All Worked Up About Porn

by J.T. Benjamin

I confess I don't have much use for the word "erotica." Yes, I write for the most kickass site for erotica on the web, (Hey, that's us!—shameless plug), but the term itself just doesn't grab me.

In the first place, any material that discusses or portrays men and women as sexual beings, in any media forum, print, video, verbal, or otherwise, tends to be considered "pornography" by polite society. While the word "erotica" comes across as being more elegant and cultured than does the word "pornography," it seems to nevertheless have the same definition. In short, "erotica" seems to simply be a more polite word than "porn," and it seems to have a more positive connotation. In the same way, one nation might engage in "enhanced rendition" while another "commits torture" or one senator praises a "stimulus package" while another complains about "runaway deficit spending."

In fact, when people ask me what the difference is between "erotica" and "porn," I always answer that "pornography is erotica that you don't like, or that you don't want to admit you do like."

In the second place, while many writers in this genre prefer to use the term "erotica" to describe their works, and to differentiate themselves from the countless piles of sexually explicit dreck out there, (and many of those better writers can be found at this website, (Shameless plug #2), I have no desire to so differentiate myself.

I write porn. Graphic, explicit porn. I don't care for the flowery terms that some writers use. To me, a cock is a cock, a pussy is a pussy, and instead of "The thrusts of his shaft inside her warm womanhood induced her to moan with pleasure as she was enveloped in rapture," I prefer, "He pounded her wet cunt with his hard cock until she came screaming." To me, calling my work "porn" is a badge of honor, in the cool/bad sense. It's the literary equivalent of a tattoo in an unseemly place.

So, while I acknowledge that many of my contemporaries in this genre would rather be considered writers of "erotica," I think there's no shame in being a writer of porn.

Why do I bring this up?

The other day, I was surfing the web when I came across a phrase that piqued my curiosity.

"Cooking porn."

At first glance, I thought the phrase might be a reference to some kinky hijinks in the kitchen, possibly involving lots of butter, cucumbers, bananas, and other culinary-oriented tasty treats, none of which having anything to do with preheating an oven to 350 degrees.

I was sadly disappointed.

It seems the phrase "cooking porn" was in a mainstream media article discussing the explosion of cooking shows and cookbooks out there, and about how people like Gordon Ramsey, Emeril, Rachael Ray and Nigella Lawson are enjoying newfound popularity. Sure, it's nice watching Rachael and Nigella strutting their stuff, but they unfortunately do it fully clothed, and any phallic-shaped foods end up on the receiving end of a paring knife. (Shudder).

Further investigation produced a whole slew of deceptive and misleading uses of the word "porn," all of which are in a similar vein.

News porn, fashion porn, Super Bowl Porn, celebrity porn, Oscar porn, right-wing porn, red carpet porn, reality TV porn, nature porn, home decorating porn, cake porn, dessert porn, wine porn, NASCAR porn, "shredder" porn, law porn, plastic surgery porn, soap opera porn, Barbie porn, Lego porn, electronics porn, bicycling porn, gardening porn, electronics porn, and even computer porn. This last one doesn't even have anything to do with the normal uses of computers and porn. Instead, THIS kind of computer porn is along the lines of "Hey, dude, did you check out the specs on the new Fujitsu laptop? 4GB in the hard drive alone, man! That's hot!"

What the hell's going on here?

Upon closer examination, it appears that the word "porn" has been co-opted by the mainstream media, to be used as a term to describe any subject to which a great deal of passion and interest is involved, usually to excess, and also usually to the point of bad taste. In the commandeering of the word, the mainstream media has also managed to ensure that none of the above terms involves penetration, nudity, nor even a bared nipple.

Leave it to the mainstream media to find a way to take the sex out of porn.

Frankly, I find the whole situation reprehensible.

First of all, what's the point of staking out a claim in the porn genre if, all of a sudden, we have to identify what sort of porn we're talking about?

Furthermore, if the word "porn" can be applied to anything from snowboarding to media coverage of the Octomom, what the hell are we supposed to call the real stuff, now?

Should we say we write and read intercourse porn?

Sex porn? Fuck porn?

Porn porn?

There are two ways we as true porn connoisseurs can combat this deceptive piece of advertising.

First, we can stand up and scream, "NO, dammit! If you're going to use the word 'cooking porn,' then at least have the decency to have Rachael Ray do her show topless! It's only fair!" If we demand that the word "porn" be applied only to truly pornographic situations, I'm fairly certain that in a very short time, we'll have shouted ourselves hoarse and have gotten nowhere quickly.

Option B is to simply admit we're pissing in the wind and come up with a phrase that distinguishes our kind of porn from the phony stuff.

How about...

Erotica porn?

Hey, the word has some use after all.

J.T. Benjamin
April 2009

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"All Worked Up" © 2009 J.T. Benjamin. All rights reserved.

About the Author:  J.T.Benjamin says, "I'm a generalist. I write about what interests me, which is just about everything." His resume reflects the diversity of his interests. He's been a disk jockey, insurance salesman, private investigator, journalist, college professor, child advocate, political activist, truckdriver, thief,...doctor, lawyer, Indian Chief. He's currently trying to start a hippie commune in the Denver/Boulder area.
Email:  J.T. Benjamin

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