Portal:Erotica and pornography

Welcome to the Erotica and pornography Portal

Before the Deluge by Cornelis van Haarlem, 1615

Introduction

P:XXX

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...)

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Selected article

Amateur pornography is a category of pornography that features models, actors or non-professionals performing without pay, or actors for whom this material is not their only paid modeling work. Reality pornography is professionally made pornography that seeks to emulate the style of amateur pornography. Amateur pornography has been called one of the most profitable and long-lasting genres of pornography. (Full article...)

List of selected articles

Selected work of erotic literature

Lady Chatterley's Lover is the final novel by English author D. H. Lawrence, which was first published privately in 1928, in Florence, Italy, and in 1929, in Paris, France. An unexpurgated edition was not published openly in the United Kingdom until 1960, when it was the subject of a watershed obscenity trial against the publisher Penguin Books, which won the case and quickly sold three million copies. The book was also banned for obscenity in the United States, Canada, Australia, India and Japan. The book soon became notorious for its story of the physical (and emotional) relationship between a working-class man and an upper-class woman, its explicit descriptions of sex and its use of then-unprintable profane words. It entered the public domain in the United States in 2024. (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 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 1
Image 2Tila Tequila
Image 3Jessie Andrews
Image 4Example of Erotic photography
Image 5Dean Flynn and Chi Chi LaRue
Image 6Carmen Luvana, Adult Entertainment Expo 2008
Image 7Cindy Margolis

Image 7Cindy Margolis
Image 8Lupe Fuentes
Image 9Pornographic DVDs, Japan, "Kawaii" section
Image 10Rocco Siffredi
Image 11Penthouse Pet Dani Daniels, wearing Penthouse key necklace
Image 12Valentina Nappi at the AVN Awards Show, Las Vegas, Nevada on 21 January 2017
Image 13Jenna Jameson
Image 14Pornographic actress and cosplayer Tanya Tate as She-Ra
Image 15Figure 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 16Hentai style of art, originally from Japan
Image 17Hentai Manga, Japan
Image 18Xaviera Hollander, author and former Sex worker
Image 19Raylene
Image 20Playmate of the_Year Corinna Harney
Image 21Audrey Hollander - American porn star
Image 22Karen McDougal
Image 23Silvia Saint, wearing a Bomis tee-shirt (a site previously run by Jimmy Wales, the founder of Wikipedia).
Image 24A 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 25Sculpture of Marilyn Monroe in Haugesund harbour, Norway
Image 26Dana DeArmond
Image 27Hugh Hefner with Karissa Shannon, Dasha Astafieva, and Kristina Shannon
Image 28Pierre Woodman filming in Australia
Image 29Erotic actress and public health advocate Sharon Mitchell.
Image 30Swedish/Tanzanian Playmate of the Year Ida Ljungqvist
Image 31Michele_Merkin - Glamour photography
Image 32Playmate of the Year Claire Sinclair
Image 33Sean Michaels - pornographic actor.
Image 34Lisa Ann
Image 35Playmate of the Year and People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals spokesperson Pamela Anderson, signing DVDs at the USS Halsey
Image 36Louise Glover
Image 37Shy Love at AVN Adult Entertainment Expo 2012
Image 38Rebeca Linares at AVN Adult Entertainment Expo 2009
Image 39Michael Lucas, Nonie, Rafael Alencar, David Shankbone, and Ernesta Alamirano in Fire Island Pines
Image 40Bondage 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 41Pornographic film set. Pictured from left to right: Cali Chase, Mikey Butders, and a photographer identified as "Nicole."
Image 42American pornographic actor Ron Jeremy. One of top Porn Stars of All Time.
Image 43Transsexual pornographic actress Erica Andrews
Image 44Playboy Playmate Alison Waite
Image 45Joanna Jet - transsexual pornographic actress and director
Image 46Katsuni - French pornographic actress.
Image 47Pornographic actor and director Miles Long (submitted by self)
Image 48Daisy Marie posing with a fan at the AVN Adult Entertainment Expo 2008
Image 49Playmate of the Year Sara Jean Underwood
Image 50The COLT Studio Group, San Francisco

Slideshow of selected historical images

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

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 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 Jailson Mendes had to gain weight for his first pornographic film?
... that the 1983 pink film Beautiful Mystery was one of the earliest commercially produced gay pornographic films in Japan?
... that the pastor John Littlejohn went from selling pornographic literature to sailors as a youth to protecting the Declaration of Independence?
... that Robert Van Damme played ice hockey professionally before pursuing a career in gay pornography?
... that the 1980s were the "age of hole-discovery" in yaoi erotica?
... that in 2001, around 64 percent of all films produced in Malayalam were of the soft-porn variety?