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

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 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. 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

The Venus of Willendorf, a figurine with exaggerated sexual characteristics. Estimated to have been made c. 30,000 years ago

The history of erotic depictions includes paintings, sculpture, photographs, dramatic arts, music and writings that show scenes of a sexual nature throughout time. They have been created by nearly every civilization, ancient and modern. Early cultures often associated the sexual act with supernatural forces and thus their religion is intertwined with such depictions. In Asian countries such as India, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Japan, Korea, and China, representations of sex and erotic art have specific spiritual meanings within native religions. The ancient Greeks and Romans produced much art and decoration of an erotic nature, much of it integrated with their religious beliefs and cultural practices.

In more recent times, as communication technologies evolved, each new technique, such as printing, photography, motion pictures and computers, has been adapted to display and disseminate these depictions. (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 1Swedish/Tanzanian Playmate of the Year Ida Ljungqvist
Image 2Rebeca Linares at AVN Adult Entertainment Expo 2009
Image 3Pierre Woodman filming in Australia
Image 4Sean Michaels - pornographic actor.
Image 5Daisy Marie posing with a fan at the AVN Adult Entertainment Expo 2008
Image 6Silvia Saint, wearing a Bomis tee-shirt (a site previously run by Jimmy Wales, the founder of Wikipedia).
Image 7The COLT Studio Group, San Francisco
Image 8Karen McDougal
Image 9Hugh Hefner with Karissa Shannon, Dasha Astafieva, and Kristina Shannon
Image 10Penthouse Pet Dani Daniels, wearing Penthouse key necklace
Image 11Xaviera Hollander, author and former Sex worker
Image 12Pornographic actor and director Miles Long (submitted by self)
Image 13Katsuni - French pornographic actress.
Image 14Playmate of the Year Sara Jean Underwood
Image 15Audrey Hollander - American porn star
Image 16Shy Love at AVN Adult Entertainment Expo 2012
Image 17Jenna Jameson
Image 18Figure 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 19Michele_Merkin - Glamour photography
Image 20Michael Lucas, Nonie, Rafael Alencar, David Shankbone, and Ernesta Alamirano in Fire Island Pines
Image 21Jessie Andrews
Image 22Louise Glover
Image 23Cindy Margolis

Image 23Cindy Margolis
Image 24Rocco Siffredi
Image 25Tila Tequila
Image 26Erotic actress and public health advocate Sharon Mitchell.
Image 27Pornographic actress and cosplayer Tanya Tate as She-Ra
Image 28Lisa Ann
Image 29Playmate of the Year and People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals spokesperson Pamela Anderson, signing DVDs at the USS Halsey
Image 30Playboy Playmate Alison Waite
Image 31Valentina Nappi at the AVN Awards Show, Las Vegas, Nevada on 21 January 2017
Image 32Pornographic film set. Pictured from left to right: Cali Chase, Mikey Butders, and a photographer identified as "Nicole."
Image 33Example of Erotic photography
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 35Hentai Manga, Japan
Image 36Carmen Luvana, Adult Entertainment Expo 2008
Image 37Hentai style of art, originally from Japan
Image 38American pornographic actor Ron Jeremy. One of top Porn Stars of All Time.
Image 39Transsexual pornographic actress Erica Andrews
Image 40
Image 41Sculpture of Marilyn Monroe in Haugesund harbour, Norway
Image 42Joanna Jet - transsexual pornographic actress and director
Image 43Dana DeArmond
Image 44Raylene
Image 45Bondage 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 46Dean Flynn and Chi Chi LaRue
Image 47Lupe Fuentes
Image 48Pornographic DVDs, Japan, "Kawaii" section
Image 49Playmate of the Year Claire Sinclair
Image 50Playmate of the_Year Corinna Harney

Slideshow of selected historical images

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

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

... that John Wayne Bobbitt Uncut was the bestselling pornographic film of 1994 and had the most rentals that year in the United States?
... that in 2001, around 64 percent of all films produced in Malayalam were of the soft-porn variety?
... that the Japanese male–male romance magazine June was originally pitched to its publisher as a "mildly pornographic magazine for women"?
... that Money Shot: The Pornhub Story was described by multiple reviewers as unsalacious?
... that the 1980s were the "age of hole-discovery" in yaoi erotica?
... that Lewes Road in Brighton has a gyratory named after a pornographic cinema?
... that Claudia Riner was falsely accused of distributing lesbian erotica in the Kentucky House of Representatives?
... that zombie pornography emerged in the 1980s during a rise in the Italian sexploitation film industry?