitimate nudist organizations knew that money could be made off of this that -- at least -- went to the nudist cause.[[note]]Actual nudists -- whose personal feelings on pornography vary as it does for everyone -- are forever frustrated by the fact that so many people's ''only'' experience with nudity is through porn.[[/note]] Another common excuse, particularly for [[MrFanservice male imagery]], was the "fitness magazine", featuring very-scantily-clad men (or even [[HandOrObjectUnderwear unclad men]]) and were particularly popular with gay men, at a time when [[HideYourGays openly catering to their tastes was impossible/illegal]]. Many people would [[PoorMansPorn use anything they could find that was like porn]], such as Magazine/NationalGeographic (The TropeNamer for NationalGeographicNudity). In 1953 Hugh Hefner published the first issue of ''Magazine/{{Playboy}}'', which became wildly popular. ''Playboy'' was more acceptable among people because in addition to the pictures there were very good articles by famous, noteworthy personalities -- thus breaking into the mainstream. It wasn't as "naughty" to admit you read ''Playboy'' because you could always say "IReadItForTheArticles". In the 1960's inexpensive instant-film cameras like Polaroid became available, allowing people to create their own pornography without having to find a private photographer or developer.

The motion picture appeared in the late 1880's and pornography quickly followed. Theaters started showing a late-night pornographic movie -- a much cheaper alternative to a strip show because the theater did not have to find, pay or deal with models and strippers and replace them when they got "old". Eventually theaters which played only adult films opened up -- while people felt uncomfortable going to a theater to watch pornography with a group of strangers, many still did. In the 1970's pay-per-view came into being, where a scrambled channel would be unscrambled upon calling your cable provider and agreeing for the charge to be on your bill -- major sports events were publicly advertised, but pornography was the money maker[[note]]The scramble was not perfect, and sometimes [[PoorMansPorn people would sit watching the scramble for a glimpse of a breast, etc.]] In some cases, since the signal was analog, slightly mistuning the channel would result in a near perfect video, albeit without sound[[/note]]. In the 1980's Video Cassette Recorders made it possible to watch pornography in your own home, effectively driving the videocassette industry. The pornography industry's preference for VHS over Betamax was influential in deciding that format war in VHS's favor. If you didn't want to buy the videos, most "Mom and Pop" video stores had a back room where you could rent a movie or had a folder you could choose a video from. The video camera, as with the Polaroid Camera before it, allowed for the creation of [[HomePornMovie personal pornographic films]].

As computers became entertainment machines adult [[VideoGameGenres video games]] started to appear, and in an [[AvertedTrope aversion]] to TheRuleOfFirstAdopters did ''not'' drive the new industry. Among the earliest games to make news was ''Custer's Revenge'' (1982, by Mistique), a third-party game for the Platform/{{Atari 2600}}. The game involved moving Custer across the screen to have sex with a Native American woman. Women's groups and Native Americans were particularly displeased with the implied rape ''and'' ''Custer's Revenge'' outsold Mistique's other adult titles due to the controversy. [[Creator/{{Atari}} Atari]] took notice of this, but before it could act either way, Mistique and most other small gaming companies went out of business in MediaNotes/TheGreatVideoGameCrashOf1983. Most early pornographic games were hampered by the limits of technology at the time -- graphics took up space. Some InteractiveFiction games such as ''VideoGame/LeatherGoddessesOfPhobos'' were pornographic in nature, despite being mostly or only text. StripPoker simulators (in the west) and Strip Mahjong simulators (in the east) were popular because they only required four or five low-res graphics of a person in various states of undress programmed into an already-existing game. Eventually processing power caught up and better graphics were used, but by this time most major console makers didn't feel a need to create pornographic content games because their systems are profitable enough by themselves, and learned from Atari and ''Custer's Revenge'' to reserve the right to screen all titles for their systems. Creator/{{Acclaim}} released ''BMX XXX'' with fanfare in 2002, which featured bare breasts both digital and video-- which led to retailers like Walmart refusing to stock the game[[note]]Creator/{{Sony}} refused to sell the game for its Platform/{{Playstation 2}} unless it covered up the breasts, but oddly enough family-friendly Creator/{{Nintendo}} released the nude version for [[Platform/NintendoGameCube Gamecube]].[[/note]]. Small gaming studios still produce sexual games, but the fact that these games continue to be controversial with the public, most major stores won't sell [[Platform/AdultsOnlyRatingESRB Adults Only-rated]] titles, plus the feeling that [[WhatDoYouMeanItsNotForKids video games are primarily for kids and teenagers]] anyway has kept pornography out of mainstream video gaming.

It is especially important to remember that ''fiction is not reality.'' There is a danger with pornography if a person has trouble [[CannotTellFictionFromReality differentiating what is fiction from what is reality]] - and many people [[BookSmart use pornography for years]] before actually getting the chance to experience sex. Keep in mind that UsefulNotes/{{consent}} is a tricky issue. Because pornography is private, a person may not realize that what they enjoy seeing or reading about might not be what your lover or society may agree with, and [[PoorCommunicationKills not checking on this ahead of time with your partner can destroy a relationship and lead to uncomfortable or even dangerous results]]. It's smart to [[BoringButPractical start off slow]] in an intimate, sexual relationship and ''talk'' about your personal kinks first before doing them, to give a person a chance to react or say no[[note]]and if they say no, respect it and move on with your life[[/note]]. The chance to have sexual activity with a new partner - especially for [[TheirFirstTime the first time]] - rarely means a person's perfect porn fantasy is about to come true.

Keep in mind [[ProudBeauty a particularly attractive performer can usually pick and choose their roles]] in the entertainment industry, so to fall to porn as an actor usually happens when [[IWasYoungAndNeededTheMoney a person is very desperate for a job]] -- and the porn industry is always hiring.[[note]]However some actors and actresses can and do go directly into the adult film industry, it is not entirely people "down-on-their-luck". People who have established careers in nude dancing, stripping and as nude models sometimes consider this a step in their careers, and often have friends already working in the industry.[[/note]] Actors of both genders in softcore movies tend to be more attractive because these films carry less "[[OldShame baggage]]" that an actor may have to deal with if they make it big later. For an example, before he became a star, Creator/SylvesterStallone found himself homeless and sleeping in a bus station, so he did a softcore film ''The Party at Kitty and Stud's'' (1970) for $200.[[note]]That's about $1,200 in 2015.[[/note]]

'''Hardcore''', on the other hand, generally has ''at most'' an ExcusePlot ([[PornWithoutPlot or none at all]]) and refers to graphic depictions of unsimulated penetration -- whenever you can actually see the sexual contact occurring.[[note]]A penis or a sex toy ''visibly'' entering another person's body through ''any venue'' and not obscured by the actors' bodies or [[ObscuredSpecialEffects just offscreen]], etc.[[/note]] When used to describe porn in a medium that, by definition, ''can't'' involve real humans having real sex (such as [[{{Hentai}} animation]] or literature), use of the term "hardcore" instead refers to graphic descriptions of extreme fetishes, and/or acts that would be deadly, injurious, or criminal in RealLife. (For example, a romance novel or SlashFic featuring vanilla sex is generally not considered "hardcore," even if the sex is floridly described and focused on -- one featuring graphically described/drawn ''rape'' or bodily waste fetishes ''would'' be considered hardcore, and generally would be seen as requiring a UsefulNotes/{{trigger}} warning as well.)

Lower-budget hardcore films tend to have actors who are near the UnintentionalUncannyValley because skills not necessarily associated with beauty become far more helpful -- attractive people don't exactly line up to be CoveredInGunge, it's usually "the first person who agrees to do it". To do multiple scenes of hardcore pornography in one day (as is often expected with the cheap production values and quick turnaround), requires a ''lot'' of stamina[[note]]If you don't think sex is hard work, you probably haven't had it yet.[[/note]] for all performers involved and for men the [[UselessSuperpowers rather rare ability to ejaculate a large amount on demand more than once a day]].

The motion picture appeared in the late 1880's and pornography quickly followed. Theaters started showing a late-night pornographic movie -- a much cheaper alternative to a strip show because the theater did not have to find, pay or deal with models and strippers and replace them when they got "old". Eventually theaters which played only adult films opened up -- while people felt uncomfortable going to a theater to watch pornography with a group of strangers, many still did. In the 1970's pay-per-view came into being, where a scrambled channel would be unscrambled upon calling your cable provider and agreeing for the charge to be on your bill -- major sports events were publicly advertised, but pornography was the money maker[[note]]The scramble was not perfect, and sometimes [[PoorMansPorn people would sit watching the scramble for a glimpse of a breast, etc.]] In some cases, since the signal was analog, slightly mistuning the channel would result in a near perfect video, albeit without sound[[/note]]. In the 1980's Video Cassette Recorders made it possible to watch pornography in your own home, effectively driving the videocassette industry. If you didn't want to buy the videos, most "Mom and Pop" video stores had a back room where you could rent a movie or had a folder you could choose a video from. The video camera, as with the Polaroid Camera before it, allowed for the creation of [[HomePornMovie personal pornographic films]].

-->--'''''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jacobellis_v._Ohio Jacobellis v. Ohio]]''''', [[https://scholar.google.com/scholar_case?case=15356452945994377133&q=378+U.S.+184&hl=en&as_sdt=3,39#p197 378 U.S. 184, 197]] (1964) ('''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Potter_Stewart Stewart, J.]]''', concurring in the judgment) (on the meaning of "hardcore pornography").[[note]]Usually dropped from the quote is the remainder of that sentence, "...and the motion picture involved in this case is not that." The film in question was Creator/LouisMalle's 1958 drama ''The Lovers'' , a popular {{French film|s}} that involved some (in retrospect fairly tame) sex scenes and a plotline that depicted [[SympatheticAdulterer a married woman's adultery in a sympathetic light]]. The State of UsefulNotes/{{Ohio}} officially declared the film obscene and prohibited it from being shown in theaters, and then prosecuted the manager of a UsefulNotes/{{Cleveland}}-area arthouse when he showed it anyway. He was convicted, and appealed all the way to the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court overturned the conviction on the grounds that the film was not obscene--but the members of the majority all presented different reasons for why ''The Lovers'' was not obscene. Of these, Stewart's was the most quotable. (Incidentally, Stewart himself was from Ohio--the only Ohioan on the Court at the time.) Stewart was a little bummed that this would be the quote he would be remembered for despite all his other work over the years, but he still accepted the fame.[[/note]]

As computers became entertainment machines adult [[VideoGameGenres video games]] started to appear, and in an [[AvertedTrope aversion]] to TheRuleOfFirstAdopters did ''not'' drive the new industry. Among the earliest games to make news was ''Custer's Revenge'' (1982, by Mistique), a third-party game for the UsefulNotes/{{Atari 2600}}. The game involved moving Custer across the screen to have sex with a Native American woman. Women's groups and Native Americans were particularly displeased with the implied rape ''and'' ''Custer's Revenge'' outsold Mistique's other adult titles due to the controversy. [[Creator/{{Atari}} Atari]] took notice of this, but before it could act either way, Mistique and most other small gaming companies went out of business in UsefulNotes/TheGreatVideoGameCrashOf1983. Most early pornographic games were hampered by the limits of technology at the time -- graphics took up space. Some InteractiveFiction games such as ''VideoGame/LeatherGoddessesOfPhobos'' were pornographic in nature, despite being mostly or only text. StripPoker simulators (in the west) and Strip Mahjong simulators (in the east) were popular because they only required four or five low-res graphics of a person in various states of undress programmed into an already-existing game. Eventually processing power caught up and better graphics were used, but by this time most major console makers didn't feel a need to create pornographic content games because their systems are profitable enough by themselves, and learned from Atari and ''Custer's Revenge'' to reserve the right to screen all titles for their systems. Creator/{{Acclaim}} released ''BMX XXX'' with fanfare in 2002, which featured bare breasts both digital and video-- which led to retailers like Walmart refusing to stock the game[[note]]Creator/{{Sony}} refused to sell the game for its UsefulNotes/{{Playstation 2}} unless it covered up the breasts, but oddly enough family-friendly Creator/{{Nintendo}} released the nude version for [[UsefulNotes/NintendoGameCube Gamecube]].[[/note]]. Small gaming studios still produce sexual games, but the fact that these games continue to be controversial with the public, most major stores won't sell [[UsefulNotes/AdultsOnlyRatingESRB Adults Only-rated]] titles, plus the feeling that [[WhatDoYouMeanItsNotForKids video games are primarily for kids and teenagers]] anyway has kept pornography out of mainstream video gaming.

The motion picture appeared in the late 1880's and pornography quickly followed. Theaters started showing a late-night pornographic movie -- a much cheaper alternative to a strip show because the theater did not have to find, pay or deal with models and strippers and replace them when they got "old". Eventually theaters which played only adult films opened up -- while people felt uncomfortable going to a theater to watch pornography with a group of strangers, many still did. In the 1970's pay-per-view came into being, where a scrambled channel -- this was changed to a flat blue screen in the late 1980's -- would be unscrambled upon calling your cable provider and agreeing for the charge to be on your bill -- major sports events were publicly advertised, but pornography was the money maker[[note]]The scramble was not perfect, and sometimes [[PoorMansPorn people would sit watching the scramble for a glimpse of a breast, etc.]] In some cases, since the signal was analog, slightly mistuning the channel would result in a near perfect video, albeit without sound[[/note]]. In the 1980's Video Cassette Recorders made it possible to watch pornography in your own home, effectively driving the videocassette industry. If you didn't want to buy the videos, most "Mom and Pop" video stores had a back room where you could rent a movie or had a folder you could choose a video from. The video camera, as with the Polaroid Camera before it, allowed for the creation of [[HomePornMovie personal pornographic films]].

[[TheMagazineRule Pornographic magazines]] first appeared in France in the beginning of the 20th century and [[JustForPun spread.]] Magazines advertising a "nudist lifestyle" were published with the stated intention of celebrating the nudist lifestyle, but were flimsy excuses to sell pictures of young naked people. There was (and still exists) [[UsefulNotes/{{Nudism}} a large non-sexual family nudist movement at the time]], and money was made through this loophole then as it is today. Even legitimate nudist organizations knew that money could be made off of this that -- at least -- went to the nudist cause.[[note]]Actual nudists -- whose personal feelings on pornography vary as it does for everyone -- are forever frustrated by the fact that so many people's ''only'' experience with nudity is through porn.[[/note]] Another common excuse, particularly for [[MrFanservice male imagery]], was the "fitness magazine", featuring very-scantily-clad men (or even [[HandOrObjectUnderwear unclad men]]) and were particularly popular with gay men, at a time when [[HideYourGays openly catering to their tastes was impossible/illegal]]. Many people would [[PoorMansPorn use anything they could find that was like porn]], such as Magazine/NationalGeographic (The TropeNamer for NationalGeographicNudity). In 1953 Hugh Hefner published the first issue of ''Magazine/{{Playboy}}'', which became wildly popular. ''Playboy'' was more acceptable among people because in addition to the pictures there were very good articles by famous, noteworthy personalities -- thus breaking into the mainstream. It wasn't as "naughty" to admit you read ''Playboy'' because you could always say "IReadItForTheArticles". In the 1960's inexpensive instant-film cameras like Polaroid became available, allowing people to create their own pornography without having to find a private photographer or developer.

As computers became entertainment machines adult [[VideoGameGenres video games]] started to appear, and in an [[AvertedTrope aversion]] to TheRuleOfFirstAdopters did ''not'' drive the new industry. Among the earliest games to make news was ''Custer's Revenge'' (1982, by Mistique), a third-party game for the UsefulNotes/{{Atari 2600}}. The game involved moving Custer across the screen to have sex with an Native American woman. Women's groups and Native Americans were particularly displeased with the implied rape ''and'' ''Custer's Revenge'' outsold Mistique's other adult titles due to the controversy. [[Creator/{{Atari}} Atari]] took notice of this, but before it could act either way, Mistique and most other small gaming companies went out of business in UsefulNotes/TheGreatVideoGameCrashOf1983. Most early pornographic games were hampered by the limits of technology at the time -- graphics took up space. Some InteractiveFiction games such as ''VideoGame/LeatherGoddessesOfPhobos'' were pornographic in nature, despite being mostly or only text. StripPoker simulators (in the west) and Strip Mahjong simulators (in the east) were popular because they only required four or five low-res graphics of a person in various states of undress programmed into an already-existing game. Eventually processing power caught up and better graphics were used, but by this time most major console makers didn't feel a need to create pornographic content games because their systems are profitable enough by themselves, and learned from Atari and ''Custer's Revenge'' to reserve the right to screen all titles for their systems. Creator/{{Acclaim}} released ''BMX XXX'' with fanfare in 2002, which featured bare breasts both digital and video-- which led to retailers like Walmart refusing to stock the game[[note]]Creator/{{Sony}} refused to sell the game for its UsefulNotes/{{Playstation 2}} unless it covered up the breasts, but oddly enough family-friendly Creator/{{Nintendo}} released the nude version for [[UsefulNotes/NintendoGameCube Gamecube]].[[/note]]. Small gaming studios still produce sexual games, but the fact that these games continue to be controversial with the public, most major stores won't sell [[UsefulNotes/AdultsOnlyRatingESRB Adults Only-rated]] titles, plus the feeling that [[WhatDoYouMeanItsNotForKids video games are primarily for kids and teenagers]] anyway has kept pornography out of mainstream video gaming.

As computers became entertainment machines adult [[VideoGameGenres video games]] started to appear, and in an [[AvertedTrope aversion]] to TheRuleOfFirstAdopters did ''not'' drive the new industry. Among the earliest games to make news was ''Custer's Revenge'' (1982, by Mistique), a third-party game for the UsefulNotes/{{Atari 2600}}. The game involved moving Custer across the screen to have sex with an Indian woman. Women's groups and Native Americans were particularly displeased with the implied rape ''and'' ''Custer's Revenge'' outsold Mistique's other adult titles due to the controversy. [[Creator/{{Atari}} Atari]] took notice of this, but before it could act either way, Mistique and most other small gaming companies went out of business in UsefulNotes/TheGreatVideoGameCrashOf1983. Most early pornographic games were hampered by the limits of technology at the time -- graphics took up space. Some InteractiveFiction games such as ''VideoGame/LeatherGoddessesOfPhobos'' were pornographic in nature, despite being mostly or only text. StripPoker simulators (in the west) and Strip Mahjong simulators (in the east) were popular because they only required four or five low-res graphics of a person in various states of undress programmed into an already-existing game. Eventually processing power caught up and better graphics were used, but by this time most major console makers didn't feel a need to create pornographic content games because their systems are profitable enough by themselves, and learned from Atari and ''Custer's Revenge'' to reserve the right to screen all titles for their systems. Creator/{{Acclaim}} released ''BMX XXX'' with fanfare in 2002, which featured bare breasts both digital and video-- which led to retailers like Walmart refusing to stock the game[[note]]Creator/{{Sony}} refused to sell the game for its UsefulNotes/{{Playstation 2}} unless it covered up the breasts, but oddly enough family-friendly Creator/{{Nintendo}} released the nude version for [[UsefulNotes/NintendoGameCube Gamecube]].[[/note]]. Small gaming studios still produce sexual games, but the fact that these games continue to be controversial with the public, most major stores won't sell [[UsefulNotes/AdultsOnlyRatingESRB Adults Only-rated]] titles, plus the feeling that [[WhatDoYouMeanItsNotForKids video games are primarily for kids and teenagers]] anyway has kept pornography out of mainstream video gaming.

[[OlderThanDirt Pornography is absolutely nothing new to society]] -- the word pornography comes from the Greek ''pornographos'' meaning "writing about [[TheOldestProfession prostitutes]]". Depictions of nudes and nudes having sex have been found from every era, and while the intentions of each individual artist (and the feelings of anyone who may have disliked such depictions) are lost to history it is safe to say pornographic depictions were as popular among the populace then as today. Wood carvings, vases, figurines, paintings, cave paintings, you name it -- it's been used to portray sexual images. Not a single culture was immune to this, no matter how far separate from the rest of the world. This wasn't always about being bawdy, keep in mind -- in many cultures fertility and number of children produced gave a person high status, so it's not too much of a stretch that there was a bit of worship of sexual imagery and images to match -- if the imagery turned people on and [[CoitusEnsues got them making babies]], good on it.

The history of pornography is a tough thing to nail down. Pornography today, as it has been through history, is a sensitive and private subject. People didn't usually talk about it or share it with others. It was usually hidden away, and when it was discovered by others it was either destroyed or secretly added to someone else's [[PornStash stash]]. Because many religions held, and polite society at least pretended to hold, a negative view about pornography few books or papers were written about the phenomenon, and collections had a way of disappearing before anyone could see or catalog them. A lot of it was probably hand drawn or painted and before long destroyed or painted over. Sometimes it was even the owner doing so out of guilt. Some examples of pornographic artwork from antiquity survive, but when they do they usually have historical/monetary value or artistic merit, and are not what the "everyman" [[ADateWithRosiePalms used]].

Erotica in literature has been around a long time -- some people consider portions of Literature/TheBible (the ''[[Literature/SongOfSongs Song of Solomon]]'', specifically[[note]]Such as "Your breasts are like two fawns, like twin fawns of a gazelle that browse among the lilies" [=SoS=] 4:5, [=NIV=].[[/note]]) to be this. Some works often considered to be pornographic are actually meant to instruct more than to arouse, such as the ''Literature/KamaSutra'', the ancient Hindu work on sexual positions. More on this type of literature can be found on the EroticLiterature page. Many distinguish erotic fiction from pornography, but as with almost everything involving sexual subject matter, the differences can be subjective -- for instance the "trashy" RomanceNovel has been cited by some to be a kind of pornography itself due to [[CoitusEnsues gratuitous sex scenes]] and [[StrictlyFormula formulaic]], distilled romance [[Administrivia/TropesAreTools designed to arouse passions in the reader]]; but this is a hot topic as some dissenters feel pornography must include visual imagery, or that [[OpinionMyopia books that they like can't possibly be porn]].

-->--'''''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jacobellis_v._Ohio Jacobellis v. Ohio]]''''', [[https://scholar.google.com/scholar_case?case=15356452945994377133&q=378+U.S.+184&hl=en&as_sdt=3,39#p197 378 U.S. 184, 197]] (1964) ('''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Potter_Stewart Stewart, J.]]''', concurring in the judgment) (on the meaning of "hardcore pornography").[[note]]Usually dropped from the quote is the remainder of that sentence, "...and the motion picture involved in this case is not that." The film in question was Creator/LouisMalle's 1958 drama ''The Lovers'' , a popular {{French film|s}} that involved some (in retrospect fairly tame) sex scenes and a plotline that depicted [[SympatheticAdulterer a married woman's adultery in a sympathetic light]]. The State of UsefulNotes/{{Ohio}} officially declared the film obscene and prohibited it from being shown in theaters, and then prosecuted the manager of a UsefulNotes/{{Cleveland}}-area arthouse when he showed it anyway. He was convicted, but Supreme Court overturned the conviction on the grounds that the film was not obscene--but the members of the majority all presented different reasons for why ''The Lovers'' was not obscene. Of these, Stewart's was the most quotable. (Incidentally, Stewart himself was from Ohio--the only Ohioan on the Court at the time.) Stewart was a little bummed that this would be the quote he would be remembered for despite all his other work over the years, but he still accepted the fame.[[/note]]

* An interesting snapshot of the state of pornography as an industry can be found in Creator/DavidFosterWallace's longform essay "Big Red Son"[[note]]Collected in ''Consider the Lobster'' (2005), originally published in the September 1998 edition of ''Premiere'' magazine as "Neither Adult Nor Entertainment"[[/note]] about his attendance at the 15th Adult Video News Awards (the closest thing the porn industry has to the Oscars) in January 1998. This essay is especially interesting as it describes porn ''just as'' the Internet was starting to revolutionize it, and describes several trends that would continue through the first era of Internet porn (i.e. before the rise of porn streaming sites c. 2010). It's also at once quite deep and quite funny in Wallace's characteristic way.