# Erotic Flea Art? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cecil's Columns/Staff Reports\ **Created:** [December 2, 2004, 10:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/erotic-flea-art/277780 "2004-12-02T22:11:01Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 19\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![sitebright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/96bed5/32.png) [@sitebright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sitebright)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2004, 10:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/erotic-flea-art/277780/1 "2004-12-02T22:11:01Z")
“Erotic Flea Art” was mentioned very briefly in the straight dope classic “Is there really such a thing as a flea circus?” back in 82. Here’s the quote, “The intimate association of fleas and humankind down through the ages has given rise to many strange and wonderful things, of which the flea circus is by no means the most bizarre. Ask me about erotic flea art sometime. No kidding.” Was there ever any follow-up on this, or was it just a joke? ---
**Author:** ![I\_can\_t\_believe\_that\_s\_butter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/8edcca/32.png) [@I\_can\_t\_believe\_that\_s\_butter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/I_can_t_believe_that_s_butter)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2004, 10:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/erotic-flea-art/277780/2 "2004-12-02T22:14:05Z")
A Google search for “erotic flea art” turned up nothing. This ought to be good. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Tapioca\_Dextrin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Tapioca\_Dextrin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tapioca_Dextrin)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2004, 10:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/erotic-flea-art/277780/3 "2004-12-02T22:35:07Z")
The original column is Is there really such a thing as a flea circus? ---
**Author:** ![bibliophage](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bibliophage/32/7615_2.png) [@bibliophage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bibliophage)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2004, 10:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/erotic-flea-art/277780/4 "2004-12-02T22:46:36Z")
Welcome to the SDMB, **sitebright**. Since this is a comment on one of Cecil’s columns, I’ll move this thread to the Comments on Cecil’s Columns forum. bibliophage moderator GQ ---
**Author:** ![Sample\_the\_Dog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/8797f3/32.png) [@Sample\_the\_Dog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sample_the_Dog)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2004, 11:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/erotic-flea-art/277780/5 "2004-12-02T23:13:02Z")
John Donne famously used the flea as a motif in a classic erotic [poem](http://www.luminarium.org/sevenlit/donne/flea.htm). > [@John Donne](#): > > MARK but this flea, and mark in this, > How little that which thou deniest me is ; > It suck’d me first, and now sucks thee, > And in this flea our two bloods mingled be. > Thou know’st that this cannot be said > A sin, nor shame, nor loss of maidenhead ; > Yet this enjoys before it woo, > And pamper’d swells with one blood made of two ; > And this, alas ! is more than we would do. ---
**Author:** ![sitebright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/96bed5/32.png) [@sitebright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sitebright)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2004, 8:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/erotic-flea-art/277780/6 "2004-12-03T08:28:29Z")
I wonder if this poem was what Cecil was referencing. Very strange and interesting though. Maybe i’m dense, but when I think erotic flea art I think visual media…not quite erotic flea poetry. ---
**Author:** ![SCSimmons](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e495f1/32.png) [@SCSimmons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SCSimmons)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2004, 6:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/erotic-flea-art/277780/7 "2004-12-03T18:53:29Z")
> [@Joe K](#): > > A Google search for “erotic flea art” turned up nothing. > > This ought to be good. 😛 OTOH, Dogpile returned a number of sites, including **sitebright** ’s post and Terminix … ---
**Author:** ![Sample\_the\_Dog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/8797f3/32.png) [@Sample\_the\_Dog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sample_the_Dog)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2004, 6:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/erotic-flea-art/277780/8 "2004-12-05T06:01:22Z")
The 1970’s Sharon McKnight porn flick “Autobiography of a Flea” is billed as “Based on the Victorian classic”. ---
**Author:** ![John\_W.Kennedy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_w.kennedy/32/1031_2.png) [@John\_W.Kennedy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_W.Kennedy)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2004, 2:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/erotic-flea-art/277780/9 "2004-12-05T14:19:10Z")
> [@Sample\_the\_Dog](#): > > The 1970’s Sharon McKnight porn flick “Autobiography of a Flea” is billed as “Based on the Victorian classic”. There is such a book; I’ve seen it, though not read it. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2004, 4:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/erotic-flea-art/277780/10 "2004-12-05T16:39:17Z")
> [@John W. Kennedy](#): > > There is such a book; I’ve seen it, though not read it. It was published in London in 1887. It’s author was the extremely prolific and long-lived _Anonymous_. ---
**Author:** ![Sample\_the\_Dog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/8797f3/32.png) [@Sample\_the\_Dog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sample_the_Dog)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2004, 2:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/erotic-flea-art/277780/11 "2004-12-07T02:01:06Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > Its author was the extremely prolific and long-lived _Anonymous_. You should see my collection of signed first editions! 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Ashkicker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/4bbf92/32.png) [@Ashkicker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ashkicker)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2004, 3:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/erotic-flea-art/277780/12 "2004-12-07T03:05:10Z")
I just had to point out that there is something wrong about this… **Erotic Flea Art** Sample\_the\_Dog Things that make you go…Huh? 😃 ---
**Author:** ![sitebright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/96bed5/32.png) [@sitebright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sitebright)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2004, 5:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/erotic-flea-art/277780/13 "2004-12-07T17:17:17Z")
My curiousity got the better of me and I had to do some searching of my own. Apparently “autobiography of a flea” is written from the perspective of a flea “that has taken up residence in the vagina of a young woman”. A companion volume (aka rip-off) to “autobiography of a flea” called “Love Bites” is also available on amazon, also written anonymously. Somewhat unrelated, there is a fetish out there that entails getting bitten on the penis by a flea (also popular are ants and mosquitos). At one time, it even had a Yahoo! group, but it seems to have broken up. It is almost always true, that where there’s a fetish…there’s pictures of a fetish. I’m sure this could be considered “art” by someone’s definition. ---
**Author:** ![Sample\_the\_Dog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/8797f3/32.png) [@Sample\_the\_Dog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sample_the_Dog)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2004, 1:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/erotic-flea-art/277780/14 "2004-12-08T01:27:47Z")
Ok, here’s a link to a pretty dry [review](http://www.bioscience-explained.org/EN1.2/biography.htm) of the currently out-of-print Power Unseen: How Microbes Rule the World, by Bernard Dixon. It includes this tantalizing reference: > [@Dean Madden](#): > > We’re treated at first to a brief account of what microbes are, the germ theory of disease, the Linnaean system of classification, the Gaia theory and “a touching aside on the erotic flea”. These chapters (over a third of the book) place the ‘biography’ in a historical, scientific and literary setting… Still, Madden does say “literary”, so it may be that the “touching aside on the erotic flea” doesn’t touch on the visual arts. ---
**Author:** ![Sample\_the\_Dog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/8797f3/32.png) [@Sample\_the\_Dog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sample_the_Dog)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2004, 1:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/erotic-flea-art/277780/15 "2004-12-08T01:35:00Z")
“A Brief Aside Touching the Erotic Flea” is chapter 3 of [Biography of a Germ](http://search.barnesandnoble.com/booksearch/isbninquiry.asp?ean=9780375401992&displayonly=TOC) by Arno Karlen. Since this is a 2000 book, this phrase surely was borrowed from elsewhere. Dammit, I want access to the erotic flea underground! Out, ye Victorian pervs, ye Renaissance fetishists, show me yer precious candymaking secrets! ---
**Author:** ![sitebright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/96bed5/32.png) [@sitebright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sitebright)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2004, 7:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/erotic-flea-art/277780/16 "2004-12-08T07:53:59Z")
I just spent the last couple hours (unsuccessfully) searching for anything else that could even be closely related to fleas and their erotic ways, so believe me…i feel your pain mr. dog, i’m not expecting to find a playboy article on “ten ways to please with fleas” anytime soon…but i’ll keep my eyes open. ---
**Author:** ![Sample\_the\_Dog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/8797f3/32.png) [@Sample\_the\_Dog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sample_the_Dog)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2005, 12:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/erotic-flea-art/277780/17 "2005-01-02T12:23:08Z")
Erotic flea art at last! Warning: Explicit (i.e., nude – no sex) Go to Google Images and do a search under “flea peppers” (but don’t use quotation marks). You’ll get about 3 pages of Flea pix – he’s naked in about half of them. How a guy can keep it up while playing bass in a gas mask is beyond me. ---
**Author:** ![Yllaria](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yllaria/32/3452_2.png) [@Yllaria](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yllaria)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2005, 4:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/erotic-flea-art/277780/18 "2005-01-04T16:05:50Z")
Ah, we’re back to the Middle Ages. There was a genre of painting in the later middle ages that could have been titled, “Let me find that flea for you my dear.” The pictures show a young woman facing the viewer while disrobing, with an older, dressed man, reaching toward her. The man is eather to the side, or his back is to the viewer, so that the viewer is looking over his shoulder. Oh, and that medieval snuff box you have? It might be a flea box. Devoted lovers would capture fleas from their beloved and keep them as favors. The fleas contained their love’s blood, you see. ---
**Author:** ![tim\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ee7513/32.png) [@tim\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tim_1)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2007, 12:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/erotic-flea-art/277780/19 "2007-11-08T00:54:32Z")
“There was a genre of painting in the later middle ages that could have been titled, “Let me find that flea for you my dear.”” This was continued at least into the early 20th century with sets of photograph postcards (often French - I have a set entitled ‘La Puce’) in which an attractive young man or woman becomes gradually more disrobed on each consecutive card, in order to search for an offending flea. They were often assisted by others (in the set I have, a young attractive mistress is assisted by her equally attractive maid).