In the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, pornography consisted of printed or visual material that was available only on the margins of society. Individuals who bought pornographic literature would feel embarrassed if they were seen by others. Salacious and obscene magazines were kept in brown envelopes; buying porn was a dirty little secret between shop assistant and consumer.

 

That was then. Today, pornography has gone mainstream. It has been so normalised that people talk openly about ‘my porn’. Porn talk is a part of modern-day conversation.

Some of today’s debates about pornography are just a clash of views over what constitutes ‘good’ or ‘healthy’ or ‘appropriate’ porn. ‘We need better lesbian scenes, not ones that blatantly pander to men, with heterosexual actresses looking vaguely nauseated as they gingerly trail their fake nails across each others’ breast implants’, argues one commentator and avid connoisseur of porn.