A groundbreaking but little-known MRI video from the 1990s has sparked heated debate online about the definition of pornography, raising questions about what is considered explicitly sexual. Created by Dr Pek Van Andel and his team at a hospital in Groningen, the Netherlands, the footage shows a couple's internal anatomy during intercourse.
Since its release on the internet, the video – which has garnered over half a million views – has prompted a mix of reactions, ranging from scientific curiosity to confusion and even arousal. Many viewers, unfamiliar with medical imagery, have struggled to understand the unfamiliar shapes and motions depicted, highlighting the challenge in defining what constitutes pornography.
The video's release challenges the long-held notion that Justice Potter Stewart's famous phrase – 'I know it when I see it' – adequately describes what is considered sexually explicit. The ambiguity of Van Andel's visuals has sparked a renewed public discussion about the complexities of defining pornography, with some arguing that traditional external imagery may not be the only indicator of sexual content.
Published in 1999 as 'Magnetic Resonance Imaging of Male and Female Genitals During Coitus and Female Sexual Arousal' in the British Medical Journal, the original research was a pioneering study led by Dr Van Andel and co-authors Ida Sabelis and Eduard Mooyaart. The team's work was subsequently recognised with an Ig Nobel prize for their unusual but compelling study, which included static MRI images identifying key anatomical features during intercourse.
The current viral spread of the video brings this scientific endeavour to a wider public audience, forcing a re-evaluation of societal assumptions about what defines sexually explicit material. As the debate rages on, one thing is clear: the definition of pornography remains as complex and contentious today as it did when Van Andel's team first published their groundbreaking research.