Pornography in Europe - Germany

Germany

Early years of German pornography began with the softcore film Graf Porno und seine Mädchen (Count Porno and his girls) in 1968. The movie's success (more than 3 million admissions) lead to a whole series of films that was and is referred to in German media as the Sex-Welle (sex wave). The most well known film of this period is Schulmädchen-Report: Was Eltern nicht für möglich halten (The School-Girl Report, what the parents don't believe possible) by Ernst Hofbauer in 1970. The sex scenes had become bolder with time and by 1975, when the legal ban of pornography was lifted, the era of German hardcore pornography began.

Director Hans Billian was the protagonist of the period and the films were usually in line with the so-called "Bavarian porn sex comedies", often depicting male performers as comic characters, like Sepp Gneißl in Kasimir der Kuckuckskleber (1977). This era was also characterised by several Josephine Mutzenbacher films.

Today's German pornography is generally very similar to the American "glamour" pornography though often tailored primarily for the German market. In contrast several German labels focus on a more "home-made" amateur flair, often focusing on intense hardcore themes such as gang bangs, bukkake and urine fetishism; most notably 'German Goo Girls' and other series by John Thompson Productions.

Due to popular belief outside of Germany, fecal pornography known as "Scheisse porn" (using the German slang word for faeces) or, more commonly, as "Kaviar" (a generic term) supposedly is particularly popular in Germany, with companies like SG-Video and performers like Austrian Veronica Moser or English Ben Chambers specializing in the concept. Although German companies have their fair world market share in producing for this niche market, the major percentage is sold into export.