That's just a minor point.

In defense of some who are against it, I'll say that over the past few decades porn has expanded to include some pretty graphic and scary material that is well beyond being just sexual or sensual toward violence and sociopathy.

There will be no simple answer to your question, there are two many different types of erotica that would be included in the larger pile of "porn", to my definition.

Simple home movies made between consenting adults-- porn? I don't know.

It's just too big a topic find consensus among people, and especially among people in our 'big tent'.

And, it is like guns.

A few people who are afraid of it, don't understand it, or are offended by it think that nobody else should have it.

That's just a passing observation.

YMMV.

Bullets entering our bodies? Not consensual.

Big big difference.

When I was young some of the things that are acceptable today would be at least soft core porn, so the standard continues to slide.

Some things which would be porn if it is in a magazine, if it is on a canvas becomes art.

For some it is the intent. If it is intended to make one sexually aroused it is porn, but if it isn't it is not porn.

The conservatives will have a much higher standard than liberals at least on demanding restrictions on others.

Even if everyone could decide on one definition then there would be the question of should it be acceptable and if so for who.

Here in Alabama the age of consent is 16 but to legally purchase porn you must be 18 or 21. So to have sex you can do so at 16 but to watch someone have sex 21.

Being porn is one of the most googled word on the internet I would say no matter what it is more people are watching it than would admit. That is except for the young. Just as masturbation was once denied by all but now freely discussed in mixed company for younger people watching porn in not a big issue.

Going back to my first point. Whatever porn is today. I will all but guarantee you that in 25 or 50 years it will be very common, possibly not an issue at all. Who knows we may one day have a porn group or forum here on DU.

BTW, when I was a kid, seeing Mary Tyler Moore on the Dick Van Dyke show wearing those capri pants aroused the hell out of me.

And since you brought up old TV shows, remember Lucy and Ricky slept in different beds, but somehow Lucy got pregnant, which they couldn't say the word, and then here comes Little Ricky. Still haven't understood that one.

guess I am getting old.

Today some young people are recording, or broadcasting themselves live, nude or engaged in solo or sexual acts with other people. To me this at least some evidence this is not an issue for the young people today.

When I was a teenager or young adult to do something like this you had to own a video camera which even a cheap one was over $1000 but without the internet you would have to make a copy and distribute the tape. Technology has now given everyone the ability to be a "porn star". I honestly can't say if the technology was around when I was young if me or my friends wouldn't have done things like this.

While some may not like it I feel this is the future.

Because fried chicken tastes good, and porn is VIDEO of people HAVING SEX!

Or is that the definition of obscenity?

"Nawww, I don't bite. 'Lessen yew like that! HAW!"

There is a LOT of scary (to me) stuff in modern porn. But obviously there's a market for it, which may be even scarier. I mean stuff like real rape, snuff films, crushing animals, etc.

I guess I'm old fashioned. I just like to appreciate a finely wrought human body. Oh! But it's dirty to look at that.

is to start with literature and work backwards.

Alfred Appel, an editor of Vladimir Nabokov, tells a story from his youth when a fellow sailor wanted to borrow his copy of Lolita, having heard that it was a dirty book. After taking it up to his bunk for a few minutes, he threw it back down, saying "I can't read that -- it's literature!"

A lot of great books with sexual themes might get the same response, including Ulysses and Lady Chatterly's Lover. But on the other hand, Tropic of Cancer and deSade's Philosopy in the Bedroom might get a little more bunk time. So who knows?.

That was some blistering good porn back in my day. Kind of sad that written porn has lost a lot of its potency in the era of video porn.