Snuff is a genre of film that purportedly shows the murder of another person, usually a woman. Snuff porn is another genre of snuff film that includes sexual content, often of a violent nature.
Although there is pornography that advertises itself as "snuff," according to fact-checking site Snopes.com, snuff films are more urban legend than reality. Rumors of such films have circulated since the 1970s, but all those investigated have turned out to be fake. In other words, the "victims" in these films were found to be alive and well after the fact.
The term is believed to have been coined in connection with the Manson family murders, which took place in 1969.
More About Snuff Porn
Snuff films and snuff pornography have an interesting history in terms of the pornography industry. Although the existence of such films has never been substantiated, they have been used by anti-pornography advocates to make a connection between porn and violence against women.
Snuff films are merely an extension of other types of violent and misogynistic pornography. And, while the content is undoubtedly controversial, the research on whether violent pornography incites sexual aggression is mixed. However, a meta-analysis of 50 such studies conducted in 2020 found no correlation between pornography and violent sex crimes. In addition, many researchers believe that any association between violent pornography and actual sexual aggression has more to do with the types of people drawn to this pornography than it does with a causal relationship between the two.
It is also important to note that pornography that depicts violence - much like other media we watch that depicts violence - is created for the purposes of entertainment. There are many kinks that involve sadism, masochism, the infliction of pain, blood and other elements that some might find distasteful. These kinks are most often played out in pornography or in consensual scenes between kinksters.
