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Erotica versus Pornography

SusanJillParker

SusanJillParker

I'm 100% woman
Joined
Oct 29, 2011
Posts
2,155
The ideal mix is to combine both erotica and pornography in one story. Yet, too many readers want pornography over erotica. They want to see sex than to read about it.

To me, my personal opinion, more difficult to write, erotica is a fine carving knife.

Again, to me, my personal opinion, much easier to write, pornography is a sledgehammer.

Especially if you're married or in a committed relationship, erotica is the internal struggles that people have with restraining forbidden, sexual thoughts. Whether it be homosexual sex, exhibitionism and voyeurism, fetishes, bondage and discipline, group sex, incest, romance or whatever, we all have our sexual wants, needs, lusts, and desires.

With erotica we more think about them as internal monologue than we do act upon them by physically cheating on our partners. With pornography, casting our fate to the wind, we act out our every sexual fantasy and desire by having sex and more sex.

To me, my personal opinion, erotica is sexual thought and pornography is sexual action.

That's my take? What's your take on Erotica versus Pornography?
 
Going online, one can find the following:

  • Erotica is pornography masked by a nimbus of respectability.
  • Erotica is flawless brunettes in silk; pornography is chubby redheads in nylon; smut is tattooed blondes in Mazola.
  • Erotica is for nice, literate people like us; pornography is for the lonely, the unattractive and the uneducated.
  • Pornography is what he watches. Erotica is what you read. Stimulating adult literature is what I fill my bookshelves with.
  • Erotica is what I am selling to support my art. Pornography is what he is abusively creating to make money.
  • Erotica has better production values.
  • Erotica is pornography which has been hanging in national galleries for more than 100 years.
  • Erotica is whatever turns us on, pornography is anything making us uncomfortable
  • Erotica is any pornography which doesn’t offend a strident feminist.
  • Pornography is sold in places with signs barring children from entering. Erotica is featured in public book signings.
  • Erotica is in your mind; pornography is in your face.
 
TarnishedPenny said:
Going online, one can find the following:

  • Erotica is pornography masked by a nimbus of respectability.
  • Erotica is flawless brunettes in silk; pornography is chubby redheads in nylon; smut is tattooed blondes in Mazola.
  • Erotica is for nice, literate people like us; pornography is for the lonely, the unattractive and the uneducated.
  • Pornography is what he watches. Erotica is what you read. Stimulating adult literature is what I fill my bookshelves with.
  • Erotica is what I am selling to support my art. Pornography is what he is abusively creating to make money.
  • Erotica has better production values.
  • Erotica is pornography which has been hanging in national galleries for more than 100 years.
  • Erotica is whatever turns us on, pornography is anything making us uncomfortable
  • Erotica is any pornography which doesn’t offend a strident feminist.
  • Pornography is sold in places with signs barring children from entering. Erotica is featured in public book signings.
  • Erotica is in your mind; pornography is in your face.
Click to expand...

The last line shows it all.

"Erotica is in your mind; pornography is in your face."

Thank you.
 
Last edited:
I like to use Isobel Allende's take on the difference between the two: 'Erotica is when you use a feather; Pornography is when you use the whole chicken'
 
May I add . . .

Erotica is every fine and nuanced detail; pornography is "blunt force trauma".
 
Hey, the Supreme Court has grappled with this, I think mostly in vain.

https://corporate.findlaw.com/litig...preme-court-or-i-know-it-when-i-see-it-a.html

https://caselaw.findlaw.com/us-supreme-court/378/184.html

Some tidbits about one case, Miller v. California.

"According to The Brethren, the law clerks that drafted the Justices' opinions created the following short hand for how their bosses decided if material was obscene:

Justice Byron White's Definition: "no erect penises, no intercourse, no oral or anal sodomy. For White, no erections and no insertions equaled no obscenity."

Justice Brennan's Definition, The Limp Dick Test: "no erections. He was willing to accept penetration as long as the pictures passed what his clerks referred to as the 'limp dick' standard. Oral sex was tolerable if there was no erection."

Justice Stewart's Definition, The Casablanca Test: "... I know it [obscenity/pornography] when I see it." In Casablanca, as a Navy lieutenant in World War II and watch officer for his ship, Stewart had seen his men bring back locally produced pornography. He knew the difference between that hardest of hard core and much of what came to the Court. He called it his 'Casablanca Test'."
 
I don't spend much time/effort in looking for a divide. I just write my stories (to borrow a phrase Freddie likes to use).
 
It's a conundrum without a satisfying answer — somewhat akin to the genre-versus-literature debate in fiction. But here are some thoughts.

The main distinction I make is that pornography aims at stimulating and satisfying sexual arousal by portraying sex. Erotica does this and more: it explores desire and arousal as subjects.

Sometimes, what is pornography for one person may function as erotica for another person, and vice versa.
 
I forget where I heard this, but somebody said that if you can remember anything of the plot after the orgasm, it's erotica.
 
Great topic, SJP. I tend to think "pornography" is a label society puts on what they consider offensively obscene or provocative. Delta Of Venus, for instance, is what I would call "erotica", but has been labeled before as "pornography". As others have pointed out, pornography is seen as more explicit, in your face, while erotica is more subtle, in your mind.
In my own world, pornography makes me want to get to the end so I can cum. Erotica makes me want to savor the journey, deny myself the limited gratification of completion for the slow burn of anticipation.
 
I don't mean to be a wet blanket on this topic, because it does result in some interesting discussion, but I tend to think the whole enterprise of trying to decide what we should call or how we should categorize something like erotica/pornography is fruitless. One person's erotica will be another's pornography. I think of porn as stuff that helps you achieve orgasm. Erotica is a somewhat broader category. It may or may not help you get off, but it's still sexually stimulating. Some people will get off to a story about sexy feet; others won't. So who is to say whether it's porn or not?

What drives the debate is the negative emotional reaction a lot of people have to porn. But that reaction, to my mind, is a relic of our society's longstanding discomfort with everything having to do with sex. If you let that discomfort go -- really let it go -- is it worthwhile anymore to try to draw this distinction?
 
I mostly strive for literary porn in my Literotica stories. A real story line, with graphic sex.
 
SimonDoom said:
If you let that discomfort go -- really let it go -- is it worthwhile anymore to try to draw this distinction?
Click to expand...

While I agree that the difference is primarily semantic, I do believe that discussing it is worthwhile, if only in aiding understanding of other people's thoughts.
 
KeithD said:
I mostly strive for literary porn in my Literotica stories. A real story line, with graphic sex.
Click to expand...

Same here. But I've read strokers that I'd call "erotica" and I've read sensual stories with elements that strike me as "pornographic" from a derogatory standpoint. And I think discussing what we as individuals reading, writing, acting in or watching either end of the naughty spectrum isn't to reach a consensus but to get a broader understanding.
 
TarnishedPenny said:
While I agree that the difference is primarily semantic, I do believe that discussing it is worthwhile, if only in aiding understanding of other people's thoughts.
Click to expand...

Good point. The value of these discussions is not in revealing what "porn" and "erotica" are in any meaningful way but in revealing what other people think about these things. And that is valuable.
 
Alice_Rosaleen said:
Same here. But I've read strokers that I'd call "erotica" and I've read sensual stories with elements that strike me as "pornographic" from a derogatory standpoint. And I think discussing what we as individuals reading, writing, acting in or watching either end of the naughty spectrum isn't to reach a consensus but to get a broader understanding.
Click to expand...

We do, in fact, see the discussion here monthly. The result is always that it's personal taste and perception, but, yes, it's OK to run it through the ringer if you like. I haven't said you shouldn't. I've just given my responses to the issue--which is that it doesn't affect what I write.
 
KeithD said:
We do, in fact, see the discussion here monthly. The result is always that it's personal taste and perception, but, yes, it's OK to run it through the ringer if you like. I haven't said you shouldn't. I've just given my responses to the issue--which is that it doesn't affect what I write.
Click to expand...

I think it's even been brought up by the same originator before.

I don't see myself taking any actions based on the discussion, so I also fail to see its value.
 
KeithD said:
We do, in fact, see the discussion here monthly. The result is always that it's personal taste and perception, but, yes, it's OK to run it through the ringer if you like. I haven't said you shouldn't. I've just given my responses to the issue--which is that it doesn't affect what I write.
Click to expand...

I see. First time for me so didn't know. If I'd thought it had gone through the ringer, I just would have stopped responding.
It doesn't affect my writing either, just what I like to read I suppose.
 
Alice_Rosaleen said:
I see. First time for me so didn't know. If I'd thought it had gone through the ringer, I just would have stopped responding.
It doesn't affect my writing either, just what I like to read I suppose.
Click to expand...

Oops. Was in wrong account.
 
It's fine to discuss. There always will be new folks who haven't given it a lot of thought. It's just that it isn't a new discussion so some don't need to think about it for the umpteenth time and their responses will reflect that they already have a response, for them, on that topic.
 
SusanJillParker said:
The ideal mix is to combine both erotica and pornography in one story. Yet, too many readers want pornography over erotica. They want to see sex than to read about it.

To me, my personal opinion, more difficult to write, erotica is a fine carving knife.

Again, to me, my personal opinion, much easier to write, pornography is a sledgehammer.

Especially if you're married or in a committed relationship, erotica is the internal struggles that people have with restraining forbidden, sexual thoughts. Whether it be homosexual sex, exhibitionism and voyeurism, fetishes, bondage and discipline, group sex, incest, romance or whatever, we all have our sexual wants, needs, lusts, and desires.

With erotica we more think about them as internal monologue than we do act upon them by physically cheating on our partners. With pornography, casting our fate to the wind, we act out our every sexual fantasy and desire by having sex and more sex.

To me, my personal opinion, erotica is sexual thought and pornography is sexual action.

That's my take? What's your take on Erotica versus Pornography?
Click to expand...

IMO Erotica requires some thought. Pornography impacts directly. You used the finecarvingknife/sledgehammer mixed metaphor, while I was thinking maybe Erotica is like hashish, while Porn is like heroin.
The definition of "prurient" makes the legal difference?
I think reading or viewing erotica/sex-art is a great way to relax and enjoy safe sex.
To me, pornography is offensive, like bad art. Without artistic merit.
 
NotWise said:
I think it's even been brought up by the same originator before.

I don't see myself taking any actions based on the discussion, so I also fail to see its value.
Click to expand...

Thanks for saying that, because I thought I'd seen if before from him as well.
 
KeithD said:
We do, in fact, see the discussion here monthly. The result is always that it's personal taste and perception, but, yes, it's OK to run it through the ringer if you like. I haven't said you shouldn't. I've just given my responses to the issue--which is that it doesn't affect what I write.
Click to expand...

This pretty much applies to most topics here, that don't have fixed answers(like a grammar question) Its still worth discussing as long as people realize that there's no right or wrong answer only opinion.
 
Erotica: Blonde with big tits writing stories naked in front of a fireplace.

Porn: Blonde with big tits bouncing them on your forehead and she gets pounded from behind
 
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