On The Media: Sex and Technology

I love the NPR weekend program "On the Media," and this week they dedicate much of the show to the ever-popular topic, Sex and the Media (what, is it sweeps week in public radio?). It includes segments on the 50-year anniversary of Playboy (interviews with Hugh Hefner and Gay Talese), political controversy over France's long tradition of broadcasting softcore porn and an interview with lead anchor at NakedNews.com.

The most interesting piece, however, for this audience, is the segment titled "Sex and Technology," charting the power of the porn industry to pioneer new advances in media from etchings, the printing press and photography through to video tape (advancing an explanation that VHS won in the market over the superior BETA video format in large part because pornographers preferred the cheaper VHS format) and, of course, the Internet. Full of interviews with pioneers of web porno and the new vanguard of wireless porn and digital touch technology (a dirty limerick comes to mind).

NOTE: As of this writing, Sunday afternoon, the transcripts and audio files of this program are not yet online, but they should be at the link above by Monday.