# "Gulliver's Travels" was originally Porn? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [August 15, 2005, 1:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gullivers-travels-was-originally-porn/317090 "2005-08-15T13:44:03Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 17\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2005, 1:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gullivers-travels-was-originally-porn/317090/1 "2005-08-15T13:44:03Z")
OK…this has _gotta_ be phoney. [http://www.ananova.com/news/story/sm\_1497601.html](http://www.ananova.com/news/story/sm_1497601.html) Still, Swift was a cynical rascal… ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2005, 2:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gullivers-travels-was-originally-porn/317090/2 "2005-08-15T14:06:22Z")
I had to click on your link to understand this. I couldn’t figure out what the hell “pron” was. Not true. Swift occasionally used scatology, but if you’ve read Gulliver’s Travels you know how he worked to turn it into a non-sexual fantasy. He describes a Brobdingnagian breast as grotesque, covered with moles, irregularities, and uneven color. Even when he sees the young ladies of the court naked he goes out of his way to make them seem unappealing. This hasn’t stopped people since from turning out Gulliver “fan fic” in which things are sexualized. Heck, National Lampoon did it in their “Obligatory sex Scenes” piece many years ago. There are entire websites devoted to Giant/Giantess and Shtrunken people stories. But Swift himself didn’t lean that way, from all indications. ---
**Author:** ![C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b2d939/32.png) [@C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/C_K_Dexter_Haven)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2005, 8:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gullivers-travels-was-originally-porn/317090/3 "2005-08-15T20:17:44Z")
**Bosda** , I’ve taken the liberty of editing your thread title from “pron” to “porn” which I think was your intent. If you meant “pron,” then email me and I’ll edit it back. (I knew I couldn’t type that with a straight face.) We’ve had people re-write about everything to add sex, from _Huckleberry Finn_\* to Tolkien… so I’m not surprised to find Swift given the treatment. Coming soon: various biblical stories retold to add more sex. David and Goliath ahd more between them than slings and stones. ---
**Author:** ![liberty3701](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/3d9bf3/32.png) [@liberty3701](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/liberty3701)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2005, 8:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gullivers-travels-was-originally-porn/317090/4 "2005-08-15T20:27:17Z")
Yeah, sounds like a bunch of hooey to me. I read _Gulliver’s Travels_ in one of my grad school classes with a Swift scholar as prof. She made it out to sound like he was mostly afraid/angered by women and sex and all that. The only thing that can really be said is that he seemed to really like poop. And, um, maybe I was reading too much into it, but I seem to remember the Brobdingnaggian women use Gulliver as a sex toy in the copy I read. I think the words “human dildo” were bandied about the classroom… ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2005, 8:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gullivers-travels-was-originally-porn/317090/5 "2005-08-15T20:33:38Z")
> [@](#): > > And, um, maybe I was reading too much into it, but I seem to remember the Brobdingnaggian women use Gulliver as a sex toy in the copy I read. I think the words “human dildo” were bandied about the classroom… Not if you were reading the real thing. One of the maids in Brobdingnag placed Gulliver astride her nipple, I believe, and he almost passes out from the intense perfume she’s wearing. If they’d tried anything more aggressive, he’d have died, I think. And Gulliver keeps telling you how abysmal he found this. ---
**Author:** ![mobo85](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b19c9b/32.png) [@mobo85](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mobo85)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2005, 8:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gullivers-travels-was-originally-porn/317090/6 "2005-08-15T20:54:19Z")
> [@C K Dexter Haven](#): > > **Bosda** , I’ve taken the liberty of editing your thread title from “pron” to “porn” which I think was your intent. If you meant “pron,” then email me and I’ll edit it back. (I knew I couldn’t type that with a straight face.) I think he may have been aiming for “pr0n,” which is a l33t ha\>\ **Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2005, 9:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gullivers-travels-was-originally-porn/317090/7 "2005-08-15T21:10:58Z") As I recall, there is a scene in Lilliput where Gulliver serves as a Colossus for a Lilliputian parade and they march between his outspread legs. Since Gulliver’s breeches are much the worse for wear by this time, this leads to some astonished gasps and a great deal of giggling by the Lilluputian ladies who look up as they pass below, but that’s about as far as it goes. ---
**Author:** ![liberty3701](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/3d9bf3/32.png) [@liberty3701](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/liberty3701)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2005, 10:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gullivers-travels-was-originally-porn/317090/8 "2005-08-15T22:49:37Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > Not if you were reading the real thing. One of the maids in Brobdingnag placed Gulliver astride her nipple, I believe, and he almost passes out from the intense perfume she’s wearing. If they’d tried anything more aggressive, he’d have died, I think. And Gulliver keeps telling you how abysmal he found this. Swift doesn’t come right out and say it, but it’s definitely implied. I can’t find my copy right now, otherwise I’d quote it for you … and of course I was reading the real thing. And I never said Gulliver liked it. ---
**Author:** ![OtakuLoki](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/ac8455/32.png) [@OtakuLoki](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OtakuLoki)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2005, 11:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gullivers-travels-was-originally-porn/317090/9 "2005-08-15T23:22:15Z")
I agree it seems unlikely. But, we are talking about the author of “A Modest Proposal.” It’s not completely impossible. I, personally, don’t much care one way or the other. Considering the number of so-called legitimate books that have similar ancestries, it wouldn’t be really surprising. (The famous story I am thinking of is where some soft porn publisher contracted with four of the top SF authors of the day to write some _interesting_ erotica. The publisher eventually folded, but all four books were eventually published in one form or another: Robert Heinlein’s Stranger in a Strange Land; Theodore Sturgeon’s Godbody; and I think (less certain about these two) Arthur C. Clarke’s Songs of a Distant Earth and Issac Asimov’s Robots of Dawn.) ---
**Author:** ![rjung](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/45deac/32.png) [@rjung](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rjung)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2005, 12:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gullivers-travels-was-originally-porn/317090/10 "2005-08-16T00:01:51Z")
[An erotic parody/spoof/satire of Gulliver.](http://www.powells.com/cgi-bin/biblio?inkey=62-1561631701-0) ---
**Author:** ![betenoir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/258eb7/32.png) [@betenoir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/betenoir)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2005, 12:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gullivers-travels-was-originally-porn/317090/11 "2005-08-16T00:05:56Z")
> [@Colibri](#): > > As I recall, there is a scene in Lilliput where Gulliver serves as a Colossus for a Lilliputian parade and they march between his outspread legs. Since Gulliver’s breeches are much the worse for wear by this time, this leads to some astonished gasps and a great deal of giggling by the Lilluputian ladies who look up as they pass below, but that’s about as far as it goes. I remember. That scene was pointed out to me by a guy in my high school class. A guy who I had a huge crush on. So getting to talk about penises with him was a rather thrilling moment. I don’t know. I agree Swift would not write porn. That is, writing that promotes sexual excitement (unless of course it’s being read to you be a hot boy in you’re English class, as above). And if Neonilla Samukhina is marketing it that way and calling it “steamy” then that’s definately bullshit. But I could see Swift considering putting in more explicit sexual material for satirical purposes. I mean…if he finds sex grotesque and the Brobdingnaggians and the Lilliputians grotesque… not too big of a leap. (But less likely to sell books that “Swift Writes Porn!!”) ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2005, 12:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gullivers-travels-was-originally-porn/317090/12 "2005-08-16T00:19:46Z")
> [@OtakuLoki](#): > > I(The famous story I am thinking of is where some soft porn publisher contracted with four of the top SF authors of the day to write some _interesting_ erotica. The publisher eventually folded, but all four books were eventually published in one form or another: Robert Heinlein’s Stranger in a Strange Land; Theodore Sturgeon’s Godbody; and I think (less certain about these two) Arthur C. Clarke’s Songs of a Distant Earth and Issac Asimov’s Robots of Dawn.) Nah. There was such a publisher – Essex House – but it was different titles. **Stranger** , for instance was written for Heinlein’s regular publisher as a “boy’s book”; the publisher decided to publish it as an regular SF novel. **Robots of Dawn** wasn’t written until years after the publisher went under (Asimov began in in the late 70s/early 80s) and I’m sure Clarke wrote his book after that. I also can’t find any connection between Essex House and **Godbody**. Philip Jose Farmer is the best known author to have published with Essex House ( **Blown, The Image of the Beast** and **A Feast Unknown** ). Piers Anthony started **[Pornocopia](http://www.piers-anthony.com/pornucopia.html)** for them, but they went out of business before he finished. Other SF authors who published with them include Jane Gallion, Christopher Priest (sold but not published), and Hank Stine. ---
**Author:** ![saoirse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/5daacb/32.png) [@saoirse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/saoirse)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2005, 3:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gullivers-travels-was-originally-porn/317090/13 "2005-08-16T03:55:08Z")
Writing a story like that as a porn novel would be awfully, well, Yahoo-ish. Swift was certainly no prude, but the sexual content of the book is already stretched as far as it could be. > [@C K Dexter Haven](#): > > David and Goliath ahd more between them than slings and stones. Heh. For years, I couldn’t help but sing along with the song “Fire:” “Romeo and Juliet David and Goliath Baby you want to bet…” I originally did it as a joke, but found I would sing my own lyric if I wasn’t thinking. Also, I was referring to the claymation Lutheran boy and his dog. ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Mudd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f14d63/32.png) [@Larry\_Mudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Mudd)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2005, 5:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gullivers-travels-was-originally-porn/317090/14 "2005-08-16T05:30:28Z")
I find it a little bit hard to credit that a long-lost Swift manuscript would be published by the author of [\*Kama Sutra in the Office](http://archive.sptimes.ru/archive/times/988/top/t_13122.htm)\*. > [@](#): > > “It’s almost a second home,” says Neonilla Samukhina, director of the city’s Soitology Institute, who has just written “Kamasutra in the Office,” which advises people on how to get extra pleasure out of the place where people spend such a big part of their lives. […] > > A lot of attention is paid to office chairs, which often have wheels that can provide extra, unusual sensations during lovemaking. > > “People, who will be able to get special pleasure from intercourse performed as the chairs are rolled all over the office, are sure to be found in an office,” Samukhina wrote. […] > > “We write our books to awaken people’s fantasy, show them that sex is a cheerful activity,” Samukhina said. “Kamasutra in the Office” was a bit of a joke and was also part of gathering information for an institute’s investigation of office affairs. She is also the inestimable author of _The Art of the Experienced or Everything About Oral Caresses_, and my personal favourite _Stars and Sex – Astrology of Love._ Her CV brags that she: > [@](#): > > Developed the doctrine of coupling and introduced the terms “soitology” and “soitologist” in 2001. Published some erotic-educational albums, which are world bestsellers. Opened “Institute of Soitology” in Saint Petersburg in 2004… One wonders how Russia managed to grow to a population of 150 million without the benefit of the doctrine of coupling. Do not miss this [survey](http://www.soitology.com/english/test.htm) at the Insititute of Soitology’s webpage. My favourite is question #6: > [@](#): > > Do you think that for an establishment of emotionally positive atmosphere it is desirable to carry out joint actions with an erotic character for the personnel (not in working hours): goings to the countryside with spending the night there, joint campaigns in a bath, night restaurants or clubs, etc. > > ( ) Yes, it’s important > ( ) These actions do not render so significant influence > ( ) It’s a “by-product” of teamwork > ( ) It negatively influence all personnel > ( ) I’m at a loss to tell Joint campaigns in the bath are my favourite. Except for the time when that girl from accounting sunk my bright blue battleship with a sodden loofah. That kind of sucked. ---
**Author:** ![MonkeyMule](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9fc348/32.png) [@MonkeyMule](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MonkeyMule)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2005, 8:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gullivers-travels-was-originally-porn/317090/15 "2005-08-20T20:20:32Z")
> [@OtakuLoki](#): > > (The famous story I am thinking of is where some soft porn publisher contracted with four of the top SF authors of the day to write some _interesting_ erotica. The publisher eventually folded, but all four books were eventually published in one form or another: Robert Heinlein’s Stranger in a Strange Land; Theodore Sturgeon’s Godbody; and I think (less certain about these two) Arthur C. Clarke’s Songs of a Distant Earth and Issac Asimov’s Robots of Dawn.) FOr a second there I thought you were talking about Ferienheit[sp] 451. Casue in the edition I had (which was loaned out and never returend you thieving bastard!) Bradbury thanks Hugh Heifner for taking a chance on him and runing his story in serial form in Playboy. Not sure what that has to do with anything, but I just wanted to bitch about somebody taking my book :mad: ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2005, 9:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gullivers-travels-was-originally-porn/317090/16 "2005-08-20T21:53:29Z")
> [@](#): > > Swift doesn’t come right out and say it, but it’s definitely implied. I can’t find my copy right now, otherwise I’d quote it for you … and of course I was reading the real thing. And I never said Gulliver liked it. I think you’re wrong here. I’ve read and re-read Gulliver countless times, and I can’t recall this incident – the serving-maids setting him on their naked bodies, the monkey kidnapping hjim and stuffing food in his moutrh, all that I recall, but no Gulliverian sex, liked or unliked. And I think I’d rem,ember something like that, even if it was only implied. ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Mudd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f14d63/32.png) [@Larry\_Mudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Mudd)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2005, 11:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gullivers-travels-was-originally-porn/317090/17 "2005-08-20T23:06:34Z")
Here we are: > [@](#): > > That which gave me most uneasiness among these maids of honour (when my nurse carried me to visit them) was, to see them use me without any manner of ceremony, like a creature who had no sort of consequence: for they would strip themselves to the skin, and put on their smocks in my presence, while I was placed on their toilet, directly before their naked bodies, which I am sure to me was very far from being a tempting sight, or from giving me any other emotions than those of horror and disgust: their skins appeared so coarse and uneven, so variously coloured, when I saw them near,with a mole here and there as broad as a trencher, and hairs hanging from it thicker than packthreads, to say nothing farther concerning the rest of their persons. Neither did they at all scruple, while I was by, to discharge what they had drank, to the quantity of at least two hogsheads, in a vessel that held above three tuns. The handsomest among these maids of honour, a pleasant, frolicsome girl of sixteen, would sometimes set me astride upon one of her nipples, with many other tricks, wherein the reader will excuse me for not being over particular. But I was so much displeased, that I entreated Glumdalclitch to contrive some excuse for not seeing that young lady any more. This clearly invites some speculation about what Lemuel is being so discreet about. He says he’s been “used.” He’s coy, twice: Once, when leaves off talking about the particulars of their naked appearances, “to say nothing farther concerning the rest of their persons,” and then immediately begins talking about how the girls had absolutely no shyness about urinary discharge. This invites the reader to think specifically about how Brobdignagian minge must look like to the poor fella. From there he goes directly to revealing that a naked girl placed him on one of her major erogenous zones, and adds that there was much more that is too distressing or improper to relate. What could be more shocking than the immodest behaviour already described? What are the “many other tricks” that Gulliver was used for? I think that the passage is pretty clearly meant to imply that Gulliver was placed in direct contact with at least one girl’s naughty bits. Heh heh. “Passage.”