As a country, the United States is populated by people of diverse backgrounds, beliefs and cultures. Perhaps this is why we are so darn screwed up. When we look upon our populace as a whole, we appear twisted to the rest of the world as to our priorities as well as our ability to be led like little sheep to the slaughter. Of course, there are a few of us who take the time to think for ourselves, make our own decisions and watch carefully the idiotic perspectives of many of our nation’s leaders… and followers. A perfect case in point is the way we view sex and violence. Not a day goes by that some politician is pontificating about how sex and pornography are ruining our children. While I’ll grant you that there is certainly no reason to subject a younger child to the world of sex as a psychological event, there is a point in their lives where parents need to be the ones to teach them a little something about it.

But as far as adults go, there’s no reason for them not to be able to watch whatever they want in the comfort of their own homes (as long as it doesn’t INVOLVE children or unwilling participants) As far as keeping it away from kids, that is the sole responsibility of the parents… not the government.

What usually gets my goat though, is that these same people who preach the evils of sex don’t seem to have any problem with violence. At any given time, our prime time televisions offer up a myriad of sex and violence, but the only complaints you hear about are the ones aimed toward the sexual content. The mood seems to be that it’s okay for children to watch someone getting shot, stabbed, run over, thrown off a building, or beat into a pulp…… but DON’T under any circumstances let them little ones see to people loving each other in the ‘biblical’ sense. (What was that I said about twisted?)

That said, I’d like to call your attention to a recent series that aired in the U.K. and is now finding its way into the DVD market. Pornography: The Secret History of Civilisation is a six part series that 'blows' the lid off of the sex industry. But even more interestingly, it takes a look back over the centuries to see what effect sex has had on the world's cultures and vice versa. And as opposed to the usual style of documentaries that look at the world of pornography the series takes a more pragmatic approach and does not condemn or condone.

Each part of the series covers a particular subject. "The Road to Ruin" delves deep into the sexual cultures of ancient civilizations, utilizing images of cave paintings and the like and works its way forward through to the time of the French Revolution. "The Sacred and Profane" looks at how the age of the printing press and eventually photography affected society. "The Mechanical Eye" 'focuses' more on the technological marvel that was photography, while "Twentieth Century Foxy" takes pornography a step further into the world of the porn film. "Sex Lives and Videotapes" exposes the world of video and how it took pornography partially out of the hands of professionals and heralded the 'coming' of the amateur homemaker pornographer. Of course, now that our world has become as technologically 'advanced' as it has, "Future Schlock" introduces us into the arena of Internet pornography and digital 'manipulation.'

If anything, this series proves what I've recognized for years, and that is if you look at any technological communications advances in history, you always find that pornographers are the first to jump on the bandwagon to find a way to exploit it. Is this the fault of the pornographer? No. We have no one to blame but the worldwide audience that wants to see it. Supply and demand, it’s the most basic economic lesson we learn. Only this is one of the most diverse of audiences where we find those who proudly wear their fetish on their sleeve to those who hide in the closet. Those whose tastes offer little or no harm to anyone and those whose deviant obsession should land them in a grave (see Child Pornographers mentioned above…).

Pornography: The Secret History of Civilisation is a fascinating documentary series, and not just for the obvious reasons. Speaking of those, it is definitely not a series for kids (who really don’t need to learn about these things at such an early age anyway). While the series does not offer a constant barrage of pornographic images, does include moments where the imagery is a bit graphic in nature and it has to be in order to get the lesson across.

Studio: Koch Video
Release Date: Available
Region 1
MPAA Rating:
Website

We'll give Pornography: The Secret History of Civilisation an A.