a new form of porn:


"you've never seen anything like this before," his companion assured
him, as the video screen in front of them lit up. he was eager to see
what this newest form of pornography might be. at the touch of a
button, an image flickered into existence on the screen.

the woman was in her mid- twenties, average-looking, pale and a bit
overweight, with stringy brown hair. she appeared to be dressed only
in a beige slip, which ended above her knees as she sat perched on a
plain wooden stool. she moved her knees farther apart, and the camera
began to zoom in as she slowly pulled up the hem of her slip with her
left hand, exposing her left thigh.

now the view was filled with the soft, pallid flesh of her inner
thigh. she stroked it with her left hand, as if smoothing the surface.
her right hand came into view, with a small object concealed in it.
her left hand smoothed the skin of her thigh again, and her right hand
followed, stroking the skin with the object it held...

it was a razor blade. it opened a neat, straight line in the doughy
flesh, about as long as her thumb. for a moment, there was no blood;
then, like an afterthought, bright, almost fake-looking red blood
began to well up in the cut, until a trickle ran over the surface of
her skin. her left hand dabbed at it gently with a tissue.

she cut herself again. the blade sliced another precise line, parallel
to the first one and about the same length. again, the pause before
the cut flesh began to bleed. the camera switched for a moment to a
view of her face. she wore an expression of intent, rapt
concentration; the tip of her tongue showed slightly at the corner of
her mouth, in the manner of a small child focusing on an exacting
task. (he did not realize that he himself was sitting forward in his
chair, breathing heavily, with open mouth and dilated pupils...)

the camera switched back to the view of her hands on her thigh. she
made another incision, in the same way as the first two. rivulets of
blood were running down her leg, despite her attempts to keep it tidy.
she paused, wiping away the blood, which returned as soon as she took
the wad of tissues away. her right hand, with the razor blade,
hesitated for a moment, as if she were making up her mind whether or
not she wanted to continue.

then, decisively, she slashed herself one more time. the final line
was deeper and longer, and cut across the previous three. blood sprang
up in the cut and trickled over her skin again, but this time she made
no effort to clean herself up. the razor blade slipped from her
fingers, and the screen faded to black.

after a few moments of somewhat stunned silence, he remarked to his
companion, "um. that was ...interesting. but you told me it was
supposed to be a new form of porn. that's not exactly what i call
porn..."

the other replied, "then why did you come in your pants?"