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

Wanli era edition

Jin Ping Mei (Chinese: 金瓶梅)—translated into English as The Plum in the Golden Vase or The Golden Lotus—is a Chinese novel of manners composed in vernacular Chinese during the latter half of the 16th century during the late Ming dynasty (1368–1644). Consisting of 100 chapters, it was published under the pseudonym Lanling Xiaoxiao Sheng (蘭陵笑笑生), "The Scoffing Scholar of Lanling," but the only clue to the actual identity is that the author hailed from Lanling County in present-day Shandong. The novel circulated in manuscript as early as 1596, and may have undergone revision up to its first printed edition in 1610. The most widely read recension, edited and published with commentaries by Zhang Zhupo in 1695, deleted or rewrote passages to help understand the author's intentions.

The explicit depiction of sexuality garnered the novel a notoriety akin to Lady Chatterley's Lover and Lolita in the West, but critics such as the translator David Tod Roy see a firm moral structure which exacts retribution for the sexual libertinism of the central characters.

Jin Ping Mei takes its name from the three central female characters—Pan Jinlian (潘金蓮, whose given name means "Golden Lotus"); Li Ping'er (李瓶兒, literally "Little Vase"), a concubine of Ximen Qing; and Pang Chunmei (龐春梅, "Spring plum blossoms"), a young maid who rose to power within the family. Chinese critics see each of the three Chinese characters in the title as symbolizing an aspect of human nature, such as mei (梅), plum blossoms, being metaphoric for sexuality. (Full article...)

List of selected works
The Autobiography of a Flea Fifty Shades of Grey Story of the Eye Story of O Fanny Hill Ada or Ardor: A Family Chronicle Lady Chatterley's Lover The Songs of Bilitis 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 1The COLT Studio Group, San Francisco
Image 2Valentina Nappi at the AVN Awards Show, Las Vegas, Nevada on 21 January 2017
Image 3Pornographic actor and director Miles Long (submitted by self)
Image 4Swedish/Tanzanian Playmate of the Year Ida Ljungqvist
Image 5Figure 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 6Karen McDougal
Image 7Raylene
Image 8Hentai style of art, originally from Japan
Image 9Sean Michaels - pornographic actor.
Image 10Example of Erotic photography
Image 11Bondage 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 12Sculpture of Marilyn Monroe in Haugesund harbour, Norway

Image 12Sculpture of Marilyn Monroe in Haugesund harbour, Norway
Image 13Cindy Margolis
Image 14Rocco Siffredi
Image 15Pierre Woodman filming in Australia
Image 16Playmate of the_Year Corinna Harney
Image 17World map showing laws of general pornography
Image 18Louise Glover
Image 19Xaviera Hollander, author and former Sex worker
Image 20Playmate of the Year Sara Jean Underwood
Image 21Carmen Luvana, Adult Entertainment Expo 2008
Image 22Penthouse Pet Dani Daniels, wearing Penthouse key necklace
Image 23Pornographic DVDs, Japan, "Kawaii" section
Image 24Shy Love at AVN Adult Entertainment Expo 2012
Image 25Rebeca Linares at AVN Adult Entertainment Expo 2009
Image 26Pornographic film set. Pictured from left to right: Cali Chase, Mikey Butders, and a photographer identified as "Nicole."
Image 27Playboy Playmate Alison Waite
Image 28Playmate of the Year and People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals spokesperson Pamela Anderson, signing DVDs at the USS Halsey
Image 29Dean Flynn and Chi Chi LaRue
Image 30Transsexual pornographic actress Erica Andrews
Image 31Dana DeArmond
Image 32Michael Lucas, Nonie, Rafael Alencar, David Shankbone, and Ernesta Alamirano in Fire Island Pines
Image 33Audrey Hollander - American porn star
Image 34A 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 35Lisa Ann
Image 36Tila Tequila
Image 37Erotic actress and public health advocate Sharon Mitchell.
Image 38Daisy Marie posing with a fan at the AVN Adult Entertainment Expo 2008
Image 39Jessie Andrews
Image 40American pornographic actor Ron Jeremy. One of top Porn Stars of All Time.
Image 41Katsuni - French pornographic actress.
Image 42Playmate of the Year Claire Sinclair
Image 43Joanna Jet - transsexual pornographic actress and director
Image 44Michele_Merkin - Glamour photography
Image 45Pornographic actress and cosplayer Tanya Tate as She-Ra
Image 46Silvia Saint, wearing a Bomis tee-shirt (a site previously run by Jimmy Wales, the founder of Wikipedia).
Image 47Hentai Manga, Japan
Image 48Hugh Hefner with Karissa Shannon, Dasha Astafieva, and Kristina Shannon
Image 49Jenna Jameson
Image 50Lupe Fuentes
Image 51Francois Sagat, Folsom Street Fair

Slideshow of selected historical images

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

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

... that the Japanese male–male romance magazine June was originally pitched to its publisher as a "mildly pornographic magazine for women"?
... that the pastor John Littlejohn went from selling pornographic literature to sailors as a youth to protecting the Declaration of Independence?
... that the 1983 pink film Beautiful Mystery was one of the earliest commercially produced gay pornographic films in Japan?
... 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 Aroha Bridge changed its name from Hook Ups because fans searching for the show often found pornography instead?
... 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 Money Shot: The Pornhub Story was described by multiple reviewers as unsalacious?
... that Koh Masaki was one of the first gay pornographic film actors in Japan to openly appear in adult films without obscuring his identity?