Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of Figures
- Acknowledgments
- Introduction: Battling Pornography
- 1 Seeds of Discontent
- 2 Male Violence and the Critique of Heterosexuality
- 3 Have You Seen Deep Throat Yet?
- 4 “I'm Black and Blue from the Rolling Stones and I Love It!”
- 5 Something Inside Me Just Went “Click”
- 6 Growing Pains
- 7 Porn Tours
- 8 The New Lay of the Land
- 9 Anti-Pornography Comes Undone
- Conclusion: Porn Is Here to Stay
- Bibliography
- Index
- References
3 - Have You Seen Deep Throat Yet?
The Growth of the Commercial Sex Industry in 1970s America
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 June 2012
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of Figures
- Acknowledgments
- Introduction: Battling Pornography
- 1 Seeds of Discontent
- 2 Male Violence and the Critique of Heterosexuality
- 3 Have You Seen Deep Throat Yet?
- 4 “I'm Black and Blue from the Rolling Stones and I Love It!”
- 5 Something Inside Me Just Went “Click”
- 6 Growing Pains
- 7 Porn Tours
- 8 The New Lay of the Land
- 9 Anti-Pornography Comes Undone
- Conclusion: Porn Is Here to Stay
- Bibliography
- Index
- References
Summary
The most famous porn film of all time opened in West Hollywood at the Pussycat Theater on Santa Monica Boulevard in November 1972. The owners of the theater chain submitted advertisements to the Los Angeles Times, but the newspaper refused to print the movie title. Determined to spread the word, the management submitted new ad copy that read: “IT is here!” They hoped that savvy patrons would recognize the veiled reference to Deep Throat and beat a path to the Pussycat's door.
But Deep Throat didn't do major box office right from the start. The West Hollywood Theater which was located in an unincorporated area of Los Angeles known for its significant gay population and as a popular destination for both gay and straight commercial sex, took in a disappointing $24,000 during the first week. The second week's total was down to $18,000. In the third week, ticket sales for Deep Throat tumbled to $15,000. The hardcore feature that promised to deliver a blockbuster mainstream audience was failing – badly.
Just as the owners of the Pussycat were lamenting their fortune, something remarkable occurred. Time magazine, long a bastion of middle-class values, devoted an entire page to Deep Throat and the newly chic pornography business.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Battling PornographyThe American Feminist Anti-Pornography Movement, 1976–1986, pp. 63 - 82Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2011