Advances in technology and transformations in society often result in linguistic innovations — new words for new things. One term that seems to have been taking on increasing currency lately is porn buddy. Thus far, it seems to have two distinct meanings.

On one hand, porn buddy has come to designate a person with whom you watch porn — but not with whom you have a sexual relationship. (Hm, is watching porn with someone a sort of sexual relationship?) For example, a recent news item — how this became news is anybody’s guess — discusses a girl who broke up with her boyfriend but discovered a new sort of companionship in her porn buddy. “Instead of finding a part-time lover for ‘booty calls,’ Shukert chose to spend her time watching porn with a hunky male neighbor who became her ‘porn buddy…’ She says her porn buddy made her feel sexy without having sex and helped her figure out what she wanted in her next serious relationship.”

On the other hand, porn buddy has also come to designate someone who, should you suddenly kick the bucket, goes to your house and cleans out your porn before your embarrassed heirs find it. According to a blog entry by somebody who sounds like s/he knows what s/he’s talking about, this conception of porn buddy was defined by Dr Hal, a popular performer at San Francisco’s Odeon Bar. Curiously enough, somebody is now trying to leverage this idea while marketing a new service that enables men to trade adult DVDs discreetly. “‘With adult DVD sales now topping 15 billion dollars, some men are afraid to leave behind too much of a legacy,’ said spokesman Scott Mabat, announcing Adult DVD Trader’s launch. ‘The apex of trust in the 21st century is the Porn Buddy.  In case of a man’s death or incapacitation, his Porn Buddy’s mission is to clear the house of all porn before his mother pays a bereaved visit.  This modern day blood brother is entrusted with a house key and the secret location of the stash.”

Regardless whichever use you make of the term, the increasing currency of porn buddy clearly expresses an underlying trend: the internet-assisted explosion — the “mainstreaming” — of pornography. Can there be any doubt that the internet has enabled more people to consume pornography than ever before? It would not be surprising if more people consumed pornography in a single day now than most people consumed in a lifetime prior to the internet. And with such a sweeping change in society, you can be sure that there will be other changes that occur as either a direct or indirect result: for example, pornography will probably continue to become more respectable as a choice of employment. (Really it should be viewed the same as any other profession based on physical talent — as a sport.) Porn buddies are another obvious development. And who can doubt that there will be other, entirely wild and unforeseen consequences of the mainstreaming of pornography? Maybe one day you’ll see posters that say, in all seriousness, Aurora Snow for President.

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