Erotica versus Pornography"The term erotica usually applies to works in which the sexual elements are regarded as part of a larger aesthetic aspect. Pornography on the other hand can also have literary merit but is usually understood to have sexual arousal as its main intent.
Examples of classic erotic literature are the Kama-sutra, William Shakespeare's Venus and Adonis, the writings of the Marquis de Sade, and D.H. Lawrence's Lady Chatterley's Lover.
The invention of the printing presses led to the increased popularity of pornographic stories. These often contained elements of humor, romance and were written to entertain as well as to arouse. Titillation was more important than finely crafted words or even half way decent writing.
Photography and motion pictures contributed to the tremendous proliferation of pornographic materials. Written pornography was superseded by explicit visuals of erotic behaviour that were considered lacking in redeeming artistic or social values. (Imagine that.)Pornography has long been the target of moral and legal sanction in the belief that it tends to deprave and corrupt. Important works of art have on ocassion been banned because they are considered pornographic. "
Within the past decade the increasing popularity of Erotica for women is slowly but surely redefining the market. Well written, highly sexual and usually with romantic themes designed to appeal to women, the stories aren't your granny's Harlequins. The line between erotica and porn is a wavy one. Erotica gathers to her generous bosum (heh) genres ranging from suspense, horror, science fiction, contemporary and paranormal. Recently there has been an increase in male writers and readers, not including a category worthy of its own genre of gay erotica.
Where does porn end and erotica begin? Where does erotica end and art begin? And does it really fucking matter? Ultimately, it is all subjective and entirely dependent on personal taste... isn't it?"In art, immorality cannot exist. Art is always sacred" - August Rodin
26 comments:
is gutenberg the father of paper based porn?
who knew?
fantasizing about you long time.
can't remember who said it but he said:"I don't know what porn is, but I'd recognize it when I see it."...I have a copy of Dr. Seuss's the 7 dancing ladies..i think is the title..did you know that he had a book that was refered to as adult reading?...pretty cool..had it for 20 years or better..also have a book of illustrations by thomas somebody or another and they are prints of tin types of people back in the 1600's maybe?...in different sexual positions with cute little captions ..my favorite was a carriage of men and women all outside the carriage peeing, the ladies the gents and the horses..something about they stop to relieve themselves along the way..
im pretty mellow about it all, unless it looks painful then i'd rather look at comics..ha
I want to say it IS all subjective and a matter of personal taste....but then I think of the sickos who involve children and animals...would that statement apply to them as well?
The written word is certainly powerful and sexy. I kind of think of erotica as having a sense of leaving a little more to the imagination than pornography. And more tastefully. (Tasteful.. yummmm!)
I guess that's it. My simply defined difference between the two.
dancing thru the fantasies with you long time Cabana Boy. It's one of the great pleasures in my life. ~grin~
Eeeek - great shades of golden showers JS! Soooo not my thing.
Pissy, i consider sex to be a act that is sane, consensual and safe - the rest is perversions and abuse, ya know? When i think porn and/or erotica i don't think of it in terms of actions that are demeaning, harmful or cruel.
Alot of erotica is damn explicit Cat. In fact I've been told to make my stories more edgy, have more sex scenes, be more explicit. The challenge of course is how many different CREATIVE ways can you describe "put tab A into slot B" - heh...
Erotica -> Aesthetics
Pornography -> Assthetics
Lawyers and judges have tried to codify the distinction between the two for a long time and failed miserably every time because it is in the nature of artists to test boundaries, it is what they do. It is also in the act this distinction, sometimes I am blessed to have truely pornographic sex, other times graced with truely erotic sex. At least I used to be, back when I was young enough to actually indulge in the act. Ahh memories,
I do believe the song goes The Internet is for Porn.
Whatever makes my jeans tighter I'm for, call it whatever you want........
i need to tag that and remember it Josh - excellent.
"nature of artists to test boundaries" - very true GingaPaul. Whenever I've given a talk about being an artist i've mentioned that most of us don't see or process the world like so called normal people - we question everything, we push boundaries, we rip apart preconceptions, we dance in thunderstorms and play with lightening... errrr... you know what i mean.
You don't have sex anymore? You're totally destroying my fantasy world. ~pouting now~
Woozala - For porn, porn, porn!
(harmonizing) porn, porn, porn, porn
~heh~
I'z missing my Wooze btw. See, big crocodile tears. Stop rolling your eyes.
Massa Sage, now really, is there ANYTHING that doesn't make your jeans tight? Even some of us wacky liberals make your jeans tight. ~waggling eyebrows~
Well, I was trying to be discrete about the rude business. I do plenty of this though, "we dance in thunderstorms and play with lightening..." that is a fantastic phrase. What an amazingly allround in every way gifted human you are.
Well, in art, beauty is in the eye of the beholder.
In porn, jizz is in the eye of the cock holder.
;-)
Not nearly as gifted as you Paul, for real. you constantly blow me away with your writing. Rude, you? Nevah! Pffft. Silly boy. ~wink~
LMAO!! Ah, Gaddy - you are quite simply priceless. ~kisses to you baby and i hope you're having a wonderful weekend~
lol!
well taxes make my jeans much looser........
See there s no money in the bill fold.
but tis true a womans political leanings never ever factor into my jeans tightening scale!
I didn't mean to say that erotica is not as explicit. I believe what I meant was that erotica involves sensuality on a more intellectual level. It brings the excitement through the mind then to the groin. Whereas porn seems to go right for the groin! ;)
Is that all there is, is that all there is
If that's all there is my friends, then let's keep dancing
Let's break out the booze and have a ball
If that's all there is
i miss peggy
The main thing making my jeans tight lately is cheeseburgers and beer. Though there are blogs that do the same.
The internet has really screwed up the definition of porn. The Supreme Court says something being considered obscene depends on community standards. Now you can see anything you want on the net and the community will never know.
I know erotica requires something that porn doesn't. You need an imagination to enjoy erotica but for porn you only need eyes.
I always liked what Bill Hicks said, which I will paraphrase because typing out an entire monologue just isn't suiting my fancy:
"[If the] Supreme Court defines pornography as being something without merit and causes sexual thought...then it sounds like every commercial on TV! You know that Double Mint commercial with the two twins...I'm not thinkin' of gum. I AM thinkin' of chewin'..."
I just always got a kick out of the hypocrisy of some of the "offended" majority, which down here tend to be your fundamentalist wacko types. For example, when I worked at a video store, we had an uber-Christian lady who would come in and turn any box with a "suggestive" cover around to prevent her children from seeing them. Then she'd rent "The Fast and the Furious" for them.
Don't know about you, but I have found it really funny in retrospect that she was taking steps to make sex seem sinful, which would be in complete contradiction with the religious belief that the end product known as children are beautiful and a gift from God, an end product which can't be brought to fruition without the act itself. Meanwhile, she hasn't any qualms about exposing her kids to films which glorify street racing, something which tends to lead to death and maimed bodies, and I'm speaking from experience on that one, having worked waaaay too many of those kinds of situations. Amusingly enough, if I recall anything from that shitty movie series, I remember sex being a not-so-subtle element in the plot, but of course, I could be wrong. I've tried to forget having to watch that pile of shit in order to give feedback to customers.
Just wish these loonies that get offended so easily would do what I do when confronted with something I don't like: Find something else to look at.
Amen to that, Rev. Amen to that.
much as I want to - I can't one up Gladfly! - he has an 'eye' for detail!
According to the US supreme court Pornography is something that causes sexual thought that has no artistic merit. hmmm check out from 2.20 onwards.
For you Rev! (bc you beat me to it...)
Nope no Oz here either. What have you done with him? Did you eat him whole? Did you wear him out and he is taking months to recover? or maybe he is just being 'the man of mystery'. Oh well, you're still here, that's the main thing,
good point Massa Sage, gasprices are probably doing the same for everyone. :(
Excellent way of defining it Cat-girl. Now bend over like a good girl while i go straight for your butt ~smack~
ummm... Peggy who, Cabana Boy? Do i need to be jealous? I thought we resolved this sort of thing with that damned Trixie-slut plant.
hating her long time.
I do have some concerns regarding the "anything goes" on the innenet Mr. Wit in so far as children are concerned. Thre are things i've seen that i can't unsee and young impressionable minds have no business being exposed to certain visuals that they are too young to comprehend. In a perfect world parents would take the responsibility of 1. policing their children and 2. raising them right so that they understand that there are things inappropriate for them at certain ages.
It's a sticky wicket. I don't want anyone telling me what i can and cannot post, yet agree that the easy access to sites like red tube make it a huge temptation for the underaged. Sites like redtube though don't concern me as much as children seeing some of the bestiality sites and bdsm sites that also can be viewed through google searches.
Excellent, excellent point Rev. I've thought about doing an art exhibit one day about the violence in toys, games and images that are available to children. Is it desensatizing them emotionally? If we look at the data, do we have more violent crimes now among children than we did fifty years aog or is it that media exposure seems to make it so? Do children see death so often on tv and in games that when confronted with it in real life they are left unmoved, unhorrified at the loss of life? I don't know but i wonder about these things.
Quickie, Gaddy has many talents. ~grin~ now bend over while i smack your ass again you naughty man. I expect much groveling from you to get back into my good graces. ~wink~
Brian, and who defines artistic merit? It's a fluid thing that changes with scoiety.
I don't know where he is Paul but he isn't answering emails either and I'm sooooo worried about my Ozy. Visions of car accidents and such linger in my head. His last poem is almost a goodbye so maybe he has just... left. ~wiping tears from my eyes~
lakota, your note about oz chilled me. let us know if you hear from him, please.
as to porn, I've heard that it is the 2nd use of every new means of mass communication.
have you visited the sex museum in nyc? great exhibit on the history of pornography there last year
I didn't even know they had a sex museum in nyc Rikki - i'll have to look that up online. And yeah, i'm soooooo worried about my Ozy-man. I feel like calling all the hospitals in florida.
*bending over obediently*
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