Images and Illustrations for the Lecture on Pornography

Ancient Pornography

Out of the historical context that reveals how they were used, it is difficult to know the "meaning" of such images. Images Source: d'Georges Kayser Altertumsfuerscher

Bikini-clad ball players, third century A.D., Sicily. The women playing ball have relatively masculine, muscular bodies, with little body fat and almost no breasts. It is not clear how such art was read in its time. It may have represented an ideal type, or a caricature of the female athlete. Without a better understanding of the historical context, it is impossible to speculate if we have here an example of the thin body type reflecting some improvement in women's status in society.
Priapus - an image of male sexual prowess and/or fertility?
This erotic image of a couple found at Pompeii (the ancient site preserved by the lava from Mt. Vesuvius near Naples, Italy) shows a female with the classic body features. (Another couple)

Unless otherwise indicated, all pornographic images below are from the Debauchery site.

Pornography for Men

The Carnivalesque

Clinton
Homer and Marge
Add: Soft porn and "Erotica": Sex, Bodies, and Class

Boucher, Nude on a Sofa (Reclining Girl), 1752, oil on canvas, Pinakothek at Munich (fragment) This image clearly suggests sexual intercourse, but few people would condemn it as pornography. Image Source: CGFA
Mike Bergin and Kate Moss, Calvin Klein models.
Marilyn Monroe and another shot of M.M. Image Source: Spyder's Empire
A "touch of class"
Anna Kournikova off court
Crossing the boundary from erotica to true porn, many "crotch shot" images can nevertheless be compared with the "art" nude like Boucher's.
Explicitness: the essence of "bad taste"
"Debauchery's "No. 1 Erotica by Us"

Real Porn and Real Art

Which is this shot?

Add: Masculinizing Women's Sexuality

Fellatio

Amateurs

Pseudo-lesbians

Plenitude of Satisfaction? Plenitude of Power? Women masculinized?

Orgy

Add: Power Over Women

Cum pictures

Add: Oedipus Complex

Spanking

Bounding

A "mild" variety

Child Porn

Using the helpless? Liberating Child Sexuality?

Child porn is illegal and no images are shown here. However, much of so called "teenage sex" shown in porn products comes rather close to it.

40-50

Living out the Oedipus complex? Resisting the middle-aged?

Add: Breaking Down Divides

Race and sex: Power to the White Man? Critique of racism?

Pornography for Women

Appropriating male-produced images: the classic pattern of pop culture resistance?

Pinup Boys

Breaking out of feminine limitations? Counter-objectification?

Slash lit

Mulder and Skinner from the X Files.

Putting romance into male relationships

Sexy Women

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Taking charge of sex appeal?

Slut chic: The Whore as a Hero

A text by Nancy Hartley