Amateur pornography is a category of pornography that features models or actors performing without pay, or for whom this material is their first or only paid modeling work. Reality pornography is professionally made porn which seeks to emulate the style of amateur pornography.[1] Amateur porn has been called one of the most profitable and long-lasting genres of pornography.[2]
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History
Amateur porn began to be popular in the 1980s, when people began recording their sex lives on camcorders and watching the results on VCRs.[2] Prior to this couples had to film themselves using Super 8 film which then had to be sent for processing.[2] Polaroid cameras allowed images to be produced immediately, without the need for sending the material out to the processing facility.[2]
Videos were initially shared for free, then amateurs began distributing their tapes for profit.[2] Watchersweb claims to be the first company to distribute amateur videos.[3] The company was founded in 1982 by some San Diego swingers who had been trading their videos with other couples. As demand for films to swap grew, they turned their hobby into a business, advertising for amateur exhibitionists around the world who sent in their private tapes.[3] Several professional porn stars were originally discovered by sending their amateur tapes to Homegrown, including Stephanie Swift, Melissa Hill and Rayveness.[3]
The advent of the internet and digital cameras allowed further privacy for producers and consumers of content, and enabled widespread low-cost distribution, and an ever growing variety and quantity of material.[2] It has been argued that in the internet age it has become more socially acceptable to make and view amateur porn.[2] Camera phones allowed video and images to be made, stored and distributed by teenagers or children who may be unaware of the possible consequences (see Sexting).[2] Images initially meant to be shared between couples could now be spread around the world.[2] There is now a growing amount of online amateur porn depicting underage models, created by young people themselves.[2]
The term Realcore has been used to describe digital amateur porn, which arose due to the combination of cheap digital cameras and the World Wide Web in the late 90s. The term refers both to how porn is made, with simple cameras and a documentary style, and how it is distributed, mostly for free, in Web communities or Usenet newsgroups. The term was invented by Sergio Messina, who first used it at the Ars Electronica Symposium in 2000, and was subsequently adopted by a number of authors and experts. Sergio Messina has written a book on the subject, entitled Realcore, the digital porno revolution.[4][5]
Amateur porn eventually influenced the rise of the celebrity sex tape, featuring stars like Pamela Anderson and Paris Hilton.[3]
The Effects of the Recession on the Pornography Business and the Rise of the "Mom & Pop" Pornography Sites
From 2007 to 2008, the United States professional adult entertainment industry saw a huge slump in sales due to the economic recession. Some pornography companies collapsed, while others cut back on film production. Porn stars suffered financially due to the lower production rates and DVD sales. [1]
In October 2008 The Weinstein Company distributed the film Zack and Miri Make a Porno. Although the professional industry based out of the San Fernando Valley in California was suffering, Kevin Smith's movie brought a financially viable pornography production method to the general public.[citation needed] Mimicking the movie, more amateurs sought extra income via adult internet pay sites. One example is small-time website My Girl Fantasy, which utilizes only volunteer actors, actresses, and models local to the area in which it is based.
User generated online content
- Main article: Porn 2.0
Like traditional magazine and VHS/DVD-based pornography, Internet pornography has long been a profitable venture. However, with the rise of Web 2.0 ventures and amateur pornography, websites based upon the YouTube platform of user-generated content and video sharing have become highly popular. By January 2008 a search for "porn" and "tube" returned 8.3 million results on Yahoo and 8.5 million on MSN.[6] Video hosting service "tube" websites feature free user-uploaded amateur pornography,[6] and have become the most visited pornography websites on the internet. Sites such as Pornhub, Keezmovies, Tube8, YouPorn, RedTube, or Xtube rank among the most visited websites on any subject. [2] Xtube for example receives 4.5 million unique visits per day.[6] On Xtube amateur content producers can sell their videos and webcam shows, with the website taking a commission.[6] One gay man is known to make $1,300 a week from his Xtube videos, with the site earning the same amount.[6]
Since the content of these websites is entirely free and of reasonably high quality, and because most of the videos are full-length instead of short clips, these websites have sharply cut in to the profits of pornographic paysites and traditional magazine and DVD-based pornography.[6][7] The profits of tube-site owners are also squeezed in an increasingly crowded market, with the number of sites constantly growing.[6]
References
- ^ Robert Clyde Allen, Annette Hill (2004). The television studies reader. Routledge. p. 565. ISBN 041528323X. http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=dzvg3NmTCKkC.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j Stephen Yagielowicz (2008-08-09). "The New Face of Amateur Porn". XBIZ. http://www.xbiz.com/articles/97733. Retrieved 2009-06-06.
- ^ a b c d Rodger Jacobs (2006-01-03). "Watchersweb". XBIZ. http://www.watchersweb.com. Retrieved 2009-06-06.
- ^ Jacobs, Katrien (2007). DIY Web Culture and Sexual Politics 0742554317 ISBN 9780742554313. Rowman & Littlefield Publishers.
- ^ Jacobs, Katrien; Pasquinelli, Matteo; Jannsen, Marie (2007). C'lick Me - A Netporn Studies Reader ISBN 978-90-78146-03-2. Institute of Network Cultures.
- ^ a b c d e f g Jett Lynn (2008-04-12). "The Deal with User-Generated Content". XBIZ. http://www.xbiz.com/articles/92416. Retrieved 2009-06-06.
- ^ Purveyors of porn scramble to keep up with Internet - USATODAY.com
External links
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