It's interesting to trace that stuff. That American Sex stuff. For one thing it's so taboo, a boobie on TV, meltdown. If you're caught taking a pee in a parking garage or on the side of the road - pow, sex offender registry listing for life. Though I doubt that the people who caught a quick peek at Janis Jacksons singular breast was permanently warped by the expose. And people have to pee - its not a sex deal at all.
Yet, I dare you to find me somewhere else where sex is absolutely so commercial. Somehow sex and money (money being the motivating factor) are much better than sex is by itself. Money of course, is always alright in the good old USA - we take cash, VISA/MC/AmericanEXPRESS, money orders, travelers checks, and personal checks with proper identification. I'm sure that the US leads in porn, or is right up there. First we have the equipment, the movie/TV/photo instruments to do it in the first place. Second, America has always had a love/hate relationship with sex (with all 'sin' in reality, but we're breaking it down here) and though no one likes it, people rail against it, few people cop or confess to it, but... there is a hell of a lot of porn out there if no one is looking at it. Turn out that a lot of people like porn. A lot. True through history. Sex sells. And if something sells, well by gum, some American type is going to figure out how to make it and sell it. Yup.
The only thing standing in the way of the porn industries (and it is an industry, just like cosmetics) total commercial dominance of the web is that the commercial ethic ran smack dab up against another old American tradition/notion/social value. DIY. Yup, the do-it-yourself culture has created more porn than even the industry. What's better than porn? Apparently its porn you make and are in. Given cameras and computer programs that are easy to use, the average person can take and process pictures on the same kind of technical level as Richard Avadon, or Ansil Adams. But do they do that - ok, a few do. But most take pictures of their naked GF and their own personal extended family greeting.
And while Vicky can earn some the contempt - and in some ways American's were more Victorian than the Brits - the dominance of the Irish Catholic Church in the American Church is a heavy burden also. No other branch of RC is as messed up about sex as the Irish RC church is.
