In the current issue of TIME magazine, they have a long article (worth reading for both film and porn buffs) on both classic porn. As is pointed out by Bacchus, the opening lines are a bit of a shocker if you think about what's really being said:
In hotel rooms where pornography is available, two-thirds of all movie purchases are for pornos; and the average time they are watched is 12 minutes. The image instantly summoned is of the traveling businessman who wants a smidge of sexual exercise before retiring, but who is too tired, timid or cheap to summon a call girl.
Now, others are opining about how horrible it would be to be Mary Corliss, wife of the author, since he appears to be saying that he thinks a guy that watches porn instead of calling a prostitute is copping out — I think Rachel would take out a hit on me if I ever wrote a comment like that! However, what I found much more interesting is the comment it makes about sexual attitudes. After all, this isn't writing on some cheesy porn blog — this is TIME magazine!
It's one thing for pornography to have mainstreamed to the point where it can be written about without denouncement and moralizing it to death, but the fact that comments saying that it's not only as normal but better to patronize an escort service than rent an adult video can be nonchalantly dropped in a mainstream magazine really blows me away. I think it's probably a good sign for where society is going, but while on one hand the sexual permissiveness of a culture is a good mark of its freedom and liberty, sexual permissiveness also spikes right before the demise of a complex society.
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