BBC Documentary: Pornography - The Secret History Of Civilization

[Katashi_itto]

This discussion thread was locked as off-topic by seabeyond (a host of the Video & Multimedia forum).

Ten years in the making, "Pornography: the secret history of civilisation" is a six-part series, which tells for the first time on British television the history of pornography.
This landmark series charts the changes in sexual imagery prompted by the advent of new technologies over thousands of years: from ancient times to print, photography, film, video and the Internet. With unprecedented access to the modern porn industry, interviews with pornography experts and historians and an unparalleled collection of archival material, it is also the story of how these technological mediums influenced the development of pornography, who used it, how it was distributed and how it was censored.

But the real story of pornography is also a secret history of civilization. Pornography puts aside the usual moral arguments that have clouded the issue for decades and takes an objective historical perspective. Pornography, far from being some smutty sideshow on the margins of society, has in fact played a vital and central role in civilization and our cultural evolution. Each program focuses on a different technology and how that new technology revolutionized pornography and made it available to new groups of people, however hard the authorities tried to control it.

The road to ruin

This programme opens with the science of archaeology. Sexual imagery has been at the heart of culture all over the world, from the Cerne Abbas man to the painted walls of Pompeii, from the carvings of Bourges Cathedral to the obscene pamphlets of the French Revolution.

Pornography The Secret History Of Civilization Part 2 The sacred and profane
The sacred and profane

It shows how printing was seen as something that turned hitherto acceptable sexual explicit expression into something far more dangerous. Indeed pornography was instrumental in fermenting the French Revolution, with shockingly explicit sexual satire directed at the monarchy. Photography was the greatest leap forward ever in the history of pornography. In the nineteenth century, to ask where pornographic photographs were sold is like asking where you can buy drugs today.

Pornography The Secret History Of Civilization Part 3 The mechanical eye

Pornography The Secret History Of Civilization Part 4 Twentieth Century Foxy

Pornography The Secret History Of Civilization Part 5 Sex lives and videotape

Pornography The Secret History Of Civilization Part 6 Sex lives and videotape

[Dr Hobbitstein]

1. Now you've gone and done it...

On a side note, the lady and I will be tuning into this.

[Katashi_itto]

2. LoL!!

I likely have.

[seabeyond]

5. i would say it is a tos offense. no porn on du. clearly porn in these clips even

with bbc.

[polly7]

9. How is it different than that huge picture of full-frontal naked men you posted once

in GD.

[Little Star]

3. DU's Terms of Service....

Don't post "shock content" or porn.

Do not post or link to extreme images of violence, gore, bodily functions, pain, or human suffering for no purpose other than to shock and disgust. Do not post or link to pornography.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=termsofservice

[Katashi_itto]

4. I'm not. This is a Documentary. About one of the most basic human forms of expression.

It's not salacious or titillating. This is meant to educate. It's BBC.

[seabeyond]

6. a documentary with porn in it. that is still bring porn to du. no way around that. nt

[Katashi_itto]

7. Then alert it.

I guess you don't want people well informed.

[seabeyond]

8. by putting porn on du? really? that is your argument? nt

[Katashi_itto]

10. I'm not engaging you. I've said my piece.

[pam4water]

12. If you really think pornogray -- looking at someone else as an object for your

titillation and pleasure is part on of civilization you need a shrink.

[pam4water]

11. +1 Never thought I'd be agree something from a TOS.

[seabeyond]

13. per hosts, it does not support SOP

[20score]

14. Thanks for posting. Wouldn't have known about this without your post.

Watched the first video and I've bookmarked the rest for later.

Pretty interesting.