Porn history showcased

Porn -- it's everywhere: on countless Internet sites, late-night television, and a topic of everyday discussion. But pornography wasn't always the high-definition, money-making business that it is today. \nOrganized by IU's Kinsey Institute, a film and lecture series is exploring the early roots of pornography. Linda Williams, professor in the Departments of Film Studies and Rhetoric at the University of California at Berkeley, presented a lecture titled "Between 'White Slavery' and the 'Ethnography of Sex Workers': Women in Stag Films at the Kinsey Archive" at the Fine Arts Auditorium Thursday night. \nThe lecture is part of a 50th anniversary series celebrating the publication of Alfred Kinsey's book "Sexual Behavior in the Human Female."\nThough the modern definition of pornography began to draw public attention in the 1970s, porn has roots in "stag films." Made the early 1910s through the 1950s. "stag films" were anonymously made films, with actors who remained anonymous, displaying hard core sex acts. Most of these films were destroyed by censors or the police shortly after production, but an estimated 2,000 "stag films" remain intact today. Of the existing 2,000, the Kinsey Institute owns 1,700.\nIn 1989, Williams published a controversial study of pornographic material titled "Hard Core: Power, Pleasure, and the Frenzy of the Visible." This book included the discussion of and reference to "stag films" from the Kinsey Institute collection. \n"Linda Williams is the expert on pornography in film," said Jennifer Bass, head of information services for the Kinsey Institute. "We would never show these films without some type of provided context. With Professor Williams, we have a scholar who is an expert in the field. In this format, we're able to look at pornography within an artistic and social context."\nDuring the film showing and lecture, four films from the Kinsey archive were shown: "Bring 'em Back Nude," "Getting his Goat," "Free Ride" and "Modern Pirates." All films were curated by Kinsey Institute archivist Rachael Stoeltje, and were from the early area between 1914 and 1934. While tame in comparison with any porn made today, these films were shocking in their day. \n"To a film scholar they can be fascinating for their preservation of primitive styles and modes of address that departed from the legitimate cinema long before the arrival of sound (in 1927)," Williams wrote in her 1989 novel. \nIn order to duplicate the environment in which these films would have been originally viewed, Williams played all four without any additional sound. Many audience members in the packed crowd laughed in parts, but remained silent for most of the viewing. \nWilliams followed the viewing with a lecture.\n"There is an excitement and certain potential that pornography has," Williams said. "There's a hope for a spark of passion, that something will happen. But most often, that ends in disappointment, and a feeling of the mundane." \nWilliams went on to discuss the different ways men and women are portrayed in these films -- while men remained mostly clothed, or often disguised, women were fully naked and usually the initiators of the sexual activity. \n"Women in stag films were not coerced into pleasing men," said Williams. "Rather they engaged in sexual activity at the expense of men." \nAnother distinguishing factor Williams mentioned was the use of nature in "stag films" -- most of the sex scenes took place outside in "wild settings," giving the women "momentary sexual freedom."\nFor students and scholars of cultural history, the showing of "stag films" and discussion of their significance in society explores the attitudes that these films revealed about sexual desire at the time. \n"This type of event draws a wide audience," Bass said. "This appeals to students of film, gender studies, history and many other majors. It's important to understand pornography and it's roots -- deconstructing pornography can be an empowering thing." \nFounded in 1947, the Kinsey Institute is a private, non-profit corporation affiliated with IU. The Institute has been able to develop a specialized collection of resources for scholars and has many programs of research and publication today. The showing of stag films, as part of the Women's Sexualities lecture series -- "Portrayals and Perspectives 2003," is just one of the many venues the Kinsey Institute uses to share research and to educate.\n"The Kinsey Institute was able to establish relationships with police departments," Bass said. "The Kinsey Institute was able to bring confiscated items into the institute for study. The mission of the Kinsey Institute is to promote interdisciplinary research and scholarship in the fields of human sexuality, gender and reproduction"