I’m a relatively young guy. I skipped into my thirties not too long ago, so I’m not exactly a spring chicken either, but I have plenty of reasons to be optimistic that I’m still enjoying the first half of my life.I’m a relatively young guy. I skipped into my thirties not too long ago, so I’m not exactly a spring chicken either, but I have plenty of reasons to be optimistic that I’m still enjoying the first half of my life. When the porn industry was blossoming in the 1970’s, I was more worried about things like which Tonka truck I was going to play with next. I had discovered girls by the time the 1980’s had rolled around, and even got serious about the pursuit by the end of the decade – but my exposure to porn was still relatively limited. I really haven’t seen too many porn movies from the seventies and eighties; most of the porn that I’ve seen was produced at a time when the Internet was coming of age.

Yet that doesn’t mean that I haven’t seen any older pornos. I’ve seen a few. I remember marveling at Ron Jeremy when I was too young to be watching his movies. How does a guy who looks like that get to have sex with girls that look like that? There’s hope for everyone! I remember the disco soundtracks and the funky baselines, and I remember the silly plots and the less than stellar acting. Until recently I’ve always felt that the modern version of adult entertainment was superior to its vintage counterpart. Yet recently I’ve been thinking back to the style of those old school pornos and wondering if there aren’t a few ideas that we might be able to resurrect in the Twenty First Century.

There are a lot of different kinds of porn in today’s marketplace, and I don’t want to give the impression that there’s a right way or a wrong way to make adult entertainment. The market decides that. A lot of the most popular porn sites today take what I like to call a “politically incorrect” approach to their theme – girls are used, mocked and dumped. Do I have to mention that site that made this approach famous recently? I’m not here to suggest this approach is wrong or that it needs to be stopped. Some of us males have some politically incorrect fantasies from time to time, and porn is one way we can work out those fantasies in a safe manner without trying to drag in participants who might not want to be a part of those fantasies. I’m not here to moralize – we get enough of that from the politicians and religious leaders; and we shouldn’t forget that there are other kinds of modern Internet porn, such as amateur Web girl sites, that are quite popular and place the women completely in control. What I would like to suggest, however, is that there might be a big market for a more retro approach to adult entertainment.

It’s not a simple task to find a new or underserved market in the porn business. Steve Lightspeed successfully accomplished that a few years ago when he observed that few people, if any, were properly covering the cheerleader niche. Lightspeed Cash is one of the most respected affiliate programs today, and the program was launched on the strength of Steve’s approach to a poorly served market. I like to use Steve as an example of the opportunities that are still present in this business for creative people. Sometimes the answer to success can be found not in doing something that has never need done before, but instead in either doing something that nobody is doing well, or in doing something that used to be done well but was abandoned.

Porn star Seka appeared on YNOT Radio recently. Seka was at the height of her popularity in the 1980’s, and she was famous for her beauty and for the movies that she did with the late, great John Holmes. I had the pleasure of filling in for host YNOTBob that day, meaning I was given the opportunity to interview Seka. As I’ve said before, my knowledge of old school porn is somewhat limited, so I took it upon myself to watch a few video clips of old Seka movies. Starting to see how I got on this whole nostalgia kick?

The different approach to porn that was taken back then really struck me hard. The men and women who appeared in these older porn films looked significantly different than the type of performers most often chosen today. Some of the difference in look could certainly be chalked up to the different fashion styles of that era, when compared to the fashion of today, but there were deeper differences at play. I spent some time watching some other classic porn clips and made a note of some of my observations and reactions. Tough job, huh?

First, the women in the old school porn films generally had fuller bodies. That’s not to say that they were BBWs, but there seemed to be a lot more meat on their bones. Busty women certainly were the preference, but they were naturally busty – no breast implants.

Second, the women were generally older than the average female adult performer today. Most of the women appeared to be in their early thirties; today I’d venture that most porn models or actresses are in their twenties. Now we generally classify girls in their thirties as part of the “mature” or “milf” niche. Classic porn seemed to equate mature with sexually experienced, while younger girls were equated with inexperience and therefore not taken quite as seriously as their elders. Porn was directed at mature adults, not just college students.

Third, pubic hair wasn’t hacked off like it might scare away the audience if it were allowed to occupy more than a landing strip’s worth of real estate. The natural look was definitely in style. Hair in general was more in fashion in the seventies and eighties, but the pubic hair preference might also be an indication of the era’s preference for maturity and sexual experience as opposed to pure youth and innocence. Today a lot of porn actresses shave their pubic hair off completely.

Fourth, classic porn, like most entertainment produced in that era, seemed to have a stronger sense of gender roles. Most feminists would argue that gender roles are damaging to a healthy modern society, and I wouldn’t say otherwise. I agree; they can be limiting and abusive. Yet that doesn’t mean there isn’t a large number of men who still want to feel “masculine” and a large number of women who want to feel “feminine,” even if these people wouldn’t be keen to admit it. How does one go about feeling masculine? Well, usually by defining what constitutes “feminine” and then behaving in an opposite manner. Make sense? There was a “softness” and sensuality to the women of classic porn films that is mostly gone today, for better or for worse. The contrast between the male and female characters was attractive. I’d wager that there’s a sizable market out there that misses this quality.

Fifth, you were far more likely to find storylines that dealt with human relationships. Forget for a moment that the acting was usually suspect and the plots were not well developed; there was an honest attempt to examine aspects of human sexuality and the role that sex plays in mature relationships. Some of you are laughing at that statement. The stereotype of the porn industry is not one of a group that makes meaningful artistic comment. However I think that stereotype is truer of today’s porn than it was back in the 1970’s and early 1980’s. There seemed to be an honest and enthusiastic attempt to liberate America of its sexual hang-ups, where as the porn of today revels in sexual hang-ups. Classic porn wanted us to get to know its characters. Today’s porn simply says, “Who cares,” and jumps right into the action.

Which style of pornography is the better? That’s not the point. I keep saying this because I’m sure that someone somewhere will read this editorial and think that I’m trying to suggest that things were better in the old days. Trying to determine which approach is better would be a lot like asking whether science fiction is a better film genre than horror. Apples and oranges. What I am suggesting, however, is that I can’t be the only person who looks at classic porn with a sense of longing for the past. Would I trade in today’s porn for classic style porn? No. Would I have an interest in a site that takes a more retro approach? Certainly.

Connor Young is Editor-in-Chief of YNOT News. He has been involved with the online adult entertainment business since 1997, and is currently a member of the Board of Directors for the Internet Freedom Association (i-freedom.org); He also serves as Editor-in-Chief of The ADULTWEBMASTER Magazine. Connor can be reached by email at connor@ynotmasters.com