Where Is Porn Headed?

[HandsInTheDark]

I agree that computing power will put more physical contact in porn videos, but I actually expect that it won't be as "mainstream" as it is now. Too many people are pushing against it publicly, but that's happened for years. VR headsets, smell generators, and force-feedback body suits / underwear could be popular on the cheap side, and AI sex bots for the rich.

But erotica? The written stuff? Same thing as now, I'd wager.
You can read it on your phone/tablet while out in public anywhere, like I'm doing now on the bus. A dirty picture or video in public could get me a visit from the cops. Or public (non sexy) shaming.

The books are always better than the movies, right? In five years I'll probably still be writing smut, and hopefully selling it for $1million a year for two hours of typing per day. (HAHAHAHAHAH, riiiight)

I don't think the allure of written erotica will go away. From what history has shown us, it's always been sought after, and in pretty much every civilization.

Everything goes away eventually. If technology can provide both more stimulation and more convenience than reading does, reading erotica will die overnight. But so far it provides neither, and it should stay that way for most of anyone's lifetime here.

On the other hand, IBM's working on a 10,000 fold reduction in space needed for data. Portable quantum computing is still comfortably impossible, but they aren't done squeezing more computes out of smaller, less energy hungry spaces. And we're just at the very beginning of starting to actually understand the human brain. Sooner or later there'll be a technology that figures out exactly what your triggers are, hits them just right, and fits in a pocket. I'm not going to speculate any further because it becomes every sci-fi plot ever, but I can conceive of a world in which reading erotica is what your grandma did, but now everyone's got thubes. Mmmm, thubing....

 

[werdsmith]

if they could find something to trick your mind into the "first time I found my Dad's porn stash" feeling, it would be a game changer.

 

[Morwen]

I hope for a revolutionary backlash against the purveyors of pedo-porn. I hope they are lined up against a wall and shot. Pimps too. And anyone who thinks pimps are "cool" because they listen to shitty rap music. You're up against the wall too, motherfucker. Bang, bang.

 

[HandsInTheDark]

I hope for a revolutionary backlash against the purveyors of pedo-porn. I hope they are lined up against a wall and shot. Pimps too. And anyone who thinks pimps are "cool" because they listen to shitty rap music. You're up against the wall too, motherfucker. Bang, bang.

As much as I want pedo porn gone, and even as much as I have for no use for rap in general, what's really irritating me these days is the increased number of people who use "kill the fuckers" as a placeholder for "I disapprove." It's gotten out of hand in my country at least; to the point where people are openly shooting strangers over skin color and political opinion. Adults are supposed to be better than this.

Somehow the world has is dividing into hate-filled vandals and hand-wringing snowflakes, neither side capable of sane discourse or even facing reality.

Oh well. People who write like this eventually end up on my ignore list, so it's not like it's a problem without a solution.

 

[SamScribble]

The books are always better than the movies, right? ... I don't think the allure of written erotica will go away. From what history has shown us, it's always been sought after, and in pretty much every civilization.

I suspect that the big attraction of written erotica is that it happens in the reader's head. To a large extent it's the reader who casts the characters. Want the guy to be a bit taller? He can be. Want the woman to be a bit bustier? She can be. Want the granny to look like Raquel Welch? Hey, it's your call, sister.

 

[sr71plt]

I suspect that the big attraction of written erotica is that it happens in the reader's head. To a large extent it's the reader who casts the characters. Want the guy to be a bit taller? He can be. Want the woman to be a bit bustier? She can be. Want the granny to look like Raquel Welch? Hey, it's your call, sister.

That can happen if the author doesn't pin down the descriptions too much her/himself.

 

[oggbashan]

I suspect that the big attraction of written erotica is that it happens in the reader's head. To a large extent it's the reader who casts the characters. Want the guy to be a bit taller? He can be. Want the woman to be a bit bustier? She can be. Want the granny to look like Raquel Welch? Hey, it's your call, sister.

That can happen if the author doesn't pin down the descriptions too much her/himself.

That's why I'm not a normally a fan of illustrated books. Some work brilliantly e.g. Gustave Dore illustrations for Cervantes' Don Quixote, Meryvn Peake for Stevenson's Treasure Island, and some illustrators for H Rider Haggard.

Usually my imagination produces the images of characters. The illustrations can distract me and confuse my version of the people.

 

[rjordan]

I suspect that the big attraction of written erotica is that it happens in the reader's head. To a large extent it's the reader who casts the characters. Want the guy to be a bit taller? He can be. Want the woman to be a bit bustier? She can be. Want the granny to look like Raquel Welch? Hey, it's your call, sister.

It's tough with books that are made into movies. If I read the book first, I can usually accept the movie version as something a little different. If I see the movie first, I find it impossible to read the book without visualizing the movie characters. That's especially true when the stars are well known or the portrayals unique. It would be impossible to reread The Shining and not envision Jack Nicholson.

As long as people still read, there will be written erotica. At worst, it will just become more assimilated into other fiction as is being done now to some extent. There won't be much need for such a small specialized niche.

rj

 

[sr71plt]

It's tough with books that are made into movies. If I read the book first, I can usually accept the movie version as something a little different. If I see the movie first, I find it impossible to read the book without visualizing the movie characters. That's especially true when the stars are well known or the portrayals unique. It would be impossible to reread The Shining and not envision Jack Nicholson.

As long as people still read, there will be written erotica. At worst, it will just become more assimilated into other fiction as is being done now to some extent. There won't be much need for such a small specialized niche.

rj

I just experienced that. Coincidentally, I was watching the Masterpiece Theater series, Victoria, and reading Jean Plaidy's (pen name Victoria Holt) Victoria Victorious simultaneously (while running to the Internet to check out all of the houses/palaces mentioned). I found it gave an extra dimension to the read to have the TV actors in mind while I was reading. That doesn't mean that all of the TV actors matched my view of the actual person (since I'd also checked out the people on the Internet). It's marvelous to be able to do all that now that we have an extensive Internet.