Approaching analog amateur porn empirically: Video practices in Austrian swinger classifieds, 1981–1990

Abstract

This article traces the impact of analog video technologies on amateur pornography as a practice and an object of exchange during the 1980s. Since actual amateur pornographic videos from this period are often lost, the article approaches the field via classifieds posted in a major Austrian contact magazine, Österreichisches Kontakt Magazin ( ÖKM). Addressing several hundred classifieds posted between 1981 and 1900 with content analysis and close reading, it problematizes the claim that analog video technology afforded audiovisuals that were more private, documentary and authentic than similar works produced for present-day markets.