Have you ever noticed how porn films have incredibly cheesy plots?  Take the classic, Deepthroat for instance.  The main character finds she has trouble reaching orgasm so she goes to her physician to see what’s wrong.  After running several “tests,” the doctor finds her clitoris is located in her throat instead of her vagina.  Because of this, she must find a well-endowed man (enter John Holmes) who can stimulate her misplaced clit. 

Porn makers were never too excited about plots or dialogues since these distracted viewers.  However, distinctions between porn and obscenity in the mid-1990s set new standards.  Porn without plots was ”obscene” and lacked artistic merit.  Stores that sold plot-less porn could be charged with obscenity.  This is one reason porn makers began producing porn with a storyline.  Another important reason was because they thought a story would draw more women to porn.  More women watching meant more money in their pockets.

Over the last couple of years things have changed. A recent article in the New York Times suggests that porn directors are filming more short scenes without dialogue specifically for the Internet.  Since research has found that the average attention span on the Internet is somewhere between 3-5 minutes - short scenes sell.  Many big porn companies are shifting to sexual vignettes, rather than full length movies with cheesy plots.

It will be interesting to see where this all goes and whether legal requirements for porn will still apply.  It will also be interesting to see what kind of restrictions there will be for accessing these sites.  I also wonder how many women will be interested in these purely sexual scenes.  Women often want a relationship context in their sex…..or do they?