Monster Porn?

[the Jester]

Just got home and my thread's still open!!! Thanks, everyone, for treating the topic appropriately!

First, to touch on the difference between erotica and porn: personally, I agree that there's a difference, but it's undefinable and it requires making the sort of value judgment that I'm uncomfortable making. I called the thread 'monster porn' because I thought about it while mulling over a group of mercenary humanoids and what they'd have in their footlockers.

Now then- thank you all for a great deal of thought-provoking ideas. frankthedm, your dwarven soulforge statues are a fantastic example of what I was looking for. On reflection (huh huh reflection), I agree that beholder porn prolly consists of mirrors or images of itself in its full health and puissance. (After all, a wounded beholder might not be aroused by the sight of itself wounded, but the sight of an image of itself fully healed might be extremely stimulating.)

The idea of porn (damn, I keep typing pron by accident... aargh) that stimulates the other senses is something that I'd considered. For instance, I like the idea of crystals that record the flavor of a particularly tasty brain for an illithid. However, that brings up the question of where you draw the line between pron (did it again, I give up) and drugs- a weird thing I have never before considered. I mean, if (for instance) illithids dissolved the taste-storing crystals in liquid and drank it for arousal- is that really pron? Wouldn't a drug that provided erotic stimulation almost be porn? (Ecstacy is close, but it isn't necessarily erotic.)

Hmm, very thought provoking. Keep it coming! I'll post more of my thought once I sort through them some more.

Once more, thanks again for keeping this thread tasteful and... well... non-pornographic.

 

[Rafilar]

As to the difference between erotica and porn, I believe the famous comment from Supreme Court Justice Potter Steward on the topic of pornography sums it up nicely: "I can't define it, but I know it when I see it." Of course, then Justice John Marshall Harlan said, "One man's vulgarity is another man's lyric." So, it's all an opinion question.

Of course, the actual definition of obscenity used by the Supreme Court goes something like this (this is a three-part test established in the case Miller v. California (1973)): "A work may be considered legally obscene is (1) the average person, applying contemporary standards of the particular community, would find that the work, taken as a whole, appeals to a prurient interest in sex; (2) the work depicts or describes in a patently offensive way sexual conduct specifically defined by the applicable law or authoritatively construed; and (3) the work, taken as a whole, lacks serious literary, artistic, political, or scientific value." (This quote comes from my U.S. Government Textbook -- Government by the People, National Version, Twentieth Edition, by Burns et. al-- and they were paraphrasing the Supreme Court opinion in the case Chandler v. Miller, 520 U.S. 305 (1997).) There is no actual legal definition of erotica or pornography, so obscenity will have to do. Now if we can all just agree that porn is obscene, we'd have definitions for both of those too--if sexual materials met the definition of obscenity, they would be porn, and if they didn't, they would be erotica... of course, then we'd have to define "sexual materials"...

I hope that definition helps the discussion... though it probably opens up as many questions as it answers.

Oh, and as to the question "porn vs. drugs"... well, I think the liquid that tasted like really good brains is probably more of a "candy" than anything else. Hmm... mind flayer snack foods... no nutritional value, but they sure taste good...

 

[shilsen]

If you've read John Varley's short story, "The Barbie Murders," it features a future cult where everyone has undergone biosculpturing to look identical. The perverts use things like makeup and wigs to look...different.

No, I haven't read it. Sounds like something I might check out at some point.

I mean, if (for instance) illithids dissolved the taste-storing crystals in liquid and drank it for arousal- is that really pron? Wouldn't a drug that provided erotic stimulation almost be porn? (Ecstacy is close, but it isn't necessarily erotic.)

Easy solution. Have the illithids feeding the crystals to shrimp and then eating them. Whether it's a drug or not, it's definitely prawn.

Thank you, thank you - I'll be here all week. Try the lobster.

 

[Psionicist]

Don't forget half-races, such as half-orcs, half-elves etc., as well as bloodlines and templates, such as half-dragons and half-celestials. I'd say that every intelligent race that can be a part of a "half-race" should be interested in sex/porn to some extent. If they weren't, there wouldn't be that many half-races would it?

 

[MeepoTheMighty]

First, to touch on the difference between erotica and porn: personally, I agree that there's a difference, but it's undefinable and it requires making the sort of value judgment that I'm uncomfortable making.

That's easy - porn is in color, erotica is black and white.

The closest I've ever came to monster porn is having a book entitled "Shocking Tales of Elven Desire" resting on a wizard's nightstand.

 

[Sir Elton]

Perhaps because pornography doesn't necessarily have to do with shame and whores?

Pornos = gr. Whore
Graph = gr. Writing.

Pornography = Writing about Whores

Pornography today capitalizes on the psychological need to see other homo sapiens naked. It's a need, period. So a society that represses this need is going to have a black market economy based around Pornography. Invent an Elf culture that is just as body shamed as U.S. Culture and those elves will be looking for elf porn.

Pornography in ancient times was originally writings about the activity of whores. Although in ancient Roman times you can go into a Roman Boredello and order a "sexual experience" a'la MacDonald's. So in Roman times, Boredellos were the MacDonald's and Wendy's of their day.

When you are creating a society that is much more accepting of their bodies, a Porn Industry like today's will be laughed to shame. People would have grown up used to seeing other naked humans that they will find Pornography as we know it as a joke. Now pornography as the Romans saw it, that's different.

And yes, I'm a nudist.