INCENDIARY PICTORIAL HISTORY OF 20TH CENTURY PORNOGRAPHY IN THE USA
When one thinks of the earliest years of the 20th Century in America, ribald erotica is not the first thing that springs to mind. However, if a gentleman lived in a major city like New York, Chicago or New Orleans, he had more sexual entertainment available to him than his descendants do today - brothels and prostitutes where everywhere and advertised openly. For consumers outside of sophisticated metropolises, the art of photography was put to use by enterprising photographers and models more than willing to bare it all and lasciviously flaunt it in this new medium. Film inevitably followed, and became the perfect vehicle for capturing the raw nuances of every sexual activity under the sun, or the studio lights, as it were.
The Christy Report examines, decade by decade, the advances and evolution of this underground art form - the changes in erotic tastes over the years from now quaintly soft-core cheesecake, through the fetish-y 50s, the anything goes au natural 60s; the hard-core, so called “golden age” of porn in the 70s and 80s; up to the ubër gods and goddesses of idealized 90s porn sporting the biggest, most perfect breasts and gigantically unflagging erections ever-ready for the money shot. Consistent throughout are explicitly hot shots of bare-naked ladies and rampant men - The Christy Report, though certainly very educational for the scholar of porn, is also a very hot book, crammed with nearly 1000 arousing images perfect for a different kind of study session!
Kim Christy was born in New York City in 1950, and spent several years dancing and performing in famous east coast nightclubs such as the Club 82 and touring throughout the U.S. and Canada before taking a job in 1968 as photo editor for the infamous Eros Publishing Company. Kim s keen eye for glamour, the bizarre, and the specialty markets was an asset to the company, and Kim served as exclusive photographic coordinator for titles such as Eros, Mode Avantgarde, Hooker and Exposé. After working with legends of the adult industry such as John Holmes, Rene Bond, Seka, Marc Stevens, Jamie Gillis, Harry Reems, Gloria Leonard and many more, Kim went on to produce and direct groundbreaking feature films among them Sulka s Wedding, Squalor Motel, Corrupt Desires and countless video series. Kim s film and video work is legendary, and notable for its attention to detail. For more than twenty-five years, cult icon Kim Christy has advocated free speech, the understanding of the! many forms of human sexuality, and the right to freedom of sexual expression for all.
