Victorian Erotica
May 13th 2008 22:13
Category: Eclectic
We're so used to laughing at the prudish Victoria-era Europeans - sure, we love to watch period dramas and insinuate that they were filthier than they seemed, but the word Victorian has it's own prudish definition. From Wordnet:
"Adjective
S: (adj) Victorian (of or relating to Queen Victoria of Great Britain or to the age in which she ruled) "Victorian morals"
S: (adj) priggish, prim, prissy, prudish, puritanical, square-toed, straitlaced, strait-laced, straightlaced, straight-laced, tight-laced, victorian (exaggeratedly proper) "my straitlaced Aunt Anna doesn't approve of my miniskirts"
S: (adj) Victorian (typical of the moral standards or conduct of the age of Queen Victoria)"
S: (adj) Victorian (of or relating to Queen Victoria of Great Britain or to the age in which she ruled) "Victorian morals"
S: (adj) priggish, prim, prissy, prudish, puritanical, square-toed, straitlaced, strait-laced, straightlaced, straight-laced, tight-laced, victorian (exaggeratedly proper) "my straitlaced Aunt Anna doesn't approve of my miniskirts"
S: (adj) Victorian (typical of the moral standards or conduct of the age of Queen Victoria)"
Danny Moynihan collects erotic photos from Victorian times, and the photos are anything but 'Victorian', The Telegraph has a few of his photos on display, and they run an interesting range, from glamour photography to artistic nudes, to cold medical photos.
He says:
"Moynihan would certainly object to his collection being described as filth. Instead, he divides it into five categories including 'the sensual nude, ethnographic tribal nudes, medical photos, posed studio tableaux and straight pornography'. Quite a lot seems to have changed in the world of pornography since these photographs were taken. The invention of the ladies' razor, for one. Most of the women have their (often wrinkled) stockings on, the men their socks. This might have been considered saucy, intended to represent the haste of the liaisons, or it may simply have been cold in the photographers' studios."
For the randy, lonely pervert, a desperate treasure to see all the things that Victorian-era morals wouldn't let him see.
And, for us, a wonderful window into the past, where we can see where we came from.
While Moynihan doesn't like modern pornography, he has started collecting images from the 50s and 60s. I can understand the appeal... these photos, taken from any period, serve to identify the times. Nude photos from the 60s tell us something about the general attitude towards the human bodies, most noticeably, the abundance of hair.
In 100 years, if people looked at our pornography, Jenna Jameson perhaps, or someone equivalent, maybe they'd express surprise at the enormous fake breasts that seem so common. Or the lack of body hair?
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