That’s why older porn is so jarring sometimes because of the weird habit of cutting to the guy’s moaning face in the middle of everything. Like, what the fuck was the thinking behind that “technique”?

So, I am pulling this out of my ass (no pun intended) but I got a theory here. I think the way porn is consumed and its intention have shifted along with our perception and experience of sex.

Older porn seems to be more like "a movie depicting people having sex". So it shows the woman and the man having sex, touching, kissing, enjoying. Both are crucial parts of the act. It also appears like the main function is to get you horny, not to get you off. I remember overhearing older people talking about watching porn together before having sex. I know this can still be a thing, but I'd argue that most modern porn is neither made for that purpose nor directed/designed in a way that would work for this.

Modern porn, in its insane abundance, is to be consumed alone for the purpose to jerk off to, to activate some dopamine receptors or whatnot, and its notorious addictiveness that makes you want more and more intense stimuli. You don't need people for that, you need bodies.

The other thing is that sex - maybe because of the oversexualization, social media, internet, being wired 24/7, or maybe because of hookups having become so common, anonymous and risk free - has become somewhat sterile. Almost like an out of body experience. I forgot who said it - something like "we fantasize about fucking our partner while we fuck our partner". We're not in touch with ourselves and don't experience the sex we have while we have it, we are almost disconnecting from the experience. It's absurd but common.

You find this "sterility" in modern porn too; perfect bodies with no hair, no shadows, no marks of any kind, almost no body contact except the genitals. Just because there is a cumshot somewhere doesn't make it less sterile or more intimate. You paraphrased this when you described the guy standing in for the viewer, being objectified even more than the woman, being this background thing doing repetitive motions.

(Disclaimer: I'm talking about a modern "we" and and older "they" in very broad terms here. Obviously people 30 years ago had disconnected sexual experiences and anonymous hookups and people nowadays also experience concentrated, fulfilling sex in which they are very much in touch with themselves. Definitely porn was used to be wanked to in the 70s just like some couples enjoy watching porn together today. And within its insane abundance you can most definitely find modern porn that is not sterile.)