Pornography in the United States Pornographic literature in the United States Playboy Penthouse Hustler Fetish magazines Pornographic movies in the United States The movie camera has been used for pornography throughout its history, but pornographic movies were for most of that time typically only available in the United States by underground distribution, for projection at home or in private clubs. The 1970s More permissive legislation permitted the rise of "XXX-rated" movie theaters in the U.S. in the 1970s. There was also a proliferation of coin-operated "movie booths" in sex shops that displayed pornographic "loops" (so-called because they projected a movie from film arranged in a continuous loop). At that time, pornographic movies even approached acceptance into the mainstream movie industry, with films such as Deep Throat, Behind the Green Door and Gerard Damiano's 1972 film The Devil in Miss Jones being shot on film with high production values, and grossing substantial amounts in movie theaters. 1980s and later A few large companies operating out of Southern California's San Fernando Valley are responsible for much of the pornography produced in the United States. The distribution of pornography has changed radically after the 1980s with videotape and cable television largely displacing X-rated theaters. Video distribution in turn is in the process of being replaced by DVD (and Internet distribution for niche markets). Distribution of pornography is a large industry which involves major entertainment companies such as AOL-Time Warner (which profits from pornography through its cable channels, and in-room movies provided by hotel chains). The prototypical female porn star in the United States is a Caucasian woman in her mid-twenties, wearing high heels, with bleached blond hair and with large breasts (usually augmented by breast implants) and buttocks, and often with tattoos and/or body piercing, and a dark suntan with tanlines. However, the prevalence of this stereotype has been decreasing in recent years. Men in heterosexual pornography tend to be older than the females and are often heavily muscled, whereas men in gay pornography are, on the average, younger. Gay actors, though, can range from slim and androgynous ("twinks") to very large and extremely hairy ("bears"). African American performers are abundantly male, while almost all Asian American performers are female. American pornography movies often attempt to promote pornographic stars, and the boxes for video tapes tend to be extremely gaudy. Plot in pornographic movies has diminished constantly over the last three decades and is now generally minimal. There are, however, some pornographic movies called couples films that are deliberately made for the female and/or heterosexual couple market, and these have more elements of plot in them as well as a generally more romantic treatment of the sexual aspects. With the advent of AIDS in the 1980s, HIV transmission between performers resulted in a number of deaths, including that of the famous erotic actor John Holmes. After this, the pornography industry instituted a system of testing for HIV designed to prevent the spread of the virus within the industry. In general, the pornography industry does not depict safer sex: mainstream pornographic movies now depict a range of behaviors including anal sex that are high risk activities for sexually transmitted disease transmission, as if the taboo status of these activities has made them more thrilling for the consumers of pornography. Anal sex and other similar activities are now part of U.S. heterosexual pornography in a way that was unprecedented before the outbreak of AIDS. See also: 18 U.S.C. 2257 28 C.F.R. 75 pornography in Europe pornography in Japan Most Popular Articles: Music    Musical Instruments    Guitar    Classical Music    History    Music Definition    Country Music    Rock Music    Pop Music    Hip Hop    Rap    DJ    Video Games    Casino Games    Poker    Blackjack    Casinos    Real Estate    Loan    Auction    eBay    Marketing    Search Engine Optimization    File Sharing    MP3    Music Industry    Kazaa    Internet    Supermodel    Fashion    Fashion Designers    Erotica    Modeling    Clothing    Boots    Shoes    Diamond Engagement Rings    Diamond    Rugs    Gospel Music    Affiliate    E-Commerce    Radio This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License at http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html You may copy and modify it as long as the entire work (including additions) remains under this license. You must provide a link to http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html To view or edit this article at Wikipedia go to http://www.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pornography_in_the_United_States