Sometime in the future a secretary from the Smithsonian reflects on the history of sex, dirty pictures, orgy festivals, masturbation, pubic hair, clits, pricks and all things sexual.

NOTE FROM THE SECRETARY
(The Smithsonian, July 2091)

Call me old fashioned but my interest in erotica began shortly after the turn of the century - long before erotica was accepted seriously as an art form and, more importantly, as a natural and perfectly harmless stimulant for human sexual pleasure.

Back when I began collecting, any life-like rendering of a human engaged in a sex act was branded pornography. I can still remember my mother calling them "dirty pictures."

It°s hard to believe, but there was a time not all that long ago when the simple possession of erotic art was a serious crime, punishable by a stiff fine and lengthy prison sentence. Several of my parent°s friends were jailed for such ridiculously archaic crimes as "exposing their sexual organs," "prostitution" and the distribution of what the moralists once called "child pornography."

Today, of course, you can see erotic art just about everywhere. It°s featured regularly on the front page of wireless newspapers, on electronic billboards along our speedways, and interactive television. More than two hundred twenty INTV networks è one out of every ten channels - are devoted exclusively to one aspect or another of eroticism. Nothing is taboo. There°s something for everyone, from International Geographic microcam explorations of genitalia to FOXY°s graphically violent sadomasochistic sitcom Fuck Me With This.

It makes me feel old when I think back to the time that concepts of public nudity and sexless public restrooms were scandalous. While public fornication is still frowned on in some moralist communities, to my knowledge there hasn°t been an arrest in over twenty years.

Most cities now have public sex sites. No one bats an eye when they see a man or woman sitting on park bench masturbating. Orgy festivals are commonplace. Some of us haven°t slept in our own bed for weeks. Our love for all things sexual has done for tolerance what no political or social movement ever accomplished: universal acceptance of individual lifestyles.

As a connoisseur of fine sex most of my life and, now, Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, I have observed the evolution from both a professional and casual perspective. In less than one generation, our society has gone from hostile disdain toward the idea of public sexuality to nearly universal embracement (some say obsession).

Granted, there are still a few holdouts è the isolated Muslim tribes that roam the deserts of the Middle East, and a small number of Catholic sects here in the United States è who share the opinion that "the world has gone to hell°" but, thankfully, they are a rapidly declining minority. As the older generations die off, so will the old attitudes.

Because the transformation has been so rapid, it°s still possible to trace the world°s liberated sexuality back to a single source: the Internet. Historians may argue that the movement°s roots stretch even farther back, to the days of paper "skin magazines." Some credit Hugh Hefner°s Playboy Magazine, which debuted in 1952 and spawned the "sexual revolution" of the 1960s. Others point to Robert Guccione, who founded Penthouse in 1969 è the first widely circulated magazine to show è gasp è pubic hair, or Hustler publisher Larry Flynt, who was arrested and jailed for showing a close-up of a è double gasp - clitoris. Still others point to Eve Ensler°s huge Broadway hit The Vagina Monologue, or the even more successful follow up, A Prick Responds, written by Jerry Seinfeld, which set the record for the longest running production in the history of live theater. But, as the last few years have taught us, historians are only theorists who have not yet been proven wrong.

The argument can also be made that pharmaceuticals paved the way for sexual freedom. The first oral contraceptive certainly played an important role, as did Viagra, the male potency pill, or STDP48I, the first general purpose sexually transmitted disease prevention pill. Then again, it must be remembered that even the AIDS plague of the last century did not stop or even markedly slow down mankind°s powerful sexual drive. Pharmaceuticals simply made the exchange of bodily fluids safe (or possible, in the case of Vigara). That we can now alter the flavor of our bodily fluids to satisfy virtually any partner°s exotic taste is just icing on the cake.

I don°t mean to discredit any of these inventions or the groundbreaking contributions by past cultural crusaders but, as one who was there and has seen it all, I can say unequivocally that it was the Internet that changed the way the masses viewed sexuality.

The Internet gave what was then quaintly termed "Mainstream America" its first opportunity to instantly access a wide array of erotica. Though the Internet has been obsolete for nearly forty years, its role cannot be under estimated. The Internet made instant visual communication available to the average person. Before that, sex was only talked about in public. Fucking in front of another person, even a complete stranger, was still against the law in most areas of the world.

The Internet opened the masses° eyes. When people realized they were not alone, that they weren°t the only ones whose autoerotic spirits were "turned on " (to use the old vernacular) by certain "kinky" acts, they naturally gravitated toward those with similar desires. Private sexual fantasies soon gave way to virtual sex, which finally bridged the gap to reality. Lest we forget, it was the Internet that forced the antique television networks to begin airing what were then called "XXX-rated adult movies." Finally, sex came out of the bedroom, the closet, and everywhere else it had been hiding, and into the bright light of public acceptance where it was meant to be.

Once people accepted sexuality as healthy, beautiful, and natural, and could openly share their desires with others, the crime rate plummeted. As sex became readily available, there arose a tolerance for other "victimless crimes." Activities that were once "vices" - prostitution, gambling, and drug use è became recreational opportunities and even profitable forms of enterprise for those who lacked higher intellectual skills.

Ironically, erotica is the oldest art form on record, dating back almost 10,000 years. It°s also the only art form that has not changed with the times. The mediums have evolved with technological innovations, but the basic message remains the same. Nothing beats great sex.

The Smithsonian°s collection of erotica is second only to the Vatican, and I urge all of you, young and old alike, to visit our flying History of Sex Museum as it travels around the world. If you°re at all like me, you°ll laugh yourself silly when you see the prudish way our ancestors once lived.

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