Maybe pr0n is just to get you horny/help you get off, and while erotica can do that too, it appeals to other parts of one's brain as well?

Or maybe erotica is more artsy-fartsy....

Actually, isn't the legal definition of pornography "an appeal to prurient interest" that lacks any other redeeming feature?

eta: Or is that the definition of obscenity rather than pornography?

My (flippant) bitch about het porn is that nobody seems to really be enjoying the sex. It's not an aerobics video, people!

My favorite gay video has two guys who, if they're not together, definitely enjoy each other. They're smiling at each other and making eye contact. Plus one guy has his socks on the whole time, which is weirdly appealing.

Chicken and feathers. Something.

I thought that was the difference between "kinky" and "perverted."

And tommyrot, yes, it's the legal definition of obscenity.

My (flippant) bitch about het porn is that nobody seems to really be enjoying the sex. It's not an aerobics video, people!

Totally. Like there's a fitness instructor off-camera who every few minutes blows a whistle and says, "Change positions!"

Erotica has a better soundtrack?

I thought the legal definition of porn was "I know it when I see it."

I thought the legal definition of porn was "I know it when I see it."

That's what I thought!

I went on a fan buying spree today, and my apartment is downright comfortable again.

I like porn. I watch plenty of it, and being a man I respond better to watching than I do reading, though reading can be plenty hot (both Erica Jong and Anais Nin have written multiple passages that REALLY did it for me). I understand and respect pretty much all positions on pro/anti-porn spectrum. I'm somewhere in the middle, near the "Yay porn, boo industry" area.

My tastes in porn, as in sex, are pretty vanilla, in that there's no particular kink I seek out or that does it for me. So as for what kind of porn I watch or don't watch, as long as it doesn't make me uncomfortable, and she doesn't look uncomfortable, I'm good. I tend to prefer "homemade" porn (don't you believe it), that doesn't involve hidden cameras, just because that seems to be the kind of porn that is most likely to feature normal looking women.

Actually, that can be one of my biggest problems when looking for good porn to watch -- finding porn featuring normal looking women. Most mainstream porn features women who are way too skinny/skanky, and porn featuring "larger women" seems to feature primarily women who are well outside of my "attractive zone." And considering that I have a pretty broad "attractive zone", that's saying something. It's very difficult sometimes to find porn featuring women in the middle, which would/does appeal to me greatly.

Actually, isn't the legal definition of pornography "an appeal to prurient interest" that lacks any other redeeming feature?

I bet my prurient interests are quite different from most congressmen.

My (flippant) bitch about het porn is that nobody seems to really be enjoying the sex.

This. The most likely feature of porn I would watch is that the woman actually looks like she's enjoying herself.