What's it all about?
By definition, pornography is aimed at the baser instincts rather than any aesthetic sensibilities or fine emotions. Merchant Ivory it's not.

Pornographic images are explicit depictions of graphic sexual acts and its language leaves nothing to the imagination. The word derives from the Greek 'pornographos' which means 'writing about prostitutes' - and given the evidence, those heady days of toga-clad, bacchanalian excess must have been pretty hardcore...

Since the birth of the internet, the number of people indulging online has risen massively and, predictably, given our tendency towards furtive sexual behaviour, the UK is leading the way. According to a recent survey for the Independent on Sunday, 1.4 million women in the UK looked at pornographic images on the internet last year. Add to that figure the number who read dirty magazines and books or who enjoy watching DVDs and you're looking at more than a passing interest...

Why might I like it?
Appealing to the voyeur inside us, the images, sounds and no-holds-barred descriptions of pornography paint a powerfully 3D experience of sex that acts on a very physical level.

When your partner looks at you in that 'I want you' way that makes your stomach jump, your physical response is instinctive, spontaneous and felt in the gut. No interpretation is required. The effects are immediate. When the visual stimulus is as graphic as porn, the reactions are even more powerful. That's why the raw, rank, dark and dingy style of old-school pornography is still so popular. It does what is says on the tin. It's a no-brainer. However, its predictable outcomes leave a bad taste in the mouths of a female audience. Women in these movies rarely come out on top...

Fortunately, a new style of porn has emerged which tries much harder to satisfy the sensibilities of a female viewer, whilst losing none of the explicit rawness.

According to Sarah Hedley, editor of Scarlet magazine, experiments that measure arousal have proved that men and women have exactly the same physical response to pornographic material. It's the mental and emotional attitudes that differ.