Portal:Erotica and pornography

Welcome to the Erotica and Pornography Portal

Before the Deluge by Cornelis van Haarlem, 1615

Introduction

Erotic *Kama* statues at the Khajuraho Temple, India

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...)

Pornography (colloquially called porn or porno) is sexually suggestive material, such as a picture, video, text, or audio, intended for sexual arousal. Made for consumption by adults, pornographic depictions have evolved from cave paintings, some forty millennia ago, to modern-day 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. Human enchantment with sexual imagery representations has been a constant throughout history. However, the reception of such imagery varied according to the 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 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...)

Selected article

Louise Helena Glover (born 8 February 1983) is an English glamour model and beauty pageant titleholder, known for her appearances in British lad mags, including FHM, Bizarre, Maxim, Loaded, and tabloids such as the News of the World, The Sun, and Daily Star. She is the first British model to be named "Model of the Year" in Playboy Special Editions. (Full article...)

List of selected articles

Selected work of erotic literature

First edition cover

Lolita is a 1955 novel written by Russian-American novelist Vladimir Nabokov. The protagonist and narrator is a French literature professor who moves to New England and writes under the pseudonym Humbert Humbert. He details his obsession and victimization of a 12-year-old girl, Dolores Haze, whom he describes as a "nymphet". Humbert kidnaps and sexually abuses Dolores after becoming her stepfather. Privately, he calls her "Lolita", the Spanish diminutive for Dolores. The novel was written in English, but fear of censorship in the U.S. (where Nabokov lived) and Britain led to it being first published in Paris, France, in 1955 by Olympia Press.

The book has received critical acclaim regardless of the controversy it caused with the public. It has been included in many lists of best books, such as Time's List of the 100 Best Novels, Le Monde's 100 Books of the Century, Bokklubben World Library, Modern Library's 100 Best Novels, and The Big Read. The novel has been twice adapted into film: first in 1962 by Stanley Kubrick, and later in 1997 by Adrian Lyne. It has also been adapted several times for the stage. (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 The 120 Days of Sodom Kama Sutra Tropic of Cancer (novel) Josephine Mutzenbacher Tijuana bible Emmanuelle (novel) Sex (book)

Slideshow of selected contemporary images

Image 1John Stagliano
Image 2Pornographic DVDs, Japan, "Kawaii" section
Image 3Michael Lucas, Nonie, Rafael Alencar, David Shankbone, and Ernesta Alamirano in Fire Island Pines
Image 4Shy Love at AVN Adult Entertainment Expo 2012
Image 5Playmate of the Year Claire Sinclair
Image 7The COLT Studio Group, San Francisco
Image 8Sean Michaels - pornographic actor.
Image 9Dean Flynn and Chi Chi LaRue
Image 10Rebeca Linares at AVN Adult Entertainment Expo 2009
Image 11Karenjit Kaur Vohra known by her stage nameSunny Leone, is a Canadian-born Indian-American actress and model, currently active in Indian film industry. She is a former pornstar. In 2016 she was chosen as one of 100 Women (BBC).
Image 12Performers at Eros PyramideStrip club, 2009
Image 13Joey Silvera, Peter North, andJohn Leslie at AVN Adult Entertainment Expo 2008
Image 14Audrey Hollander - American porn star
Image 15Karen McDougal
Image 16Sasha Grey attending the AVN Awards Show at the Palms Casino Resort, Las Vegas, Nevada on January 9, 2010
Image 17Joanna Jet - transsexual pornographic actress and director
Image 18Raylene
Image 19Pornographic actor and director Miles Long (submitted by self)
Image 20Gail Dines American Feminist, Anti-pornography activist, author, professor, and lecturer
Image 21Pornographic film set. Pictured from left to right: Cali Chase, Mikey Butders, and a photographer identified as "Nicole."
Image 22Figure 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 23Hentai style of art, originally from Japan
Image 24Playmate of the_Year Corinna Harney
Image 25Silvia Saint, wearing a Bomis tee-shirt (a site previously run by Jimmy Wales, the founder of Wikipedia).
Image 26Swedish/Tanzanian Playmate of the Year Ida Ljungqvist
Image 27Carol Queen
Image 28"Shiro Post", box for disposing of violent or sexual literature, Japan
Image 29Cindy Margolis
Image 30Typical pixelated Japanese-style hentai image (uncensored version
Image 31Rocco Siffredi
Image 32James Deen
Image 33Bruna Ferraz
Image 34Penthouse Pet Dani Daniels, wearing Penthouse key necklace
Image 35Evil Angel performers
Image 36Stormy Daniels attending the AVN Adult Entertainment Expo at the Sands Convention Center, Las Vegas, Nevada on January 8, 2010.
Image 38Yaoi (/ˈjaʊi/; Japanese: やおい, Japanese: [ja.o.i]), primarily known as boys' love (BL) (ボーイズラブ bōizu rabu) in Japan, is a Japanese genre of fictional media focusing on romantic or sexual relationships between male characters, typically marketed for a female audience and usually created by female authors.
Image 39Michele_Merkin - Glamour photography
Image 40Louise Glover
Image 41Sylvia Kristel one of the protagonists of French Softcore porn Emmanuelle.
Image 42SuicideGirls model "Tiffini"
Image 43Nude photography is the creation of any photograph which contains an image of a nude or semi-nude person, or an image suggestive of nudity. Nude photography is undertaken for a variety of purposes, including educational uses, commercial applications and artistic creations. The exhibition or publication of nude photographs may be controversial, more so in some cultures or countries than in others, and especially if the subject is a minor.
Image 44Pierre Woodman filming in Australia
Image 45Katsuni - French pornographic actress.
Image 46Bondage 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 47PhotographerSuze Randall
Image 48Pornographic actress and cosplayer Tanya Tate as She-Ra
Image 49American pornographic actor Ron Jeremy. One of top Porn Stars of All Time.
Image 50Hugh Hefner with Karissa Shannon, Dasha Astafieva, and Kristina Shannon
Image 51Jessie Andrews
Image 52Asa Akira
Image 53Carmen Luvana, Adult Entertainment Expo 2008
Image 54Erotic actress and public health advocate Sharon Mitchell.
Image 55Dana DeArmond
Image 56Savanna Samson
Image 57Transsexual pornographic actress Erica Andrews
Image 59Annie Sprinkle as a Sacred prostitute
Image 60Hentai Manga, Japan
Image 61Xaviera Hollander, author and former Sex worker
Image 62Randy Spears
Image 63Avedon Carol, United States Feminist; anti-Censorship and Civil liberties campaigner; and a researcher in the field of Sex crime, residing in England
Image 64Jenna Jameson
Image 65Lupe Fuentes
Image 66A 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 67Example of Erotic photography
Image 68Valentina Nappi at the AVN Awards Show, Las Vegas, Nevada on 21 January 2017
Image 69Lisa Ann
Image 70British pornographic actor, director and producer Keiran Lee attending the XBIZ Award ceremony in 2016.
Image 71Playmate of the Year Sara Jean Underwood
Image 72Scene fromSecond Life computer game
Image 73Lord Longford, British politician and Anti-pornography campaigner
Image 74Playmate of the Year and People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals spokesperson Pamela Anderson, signing DVDs at the USS Halsey
Image 75Playboy Playmate Alison Waite
Image 76Francois Sagat, Folsom Street Fair
Image 77Daisy Marie posing with a fan at the AVN Adult Entertainment Expo 2008
Image 79Tila Tequila

Slideshow of selected historical images

Image 1Photograph by Wilhelm von Plüschow
Image 2Shunga illustration, Japan
Image 3Mary Magdalene in the Cave by Jules Joseph Lefebvre
Image 4Artwork by Gerda Wegener
Image 5Goodbye, Thomas Rowlandson
Image 6Artwork by Eusebi Planas i Franquesa
Image 7Two 16 year old mulatto from Cairo, from anthropometry text, 1904
Image 8Vintage nude erotic picture (c. 1855) from the Uwe Scheid Collection
Image 9Prehistoric art
Image 10Illustration for Théophile Gautier's poem Musée Secret
Image 11“Cleo”, Kenneth Mclnnis (1915)
Image 12Les Sataniques. Le Sacrifice, Félicien Rops
Image 13Artwork by Egon Schiele
Image 14Traditional pederastic courtship scene on an Athenian black-figure amphora from the 5th century B.C.
Image 15Promises! Promises! poster, featuring Jayne Mansfield
Image 16Artwork by Antonio Vargas
Image 17Shunga, Japan
Image 18Classical Greek Bas Relief showing "Cowgirl" position
Image 19Nights of Horror, panel by Joe Shuster (public domain)
Image 20Gustav Klimt, Fishblood, 1898.
Image 21Vertumnus and Pomona by François Boucher (1740)
Image 22Photograph by Wilhelm von Gloeden
Image 23Silenus and maenad. Tondo of an Attic red-figure kylix, ca. 480 BC. From Vulci, ancient Greece
Image 24Sculpture, Egypt, ca 300 BCE
Image 25Gabrielle d'Estrées et une de ses sœurs, ca 1594
Image 26Ziegfeld girl Dorothy Flood, by Alfred Cheney Johnston (1920s)
Image 27Kama Sutra illustration (19th century?)
Image 28The Fisherman and the Syren, Frederic Leighton, circa 1856-1858
Image 29Jupiter and Olympias
Image 30Folke Sundquist (l) and Ulla Jacobsson (r) in Hon dansade en sommar (1951)
Image 31Oz magazine issue 31
Image 32Miniature from 15th century Persian book
Image 33Kama Sutra illustration (19th century?)
Image 34Hadrian engaging in anal sex with Antinous in Egypt, portrayed by Édouard-Henri Avril.
Image 35artwork by Gerda Wegener
Image 36Artwork by Otto Schoff
Image 37The great epidemic of pornography. 19th-century French illustration
Image 38Early daguerrotype, Auguste Belloc, circa 1850-1855
Image 39Danaë and the Shower of Gold, Zeus impregnating her as a shower of gold, Léon Comerre, circa 1908
Image 40The Garden of Aphrodite, Franz von Bayros
Image 41Erotic scene. Rim of an Attic red-figure kylix, c. 510 BC., ancient Greece
Image 42Two nudes standing. ca.1850. Daguerreotype. 14.6 × 14.11 cm (5.7 × 5.6 in). The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
Image 43Artwork by Johann Heinrich Füssli
Image 45Roman oil lamp portraying intercourse
Image 46Satirical cartoon by James Gillray
Image 47Artwork by Franz von Bayros
Image 48Erotic engraving supposedly after Agostino Carracci (1557–1602)
Image 49Two Lovers, by Reza Abbasi.
Image 50Female Bathers No. 4, 1886
Image 51Marayat Andriane (1967)
Image 52Illustration from Balkangreuel by Gottfried Sieben
Image 53Illustration from Le livre de la Marquise by Konstantin Somov
Image 54Photograph by Alfred Cheney Johnston
Image 55Photograph from Scamp, men's magazine, 1962
Image 56Illustration from Juliette by the Marquis de Sade.
Image 57Sleep, by Gustave Courbet, 1866
Image 58Warren Cup detail
Image 59Drawing of a Roman fresco by César Famin
Image 60French postcard
Image 62French postcard, 1880s
Image 63Lasse Braun and Brigitte Maier, 1976
Image 64Pool in a Harem, Jean-Léon Gérôme, ca. 1876. Example of Orientalist eroticism
Image 65Page from the Bizarre Museum comic
Image 66Sketch by Gustav Klimt
Image 67Ex libris by Franz von Bayros
Image 681860s early photograph
Image 69Cunnilingus, Orientalist art referencing the Ottoman era
Image 70The Dream of the Fisherman's Wife, an erotic woodcut made circa 1820 by Hokusai.
Image 71Storyville, New Orleans, portrait by E. J. Bellocq, circa 1912
Image 72Illustration from La Grande Danse macabre des vifs, Martin van Maële (1905)
Image 73Photograph by Wilhelm von Gloeden
Image 74Erotic art from China
Image 75Kama Sutra Position.
Image 76Early daguerrotype, Bruno Braquehais, circa 1850s
Image 77Courtesan and putative spy Mata Hari
Image 78Artwork for Lysistrata by Aubrey Beardsley
Image 79Indian Princess, by Richard Borrmeister (1888?)
Image 80Illustration of a toilet
Image 81Hokusai, Untitled (Plate No. 4) From the series Picture Book Patterns of Couples (Ehon tsui no hinagata), c. 1812
Image 82Iconic pinup of Betty Grable, during World War II
Image 83Marilyn Monroe
Image 84Shunga illustration, Japan
Image 85Erotic art, India, 18th century
Image 86The Venus of Willendorf prehistoric sculpture
Image 87'"Halbtakt" by Otto Mueller, ca. 1925
Image 88Erotic detail from the Vishwanath temple at the Khajuraho Group of Monuments
Image 89Nineteenth century nude photograph.
Image 90L'Origine du monde (The Origin of the World), 1866 painting by Gustave Courbet, at museum. Better image at Image:Origin-of-the-World.jpg
Image 91Photograph by Félix-Jacques Moulin, between 1851 and 1855
Image 92Kama Sutra illustration (19th century?)
Image 93A rape scene by Utagawa Kuniyoshi (ca.1797-1861).
Image 94A Mercury Priapus figure from Pompeii, ancient Rome
Image 95Striporama 1953 movie poster featuring Lili St. Cyr
Image 96Leopold von Sacher Masoch
Image 97Erotic art, 18th century India
Image 98OZ Magazine number 28
Image 99Erotic art from China, for The Carnal Prayer Mat
Image 100Katsushika Hokusai, "The Adonis Plant (Fukujusô)" Woodblock, ca. 1815, Japan Shunga
Image 101Drawing by Roger de La Fresnaye
Image 102Vixen! 1968 movie poster
Image 103Joseph and Potiphar's wife, Rembrandt
Image 104Artwork by Martin van Maële
Image 105Lakshmana Temple, Khajuraho, India, taken by User:Ggia
Image 106Teaserama 1955 movie poster, featuring Tempest Storm and Betty Page
Image 108Virginia Biddle, 1927, by Alfred Cheney Johnston
Image 109Shunga, Japan (ca 1750)
Image 110Cunnilingus portrayed at Pompeii - Source: John R. Clarke: Ars Erotica. Darmstadt: Primus 2009
Image 111Egon Schiele - Kneeling Girl, Resting on Both Elbows
Image 112Nymphs and Satyr, by William Adolphe Bouguereau
Image 113French postcard
Image 114Bettie Page magazine layout
Image 115Photograph by Wilhelm von Gloeden
Image 116Illustration from Le livre de la Marquise by Konstantin Somov
Image 117Artwork by Peter Fendi
Image 118Artwork by William Adolphe Bouguereau
Image 119Hans Sebald Beham: Die Nacht, engraving, 1548
Image 12015-year old girl from Vienna. Photo from the book Der Körper des Kindes und seine Pflege by Carl Heinrich Stratz (1909)
Image 121Phryne before the Areopagus, Jean-Léon Gérôme. (1861) Phryne, a famous hetaera (courtesan) of Ancient Greece, being disrobed before the Areopagus. Phryne was on trial for profaning the Eleusinian Mysteries, and is said to have been disrobed by Hypereides, who was defending her, when it appeared the verdict would be unfavourable. The sight of her nude body apparently so moved the judges that they acquitted her. Some authorities claim that this story is a later invention.
Image 122Johann Nepomuk Geiger, watercolor, 1840
Image 123Sainte-Thérèse, Félicien Rops
Image 124étude pour Le Manteau légendaire (English: Study For Le Manteau Legendaire), Léon Comerre
Image 125Photograph by Charles Gilhousen
Image 126Hokusai, Untamed Lion, From the series Picture Book Patterns of Couples (Ehon tsui no hinagata), c. 1812
Image 127Unidentified nude, 1920s
Image 12819th century photograph
Image 129Peep show at carnival
Image 130Deadly Weapons 1974 sexploitation movie poster featuring Chesty Morgan
Image 131Silver gelatin print by Charles Gilhousen (1915)
Image 132Nude Study of a Black Female daguerrotype, France, circa 1850s
Image 133Artwork by Heinrich Lossow
Image 134Modern Pygmalion, Thomas Rowlandson
Image 135Artwork by Achille Devéria, 1840
Image 136Photograph by Wilhelm von Plüschow
Image 137Drawing by Anton Peschka, 1925

Did you know (auto-generated) -

... 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 some viewers of an Arizona TV station saw hardcore pornography instead of the Super Bowl?
... that Jailson Mendes had to gain weight for his first pornographic film?
... that Money Shot: The Pornhub Story was described by multiple reviewers as unsalacious?
... that women were 33 percent more likely than men to search for clown pornography on Pornhub in 2016?
... that a long-legged lovebird lived in humanity's cradle?
... that Jan Kochanowski's Fraszki is a 16th-century collection of almost 300 poems, ranging from anecdotes and epitaphs to obscenities and erotica?
... that while filming a music video for her debut album at a motel, Underscores had the police called on her by the motel staff because they thought she was shooting a pornographic film?