Pornocopia, Updated Edition: Porn, Sex, Technology and Desire

by Laurence O'Toole

A mix of reportage, interviews and critical analysis, Pornocopia takes the reader from a hardcore screening in a trendy West Hollywood multiplex to a hole-in-the-wall vendor in London's East End; from... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1852427205
• ISBN13: 9781852427207
• Release Date: May 2000
• Publisher: Serpent's Tail
• Length: 416 Pages
• Weight: 0.69 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.2" x 5.1" x 7.7"

Customer Reviews

a great book

I am a fan of porn, have been since I saw my first Playboy magazine. I am not only a fan though, I feel the need to learn as much about the history of adult films as much as just buying the new Jenna DVD. This book is enlightining in both Americas and British views of hardcore films, books etc.. The author has done his homework and writes with a real respect of the subject matter. The book also helped me realize their are other people like me who enjoy talking about and watching porn. Ilive in Tennessee and not many people outside of shop owners understand my fondness for porn. The book also opened my wife's eyes to a whole new form of entertainment that she previously just didnt understand. I highly recommend this book too all porn fans who want too better understand our hobby.

Exopa Terra says porn, sex, and profits are a good combo

This is a good book! Yes it takes a position, but that position is open and frank. Porn, sex, and profits are here to stay and in fact will boom during the next decade. If this makes you nervous you should consider leaving the planet. Accept it, live with it, in fact you should start enjoying it. We bet your neighbor does, your coworkers do, and probably your spouse. Read the book, it is fun and informative.

Interesting, but one-sided, foray into the porn world

While I will claim this book an important step towards demystifying the misinformed and injurious attitudes towards the "adult entertainment" industry, I say it with some reservation. O'Toole is very thorough (and amazingly convincing) in his examination and rebuttal of many of the unfair accusations against pornography. However, O'Toole's careful omissions of many of the tragic events in the porn world forced me to be a bit skeptical about his reportage. Nonetheless, I think this is an important text and a good read. O'Toole's defense is refreshing and, many times, enlightening, although I think his arguments are weakened by his unflinching one-sidedness (he asserts that "snuff" films don't exist and adult films aren't "obsence", yet he fails to report on "Bizarro-Sleaze" films of Robert Black and Gregory Dark--see "Neither Adult Nor Entertainment" by Willem R. Degroot and Matt Rundlet in Premiere, Sept. 1998). To conclude, I would suggest this text to anyone interested by the adult industries, but would suggest that the reader not be so credulous to accept all that O'Toole says without first checking up on his claims. In other words, O'Toole's Pornocopia would be a better work if he would have presented EVERYTHING and allowed the reader to come to his own conclusions about the porn-world. By leaving things out, it appears that O'Toole isn't confident that his championing of porn will be accepted and, subsequently an important trust can't be forged.

Amazing!

This book is not one sided. It looks at porn in a way that not many people care to---it looks at it from the inside (the industry and its stars---and the fact that O'Toole didn't go into Savannah's death in all it's gory detail is because that's not what the book is about! There are plenty of other places one can go to find out the dirty side of anything---the porn industy included) , the outside (how people...real people actually use porn, from a U.K. perspective (where censorship is rampant), etc. And all the while it is very even-handed and witty.The book doesn't assume that all porn users are perverts, nor does O'Toole look down his nose at porn. He considers all sides and presents it. He doesn't make judgements for the reader. He's giving them the benefit of the doubt for having a brain and making their own decisions. Bravo!!!