What is 'ASCII pornography', a content for adults that survives from the dawn of the Internet?



'ASCII art ', which reproduces photographs and illustrations by combining letters and symbols, is one of the cultures that is inseparable from the history of the Internet, especially the Japanese Internet meme. Motherboard explains 'ASCII pornography ' based on obscene images and movies for adults that exist in the world of ASCII art.

ASCII Pr0n Predates the Internet But it's Still Everywhere
https://motherboard.vice.com/en_us/article/nepapk/ascii-pr0n-porn-predates-the-internet-but-its-still-everywhere-rule-34

ASCII art uses letters to express photographs and illustrations, and has existed since the 19th century when typewriters were invented. Initially, it was called 'Calligram', but in the 1960s, the 7-bit character code ' ASCII ' code became popular, and it came to be called 'ASCII art'. In Japan, a unique ASCII art culture such as emoticons has developed in computer communication since the 1980s. From the end of the 1990s to the 2000s, it grew rapidly centered on 2channel, and ASCII art unique to Japan has become established as a common language for Internet users.

One of the overseas internet memes is called 'Rule 34'. 'Rule 34' means 'If it exists, there is porn of it, no exceptions.' Is a word that indicates that is being created. In addition, it is sometimes used in the broader sense of 'pornography exists in any place, situation, or media,' and it was no exception in the ASCII art world.

According to an ASCII art craftsman who calls himself 'goto80', ASCII pornography itself already existed in the 1970s before the spread of the Internet , using 'teletext ' that can transmit characters and images on TV radio waves as a medium. It seems that you can confirm that it was sent and received.



'In the beginning, amateur radio operators came up with the idea of sending letters wirelessly instead of voice, and they are

exchanging Playmate nudity into ASCII code,' said goto80. In addition, it seems that the culture of 'sending pornographic images by teletext' has been re-evaluated in modern times with the rise of chiptune culture.




'ASCII pornography', which draws pornographic images with ASCII art, is said to be the first form of pornography transmitted via the Internet. ASCII pornography composed of text has a much smaller data size than exchanging images themselves, is easy to carry on a floppy disk, and can be sent and received at high speed. Another big advantage is that you can easily print even with a printer with low accuracy or a printer that does not support images.



The 'ASCII porn craftsmen' who produce such ASCII porn have their own styles, and they are said to have been active using three-letter call signs and handle names. Known craftsmen at the time included

Blazej Kozlowski , who called himself 'bug,' Faux Pseudo , who called himself 'F_P,' and Joan Stark, who called himself 'jgs.' Kozlowski's ASCII porn is more realistically nude with lots of letters, while Stark's ASCII porn is highly deformed, simple and comical. Also, the work 'Meriday in the Morning ' produced by animator Mike Jittlov in 1993 is not just a consumed pornographic image, but a nude image drawn using ASCII code. It is sophisticated.



There are many enthusiasts of ASCII art and ASCII pornography even in the present age when constant connection by optical line has become commonplace and one pornographic image can be sent and received instantly. ASCII porn, which was born in the flow of huge popular art culture called 'ASCII art', is highly evaluated by artists and critics, and the ASCII porn movie 'Deep ASCII' made in 1998 is the Berkeley Art Museum & Pacific Film. When exhibited in the archive's online gallery, the American art magazine 'Art Prtactical' praised it.

Vuk Ćosic, the creator of 'Deep ASCII,' said, 'I thought the old adult movie' Deep Throat 'was symbolic and easy to understand, so I made it into an ASCII porn movie. Also, in 1972, when' Deep Throat 'was released. I also liked that 1972 was an important milestone in the two entertainments of games and movies, as Atari's ' Pon' was also developed. '

However, as long as it is composed of text, ASCII art, which can be copied and pasted more easily than images, faces the problem that copyright is easily ignored. Ascii art writer Laura Brown says, 'People seem to think that all ASCII art is available for free, but ASCII art is an art and is on par with other photographs and paintings.'



Many ASCII pornography has been made in the history of the Internet, but in 2018 it was rarely seen. However, the existence of ASCII pornography has become highly regarded as an art, and works made in the past have been published or archived by some volunteers.

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in Note,   Posted by log1i_yk