Summary

The emergence of the "facial" in pornography is linked to the HIV crisis of the 1980s, which influenced the industry's shift towards safer sex practices and the desire for visually impactful endings to adult films.

Abstract

The article explores the historical context of the "facial" in pornographic films, tracing its origins to the HIV crisis of the 1980s. It explains that prior to the crisis, there was already a trend of simulated sex and a search for satisfying conclusions to adult movies. The industry's fear of sex, particularly "cream pies," and the need for a clear climax led to the development of the "money shot," showcasing male ejaculation. The "facial" became popular as it effectively displayed both the male orgasm and the female performer's reaction in a single shot, which was more cost-effective and visually appealing. The HIV crisis further solidified the popularity of oral sex, as it was perceived as a safer alternative to penetrative sex, leading to the rise of the "facial" as a common trope in pornography. The article suggests that the preference for oral sex, and by extension the "facial," may be influenced by cultural conditioning regarding HIV safety, in addition to physical pleasure and the perceived reduction of pregnancy risk.

Opinions

The porn industry was already moving towards non-penetrative sex acts before the HIV crisis due to fear and uncertainty around filming actual sex.
The "facial" became a preferred method for depicting male orgasm because it was more cost-effective and visually efficient than previous techniques.
The rise of oral sex during the HIV crisis, due to its perceived lower risk of HIV transmission, contributed to the prominence of the "facial" in pornography.
There is a speculative suggestion that a person's fear of HIV may correlate with their preference for oral sex over penetrative sex.
The article posits that the popularity of the "facial" is not solely based on physical pleasure but also on subconscious beliefs about HIV safety and cultural conditioning.

The HIV Crisis of the 80s Is What Gave Us The “Facial”

Ever wondered where the “facial” in porn came from, here is the answer

Some women love it, many women are indifferent to it, while some women loathe it. The majority of men on the other hand love it. But if you’ve ever wondered where the “facial” came from — a man ejaculating on a person’s face — it is believed to be linked to the HIV crisis in the 80s.

To explain, even prior to the HIV crisis, many in the industry were already afraid of sex — especially “cream pies” — and many actually faked sex in porn in the 70s. The endings were also erratic, sometimes they would end with weird things like champagne corks being popped or fireworks going off.

Basically, many of the performers in the porn industry were afraid of direct sex and many of the directors didn’t really know how to end a porno. They didn’t know how to say it was time to orgasm.

This is why in the run-up to the HIV crisis the porn industry was already trying to work out how to end porn films. This led to the birth of the “money shot”, which was a close-up of the man ejaculating on camera.

In the beginning, the majority went with either the man ejaculating on the woman’s breasts or most often onto her stomach. So, the male performer would pull out just before ejaculating and ejaculate on the female performer's stomach. Other variations were finishing inside and then pulling out.

But what the industry really wanted was to show the man ejaculating and the woman’s pleasure in regards to him ejaculating — and they wanted to do it in the most visually pleasing and cost-effective manner. It’s probably not quite a jump to see how the facial was born under these circumstances.

To explain, before the facial, the porn industry would show the woman’s reaction to the man being about to ejaculate, then cut to a different shot showing the man ejaculating, before going back to the woman. That took two or more shots and was rather blah when cut together.

The “facial” on the other hand showed the man ejaculating and the woman’s desire for him to ejaculate, and her reaction to him ejaculating — and it did it all in one shot.

In terms of the part the HIV crisis is believed to have played in pushing this to prominence. It was believed that a man ejaculating inside of a woman increased the chances of passing on HIV, also, sex itself was seen as more dangerous. This increased the popularity of oral sex.

The massive rise of oral sex is believed to be heavily linked to the HIV crisis

Yep, the rise of the facial is believed to be linked to how the HIV crisis led oral sex to become so increasingly popular. To explain, during the HIV crisis of the 80s, it was believed that oral sex was a safer alternative to penetrative sex i.e. if you had oral sex rather than penetrative sex there was less chance you would catch HIV. This belief led to the porn industry being pushed into promoting oral sex rather than penetrative sex.

As oral sex was already on the rise due to it being linked to fewer pregnancies (there’s a reason why it's always most popular amongst younger people), when these two further factors were added to the equation, oral sex began to rise further still in popularity. Meaning it may be so popular not just because it’s pleasurable and there's less chance of unwanted pregancy, but because we are culturally conditioned to believe it is more HIV safe than penetrative sex.

That is it may not just be because it feels good physiologically, and because of the power dynamic it creates along with the intimacy, it may be because psychologically we are being mentally rewarded because we subconsciously think we are having a form of sex that better protects us and our partner from HIV.

An old lecturer of mine even believes that there may be a correlation between how afraid a person is of catching HIV and how likely they are to prefer oral sex to penetrative sex — so the more afraid a person is of catching HIV the more likely they are to favour oral sex over penetrative sex and vice versa. Take that with a pinch of salt of course.

Final words

Nobody really knows why the facial came to prominence, but the most likely reality is it was a mixture of cost-saving, necessity, and a desire to give people what they wanted. So, it is likely that the desire to save costs added to the HIV crisis led the porn industry into finding something that many people enjoyed watching. Oral sex, and facials.

This led more and more people to begin experimenting with both and desiring to watch both, which led the porn industry to begin pushing both ever more which made them both eventually become staples of porn.

That’s all from me, thanks for reading! If you enjoyed this post, you may also enjoy the following:

12 Fascinating Facts About Orgasms That You Probably Didn’t Know

Six Psychological Reasons Why The Majority Of Modern Relationships Fail

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