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) is sexual subject material such as a picture, video, text, or audio that is intended for sexual arousal. Made for consumption by adults, pornographic depictions have evolved from cave paintings, some forty millennia ago, to modern virtual reality presentations. A general distinction of adults-only sexual content is made-classifying it as pornography or erotica.

The oldest artifacts considered pornographic were discovered in Germany in 2008 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 by Andy Warhol 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 art, literature or photography 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, monster, tentacle erotica and bondage 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

Lili St. Cyr in Montreal, circa 1946

Marie Frances Van Schaack (June 3, 1917 – January 29, 1999), known professionally as Lili St. Cyr, was a prominent American burlesque dancer and stripper. (Full article...)

List of selected articles

Selected work of erotic literature

Title page of Les 120 Journées de Sodome, first edition, 1904

The 120 Days of Sodom, or the School of Libertinage (French: Les 120 Journées de Sodome ou l'école du libertinage) is an unfinished novel by the French writer and nobleman Donatien Alphonse François, Marquis de Sade, written in 1785 and published in 1904 after its manuscript was rediscovered. It describes the activities of four wealthy libertine Frenchmen who spend four months seeking the ultimate sexual gratification through orgies, sealing themselves in an inaccessible castle in the heart of the Black Forest with 12 accomplices, 20 designated victims and 10 servants. Four aging prostitutes relate stories of their most memorable clients whose sexual practices involved 600 "passions" including coprophilia, necrophilia, bestiality, incest, rape, and child sexual abuse. The stories inspire the libertines to engage in acts of increasing violence leading to the torture and murder of their victims, most of whom are adolescents and young women.

The novel only survives in draft form. Its introduction and first part were written according to Sade's detailed plan, but the subsequent three parts are mostly in the form of notes. Sade wrote it in secrecy while imprisoned in the Bastille. When the fortress was stormed by revolutionaries on 14 July 1789, Sade believed the manuscript had been lost. However, it had been found and preserved without his knowledge and was eventually published in a restricted edition in 1904 for its scientific interest to sexologists. The novel was banned as pornographic in France and English-speaking countries before becoming more widely available in commercial editions in the 1960s. It was published in the prestigious French Pléiade edition in 1990 and a new English translation was published as a Penguin Classic in 2016.

The novel attracted increasing critical interest after World War II. In 1957, Georges Bataille said it "towers above all other books in that it represents man's fundamental desire for freedom that he is obliged to contain and keep quiet". Critical opinion, however, remains divided. Neil Schaeffer calls it "one of the most radical, one of the most important novels ever written", whereas for Laurence Louis Bongie it is "an unending mire of permuted depravities". (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 Songs of Bilitis Kama Sutra Lolita Tropic of Cancer (novel) Josephine Mutzenbacher Tijuana bible Emmanuelle (novel) Sex (book)

Slideshow of selected contemporary images

Image 1Sean Michaels - pornographic actor.
Image 2Dean Flynn and Chi Chi LaRue
Image 3Michael Lucas, Nonie, Rafael Alencar, David Shankbone, and Ernesta Alamirano in Fire Island Pines
Image 4Bondage 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 5Joanna Jet - transsexual pornographic actress and director
Image 6Jenna Jameson
Image 7Valentina Nappi at the AVN Awards Show, Las Vegas, Nevada on 21 January 2017
Image 8Rebeca Linares at AVN Adult Entertainment Expo 2009
Image 9The COLT Studio Group, San Francisco
Image 10Playmate of the Year Sara Jean Underwood
Image 11Francois Sagat, Folsom Street Fair
Image 12Shy Love at AVN Adult Entertainment Expo 2012
Image 13Rocco Siffredi
Image 14Transsexual pornographic actress Erica Andrews
Image 15Hentai style of art, originally from Japan
Image 16Playmate of the Year and People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals spokesperson Pamela Anderson, signing DVDs at the USS Halsey
Image 17Swedish/Tanzanian Playmate of the Year Ida Ljungqvist
Image 18Silvia Saint, wearing a Bomis tee-shirt (a site previously run by Jimmy Wales, the founder of Wikipedia).
Image 19Hugh Hefner with Karissa Shannon, Dasha Astafieva, and Kristina Shannon
Image 20Daisy Marie posing with a fan at the AVN Adult Entertainment Expo 2008
Image 21Figure 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 22Playmate of the_Year Corinna Harney
Image 23Penthouse Pet Dani Daniels, wearing Penthouse key necklace
Image 24Raylene
Image 25World map showing laws of general pornography
Image 26Dana DeArmond
Image 27Tila Tequila
Image 28Lisa Ann
Image 29Pornographic actor and director Miles Long (submitted by self)
Image 30Katsuni - French pornographic actress.
Image 31Example of Erotic photography
Image 32Carmen Luvana, Adult Entertainment Expo 2008
Image 33Pornographic DVDs, Japan, "Kawaii" section
Image 34Sculpture of Marilyn Monroe in Haugesund harbour, Norway

Image 34Sculpture of Marilyn Monroe in Haugesund harbour, Norway
Image 35American pornographic actor Ron Jeremy. One of top Porn Stars of All Time.
Image 36Playmate of the Year Claire Sinclair
Image 37Karen McDougal
Image 38Pornographic film set. Pictured from left to right: Cali Chase, Mikey Butders, and a photographer identified as "Nicole."
Image 39Lupe Fuentes
Image 40Jessie Andrews
Image 41Louise Glover
Image 42Cindy Margolis
Image 43Michele_Merkin - Glamour photography
Image 44Audrey Hollander - American porn star
Image 45A 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 46Pornographic actress and cosplayer Tanya Tate as She-Ra
Image 47Playboy Playmate Alison Waite
Image 48Pierre Woodman filming in Australia
Image 49Xaviera Hollander, author and former Sex worker
Image 50Erotic actress and public health advocate Sharon Mitchell.
Image 51Hentai Manga, Japan

Slideshow of selected historical images

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

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

... 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 the pastor John Littlejohn went from selling pornographic literature to sailors as a youth to protecting the Declaration of Independence?
... that some viewers of an Arizona TV station saw hardcore pornography instead of the Super Bowl?
... that Aroha Bridge changed its name from Hook Ups because fans searching for the show often found pornography instead?
... that Nickelodeon storyboard artists created a book with hundreds of pornographic drawings of SpongeBob SquarePants characters?
... that Money Shot: The Pornhub Story was described by multiple reviewers as unsalacious?
... that the 1980s were the "age of hole-discovery" in yaoi erotica?
... 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?