Victorian body parts.

[Guest]

Sounds interesting, eh?

I'm working on a period piece (bet'cha can't guess which era? ) and I need to know some slang terms for body parts! Especially breasts, penis, and vagina. Anyone know of any? It would be a big help! Thanks.

 

[NoJo]

That's an interesting question: The victorians weren't famous for erotica, but I'll bet the same old games went on in the boudour anyway.

Are you thinking of working class people's slang? Or parlour slang? I imagine that the working classes would use a lot of the smae words we do now.

 

[Guest]

Are you thinking of working class people's slang? Or parlour slang? I imagine that the working classes would use a lot of the smae words we do now.

I guess it would be "parlour" slang since the story is going to be about the life of a prostitute. And, since they didn't use the word prostitute back then I assumed body part slang would be different as well. (IE: I don't think they said cunt or titties.)

 

[NorthwestRain]

Japanese disembowelment porn????

I dare ya!

 

[NorthwestRain]

whoops, wrong board...

Umm, what I meant to say was:
cunny.

 

[Alex De Kok]

Victorian Terminology

BlessedBe,

Try to locate a copy of 'The Writer's Guide to Everyday Life in the 1800s', by Marc McCutcheon, published by Writer's Digest Books.

It has a section on 'Taboo' words, and a lot of other material you'll find useful.

Alex

 

[dr_mabeuse]

Sub Joe,

Contrary to what we see on Masterpiece Theater, the Victorian era was rife with sexual activity, drug use, gambling, and all sorts of wonderful vices. They were just never mentioned in public or discussed. Vice was the Victorian equivalent of what smoking tobacco has become today: a health hazard, a moral failing, something to be deplored.

Vice and sex clubs prospered in Victorian England. There was the rise of the "Birching" clubs where gentlemen would go to be beaten my topless prostitutes, or maybe to beat a few themselves. There were homosexual brothels, and there were members of upper society who worked as procurers and pimps. All very discreet.

Pornography especially was a thriving business. That's when "The Pearl" was written and a bunch of other titles. They'r pretty much unreadable today because of that dense Victorian prose, but there were people who made fortunes with porn, and of course when photography came in it was immediately used for you know what, just like videotapes.

I'm not aware of any exclusively Victorian terms for body parts. The early porn I've looked at uses almost all euphemisms for cocks and organs. Shaft, stalk, manhood, stuff like that. I remeber seeing "bunny" used for a vagina, but usually that's very euphemized: womanhood, center of desire, center, stuff like that.

I suppose the slang used would depend a lot on the social class of the speaker, upper classes being more discrete than lower.

Oh yeah, I remember them using "spend" for coming, and "spunk" for semen. they didn't seem to be into breasts at all, legs seemed to be the main erotic focus. And of course women didn't orgasm. The female orgasm hadn't been discovered yet and I think the general consensus was that women didn't enjoy sex at all but put up with it for the sake of having families and to keep their men from running to prostitutes.

Tha good old days?

---dr.M.

 

[TrinaT]

In doing various research for some of my writing I came across this website sometime ago that you might find helpful. I was especially interested in Erotic Tales of the Victorian Age, Bram Stoker (Editor).

http://www.dropbears.com/b/broughsbooks/literature/victorian_erotica.htm

Trina T

 

[NoJo]

When I was a kid I got a shock when I glanced into an art book on my fifteen year-old brothers bookshelf -- the outrageous erotica of the late Victorian illustrator Aubrey Beardsley. Here's a couple of typical samples for your viewing pleasure, couresy of artpassions.net:


The examination of the Herald


Lysistrata Defending the Acropolis

(Beardsley suffered almost as much as his contempoary, Oscar Wilde, for his art).

 

[Guest]

Thank you all! I now have a busy day before me.

 

[Monazwx]

The Victorian age was so "dainty" and uptight that there were alot of euphemisums used to describe various body parts and sex acts.

You may want to check out this article, but I don't know if it will help much,

http://www.eroticauthorsassociation.com/html/victorian.htm

Also, the www.victorianstation.com site has insight on the lives and times of the people who lived in the 1800's but this too depends on where your story is set.

Good luck.

 

[Guest]

Thank you.

 

[PoliteSuccubus]

Just skimmed so if these answers are up already, sorry

There was a underground sexual paper in Victorian times and they have been bound and sold as a paper back book called "The Pearl". Not only does it give you names, but also gives insight for the what the Victorian mind thought of risque sex etc. I read it in high school, and don't know if it is still in print, but it has some very very naughty bits in it. (Like the story where the young man takes his sister to a secret socity gang bang and has her strapped to a teeter totter device and bounced off his male rod)

Also the movie "The French Lt.'s Woman (with Meryl Streep) has some intresting asides re: sex in the Victorian era while the two "actors" are discussing their parts. Such as; did you know there were more whores living in London at that time than at any other?

Have fun

 

[Guest]

Hey, cool. Thanks!

 

[Sabledrake]

I've got a fairly good-sized shelf of Victorian smut (lots of spankings, governesses, and incest). Terms fpr male and female genitalia that turn up a lot are:

Cunny or cunt
Cock, prick, pego

There also seem to be a lot of stories that feature women with clits of such incredible size that they can and do use them for penetrative purposes.

Sabledrake

 

[Guest]

There also seem to be a lot of stories that feature women with clits of such incredible size that they can and do use them for penetrative purposes.

Wow.

 

[NorthwestRain]

Hmm, reminds me of a girl I once knew...

 

[Pure]

dr_mabeuse on Victorian times in England

//And of course women didn't orgasm. The female orgasm hadn't been discovered yet //

Surely you're joking. I'm sure both Shakespeare and the early Brit novelists knew of it. Do you think everybody forgot?

J.