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What does it matter?
I think that's an excellent question
I asked that question on the other poll and Hands bit mine.
Porn is base, erotica is elevated
The best definition I heard on the difference between porn and erotica was on a documentary.
Someone said, "If you have to think about it (whether it's porn or erotica), then it's erotica."
Comments from an old woman who has seen early black and white silent adult movies once called stag films, early sex magazines, and was treated like a trashy sex toy by my own family. I grew up going with my husband where other women feared to go. I was often the only or among the few at adult movie houses and small neighborhood strip clubs.I think the terms "porn" and "erotica" have different connotations, but ultimately they're mostly kinda-sorta the same thing. Not important enough for me to think about it too much.
What does it matter?
It matters, because in order to have a meaningful discussion, you have to have a shared vocabulary. You can't effectively discuss apples until you have agreed on a definition that differentiates apples from oranges.
Agreeing to a definition that draws a line between apples and oranges is easy - practically instinctive. A definition that does the same for porn and erotica is not. It may not be possible. Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart in 1964 could not define pornography, but famously wrote "I know it when I see it."
But I believe we are all here in the Literotica Forum to discuss pornography, erotica, sexuality and other such concepts. Having a shared definition would facilitate such discussions. It is in all of best interest to know what we mean when we choose one word over the other.
Now, that said, I don't believe for a second that we will ever settle the question. But the question is still worth asking occasionally if only to broaden our own perspective, expose us to the perspectives of others, and gain a better understanding of the complexity of the issue.
You'll never get a stable definition of porn because people's emotional reactions to the term vary so much.
It matters, because in order to have a meaningful discussion, you have to have a shared vocabulary. You can't effectively discuss apples until you have agreed on a definition that differentiates apples from oranges.