Candaulism

Candaulism is a sexual practice or fantasy in which a man exposes his woman, or pictures of her, to other people for their voyeur pleasure. According to Gugitz, the term is derived from ancient King Candaules who made a plot to show his unaware naked wife to his servant Gyges of Lydia. Discovering Gyges while he was watching her naked, Candaules' wife ordered him to choose between killing himself or killing her husband in order to repair the vicious mischief.^[1]^[2]^[3]

Sometimes this behavior is taken to the extreme point, allowing complete sexual relations, a practice defined by many English speaking people in the swinging subculture as cuckoldry. In certain cases the relation evolves into a stable union of three persons that is known as triolism.

History of the term

The term was first defined by Richard von Krafft-Ebbing in in his book: Psychopathia sexualis. Eine klinisch-forensische Studie (Stuttgart: Enke 1886).^[4]

Psychology of candaulism

R. Senf proposed that candaulism should be thought of as a veiled form of homosexuality; Sadger hypothesized that the candaulist completely identifies with his partner's body, and deep in his mind is showing himself.^[5]

Candaulists in history

This is a list of seduced, sexually unfaithful wives, happily married for many years to famous consenting men (who deliberately ignored, tolerated, approved, encouraged, or even induced the non innocent nude exposition or promiscuous sexual behavior of their spouses, all facts fully proven, and widely known to the public). These persons/characters must have a relevance in arts, history, literature, science, cinema or cartoons, not belong to the world of pornography, and have stable relationships extending over many years.

Queen Catherine II of Russia, wife of Peter III of Russia (history)
Clodia, wife of the Roman citizen Quintus Caecilius Metellus Celer (history)

Faustina the Younger, wife of the Roman emperor Marcus Aurelius, mother of emperor M.A. Commodus Antoninus, said to be a son of a gladiator (history)

La fornarina, lover of the Italian painter Raffaello da Urbino (arts)
Gala Dalí, wife of Catalan painter Salvador Dalí (arts)

Queen Guinevere, wife of mythic British King Arthur; her lover was Arthur's champion, Sir Lancelot (literature, myth)
Clara Bracken McMillen, wife of American sexologist Alfred Kinsey (science)
Valeria Messalina, wife of Roman emperor Claudius (history)
Marina Punturieri former wife of Marchioness Lante della Rovere
Marta Marzotto, wife of Italian count Marzotto, lover of painter Renato Guttuso (arts)
Madame de Pompadour, wife of the French citizen Charles-Guilaume Le Normant (history)
Donna Olimpia Maidalchina, wife of Panfilio Pamphili, brother of Catholic Pope Innocent X (history)
Queen Marguerite de Valois married with King Henry IV of France (history)
Wallis Simpson, wife of Edward VIII of the United Kingdom (history)

Filmography

Gilda (1946, by Charles Vidor), with Rita Hayworth and Glenn Ford. In a carnival party, Gilda gives her lover a bill asking him "why are you Cuckolding me ?" .
Jules et Jim (1962, by François Truffaut) with Jeanne Moreau, Oscar Werner and Henri Serre
Knife in the Water (Nóż w wodzie) (1962, by Roman Polanski) with Leon Niemczyk, Jolanta Umecka, Zygmunt Malanowicz.
Irma la Douce (1963, by Billy Wilder), with Jack Lemmon, Shirley MacLaine, Lou Jacobi.
Belle de Jour (1967, by Luis Buñuel), with Catherine Deneuve, Jean Sorel and Michel Piccoli.
The Graduate (1967, by Mike Nichols), with Dustin Hoffman, Anne Bancroft, Katharine Ross
Il merlo maschio (1970, by Pasquale Festa Campanile), with Laura Antonelli and Lando Buzzanca
La Dernière femme (1976, by Marco Ferreri), with Gérard Depardieu, Ornella Muti, Michel Piccoli.
The Tin Drum (1979, by Volker Schlöndorff), with Mario Adorf, Angela Winkler, David Bennent, Daniel Olbrychski, Katharina Thalbach.
La Pelle (1981, by Liliana Cavani), with Claudia Cardinale, Marcello Mastroianni, Burt Lancaster, Ken Marshall, Alexandra King, Carlo Giuffrè
Querelle (1982, by Reiner Werner Fassbinder) with Brad Davis and Jeanne Moreau.
Maria's lovers (1984, by Andrei Konchalovsky) with Nastassja Kinski, John Savage and Keith Carradine
9½ Weeks (1986, by Adrian Lyne) with Mickey Rourke, Kim Basinger, David Margulies.
I miei primi quarant'anni (1987, by Carlo Vanzina), with Carol Alt, Elliott Gould and Jean Rochefort.
Who Framed Roger Rabbit (1988, by Robert Zemeckis), Bob Hoskins & cartoons.
Wild Orchid (1990, by Zalman King) with Jacqueline Bisset, Carré Otis, Mickey Rourke.
Henry & June (1990, by Philip Kaufman), with Fred Ward, Uma Thurman, Maria de Medeiros.
The Bonfire of the Vanities (1990, by Brian De Palma) with Tom Hanks, Bruce Willis, Melanie Griffith, Kim Cattrall.
Bitter Moon (Lunes de fiel) (1992, by Roman Polanski), with Hugh Grant, Kristin Scott Thomas, Emmanuelle Seigner , Peter Coyote.
La Reine Margot (1994, by Patrice Chéreau, with Isabelle Adjani, Daniel Auteuil, Virna Lisi, Miguel Bosé
The Specialist (1994, by Luis Llosa) with Sharon Stone, Silvester Stallone, James Woods and Rod Steiger.
Une femme française (1995, by Régis Wargnier), with Emmanuelle Béart and Daniel Auteuil.
Eyes Wide Shut, (1999 by Stanley Kubrick, based on Dream Story, a book by Arthur Schnitzler). With Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman.
How much do you love me?, (Combien tu m'aimes?) (2005, by Bertrand Blier) with Monica Bellucci, Bernard Campan and Gérard Depardieu
Memoirs of a Geisha (2005, by Rob Marshall) with Zhang Ziyi, and Ken Watanabe.

Notes

^ Gide, Le roi Candaules
^ Hebbel, Gyges und sein Ring
^ Herodotus, Histories, Book 1.8
^ Richard von Krafft-Ebbingin in his book: Psychopathia sexualis. Eine klinisch-forensische Studie (Stuttgart: Enke 1886).
^ Ernest Borneman, Lexicon der Liebe (Hannibal, 1984)

External links

King Candaules as told by historian Herodotus

[1] Gide, Le roi Candaules

[2] Hebbel, Gyges und sein Ring

[3] Herodotus, Histories, Book 1.8

[4] Richard von Krafft-Ebbingin in his book: Psychopathia sexualis. Eine klinisch-forensische Studie (Stuttgart: Enke 1886).

[5] Ernest Borneman, Lexicon der Liebe (Hannibal, 1984)

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