PKM: It seems like it allowed the people viewing them—the white men viewing them—to let loose and created an air of acceptability and welcoming when they were so stifled by everything else. Especially sexually.

Kelsey Brewer: Exactly. Especially at the beginning of the stag era. It’s the turn of the century and the Victorian ideas of morality were still at play. There was such a taboo about speaking of sex or even having sex. Also, there were legal deterrents to frank sexual expression. These films also really served as education tools, too.

PKM: I didn’t think about that. This literally was the first time many people were seeing each other have sex.

Kelsey Brewer: Not even that, many people still only had sex in the dark and while still wearing nightgowns or something…for some, this was the first time they were seeing a fully nude woman—even the married men. Showing positions other than missionary was also rare.

PKM: That does not sound like a world that I want to live in.

Kelsey Brewer: Right?