Just saw this tonight and am happy I stumbled upon it. I have no idea why, but I've been randomly reflecting over the past few days on the time when I walked into the Sex Machines Museum in Prague and found myself standing in the vintage porn theater, watching porn from the 1920s and earlier with a bunch of strangers. Something felt oddly... I almost want to say "wholesome" about the experience. Something about the vintage porn was like a breath of fresh air. From what I saw, the same desires and kinks that people have nowadays were just as alive and well back then — but as you say, people were way more interested in having fun than in looking "flawless" while playing.

I think you're right. I think that's why the vintage porn theater left such an impression. On the screen was real, unbridled sexuality. Which is to say, it was a sexuality that didn't take itself too seriously. It was play. Not artifice.

Thank you for this lovely, thoughtful piece.