ABSTRACT
It seems so obvious: If we invent a machine, the first thing we are going to do – after making a profit – is use it to watch porn. When the projector was invented roughly a century ago, the first movies were not damsels in distress tied to train tracks or Charlie Chaplin-style slapsticks; they were stilted porn shorts called stag films. VHS became the dominant standard for VCRs largely because Sony wouldn’t allow pornographers to use Betamax; the movie industry followed porn’s lead. DVDs, the Internet, cell phones. You name it, pornography planted its big flag there first, or at least shortly thereafter.
