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

The oldest artifacts considered pornographic were discovered in Germany in 2008 CE 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 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 literature or art 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, bondage, monster and tentacle 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

Haze at the XRCO Awards in Hollywood, California in 2009

Jenna Haze (born 1982) is an American director, model, and former pornographic actress.

Haze has won numerous pornographic industry awards, including the 2003 AVN Award for Best New Starlet and the 2009 AVN Award for Female Performer of the Year, making her the second performer in history to ever win both awards in the course of her career, after Missy. In 2012, she was inducted into both the AVN and XRCO Halls of Fame. (Full article...)

List of selected articles

Selected work of erotic literature

Two folios from a palm leaf manuscript of the Kamasutra text (Sanskrit, Devanagari script)

The Kama Sutra (/ˈkɑːmə ˈsuːtrə/; Sanskrit: कामसूत्र, pronunciation, Kāma-sūtra; lit. 'Principles of Love') is an ancient Indian Hindu Sanskrit text on sexuality, eroticism and emotional fulfillment in life. Attributed to Vātsyāyana, the Kama Sutra is neither exclusively nor predominantly a sex manual on sex positions, but rather was written as a guide to the art of living well, the nature of love, finding a life partner, maintaining one's love life, and other aspects pertaining to pleasure-oriented faculties of human life. It is a sutra-genre text with terse aphoristic verses that have survived into the modern era with different bhāṣyas (exposition and commentaries). The text is a mix of prose and anustubh-meter poetry verses. The text acknowledges the Hindu concept of Purusharthas, and lists desire, sexuality, and emotional fulfillment as one of the proper goals of life. Its chapters discuss methods for courtship, training in the arts to be socially engaging, finding a partner, flirting, maintaining power in a married life, when and how to commit adultery, sexual positions, and other topics. The majority of the book is about the philosophy and theory of love, what triggers desire, what sustains it, and how and when it is good or bad.

The text is one of many Indian texts on Kama Shastra. It is a much-translated work in Indian and non-Indian languages. The Kamasutra has influenced many secondary texts that followed after the 4th-century CE, as well as the Indian arts as exemplified by the pervasive presence of Kama-related reliefs and sculpture in old Hindu temples. Of these, the Khajuraho in Madhya Pradesh is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Among the surviving temples in north India, one in Rajasthan sculpts all the major chapters and sexual positions to illustrate the Kamasutra. According to Wendy Doniger, the Kamasutra became "one of the most pirated books in English language" soon after it was published in 1883 by Richard Burton. This first European edition by Burton does not faithfully reflect much in the Kamasutra because he revised the collaborative translation by Bhagavanlal Indrajit and Shivaram Parashuram Bhide with Forster Arbuthnot to suit 19th-century Victorian tastes. (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 Lolita Tropic of Cancer (novel) Josephine Mutzenbacher Tijuana bible Emmanuelle (novel) Sex (book)

Slideshow of selected contemporary images

Image 1Francois Sagat, Folsom Street Fair
Image 2Lisa Ann
Image 3Playmate of the Year Claire Sinclair
Image 4Hentai style of art, originally from Japan
Image 5Pornographic DVDs, Japan, "Kawaii" section
Image 6Daisy Marie posing with a fan at the AVN Adult Entertainment Expo 2008
Image 7Playmate of the_Year Corinna Harney
Image 8Transsexual pornographic actress Erica Andrews
Image 9Pornographic actor and director Miles Long (submitted by self)
Image 10American pornographic actor Ron Jeremy. One of top Porn Stars of All Time.
Image 11Playmate of the Year and People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals spokesperson Pamela Anderson, signing DVDs at the USS Halsey
Image 12Louise Glover
Image 13Michele_Merkin - Glamour photography
Image 14Pierre Woodman filming in Australia
Image 15Shy Love at AVN Adult Entertainment Expo 2012
Image 16Rocco Siffredi
Image 17Lupe Fuentes
Image 18Katsuni - French pornographic actress.
Image 19Swedish/Tanzanian Playmate of the Year Ida Ljungqvist
Image 20Hentai Manga, Japan
Image 21Tila Tequila
Image 22Pornographic actress and cosplayer Tanya Tate as She-Ra
Image 23Michael Lucas, Nonie, Rafael Alencar, David Shankbone, and Ernesta Alamirano in Fire Island Pines
Image 24Figure 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 25Playmate of the Year Sara Jean Underwood
Image 26Silvia Saint, wearing a Bomis tee-shirt (a site previously run by Jimmy Wales, the founder of Wikipedia).
Image 27Audrey Hollander - American porn star
Image 28World map showing laws of general pornography
Image 29Cindy Margolis
Image 30Raylene
Image 31Example of Erotic photography
Image 32Sean Michaels - pornographic actor.
Image 33The COLT Studio Group, San Francisco
Image 34Xaviera Hollander, author and former Sex worker
Image 35Playboy Playmate Alison Waite
Image 36Rebeca Linares at AVN Adult Entertainment Expo 2009
Image 37Erotic actress and public health advocate Sharon Mitchell.
Image 38Jenna Jameson
Image 39A 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 40Sculpture of Marilyn Monroe in Haugesund harbour, Norway

Image 40Sculpture of Marilyn Monroe in Haugesund harbour, Norway
Image 41Jessie Andrews
Image 42Carmen Luvana, Adult Entertainment Expo 2008
Image 43Penthouse Pet Dani Daniels, wearing Penthouse key necklace
Image 44Hugh Hefner with Karissa Shannon, Dasha Astafieva, and Kristina Shannon
Image 45Joanna Jet - transsexual pornographic actress and director
Image 46Pornographic film set. Pictured from left to right: Cali Chase, Mikey Butders, and a photographer identified as "Nicole."
Image 47Valentina Nappi at the AVN Awards Show, Las Vegas, Nevada on 21 January 2017
Image 48Bondage 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 49Karen McDougal
Image 50Dana DeArmond
Image 51Dean Flynn and Chi Chi LaRue

Slideshow of selected historical images

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

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

... that the 1980s were the "age of hole-discovery" in yaoi erotica?
... that Christian radio station KIXL near Austin, Texas, pulled an anti-pornography program off-air in mid-transmission because of its graphic descriptions of gay sex?
... that in 2001, around 64 percent of all films produced in Malayalam were of the soft-porn variety?
... that women were 33 percent more likely than men to search for clown pornography on Pornhub in 2016?
... that the pastor John Littlejohn went from selling pornographic literature to sailors as a youth to protecting the Declaration of Independence?
... that Lewes Road in Brighton has a gyratory named after a pornographic cinema?
... that Philipp Tanzer has been an army medic, artist, firefighter, hairdresser, massage therapist, festival organiser, political candidate and gay porn star?
... that the nature documentary The Green Planet, narrated by David Attenborough, has been compared to both horror films and a "plant porno"?