Memorable Quotes from the TV show “Moonlighting”, from the IMDB at http://us.imdb.com/Quotes?0088571
David Addison: I know who he is, he paints naked girls.
Maddie Hayes: Nudes.
David Addison: Nudes, right. Nakeds have staples in them.
It was minty greens proposal, elmwood seconded it, and I’m the quorum that will pass the motion (ho, ho, no pun intended), that when we sheila’s check it out it’s erotica, and when you bogan bloke’s are perving at the latest edition of Penthouse, it’s porn.
What could be more simple than that?
Actually, I think erotica leaves ‘something’ to one’s imagination (or personal fantasy) whereas pornography sort of lays the corpse on the table…d’ya wanna eat it here or take away?
And of course, none of these postulations have anything to do with Michelangelo’s David, or the Goya nudes. Or have I missed something and people are actually referring to David as “erotica”?
<half joking, half serious>Also, since this is GD, I’d appreciate some sites for “If men look at it, it’s porn, if women look at it, it’s erotica” </hj, hs>
Shure, no problemo.
Let me just type porn and erotica into the search engine on my computer at work. I’ll get back to you shortly. 
Great! Then you can try to explain to your boss what the difference is! Please report back to us with the outcome!!
clears throat
Actually, by the “causing sexual arousal” criterion, Michelangelo’s David was, not erotica, but pornography, for several years in my adolescence. The New Book of Knowledge “Italian Art and Architecture” photo of old Davey was definitely masturbation fodder for quite a while…
jayjay
But both “erotica” and “pornography” are designed to cause erotic arousal - that’s the problem!
Per Encarta , a divide between Erotica and Pornography has been suggested that runs along the same lines as those suggested by Guin: that is, that Pornography is material which depicts the “sexually explicit subordination of women” while Erotica is depicts more equality ‘twixt the genders. Per Encarta, this delineation is proposed and supported by many modern feminist thinkers.
Based on that, by definition all sexually explicit material that is oriented for gay-males cannot be anything but erotica, since there are no women and therefore no subordination of them!
Personally, I think that the “sexual subordination of women” would be better addressed by the word “Obscene”, which is a qualitative assessment of pornography. In other words, we already have a catch-all term in which to dump what society agrees are the negative or harmful aspects of sexual explicity. Why further subdivide the language?
However, a generally understood “qualitative” connotation already seems to exist with these words:
Dictionary.MSN.com defines Pornography as “films, magazines, writings, photographs, or other materials that are sexually explicit and intended to cause sexual arousal” while Erotica is “Art or literature intended to arouse sexual desire by portraying sex in an explicit way.” Our SDMB Semanticists could pick apart the phrasing for further nuggets, but per the italicized sections, Erotica is deliberately artistic/sophisticated while pornography is base/common.
Finally, there’s this tidbit from an essay by Magdalene Meretrix, an author of Erotica:
AFAIAC, each of these pieces are part of the whole. Pornography tends to be more base than Erotica, and I like having a conceptually reserved area for, say, pictures that are a little too suggestive to just be “art”, yet have aesthetic value and shouldn’t be lumped with “The Industrial Film Covered in Fur”, as Robin Williams refers to it. However, it is possible for Pornography to be erotic, because of the viewers perception, which is rooted in the mind. Legal considerations aside, I think a large gray area exists, and MUST exist because everyone has their own kinks.
Therefore, Michelangelo’s David: may inspire sexual response, may be found erotic by some, but by virtually no definition can it be deemed erotica because it’s creation was not intended to arouse sexual desire. Nor can (should) it be termed pornographic because of the level of execution. And the most ridiculous claim would be that the David is pornography, because that implies both that Michelangelo was just concerned with creating masturbation material, and also that he wasn’t very good at it!
Gah!!
I could have sworn that there were more articles (as in parts of speach) in my last post, and that the commas, apostraphes, colons, and semi-colons were in the right places!
They must have gotten moved around by the new vB! (Yeah! That’s it!)
I don’t think porn degrades only women-it can and has been degrading towards men as well.
Playboy = erotica
Penthouse= pornography
That’s my take on it. I enjoy pictures of beautiful naked/semi-naked women in suggestive poses, but closeup photo’s of parted labia are not erotic to me at all, suggesting to me that the personality/character of the possessor of the vagina is somewhat lacking , thereby actually turning me off.
The difference between porn and erotica is the difference between sex and erotic love.
Which I readily admit is no help at all!
Another try: For me, it has to do with whether it makes me want to celebrate love with my wife, or hump the nearest person’s leg.
Yeah, that’s it.
Guin - I realize that I wasn’t at all specific in my post - what I meant to imply was that like your OP, the “Feminist Distinction” between the two words hinges on degradation, not that you had some kind of Fem. agenda. My bad.
Erotica - my girlfriend will watch it.
Pornography - created solely as a jerk flick
The difference is, of course, in the lighting.
Alternative:
- Porn is in colour; and
- Erotica is black and white.
Well, if you’re John Ashcroft, pornography seems to include semi-nude art-deco statues in the Department of Justice. :rolleyes:
U.S. Supreme Court Potter Stewart said when trying to define pornography: “I know it when I see it.”
If you’re alone with a kleenex, it’s porn.
If you’re alone with your girlfriend, it’s erotica. 
[nonsensible nitpick]
Err, how can you be alone with someone else?
[/nonsensible nitpick]
Simply answer this questionnaire:
Is that Porn or Erotica?