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Pornography has been among the first expressions of two recent media, the VCR and the graphical World Wide Web, as well as the stereoscope in the nineteenth century. It is true that in the last two centuries practitioners of each new visual medium have sought out content that will demonstrate its powers of immediacy, so that pornography has been one (tempting) test of immediacy. Today, enthusiasts for computer graphics and virtual reality hold out eroticism as an indication of progress, when they speak of cybersex or "teledildonics" (Rheingold 1991, 345-353). Depictions of violence offer another test of immediacy, one that for our culture is somehow felt to be less threatening than sex. Hence, scenes of violence permit popular film, television, and now computer games to demonstrate their powers of immediacy before a wider audience.
Pornography has been among the first expressions of two recent media, the VCR and the graphical World Wide Web, as well as the stereoscope in the nineteenth century. It is true that in the last two centuries practitioners of each new visual medium have sought out content that will demonstrate its powers of immediacy, so that pornography has been one (tempting) test of immediacy. Today, enthusiasts for computer graphics and virtual reality hold out eroticism as an indication of progress, when they speak of cybersex or "teledildonics" (Rheingold 1991, 345-353). Depictions of violence offer another test of immediacy, one that for our culture is somehow felt to be less threatening than sex. Hence, scenes of violence permit popular film, television, and now computer games to demonstrate their powers of immediacy before a wider audience.
Source type: pictureInfo: VR Sex, As Predicted By A 1993 Games Magazine
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