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...)

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Selected article

Dworkin appearing on the British television discussion programme After Dark in 1988: "What is Sex For?"

Andrea Rita Dworkin (September 26, 1946 – April 9, 2005) was an American radical feminist writer and activist best known for her analysis of pornography. Her feminist writings, beginning in 1974, span 30 years. They are found in a dozen solo works: nine books of non-fiction, two novels, and a collection of short stories. Another three volumes were co-written or co-edited with US constitutional law professor and feminist activist, Catharine A. MacKinnon.

The central objective of Dworkin's work is analyzing Western society, culture, and politics through the prism of men's sexual violence against women in a patriarchal context. She wrote on a wide range of topics including the lives of Joan of Arc, Margaret Papandreou, and Nicole Brown Simpson; she analyzed the literature of Charlotte Brontë, Jean Rhys, Leo Tolstoy, Marquis de Sade, Kōbō Abe, Tennessee Williams, James Baldwin, and Isaac Bashevis Singer; she brought her own radical feminist perspective to her examination of subjects historically written or described from men's point of view, including fairy tales, homosexuality, lesbianism, virginity, antisemitism, the State of Israel, the Holocaust, biological superiority, and racism. She interrogated premises underlying concepts such as freedom of the press and civil liberties. She theorized the sexual politics of intelligence, fear, courage, and integrity. She described a male supremacist political ideology manifesting in and constituted by rape, battery, prostitution, and pornography. (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 1Playmate of the Year and People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals spokesperson Pamela Anderson, signing DVDs at the USS Halsey
Image 2Bondage 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 3A 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 4Erotic actress and public health advocate Sharon Mitchell.
Image 5American pornographic actor Ron Jeremy. One of top Porn Stars of All Time.
Image 6Louise Glover
Image 7Francois Sagat, Folsom Street Fair
Image 8Dean Flynn and Chi Chi LaRue
Image 9Example of Erotic photography
Image 10Sculpture of Marilyn Monroe in Haugesund harbour, Norway

Image 10Sculpture of Marilyn Monroe in Haugesund harbour, Norway
Image 11Hentai style of art, originally from Japan
Image 12Pornographic actor and director Miles Long (submitted by self)
Image 13Cindy Margolis
Image 14Joanna Jet - transsexual pornographic actress and director
Image 15Hentai Manga, Japan
Image 16The COLT Studio Group, San Francisco
Image 17Swedish/Tanzanian Playmate of the Year Ida Ljungqvist
Image 18Lisa Ann
Image 19Figure 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 20Michael Lucas, Nonie, Rafael Alencar, David Shankbone, and Ernesta Alamirano in Fire Island Pines
Image 21Daisy Marie posing with a fan at the AVN Adult Entertainment Expo 2008
Image 22Pierre Woodman filming in Australia
Image 23Valentina Nappi at the AVN Awards Show, Las Vegas, Nevada on 21 January 2017
Image 24Tila Tequila
Image 25Penthouse Pet Dani Daniels, wearing Penthouse key necklace
Image 26Pornographic film set. Pictured from left to right: Cali Chase, Mikey Butders, and a photographer identified as "Nicole."
Image 27Silvia Saint, wearing a Bomis tee-shirt (a site previously run by Jimmy Wales, the founder of Wikipedia).
Image 28Playmate of the_Year Corinna Harney
Image 29Karen McDougal
Image 30Playmate of the Year Claire Sinclair
Image 31Lupe Fuentes
Image 32Playboy Playmate Alison Waite
Image 33Playmate of the Year Sara Jean Underwood
Image 34Transsexual pornographic actress Erica Andrews
Image 35Raylene
Image 36Sean Michaels - pornographic actor.
Image 37Michele_Merkin - Glamour photography
Image 38World map showing laws of general pornography
Image 39Jessie Andrews
Image 40Carmen Luvana, Adult Entertainment Expo 2008
Image 41Rocco Siffredi
Image 42Dana DeArmond
Image 43Audrey Hollander - American porn star
Image 44Katsuni - French pornographic actress.
Image 45Pornographic DVDs, Japan, "Kawaii" section
Image 46Rebeca Linares at AVN Adult Entertainment Expo 2009
Image 47Xaviera Hollander, author and former Sex worker
Image 48Shy Love at AVN Adult Entertainment Expo 2012
Image 49Jenna Jameson
Image 50Pornographic actress and cosplayer Tanya Tate as She-Ra
Image 51Hugh Hefner with Karissa Shannon, Dasha Astafieva, and Kristina Shannon

Slideshow of selected historical images

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

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

... that a pornographic screenplay about Jesus led to papal and royal condemnations, a firebombing, the writer's ban from the UK, and thousands of letters per week demanding the ban of a non-existent gay Jesus film?
... that Claudia Riner was falsely accused of distributing lesbian erotica in the Kentucky House of Representatives?
... that later pressings of the soundtrack of the soft porn film The Stud replaced Manfred Mann's Earth Band's "Davy's on the Road Again" after a journalist blabbed its presence to the band's keyboardist?
... that Philipp Tanzer has been an army medic, artist, firefighter, hairdresser, massage therapist, festival organiser, political candidate and gay porn star?
... that some viewers of an Arizona TV station saw hardcore pornography instead of the Super Bowl?
... that Nickelodeon storyboard artists created a book with hundreds of pornographic drawings of SpongeBob SquarePants characters?
... that the 1983 pink film Beautiful Mystery was one of the earliest commercially produced gay pornographic films in Japan?
... that Koh Masaki was one of the first gay pornographic film actors in Japan to openly appear in adult films without obscuring his identity?