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Pornography (often abbreviated as "porn" or "porno" in informal usage) is the portrayal of sexual subject matter for the purpose of sexual arousal. Pornography may be presented in a variety of media, including books, magazines, postcards, photographs, sculpture, drawing, painting, animation, sound recording, film, video, and video games. The term applies to the depiction of the act rather than the act itself, and so does not include live exhibitions like sex shows and striptease. The primary subjects of pornographic depictions are pornographic models, who pose for still photographs, and pornographic actors or porn stars, who perform in pornographic films. If dramatic skills are not involved, a performer in a porn film may also be called a model.
Various groups within society have considered depictions of a sexual nature immoral, labeling them pornographic, and attempting to have them suppressed under obscenity and other laws, with varying degrees of success. Such works have also often been subject to censorship and other legal restraints to publication, display or possession. Such grounds and even the definition of pornography have differed in various historical, cultural, and national contexts. More...
Erotic literature comprises fictional and factual stories and accounts of human sexual relationships which have the power to or are intended to arouse the reader sexually. Such erotica takes the form of novels, short stories, poetry, true-life memoirs, and sex manuals. A common feature of the genre is sexual fantasies on such themes as prostitution, orgies, homosexuality, sadomasochism, incest, and many other taboo subjects and fetishes, which may or may not be expressed in explicit language. Other common elements are satire and social criticism. Despite cultural taboos on such material, circulation of erotic literature was not seen as a major problem before the invention of printing, as the costs of producing individual manuscripts limited distribution to a very small group of readers. The invention of printing, in the 15th century, brought with it both a greater market and increasing restrictions, like censorship and legal restraints on publication on the grounds of obscenity. Because of this, much of the production of this type of material became clandestine. Much erotic literature features erotic art, illustrating the text. More...
Selected article
Karen McDougal (born March 23, 1971) is an American model and actress. She is known for her appearances in Playboy magazine as Playmate of the Month for December 1997 and Playmate of the Year of 1998. In 2001, the readers of Playboy voted McDougal "The number 2 sexiest Playmate of the 1990s".
McDougal taught pre-kindergarten before winning a swimwear competition that launched her career as a glamour, promotional, and swimsuit model. Since her appearances in Playboy, she has extended her career into a wide variety of appearances in mainstream media, including other magazine modeling, television commercials, and minor acting, with mixed success. She has been a successful fitness model, with multiple magazine appearances including being the first woman to appear on the cover of Men's Fitness magazine. She starred in The Arena, a direct-to-video film, and inspired the creation of a fantasy art statuette and a doll. She has ventured into business and is interested in pursuing work as a television host. (Full article...)
Selected work of erotic literature
Josephine Mutzenbacher – The Life Story of a Viennese Whore, as Told by Herself (German: Josefine Mutzenbacher – Die Lebensgeschichte Einer Wienerischen Dirne, Von Ihr Selbst Erzählt) is an erotic novel first published anonymously in Vienna, Austria in 1906. The novel is famous in the German-speaking world, having been in print in both German and English for over 100 years and sold over 3 million copies, becoming an erotic bestseller.
Although no author claimed responsibility for the work, it was originally attributed to either Felix Salten (see Bambi) or Arthur Schnitzler by the librarians at the University of Vienna. Today, critics, scholars, academics and the Austrian Government designate Salten as the sole author of the "pornographic classic", Josephine Mutzenbacher. The original novel uses the specific local dialect of Vienna of that time in dialogues and is therefore used as a rare source of this dialect for linguists. It also describes, to some extent, the social and economical conditions of the lower class of that time. The novel has been translated into English, French, Portuguese, Spanish, Italian, Hungarian, Dutch, Japanese, Swedish and Finnish, and been the subject of numerous films, theater productions, parodies, and university courses, as well as two sequels. (Full article...)
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Selected historical image
![Anton Peschka Mädchen mit hochgeschobenem Hemd 1925.jpg](https://web.archive.org/web/20160413122705im_/https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/3/3a/Anton_Peschka_M%C3%A4dchen_mit_hochgeschobenem_Hemd_1925.jpg/350px-Anton_Peschka_M%C3%A4dchen_mit_hochgeschobenem_Hemd_1925.jpg)
Drawing by Anton Peschka, 1925
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Did you know...
- ... that Pornhub told its users to stop uploading videos of Brazil's loss to Germany at the 2014 FIFA World Cup under sexually suggestive titles?
- ... that the offices of the Danish magazine Vennen were raided by police in the so-called "Great Porno Affair"?
- ... that according to the Lesbian Film Guide, She Must Be Seeing Things was a "deeply controversial film ... dismissed outright by some as pornography"?
July/August 2014
Previous Did You Know...
- ... that in the landmark case Erie v. Pap's A. M., the Supreme Court of the United States upheld an ordinance requiring some erotic dancers to wear nipple pasties and a G-string?
- ... that the erotic depiction on the Oinochoe by the Shuvalov Painter is one of the most frequently illustrated works of Greek vase painting?
- ... that although Bernard Natan directed and acted in hardcore heterosexual and bisexual pornographic films from 1920 to 1927, by 1929 he owned the giant French movie studio Pathé and later helped develop the anamorphic film lens?
- ... that the 1920 French film Le Menage Moderne Du Madame Butterfly is the earliest known hardcore pornographic film to depict bisexual and homosexual intercourse?
- ... that the 1929 film The Surprise of a Knight is the earliest known gay, hardcore pornographic film in American cinematic history?
- ... that Michiko Maeda, the first Japanese actress to appear nude in a mainstream film, was banned from Japanese cinema for 42 years disobeying a director?
October 2007 - January 2008
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