Hello!

Pornography within the Soviet Union was not like the burgeoning pornography industry within the Western World, and more notably the USA. Instead we saw another form of pornography emerge, or rather the continuation of the old style of pornography along with the newer "style" of modern pornography. Pornography has been a "thing" for centuries. Within the 19th century it exploded due to a combination of factors, and could be tied to globalization, the printing press, and increased literacy. This is key because the pornography in the Soviet Union was tied to that basis. The use of writing pornography. These were known as "black books" within the Soviet Union and was completely illegal for the entire duration of the Soviet Union. The basis was it was degrading and it was seen as a corruption of the human spirit, or in Soviet terms, it was not part of the Communist Man. Sex in general was repressed in the USSR, enough so that a woman being interviewed in the 1980s exclaimed that "There is no sex in the Soviet Union!" The discussion on why sex and sexuality was repressed when compared to the West is another question and answer in its own right.

However returning to pornography specifically. Therefore majority of domestic pornography was these "black books" which were written in the same vein of the 19th century pornography before it. As stated, these of course were illegal. They were illegal for the content contained, and also the use of printing presses that were either government owned, or were illegally possessed. They were then sold on the streets by book peddlers. I have not personally seen or read any of these "black books" so I cannot discuss what they really contained.

Moving on. There was also "modern" pornography. Images and movies, more specifically. There would be two classes of images that were sold. Either it was smuggled in "Western" pornography, be it American or European in general. These would likely be your big name Western porn that was sold on the black market, again by peddlers. There was also a small domestic production aspect, as well. These were low quality pictures, likely hand processed, hand cut, and homemade. Finally, domestically, there was some movies that featured more risque scenes that showed nudity and sometimes sex. However these were rare, and not really were used as a pure "pornographic" film.

To kind of pull back and have an overview. The early Soviet Union, specifically in the days of Lenin, saw a huge influx of sex forward policies. It was here also were homosexuality was no longer illegal, however as the 1920s progressed sex and sexuality once again became taboo. Homosexuality again became de facto illegal, and pornography was repressed. The justification was essentially that it was degrading to women, and it was also not good for the "New Communist Man." Throughout the rest of the Soviet Union, pornography remained illegal, however perceptions of it along with government policy waxed and waned. Allowing for some risque scenes in movies, then later not allowing them. Pornography was normally sold "on the street" with peddlers selling it. They may be "black books" which were erotic literature, smuggled western pornography, or low-quality domestic productions. These perceptions and the attitude of Soviets are not uncharacteristic, because as stated before, sex and sexuality was repressed throughout the Soviet era.

Sources: Two posts by /u/Acritas: One, Two.

International Exposure: Perspectives on Modern European Pornography, 1800-2000 Lisa Sigel.

DEALERS IN BLACK BOOKS Yar. Karpov and Vik. Maryanovsky, The Current Digest of the Russian Press, No. 21, Vol.16, June 17, 1964, page(s): 20-21

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It is somewhat related and I hope this is worthy enough to not be deleted. Anyways, in Soviet Estonia, Finnish TV would reach the northern part of the country. Which meant that people watched the Finnish TV as a free source of media, despite the Soviets attempts to block the signals.

So when the Finnish TV premiered the French soft-core movie "Emmanuelle" allegedly people drove from South-Estonia to north to see the movie, streets were empty and nine months later birthrates spiked. Of course, much of this is myth or exaggerated, but portrays the importance and power of such simple movies.

There's a semi-documental movie about it, "Disco and atomic war". http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/12/movies/12disco.html?_r=0 http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1421032/plotsummary?ref_=tt_ov_pl