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

Ada or Ardor: A Family Chronicle is a novel by Vladimir Nabokov published in 1969.

Ada began to materialize in 1959, when Nabokov was flirting with two projects, "The Texture of Time" and "Letters from Terra." In 1965, he began to see a link between the two ideas, finally composing a unified novel from February 1966 to October 1968. The published cumulation would become his longest work. Ada was initially given a mixed reception. However, writing in The New York Times Book Review, noted scholar Alfred Appel called it "a great work of art, a necessary book, radiant and rapturous," and said that it "provides further evidence that he is a peer of Kafka, Proust and Joyce." (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 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 1Tila Tequila
Image 2Silvia Saint, wearing a Bomis tee-shirt (a site previously run by Jimmy Wales, the founder of Wikipedia).
Image 3Katsuni - French pornographic actress.
Image 4Playmate of the Year Claire Sinclair
Image 5Rebeca Linares at AVN Adult Entertainment Expo 2009
Image 6Carmen Luvana, Adult Entertainment Expo 2008
Image 7Xaviera Hollander, author and former Sex worker
Image 8Dana DeArmond
Image 9Raylene
Image 10Jenna Jameson
Image 11Jessie Andrews
Image 12Pornographic actor and director Miles Long (submitted by self)
Image 13Playmate of the_Year Corinna Harney
Image 14Cindy Margolis
Image 15Bondage 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 16Pierre Woodman filming in Australia
Image 17Playmate of the Year and People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals spokesperson Pamela Anderson, signing DVDs at the USS Halsey
Image 18Example of Erotic photography
Image 19Lisa Ann
Image 20A 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 21Daisy Marie posing with a fan at the AVN Adult Entertainment Expo 2008
Image 22Penthouse Pet Dani Daniels, wearing Penthouse key necklace
Image 23Sculpture of Marilyn Monroe in Haugesund harbour, Norway

Image 23Sculpture of Marilyn Monroe in Haugesund harbour, Norway
Image 24Audrey Hollander - American porn star
Image 25Joanna Jet - transsexual pornographic actress and director
Image 26Hugh Hefner with Karissa Shannon, Dasha Astafieva, and Kristina Shannon
Image 27Karen McDougal
Image 28Rocco Siffredi
Image 29American pornographic actor Ron Jeremy. One of top Porn Stars of All Time.
Image 30Figure 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 31The COLT Studio Group, San Francisco
Image 32Hentai style of art, originally from Japan
Image 33Erotic actress and public health advocate Sharon Mitchell.
Image 34Valentina Nappi at the AVN Awards Show, Las Vegas, Nevada on 21 January 2017
Image 35Pornographic DVDs, Japan, "Kawaii" section
Image 36Pornographic actress and cosplayer Tanya Tate as She-Ra
Image 37Pornographic film set. Pictured from left to right: Cali Chase, Mikey Butders, and a photographer identified as "Nicole."
Image 38Michele_Merkin - Glamour photography
Image 39Playboy Playmate Alison Waite
Image 40Transsexual pornographic actress Erica Andrews
Image 41Shy Love at AVN Adult Entertainment Expo 2012
Image 42Dean Flynn and Chi Chi LaRue
Image 43Francois Sagat, Folsom Street Fair
Image 44World map showing laws of general pornography
Image 45Swedish/Tanzanian Playmate of the Year Ida Ljungqvist
Image 46Lupe Fuentes
Image 47Hentai Manga, Japan
Image 48Michael Lucas, Nonie, Rafael Alencar, David Shankbone, and Ernesta Alamirano in Fire Island Pines
Image 49Playmate of the Year Sara Jean Underwood
Image 50Louise Glover
Image 51Sean Michaels - pornographic actor.

Slideshow of selected historical images

Image 1The Venus of Willendorf prehistoric sculpture
Image 2Indian Princess, by Richard Borrmeister [de] (1888?)
Image 3Hadrian engaging in anal sex with Antinous in Egypt, portrayed by Édouard-Henri Avril.
Image 4The Dream of the Fisherman's Wife, an erotic woodcut made circa 1820 by Hokusai.
Image 5Lakshmana Temple, Khajuraho
Image 6Erotic detail from the Vishwanath temple at the Khajuraho Group of Monuments
Image 7Illustration from La Grande Danse macabre des vifs, Martin van Maële (1905)
Image 8Classical Greek Bas Relief showing "Cowgirl" position
Image 9Erotic engraving supposedly after Agostino Carracci (1557–1602)
Image 10Erotic scene. Rim of an Attic red-figure kylix, c. 510 BC., ancient Greece
Image 11Johann Nepomuk Geiger, watercolor, 1840
Image 12Katsushika Hokusai, "The Adonis Plant (Fukujusô)" Woodblock, ca. 1815, Japan Shunga
Image 13Nineteenth century nude photograph.
Image 14Cunnilingus portrayed at Pompeii - Source: John R. Clarke: Ars Erotica. Darmstadt: Primus 2009
Image 15Nights of Horror, panel by Joe Shuster (public domain)
Image 16Hokusai, Untitled (Plate No. 4) From the series Picture Book Patterns of Couples (Ehon tsui no hinagata), c. 1812
Image 17Kama Sutra illustration (19th century?)
Image 18Traditional pederastic courtship scene on an Athenian black-figure amphora from the 5th century B.C.
Image 19Hokusai, Untamed Lion, From the series Picture Book Patterns of Couples (Ehon tsui no hinagata), c. 1812
Image 20Lakshmana Temple, Khajuraho, India, taken by User:Ggia
Image 21A Mercury Priapus figure from Pompeii, ancient Rome
Image 22Roman oil lamp portraying intercourse
Image 23Silenus and maenad. Tondo of an Attic red-figure kylix, ca. 480 BC. From Vulci, ancient Greece
Image 24Two Lovers, by Reza Abbasi.
Image 25Shunga, Japan (ca 1750)
Image 26Erotic art, 18th century India
Image 27Miniature from 15th century Persian book
Image 28Illustration from Juliette by the Marquis de Sade.
Image 29Kama Sutra illustration (19th century?)
Image 30Kama Sutra illustration (19th century?)
Image 31A rape scene by Utagawa Kuniyoshi (ca.1797-1861).
Image 32Erotic art, India, 18th 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 Japanese male–male romance magazine June was originally pitched to its publisher as a "mildly pornographic magazine for women"?
... that Aroha Bridge changed its name from Hook Ups because fans searching for the show often found pornography instead?
... that in 2001, around 64 percent of all films produced in Malayalam were of the soft-porn variety?
... that the pastor John Littlejohn went from selling pornographic literature to sailors as a youth to protecting the Declaration of Independence?
... that Jan Kochanowski's Fraszki is a 16th-century collection of almost 300 poems, ranging from anecdotes and epitaphs to obscenities and erotica?
... that Philipp Tanzer has been an army medic, artist, firefighter, hairdresser, massage therapist, festival organiser, political candidate and gay porn star?
... that before being restored as a Broadway theater, the Ritz Theatre was used as a television studio, pornographic theater, vaudeville house, children's theater, and poster warehouse?