It doesn't take deep powers of sociological observation to know that American society is a bit ageist.
Our desperate pursuit of youth and treatment of the elderly kind of sucks when compared to other countries, which tend to embrace old age with less apprehension than we do.
Case in point? Granny porn.
Now, I don't have hard statistics or anything, but I'm pretty sure that "mature" adult films hold just a tiny share of the American pornography market.
In Japan, on the other hand, elderly porn accounts for anywhere between 20 to 30 percent of adult movie sales, which is a startlingly high number. I learned about this when I saw a news report about 74-year-old Shigeo Tokuda, Japan's undisputed king of mature porn, who's starred in more than 300 (heterosexual, it seems) movies with titles such as "Forbidden Elderly Care."
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Japan's a bit of a tainted example, considering its darling signatures of tentacle porn and bukkake. Not the most average of sexual practices.
I don't think the U.S. is more ageist than other countries; preference toward good-looking individuals based on age seems to be pretty natural. In Venezuela, if a woman is above 30, she better have married by then. Otherwise, they probably take them out and put them to death in the dating market. I've had similar experiences in other South American countries. Same in Italy and Spain.
There's a distinction between reverence for elder and finding elderly individuals appealing in look, however.
This may be a bit of over-share, but I have to say I rather like bukkake porn. :)
Re:"...if a woman is above 30, she better have married by then" applies to the U.S. as well. In fact, you're considered abnormal here if you haven't had at least one child (by marriage, natch) by then. I have lots of female friends in their 30s who are being driven insane by family and friends for being single. To be fair, Lucrece, I don't see any indication in your comment that you think otherwise, but I did want to clarify that.
But I also don't think that "preference toward good-looking individuals based on age" is necessarily natural. I do think we're constantly told, via most cultural representations and social injunctions - that we still need to function like creatures barely out of the primordial ooze - hence all the pseudo-scientific claptrap about men being instinctually drawn towards younger women who look like they could reproduce etc. (never mind the heterosexism inherent in all that).
Wait wait wait.... Um..."tentacle porn"?!
Dare I ask?
"Forbidden Elderly Care." Oh, I love it.
You're right to hope that a "high percentage of a certain population results in more porn starring that population," and I shall send good vibes your way re: hot Brazilian soccer players. But - and not to get too serious here - I wonder if we have rather different ideas about the advantages of aging in the U.S. - given our obsession with perpetual youthfulness. We can't bear to watch people over *30* having fun and sexy lives, leave alone having sex. And that's just in mainstream films. Our sexual imagination is as botoxed as Nicole Kidman's face.
That should read: "But as you point out, we have rather different ideas about the advantages of aging in the U.S. - given our obsession with perpetual youthfulness."
Certainly our ideas about aging skew our perception of many things, including sex. And I am one of those guilty as charged--perhaps my views will shift as I get older? Hmmmm....
I dunno. I like some mature porn myself. Not as old as that guy, tho.
EEEWWWWW!!!! I'm in my mid-40s and it's strictly LIGHTS OFF! I think the example mentioned here may have to do more with a Japanese appetite for kink than sexual interest in oldsters. Japanese culture is very quiet and demure on the surface, but once the doors are closed anything goes! The kinkier and weirder, the better! And I should add, there's no Christian guilt about sex in most East Asian cultures.
Yasmin--I am from the USA and I agree with your description in what you posted. Except what do you do about people who seem to have created there own place in the world--the hell with conventions? Like I know this guy who works in a state run employment office and is married to an attractive woman--both career types; but Ive also seen him coming on to a man in a club? Maybes hes missing something at home ? I take long walks sometime during the day so my dog can get outside and I cant help but notice some of the odd behavors some folks are doing now. Im a practical person even know my job is in the arts. I think the Usa in the past few years has gotten worse via sex and norms. Wish it wasnt so.--thomas--