Sex Porn movies

Pornographic films are motion pictures that explicitly depict sexual intercourse and other sexual acts, typically for the purpose of sexual arousal in the viewer. They appeared shortly after the creation of the motion picture in the early 1900s. Pornographic films have much in common with other forms of pornography. Pornography is often referred to as "porn" and a pornographic work as a "porno." Older names for a pornographic movie include "adult film," "stag film," and "blue movie." In general, "softcore" refers to pornography that does not depict penetration or "extreme fetish" acts, while "hardcore" refers to pornography that depicts penetration and/or extreme fetish acts.

Throughout its history, the movie camera has been used for pornography, but for most of that time pornographic movies were typically available only by underground distribution, for projection at home or in private clubs and also night cinemas. Only in the 1970s were pornographic films semi-legitimized; by the 1980s, pornography on home video achieved distribution unimagined only decades earlier. The rise of the internet in the late 1990s and early 2000s similarly changed distribution of pornography, and furthermore complicated legal prosecution of obscenity.

Pornography is a thriving, financially profitable business: according to a 2004 Reuters article, "The multi-billion-dollar industry releases about 11,000 titles on DVD each year, giving it tremendous power to sway the battle between two groups of studios and technology companies competing to set standards for the next generation".

1960s and 1970s: Changing laws, changing attitudes

In the 1960s, some attitudes towards the depiction of sexuality began to change. European movies like Kärlekens Språk (1969) were sexually explicit, but were framed as a quasi-documentaries, which made their legal status uncertain.

In 1969, Denmark became the first country to legalize hardcore pornography, and soon started producing theatrical feature film sex comedies such as Bordellet (1972) and I Jomfruens tegn (1973), starring mainstream actors and usually not thought of as "porno films" though including hardcore pornographic scenes.

One important court case in the U.S. was Miller v. California. The case established that obscenity was not legally protected, but the case also established the Miller test, a three-pronged test to determine obscenity (which is not legal) as opposed to indecency (which may or may not be legal).

Porno chic

More permissive legislation permitted the rise of "XXX-rated" movie theaters in the United States 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 Johnny Wadd, Debbie Does Dallas, Juan Does Debbie, Deep Throat, Behind the Green Door, Boys in the Sand 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. These helped establish "porno chic" as a cultural trend.

1970s and 1980s: New technology, new legal cases

With the arrival of the home video cassette recorder in the late 1970s and early 1980s, the pornographic movie industry experienced massive growth and spawned adult stars like Ginger Lynn, Christy Canyon, and Traci Lords. One could now not only watch pornography in the comfort and privacy of one's own home, but also find more choices available to satisfy specific fantasies and fetishes. Similarly, the camcorder spurred changes in pornography in the 1980s, when people could make their own amateur sex movies, whether for private use, or for wider distribution.

It has been suggested that, among other things, Sony Betamax lost the format war to VHS (in becoming the general home video recording/viewing system) because the adult video industry chose VHS instead of the technically superior Sony system. 1987 saw an important legal case in the U.S. when the de facto result of California v. Freeman was the legalization of hardcore pornography. Ironically, the prosecution of Harold Freeman was initially planned as the first in a series of legal cases that would have effectively outlawed the production of such movies.

2000s

Attitudes to the portrayal of sexual activities on film and on television have become more open in this decade. For example, the film The Idiots, a Danish film made in 1998, was shown on UK TV in 2005. It includes nudity, an orgy scene, and a full sexual intercourse scene complete with close-up footage of the act. The camera viewpoint was from the ankles of the participants, and the close ups left no-doubt as to what was taking place. These scenes were included when the film was shown on the national TV channel Channel 4. The film has won many international awards for best film and various other film industry awards. Pornographic movies are also known in eastern Asia as "Panu."

List of porn stars HALL OF FAME films: