Porn Becoming Mainstream
by undermyspell - Adult Grind

From a University in the U.K. to an enormous bulletin board in Times Square to the daughter of a high profile businessman starring in her own home video, porn is becoming more and more mainstream despite what the critics and censors are saying.

A class taught in the U.K. at the University of Wolverhampton has taught a class for the last three years that incorporates the analysis of a porn movie into its curriculum. Of course it is known prior to signing up for the class that this subject matter is on the syllabus and there is a questionnaire passed out to the students asking which medium they prefer: print, video, electronic or none. Overwhelmingly the choice is for the presentation to be made via video. That's not a particularly surprising response considering most of the course participants are more than likely young healthy students in their sexual prime but the course professors say that the response to the screening of a 20 minute clip from a porn movie is not what you would expect. They report that the first few minutes of the clip produce the expected arousal and nervous tittering from the students but by the time they near the halfway point of the clip it turns to boredom and that all that is left at that point is to analyze the movie as it's being played. I think this shows that when people keep their wits about something and don't begin with the frame of mind of it being taboo or disgraceful then it can be looked at objectively and analyzed for it's entertainment or financial benefits.

Paris Hilton is another example of mainstream life crossing into the porn industry. Although it was not an intentional cross over and the benefits that she may reap were not necessary it shows how powerful and integrated porn has become in our lives. Since the releasing of the now infamous Paris Hilton Sex Tapes she has made guest appearances on Saturday Night Live done an interview with Jimmy Fallon and graced the cover of many tabloids, magazines and newspapers in the process. This young lady could end up with any number of exclusive contracts to put her story in print, film the ever present movie of the week or operate her own website.

Jenna Jameson - Every man, woman and child in the U.S. is sure to have heard of her at this point in the ballgame. She recently appeared on the Spike TV Video Game Awards and has also had a 48 foot tall bulletin board smack dab in the middle of Times Square advertising her Club Jenna. Jenna Jameson is gaining enough popularity that she is on the verge of being a self sufficient corporation. By the end of the decade i'm certain that she will have book deals, talk show deals, mainstream movie deals and all the commercials she could ever want to do. There are also reports that she is attempting to make the cross over from porn flicks to mainstream films. If you remember correctly several years ago there was another young temptress that did make the transformation to mainstream movies. Traci Lord, who was well known for her trysts on the porn circuit as a young lady "who incidentally did not give her correct age when beginning her work and did begin work as a minor" made a semi successful cross over to the mainstream world and has at least made a name for her self in two facets of the cinematic arena.

The omni present Ron Jeremy is also another of the porn stars that is hacking his way into the mainstream media world. He recently found himself cast for a WB show called Surreal Life which is another attempt at a hit reality prime time series. He also has a book in the works which is published by none other than Harper Collins.

There have been new prime time series launched about Porn Moguls, porn stars have starred in everything from commercials, to dating games, to music videos to cameos in feature Hollywood films. The new products and products that are needing facelifts often turn to the porn industry for talent to help them shake up the advertising world. What better way to breathe life into a stale product that by using a hot young porn star to tout the wares. We are also seeing a lot of cutting edge companies that want to stand out from the rest of the crowd using the porn talent pool to help keep them segregated from the standard old fare that we normally see when reading or tuning in to the boob tube. Although, we are not seeing a lot of the real racy stuff on local channels during prime time the world is starting to recognize these stars and starlets and give them a certain amount of guarded respect when it comes to their marketability.

I realize we have a long way to come especially given the recent outcry of "Nipplegate". Those of you that have been hiding in a closet should know that i'm referring to the brief flash of Janet Jackson's breast that was shown during halftime of the Super Bowl. But, if you honestly think about it we have been seeing porn for years although by today's standards it certainly wouldn't even be lumped into that category. Several years back I can remember hearing an older generation talking about looking forward to getting the Sears & Roebuck or JcPenney catalogs so they could see all the lingerie. I'm sure that at the time their parents would have fainted to know what their youngsters were thinking about and doing while perusing the pages of the seemingly innocent catalogs. I can also remember not so long ago that National Geographic was always a big hit when they did feature stories on various Indian and African tribes in which the women did not have anything covering their breasts. Once again.. shame shame on our nation for putting pornography into the hands of our youngsters. I think that as a whole we are ready to accept that lifestyles are becoming racier and more alternative and that we need to be as tolerant of porn becoming mainstream as we are of Billy Graham having hour long prayer sessions on local television. I think that to continue to evolve as a civilized and seemingly cultured world we need to be exposed to various aspects of life whether we agree with it or not.

Jan "undermyspell" Grady
Editor In Chief - Adult Grind