por·nog·ra·phy n.
1. Sexually explicit pictures, writing, or other material whose primary purpose is to cause sexual arousal.
2. The presentation or production of this material.
3. Lurid or sensational material: "Recent novels about the Holocaust have kept Hitler well offstage [so as] to avoid the ... pornography of the era" (Morris Dickstein).
[French pornographie, from pornographe, pornographer, from Late Greek pornographos, writing about prostitutes : porn, prostitute; see per-5 in Indo-European roots + graphein, to write; see -graphy.]
Timeless beauty Raquel Welch granted an interview to Men's Health. In it, the sex symbol lamented the pornification of our culture. Here are some interesting excerpts...
I think we’ve gotten to the point in our culture where we’re all sex addicts, literally. We have equated happiness in life with as many orgasms as you can possibly pack in, regardless of where it is that you deposit your love interest.
It’s just dehumanizing. And I have to honestly say, I think this era of porn is at least partially responsible for it. Where is the anticipation and the personalization? It’s all pre-fab now. You have these images coming at you unannounced and unsolicited. It just gets to be so plastic and phony to me. Maybe men respond to that. But is it really better than an experience with a real life girl that he cares about?
And it makes for laziness and a not very good sex partner. Do they know how to negotiate something that isn’t pre-fab and injected directly into their brain?
I don’t care if I’m becoming one of those old fogies who says, “Back in my day we didn’t have to hear about sex all the time.” Can you imagine? My fantasies were all made up on my own.
They’re ruining us with all the explanations and the graphicness. Nobody remembers what it’s like to be left to form your own ideas about what’s erotic and sexual. We’re not allowed any individuality. I thought that was the fun of the whole thing. It’s my fantasy. I didn’t pick it off the Internet somewhere. It’s my fantasy. (Men's Health)
Porn: It's not just about sex!
In my lexicon, porn is anything taken to a perverted extreme.
Frankenfood and fast food have replaced real food. Obesity and diabetes are almost epidemic as manufactured comestibles that never spoil make fresh perishable food so passe'. High fructose corn syrup and a thousand other chemical inventions crowd out the sustenance and tasty viands that filled our ancestors' larders.
Facebook and online virtual worlds takes the place of face to face interaction in the real world. We bowl alone. Video games have us sitting on our asses instead of going out and playing real games
New feel-good Christianity, grounded in monetary success and perpetual happiness tries to erase all that scary talk about hell, the devil, suffering, sacrifice and following Jesus Christ.
Government paychecks replace a hard-earned one. The government family supplants the real ones, housing, clothing and feeding us. They even teach us how to sneeze and admonish us to eat our veggies!
Rightwing porn and leftwing porn replace real dialog, reasoned analysis and intellectually-honest debate.
Economic pornography leads to demographic death. Work and self-worship leave no room for children. Europe is facing it, and Asia is firmly in the grip, most sadly for Confucian cultures who revere their elders. The number of unmarried Japanese men who will have no progeny to revere them continues to climb, with 20% of 50 year-olds having no spouse or children.
I remember Jimmy Coburn once said to me, “You know what’s the sexiest thing of all? A little mystery.” -- Raquel Welch
