Portal:Erotica and pornography

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Welcome to the Erotica and Pornography Portal

Before the Deluge by Cornelis van Haarlem, 1615

Introduction

P:XXX

Pornography (colloquially known as porn or porno) has been defined as sexual subject material "such as a picture, video, or text" that is intended for sexual arousal. Made for the consumption by adults, pornography depictions have evolved from cave paintings, some forty millennia ago, to virtual reality presentations. A general distinction of adult content is made classifying it as pornography or erotica.

The oldest artifacts considered pornographic were discovered in Germany in 2008 CE and are dated to be at least 35,000 years old. Throughout the history of erotic depictions, various people made attempts to suppress them under obscenity laws, censor, or make them illegal. Such grounds and even the definition of pornography have differed in various historical, cultural, and national contexts. The Indian Sanskrit text Kama Sutra (3rd century CE) contained prose, poetry, and illustrations regarding sexual behavior, and the book was celebrated; while the British English text Fanny Hill (1748), considered "the first original English prose pornography," has been one of the most prosecuted and banned books. In the late 19th century, a film by Thomas Edison that depicted a kiss was denounced as obscene in the United States, whereas Eugène Pirou's 1896 film Bedtime for the Bride was received very favorably in France. Starting from the mid-twentieth century on, societal attitudes towards sexuality became more lenient in the Western world where legal definitions of obscenity were made limited. In 1969, Blue Movie became the first film to depict unsimulated sex that received a wide theatrical release in the United States. This was followed by the "Golden Age of Porn" (1969–1984). The introduction of home video and the World Wide Web in the late 20th century led to global growth in the pornography business. Beginning in the 21st century, greater access to the Internet and affordable smartphones made pornography more mainstream. (Full article...)

Erotica is literature or art that deals substantively with subject matter that is erotic, sexually stimulating or sexually arousing. Some critics regard pornography as a type of erotica, but many consider it to be different. Erotic art may use any artistic form to depict erotic content, including painting, sculpture, drama, film or music. Erotic literature and erotic photography have become genres in their own right. Erotica also exists in a number of subgenres including gay, lesbian, women's, bondage, monster and tentacle erotica.

The term erotica is derived from the feminine form of the ancient Greek adjective: ἐρωτικός (erōtikós), from ἔρως (érōs)—words used to indicate lust, and sexual love. (Full article...)

Refresh with new selections below (purge)

Selected article

The film Deep Throat helped inaugurate the Golden Age of Porn.

The term "Golden Age of Porn", or "porno chic", refers to a 15-year period (1969–1984) in commercial American pornography, in which sexually explicit films experienced positive attention from mainstream cinemas, movie critics, and the general public. This American period, which had subsequently spread internationally, and that began before the legalization of pornography in Denmark on July 1, 1969, started on June 12, 1969, with the theatrical release of the film Blue Movie directed by Andy Warhol, and, somewhat later, with the release of the 1970 film Mona produced by Bill Osco. These films were the first adult erotic films depicting explicit sex to receive wide theatrical release in the United States. Both influenced the making of films such as 1972's Deep Throat starring Linda Lovelace and directed by Gerard Damiano, Behind the Green Door starring Marilyn Chambers and directed by the Mitchell brothers, 1973's The Devil in Miss Jones also by Damiano, and 1976's The Opening of Misty Beethoven by Radley Metzger, the "crown jewel" of the Golden Age, according to award-winning author Toni Bentley. According to Andy Warhol, his Blue Movie film was a major influence in the making of Last Tango in Paris, an internationally controversial erotic drama film, starring Marlon Brando, and released in 1972, three years after Blue Movie was shown in theaters.

Following mentions by Johnny Carson on his popular Tonight Show and Bob Hope on TV as well, Deep Throat achieved major box-office success, despite being rudimentary by mainstream standards. In 1973, the more accomplished, but still low-budget, film The Devil in Miss Jones was the seventh most successful film of the year, and was well received by major media, including a favorable review by film critic Roger Ebert. The phenomenon of porn being publicly discussed by celebrities, and taken seriously by critics, a development referred to, by Ralph Blumenthal of The New York Times, as "porno chic", began for the first time in modern American culture. It became obvious that box-office returns of very low-budget adult erotic films could fund further advances in the technical and production values of porn, allowing it to compete with Hollywood films. There was concern that, left unchecked, the vast profitability of such films would lead to Hollywood being influenced by pornography.

Prior to this, thousands of U.S. state and municipal anti-obscenity laws and ordinances held that participating in the creation, distribution, or consumption of obscene films constituted criminal action. Multi-jurisdictional interpretations of obscenity made such films susceptible to prosecution and criminal liability for obscenity, thereby restricting their distribution and profit potential. Freedom in creative license, higher movie budgets and payouts, and a "Hollywood mindset" all contributed to this period. (Full article...)

List of selected articles

Selected work of erotic literature

Illustration by Georges Barbier for The Songs of Bilitis

The Songs of Bilitis (/bɪˈliːtɪs/; French: Les Chansons de Bilitis) is a collection of erotic, essentially lesbian, poetry by Pierre Louÿs published in Paris in 1894. Since Louÿs claimed that he had translated the original poetry from Ancient Greek, this work is considered a pseudotranslation. The poems were actually clever fabulations, authored by Louÿs himself, and are still considered important literature.

The poems are in the manner of Sappho; the collection's introduction claims they were found on the walls of a tomb in Cyprus, written by a woman of Ancient Greece called Bilitis (Greek: Βιλιτις), a courtesan and contemporary of Sappho's to whose life Louÿs dedicated a small section of the book. On publication, the volume deceived even expert scholars.

Louÿs claimed the 143 prose poems, excluding 3 epitaphs, were entirely the work of this ancient poet—a place where she poured both her most intimate thoughts and most public actions, from childhood innocence in Pamphylia to the loneliness and chagrin of her later years. (Full article...)

List of selected works
The Autobiography of a Flea Fifty Shades of Grey Story of the Eye Story of O Fanny Hill Jin Ping Mei Ada or Ardor: A Family Chronicle Lady Chatterley's Lover The 120 Days of Sodom Kama Sutra Lolita Tropic of Cancer (novel) Josephine Mutzenbacher Tijuana bible Emmanuelle (novel) Sex (book)

Slideshow of selected contemporary images

Image 1Audrey Hollander - American porn star
Image 2Rebeca Linares at AVN Adult Entertainment Expo 2009
Image 3Hentai style of art, originally from Japan
Image 4Raylene
Image 5The COLT Studio Group, San Francisco
Image 6Joanna Jet - transsexual pornographic actress and director
Image 7Pornographic actor and director Miles Long (submitted by self)
Image 8Penthouse Pet Dani Daniels, wearing Penthouse key necklace
Image 9Playmate of the Year Sara Jean Underwood
Image 10Carmen Luvana, Adult Entertainment Expo 2008
Image 11Erotic actress and public health advocate Sharon Mitchell.
Image 12Transsexual pornographic actress Erica Andrews
Image 13Dana DeArmond
Image 14Playmate of the Year and People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals spokesperson Pamela Anderson, signing DVDs at the USS Halsey
Image 15Francois Sagat, Folsom Street Fair
Image 16Playmate of the_Year Corinna Harney
Image 17Lisa Ann
Image 18Hugh Hefner with Karissa Shannon, Dasha Astafieva, and Kristina Shannon
Image 19Katsuni - French pornographic actress.
Image 20Valentina Nappi at the AVN Awards Show, Las Vegas, Nevada on 21 January 2017
Image 21Jenna Jameson
Image 22Pornographic film set. Pictured from left to right: Cali Chase, Mikey Butders, and a photographer identified as "Nicole."
Image 23Michele_Merkin - Glamour photography
Image 24Bondage pornography, showing classic "wrist to ankle" rope hogtie. Other bondage methods depicted are breast bondage, elbow bondage, head to ankle tie, knees tied, and a crotch rope. Model is also wearing a muzzle gag.
Image 25Dean Flynn and Chi Chi LaRue
Image 26Silvia Saint, wearing a Bomis tee-shirt (a site previously run by Jimmy Wales, the founder of Wikipedia).
Image 27Playboy Playmate Alison Waite
Image 28Pornographic DVDs, Japan, "Kawaii" section
Image 29Playmate of the Year Claire Sinclair
Image 30Pierre Woodman filming in Australia
Image 31Lupe Fuentes
Image 32Michael Lucas, Nonie, Rafael Alencar, David Shankbone, and Ernesta Alamirano in Fire Island Pines
Image 33World map showing laws of general pornography
Image 34Daisy Marie posing with a fan at the AVN Adult Entertainment Expo 2008
Image 35Hentai Manga, Japan
Image 36American pornographic actor Ron Jeremy. One of top Porn Stars of All Time.
Image 37Xaviera Hollander, author and former Sex worker
Image 38Pornographic actress and cosplayer Tanya Tate as She-Ra
Image 39Sculpture of Marilyn Monroe in Haugesund harbour, Norway

Image 39Sculpture of Marilyn Monroe in Haugesund harbour, Norway
Image 40Shy Love at AVN Adult Entertainment Expo 2012
Image 41Tila Tequila
Image 42Sean Michaels - pornographic actor.
Image 43Rocco Siffredi
Image 44Karen McDougal
Image 45Figure 12 in Zillmann, Dolf: "Effects of Prolonged Consumption of Pornography", included in the Report of the Surgeon General's Workshop on Pornography and Public Health, United States Public Health Service, Office of the Surgeon General, August 4, 1986
Image 46Example of Erotic photography
Image 47A Fluffer hands gay porn performers Jake Starr (seated) and Erik Grant (lying) items needed for a scene in the 2008 Lucas Entertainment production Pounding the Pavement.
Image 48Swedish/Tanzanian Playmate of the Year Ida Ljungqvist
Image 49Louise Glover
Image 50Cindy Margolis
Image 51Jessie Andrews

Slideshow of selected historical images

Image 1Katsushika Hokusai, "The Adonis Plant (Fukujusô)" Woodblock, ca. 1815, Japan Shunga
Image 2Johann Nepomuk Geiger, watercolor, 1840
Image 3Roman oil lamp portraying intercourse
Image 4A rape scene by Utagawa Kuniyoshi (ca.1797-1861).
Image 5The Dream of the Fisherman's Wife, an erotic woodcut made circa 1820 by Hokusai.
Image 6Miniature from 15th century Persian book
Image 7Classical Greek Bas Relief showing "Cowgirl" position
Image 8Erotic art, India, 18th century
Image 9Kama Sutra illustration (19th century?)
Image 10Illustration from Juliette by the Marquis de Sade.
Image 11Hokusai, Untitled (Plate No. 4) From the series Picture Book Patterns of Couples (Ehon tsui no hinagata), c. 1812
Image 12Indian Princess, by Richard Borrmeister [de] (1888?)
Image 13Erotic scene. Rim of an Attic red-figure kylix, c. 510 BC., ancient Greece
Image 14Erotic detail from the Vishwanath temple at the Khajuraho Group of Monuments
Image 15Hadrian engaging in anal sex with Antinous in Egypt, portrayed by Édouard-Henri Avril.
Image 16Traditional pederastic courtship scene on an Athenian black-figure amphora from the 5th century B.C.
Image 17A Mercury Priapus figure from Pompeii, ancient Rome
Image 18Nineteenth century nude photograph.
Image 19Shunga, Japan (ca 1750)
Image 20Lakshmana Temple, Khajuraho
Image 21Kama Sutra illustration (19th century?)
Image 22Nights of Horror, panel by Joe Shuster (public domain)
Image 23Erotic engraving supposedly after Agostino Carracci (1557–1602)
Image 24Hokusai, Untamed Lion, From the series Picture Book Patterns of Couples (Ehon tsui no hinagata), c. 1812
Image 25Erotic art, 18th century India
Image 26Kama Sutra illustration (19th century?)
Image 27Silenus and maenad. Tondo of an Attic red-figure kylix, ca. 480 BC. From Vulci, ancient Greece
Image 28Cunnilingus portrayed at Pompeii - Source: John R. Clarke: Ars Erotica. Darmstadt: Primus 2009
Image 29Lakshmana Temple, Khajuraho, India, taken by User:Ggia
Image 30Illustration from La Grande Danse macabre des vifs, Martin van Maële (1905)
Image 31The Venus of Willendorf prehistoric sculpture
Image 32Two Lovers, by Reza Abbasi.

Did you know (auto-generated) - load new batch

... that Christian radio station KIXL near Austin, Texas, pulled an anti-pornography program off-air in mid-transmission because of its graphic descriptions of gay sex?
... that Nickelodeon storyboard artists created a book with hundreds of pornographic drawings of SpongeBob SquarePants characters?
... that Koh Masaki was one of the first gay pornographic film actors in Japan to openly appear in adult films without obscuring his identity?
... that some viewers of an Arizona TV station saw hardcore pornography instead of the Super Bowl?
... that Jan Kochanowski's Fraszki is a 16th-century collection of almost 300 poems, ranging from anecdotes and epitaphs to obscenities and erotica?
... that in 2001, around 64 percent of all films produced in Malayalam were of the soft-porn variety?
... that according to one source, The Embroidered Couch is "most likely China's earliest vernacular pornographic novel"?
... that before being restored as a Broadway theater, the Ritz Theatre was used as a television studio, pornographic theater, vaudeville house, children's theater, and poster warehouse?