# OMG, They actually had "stag" movies back in the 1920's.. **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [December 16, 2010, 5:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/omg-they-actually-had-stag-movies-back-in-the-1920s/564388 "2010-12-16T17:54:10Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Lumpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lumpy/32/446_2.png) [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2010, 11:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/omg-they-actually-had-stag-movies-back-in-the-1920s/564388/61 "2010-12-17T23:38:35Z")
For years, Egyptologists were puzzled by why a phrase that translated as “playing the harp” was from the context obviously meant to be an idiom for sex. Then they finally found out: someone found a statuette of woman playing a harp while straddling a giant log-sized penis. ---
**Author:** ![StusBlues](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/dc4da7/32.png) [@StusBlues](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/StusBlues)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2010, 12:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/omg-they-actually-had-stag-movies-back-in-the-1920s/564388/62 "2010-12-18T00:05:01Z")
> [@chacoguy](#): > > FWIW, I’ve seen several types of sex acts depicted in rockart. By far the best username/post content pairing I have ever seen. ---
**Author:** ![aruvqan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aruvqan/32/2891_2.png) [@aruvqan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aruvqan)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2010, 1:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/omg-they-actually-had-stag-movies-back-in-the-1920s/564388/63 "2010-12-18T01:44:13Z")
> [@StusBlues](#): > > By far the best username/post content pairing I have ever seen. If memory serves he is an archeologist over in that neck of the woods … ---
**Author:** ![Darth\_Nader](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ad7895/32.png) [@Darth\_Nader](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darth_Nader)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2010, 6:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/omg-they-actually-had-stag-movies-back-in-the-1920s/564388/64 "2010-12-18T06:32:44Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#): > > You work for the Thai Ministry of Tourism. Admit it. That’s like asking Bruce Wayne if he’s Batman… ---
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2010, 2:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/omg-they-actually-had-stag-movies-back-in-the-1920s/564388/65 "2010-12-18T14:04:39Z")
> [@Tethered\_Kite](#): > > If you think about a time when respectable ladies were not prone to expose any part of their legs (even a peek at an ankle hinted at flirtatiousness), the “legs” of a billiards table were covered to save giving offense … This is an urban legend. It’s more usually told about piano legs. The reason for the leg covers was nothing sexual, it was simply to protect them from damage from bored children taking piano lessons and kicking at the legs in frustration. ---
**Author:** ![alphaboi867](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alphaboi867/32/3898_2.png) [@alphaboi867](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alphaboi867)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2010, 6:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/omg-they-actually-had-stag-movies-back-in-the-1920s/564388/66 "2010-12-18T18:12:14Z")
> [@Peter\_Morris](#): > > This is an urban legend. It’s more usually told about piano legs. The reason for the leg covers was nothing sexual, it was simply to protect them from damage from bored children taking piano lessons and kicking at the legs in frustration. The version I heard was that it was to cover up cheap woodwork. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2010, 6:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/omg-they-actually-had-stag-movies-back-in-the-1920s/564388/67 "2010-12-18T18:27:45Z")
> [@rostfrei](#): > > I’d always thought that people of this era were somewhat puritan in their attitudes, so I was surprised that there is visual documentation on just how “perverted” they actually were. 🙂 It got me to thinking. Have people always been “perverted”? If the art of film-making had somehow been invented 100 years earlier than it was, would we have stag movies from the Public pretension changes from time to time but people have always been people. There’s nothing new under the sun and there were never any good old days. As has been stated before every single form of communication - cave paintings, sculpture, stage plays, novels, etc. - first became popular through pornography. ---
**Author:** ![Princhester](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3e96dc/32.png) [@Princhester](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Princhester)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2010, 10:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/omg-they-actually-had-stag-movies-back-in-the-1920s/564388/68 "2010-12-18T22:59:39Z")
> [@silenus](#): > > Google “pompeii frescoes” sometime. Stag pictures have been around since the invention of something to draw with. As for “Victorian attitudes,” read “The Pearl” or some of the other porn novels of the period. There is nothing new under the sun. Yes, I always think the whole thing about cave drawing of women with big tits being “fertility symbols” or some other earth mother nonsense is hilarious: they are drawings of women with big tits. They need no more explanation than exactly the same drawings scratched into schoolboy desks or graffitied on walls ---
**Author:** ![bonzer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/45deac/32.png) [@bonzer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bonzer)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2010, 11:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/omg-they-actually-had-stag-movies-back-in-the-1920s/564388/69 "2010-12-18T23:56:56Z")
> [@rostfrei](#): > > Last weekend, I decided to do some cleaning and throwing away of unwanted items that I’d collected over the years. In a drawer, I fould a dvd called ‘Naughty Victorians’. A friend gave it to me about 5 years ago, along with some other dvd’s, and I’d forgotten about it. Out of curiosity, I popped it in the dvd player thinking it was an old Charlie Chaplin movie, or something innocent. Well, I was amazed that it was a collection of very explicit “stag” movies from the early 1900’s, up until the 1920’s or so. Most of the movies are very poorly produced (think of a Charlie Chaplin movie, but with very bad lighting), but you can clearly see everything. Presumably the same compilation that was released in France as _Polissons et galipettes_ and in the UK on DVD as _[The Good Old Naughty Days](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Good_Old_Naughty_Days)_. I saw it prior to the DVD release when it screened at the National Film Theatre as part of the London Film Festival about 10 years ago. It had easily sold out their largest theatre. (Taking advantage of the censorship loophole that the NFT is a private club and hence not covered by the BBFC when it comes to screening hardcore porn; the latter only later passed it for sale outside of licenced sex shops on grounds of historical interest.) Two details remain with me as having been surprising. The bit involving the dog. And the quality of the original intertitles. I wouldn’t have expected porn films to have required much in the way of captioning in the first place. But these were pretty elaborate, even to someone who’s seen plenty of silent films, and they even came complete with “bonus material” leud drawings in the margins. ---
**Author:** ![Tethered\_Kite](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/a5b964/32.png) [@Tethered\_Kite](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tethered_Kite)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2010, 1:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/omg-they-actually-had-stag-movies-back-in-the-1920s/564388/70 "2010-12-19T01:00:43Z")
So, **Peter Morris** and **alphaboi,** you have sent me in pursuit of more information. I found it difficult to believe that it was an either/or and rather guessed that the answer was that some Victorians did these things for modesty reasons and others for more utilitarian reasons. It appears from sites I’ve encountered that there has been considerable contemplation upon issues of Victorian virtue and, as most things historical, is currently being reinterpreted through the filters of today’s views of sexuality. Revisionist can keep me hopping. Here’s a somewhat humorous and modern commentary on the naughtiness of piano legs: [http://classicalvalues.com/cgi-bin/pings.cgi/4754](http://classicalvalues.com/cgi-bin/pings.cgi/4754) ---
**Author:** ![Tethered\_Kite](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/a5b964/32.png) [@Tethered\_Kite](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tethered_Kite)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2010, 1:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/omg-they-actually-had-stag-movies-back-in-the-1920s/564388/71 "2010-12-19T01:09:21Z")
I’ve missed my window to edit. The link isn’t working. You can find the article at “Classical Values,” the March 13, 2007 entry. ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2010, 1:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/omg-they-actually-had-stag-movies-back-in-the-1920s/564388/72 "2010-12-19T01:53:40Z")
Read _The Victorians: What We Think We Know About Them and Why We’re Wrong_ by Matthew Sweet. And the 1920s were anything BUT puritan! They were a time of sexual liberation – much like the 1960s. Hemlines went up, women began bobbing their hair, for example. Women now were able to vote, which was a huge deal. Why do you think it was called the Roaring Twenties? As for 1920s porn, from what I gather, that’s right around the time catalogs stopped featuring vibrators – because they began to appear in porn films. (Sorry, no cite for this) ---
**Author:** ![brossa](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/brossa/32/3040_2.png) [@brossa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brossa)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2010, 4:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/omg-they-actually-had-stag-movies-back-in-the-1920s/564388/73 "2010-12-19T16:04:22Z")
Tangentially related- the delightful cartoon [Hark, a Vagrant](http://www.harkavagrant.com/index.php?id=32) turned me on (pun intended) to some of the lesser-known works of James Joyce, obtainable here (NSFW text): ht tp://loveletters.tribe.net/thread/fce72385-b146-4bf2-9d2e-0dfa6ac7142d. Naughty Jimmy! This is circa 1909. ---
**Author:** ![Toxgoddess](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f08c70/32.png) [@Toxgoddess](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Toxgoddess)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2010, 5:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/omg-they-actually-had-stag-movies-back-in-the-1920s/564388/74 "2010-12-19T17:10:45Z")
> [@Double\_Foolscap](#): > > There’s a sex museum in Prague which features (amongst other things) showings of what are supposedly the first pornographic films, complete with piano accompaniment. I can’t Google it at the moment as I’m at work, but I remember it involved two rather mature women going to town on one fellow while another chap watched through the keyhole. The Museum of Inca History in Lima, Peru, has a building entitled “Sala Erotica”. Pornographic pottery. Rooms of it. Kinky, weird, whimsical…you name it, they had it. The Incas were master sculptors and stoneworkers, and their works in this area were eye-opening. The guide told us it was their most popular exhibit. We bought a bunch of postcards. ---
**Author:** ![Lilacs](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e9c0ed/32.png) [@Lilacs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lilacs)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2010, 5:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/omg-they-actually-had-stag-movies-back-in-the-1920s/564388/75 "2010-12-19T17:29:44Z")
In support of **Toxgoddess** : The Moche culture of the Andes actually depicted lots of interesting sex acts in their pottery. My Anthro professor wouldn’t show us the most explicit but I had this feeling he had an extensive collection of slides of these pots. I forgot the dates but on Wiki it says 100 to 800 AD. ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Amazing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@Captain\_Amazing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Amazing)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2010, 6:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/omg-they-actually-had-stag-movies-back-in-the-1920s/564388/76 "2010-12-19T18:01:20Z")
Here’s the [Ain Sakhri Lovers figurine](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Lovers_9000BC_british_museum.jpg). It’s from Ain Sakhri, near Bethlehem in Israel/the West Bank, it’s about 11,000-12,000 years old, and it’s the oldest sculpture we have of two people making love. ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2010, 6:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/omg-they-actually-had-stag-movies-back-in-the-1920s/564388/77 "2010-12-19T18:08:32Z")
Khajuraho temples in India is one of the most explicit sex objects ever seen. The entire building covered in them. full on. I like the chick giving a BJ. Another one gives a handjob to a guy hugely endowed. [http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://3.bp.blogspot.com/\_OVDyh75veVk/TOIR\_CC9U-I/AAAAAAAACBE/QCXcy2fWkFE/s1600/khajurahoTemple1.jpg&imgrefurl=http://divyadarisanams.blogspot.com/2010/11/tantra-temples-in-india-khajuraho.html&usg=\_\_q8AdtQVGboT7-xf2qFUMtg7U5Yo=&h=334&w=500&sz=119&hl=en&start=0&zoom=1&tbnid=1rV3kIfHgDCn0M:&tbnh=121&tbnw=174&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dkhajuraho%2Btemple%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26client%3Dfirefox-a%26hs%3DESO%26sa%3DN%26rls%3Dorg.mozilla:en-US:official%26biw%3D1143%26bih%3D693%26tbs%3Disch:1&um=1&itbs=1&iact=hc&vpx=118&vpy=76&dur=2743&hovh=183&hovw=275&tx=80&ty=93&ei=50kOTbfjGtSrnAf\_wdjjDQ&oei=50kOTbfjGtSrnAf\_wdjjDQ&esq=1&page=1&ndsp=23&ved=1t:429,r:0,s:0](http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_OVDyh75veVk/TOIR_CC9U-I/AAAAAAAACBE/QCXcy2fWkFE/s1600/khajurahoTemple1.jpg&imgrefurl=http://divyadarisanams.blogspot.com/2010/11/tantra-temples-in-india-khajuraho.html&usg=__q8AdtQVGboT7-xf2qFUMtg7U5Yo=&h=334&w=500&sz=119&hl=en&start=0&zoom=1&tbnid=1rV3kIfHgDCn0M:&tbnh=121&tbnw=174&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dkhajuraho%2Btemple%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26client%3Dfirefox-a%26hs%3DESO%26sa%3DN%26rls%3Dorg.mozilla:en-US:official%26biw%3D1143%26bih%3D693%26tbs%3Disch:1&um=1&itbs=1&iact=hc&vpx=118&vpy=76&dur=2743&hovh=183&hovw=275&tx=80&ty=93&ei=50kOTbfjGtSrnAf_wdjjDQ&oei=50kOTbfjGtSrnAf_wdjjDQ&esq=1&page=1&ndsp=23&ved=1t:429,r:0,s:0) ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2010, 2:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/omg-they-actually-had-stag-movies-back-in-the-1920s/564388/78 "2010-12-20T14:51:58Z")
> [@aceplace57](#): > > Khajuraho temples in India is one of the most explicit sex objects ever seen. The entire building covered in them. > > full on. I like the chick giving a BJ. Another one gives a handjob to a guy hugely endowed. > [http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://3.bp.blogspot.com/\_OVDyh75veVk/TOIR\_CC9U-I/AAAAAAAACBE/QCXcy2fWkFE/s1600/khajurahoTemple1.jpg&imgrefurl=http://divyadarisanams.blogspot.com/2010/11/tantra-temples-in-india-khajuraho.html&usg=\_\_q8AdtQVGboT7-xf2qFUMtg7U5Yo=&h=334&w=500&sz=119&hl=en&start=0&zoom=1&tbnid=1rV3kIfHgDCn0M:&tbnh=121&tbnw=174&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dkhajuraho%2Btemple%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26client%3Dfirefox-a%26hs%3DESO%26sa%3DN%26rls%3Dorg.mozilla:en-US:official%26biw%3D1143%26bih%3D693%26tbs%3Disch:1&um=1&itbs=1&iact=hc&vpx=118&vpy=76&dur=2743&hovh=183&hovw=275&tx=80&ty=93&ei=50kOTbfjGtSrnAf\_wdjjDQ&oei=50kOTbfjGtSrnAf\_wdjjDQ&esq=1&page=1&ndsp=23&ved=1t:429,r:0,s:0](http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_OVDyh75veVk/TOIR_CC9U-I/AAAAAAAACBE/QCXcy2fWkFE/s1600/khajurahoTemple1.jpg&imgrefurl=http://divyadarisanams.blogspot.com/2010/11/tantra-temples-in-india-khajuraho.html&usg=__q8AdtQVGboT7-xf2qFUMtg7U5Yo=&h=334&w=500&sz=119&hl=en&start=0&zoom=1&tbnid=1rV3kIfHgDCn0M:&tbnh=121&tbnw=174&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dkhajuraho%2Btemple%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26client%3Dfirefox-a%26hs%3DESO%26sa%3DN%26rls%3Dorg.mozilla:en-US:official%26biw%3D1143%26bih%3D693%26tbs%3Disch:1&um=1&itbs=1&iact=hc&vpx=118&vpy=76&dur=2743&hovh=183&hovw=275&tx=80&ty=93&ei=50kOTbfjGtSrnAf_wdjjDQ&oei=50kOTbfjGtSrnAf_wdjjDQ&esq=1&page=1&ndsp=23&ved=1t:429,r:0,s:0) Harrumph . . . Yes, well, porn’s one thing and religion’s another . . . ---
**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:** [December 20, 2010, 3:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/omg-they-actually-had-stag-movies-back-in-the-1920s/564388/79 "2010-12-20T15:46:40Z")
> [@Princhester](#): > > Yes, I always think the whole thing about cave drawing of women with big tits being “fertility symbols” or some other earth mother nonsense is hilarious: they are drawings of women with big tits. They need no more explanation than exactly the same drawings scratched into schoolboy desks or graffitied on walls There’s a theory among archeologists about the Venus of Willendorf – a well-known bit of prehistoric art that portrays a naked women with large breasts – that is may have been a keepsake to remind the man of his girlfriend back home. It was made of stone that is not native to where it was found. There are other, similar, figures that may have been carved for the same reason. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2010, 4:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/omg-they-actually-had-stag-movies-back-in-the-1920s/564388/80 "2010-12-20T16:35:43Z")
> [@joebuck20](#): > > Shit, I bet someone is working on holodeck technology right now simply for purpose of using it for porn. “When virtual reality will let Joe Sixpack make love to Claudia Schiffer in his den for hours at a time, it’ll make crack look like Sanka.” - Dennis Miller [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/omg-they-actually-had-stag-movies-back-in-the-1920s/564388.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/omg-they-actually-had-stag-movies-back-in-the-1920s/564388.md?page=5)