# Porn in the days before cameras **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [April 29, 2004, 12:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/porn-in-the-days-before-cameras/242595 "2004-04-29T00:52:45Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![CookingWithGas](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cookingwithgas/32/485_2.png) [@CookingWithGas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CookingWithGas)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2004, 12:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/porn-in-the-days-before-cameras/242595/1 "2004-04-29T00:52:45Z")
Was there any? Certainly there were porn stories written, but was there a market of porn watercolors? Oils? Pastels? Charcoal? Pencil? Is that how starving artists made a living while waiting to become famous? Or was it simply not done? I’m not talking just nude women here, I’m talking the hard core stuff. I’ve never seen references to any visual porn prior to the invention of the camera. You would think someone would have some in a museum someplace. ---
**Author:** ![SandyHook](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/dec6dc/32.png) [@SandyHook](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SandyHook)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2004, 1:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/porn-in-the-days-before-cameras/242595/2 "2004-04-29T01:01:28Z")
Yes, but it’s all in the Vatican. Hope that helps. ---
**Author:** ![flight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/bbce88/32.png) [@flight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/flight)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2004, 1:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/porn-in-the-days-before-cameras/242595/3 "2004-04-29T01:07:03Z")
You want museums? We got museums for this stuff all over. [In Barcelona.](http://www.erotica-museum.com/) [On the web.](http://www.wae.org/) [In Copenhagen.](http://www.nlg.dk/museer/museumerotica.html) [In Naples.](http://www.cnn.com/2000/STYLE/arts/08/01/erotic.art/) The Romans in particular got off on the stuff. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2004, 1:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/porn-in-the-days-before-cameras/242595/4 "2004-04-29T01:08:42Z")
Oh, yeah. It existed. The murals and mosaics of Pompeii are world-famous. The Indians and the Japanese had wood-cut pictures to illustrate the Kama Sutra and pillow-books, respectfully. There was massive amounts of visual porn in the Ancient World, and it was all the stuff you see today, for the most part. Just don’t be intimidated by the phalli in Japanese porn! 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Rashak\_Mani](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ea666f/32.png) [@Rashak\_Mani](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rashak_Mani)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2004, 1:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/porn-in-the-days-before-cameras/242595/5 "2004-04-29T01:23:02Z")
> [@silenus](#): > > The Indians and the Japanese had wood-cut pictures to illustrate the Kama Sutra and pillow-books, respectfully. Protest ! These were “educational” ! Or maybe religious… not porn. 🆒 Go to the Erotic musuem in Berlin or elsewhere… you would be amazed by how ancient some stuff is. In Peru I saw “naughty” pottery too. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2004, 1:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/porn-in-the-days-before-cameras/242595/6 "2004-04-29T01:27:18Z")
Oh, I studied those panels _quite_ religiously, I assure you! They were very educational. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Hail\_Ants](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/dc4da7/32.png) [@Hail\_Ants](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hail_Ants)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2004, 1:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/porn-in-the-days-before-cameras/242595/7 "2004-04-29T01:34:48Z")
To give a colloquial example, there’s a scene in **Bram Stoker’s Dracula** where Lucy & Mina are giggling over color, hardcore drawings in one of their’s copy of the Kama Sutra (I think). And in an episode of **I, Claudius** one of the Emperor Tiberius’ nephews gives him a really hardcore, full color, scroll of porno as a birthday present. ---
**Author:** ![SCSimmons](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e495f1/32.png) [@SCSimmons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SCSimmons)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2004, 1:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/porn-in-the-days-before-cameras/242595/8 "2004-04-29T01:48:28Z")
[Interesting theory from History House …](http://www.historyhouse.com/in_history/titian/) ---
**Author:** ![Tentacle\_Monster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ba9def/32.png) [@Tentacle\_Monster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tentacle_Monster)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2004, 2:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/porn-in-the-days-before-cameras/242595/9 "2004-04-29T02:24:55Z")
I have a picture of antique Japanese tentacle porn on my computer. No link, the site is down (but if you absolutely **must** see it, it can be arranged). I’ve also seen pictures of antique _netsuke_ depicting octopi getting intimate with women. I’d be willing to bet that these predate any Japanese censorship laws on the showing of pubic hair or unobscured genitals in art. (In fact, weren’t those laws enacted sometime around 1945?) ---
**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:** [April 29, 2004, 3:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/porn-in-the-days-before-cameras/242595/10 "2004-04-29T03:35:05Z")
I’m talking the hard core stuff. * * * (I will not ask what it takes to be hard core I will not ask what it takes to be hard core I will not ask what it takes to be hard core I will not ask what it takes to be hard core) During the Middle Ages there were several artists who painted young women disrobing before older men (with waiting hands outstretched), which were titled “Let me find that flea for you, my dear.” Ironically, one of those artists died of bubonic plague (according to my college art history teacher and his slides - although I will admit that General Motors Institute wasn’t known for it’s art history) ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2004, 3:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/porn-in-the-days-before-cameras/242595/11 "2004-04-29T03:49:08Z")
This question is an SDMB reliable. [Before the Advent of Photography, did people have skin mags?](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=249563&highlight=porn+magazines) ---
**Author:** ![fluffball86\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/91b2a8/32.png) [@fluffball86\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fluffball86_1)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2004, 4:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/porn-in-the-days-before-cameras/242595/12 "2004-04-29T04:27:06Z")
> [@Tentacle Monster](#): > > I have a picture of antique Japanese tentacle porn on my computer. No link, the site is down (but if you absolutely **must** see it, it can be arranged). I’ve also seen pictures of antique _netsuke_ depicting octopi getting intimate with women. I’d be willing to bet that these predate any Japanese censorship laws on the showing of pubic hair or unobscured genitals in art. (In fact, weren’t those laws enacted sometime around 1945?) Japanese Tentacle porn is a real thing? I always thought that it was a joke on the strangeness of japanese culture. Is Japan the only culture to have tentacle porn. I don;t think I want to google Tentacle porn to do any research on this ---
**Author:** ![Duckster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/duckster/32/1244_2.png) [@Duckster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duckster)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2004, 5:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/porn-in-the-days-before-cameras/242595/13 "2004-04-29T05:41:38Z")
> [@](#): > > tentacle porn > > One form of anime pornography where the male is (occasionally) seen to sprout very long and flexible male organs, more akin to tentacles than being anatomically correct, from various parts of the body. These “tentacles” are often used in graphic adult anime in lieu of the male organ. Sometimes referred to as “naughty tentacles”. Source: [http://www.abcb.com/ency/t/tentacle.htm](http://www.abcb.com/ency/t/tentacle.htm) ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2004, 5:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/porn-in-the-days-before-cameras/242595/14 "2004-04-29T05:51:18Z")
The word _pornography_ is ancient, deriving from _pornographos_ meaning literally “writing about prostitutes”. In the ancient world where not all people were literate and not all spoke the same language, brothels would frequently advertise by depicting their specialty (sexual acts, types of girls/boys, etc.) on the outside of the building or sometimes on the inside as well (customers could point). There were also special coins for Roman soldiers that depicted sexual acts for negotiation with prostitutes. No doubt some people used these images for more than business negotiation. ---
**Author:** ![syncrolecyne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f08c70/32.png) [@syncrolecyne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/syncrolecyne)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2004, 5:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/porn-in-the-days-before-cameras/242595/15 "2004-04-29T05:57:28Z")
[Brothels, Baths, and Babes](http://www.ucd.ie/classics/96/Dauphin96.html) is an interesting description of the sex trade in the Byzantine Near East. …The scenicae were involved in a craft aimed primarily at theatre-goers. It has been described as a ‘closed craft’, since daughters took over from their mothers. The classic example is that of the mother of the future Empress Theodora who put her three young daughters to work on the stage of licentious plays… ---
**Author:** ![Una\_Persson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/una_persson/32/346_2.png) [@Una\_Persson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Una_Persson)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2004, 5:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/porn-in-the-days-before-cameras/242595/16 "2004-04-29T17:28:07Z")
There was even lesbian porn before cameras. I have a large collection of lesbian artworks, many pre-camera and all pre-1923, in a private area of my online museum. Some go back 400 or so years IIRC. ---
**Author:** ![Chimpy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a9adbd/32.png) [@Chimpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chimpy)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2004, 6:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/porn-in-the-days-before-cameras/242595/17 "2004-04-29T18:55:05Z")
> [@Tentacle Monster](#): > > I have a picture of antique Japanese tentacle porn on my computer. No link, the site is down (but if you absolutely **must** see it, it can be arranged). I’ve also seen pictures of antique _netsuke_ depicting octopi getting intimate with women. I’d be willing to bet that these predate any Japanese censorship laws on the showing of pubic hair or unobscured genitals in art. (In fact, weren’t those laws enacted sometime around 1945?) [Hijack] Whats with those laws? I mean I can understand wanting to avoid cultural degredation but as you mentioned some of the more antique japanese porn doesnt have those laws. [/hijack] ---
**Author:** ![Revtim](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/revtim/32/1042_2.png) [@Revtim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revtim)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2004, 7:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/porn-in-the-days-before-cameras/242595/18 "2004-04-29T19:15:38Z")
[Tijuana Bibles](http://tijuanabibles.org/) ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2004, 7:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/porn-in-the-days-before-cameras/242595/19 "2004-04-29T19:51:28Z")
> [@SandyHook](#): > > Yes, but it’s all in the Vatican. [Cecil disagrees:](http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a1_074.html) > [@](#): > > In short, I think the legendary Vatican pornography collection is a crock. ---
**Author:** ![cornflakes](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9d8465/32.png) [@cornflakes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cornflakes)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2004, 8:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/porn-in-the-days-before-cameras/242595/20 "2004-04-29T20:33:21Z")
> [@fluffball86\_1](#): > > Japanese Tentacle porn is a real thing? I always thought that it was a joke on the strangeness of japanese culture. Is Japan the only culture to have tentacle porn. I don;t think I want to google Tentacle porn to do any research on this The phrase made me think of some of [Masami Teraoka’s work](http://www.lava.net/~artbeat/images/Sarah%20and%20Octopussmall.jpg) (art, erotic-- use discretion at work.) Is the vintage stuff like this? Also, how many of the over 640 people who have looked at this page so far just wanted to look at the pictures? 😉 [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/porn-in-the-days-before-cameras/242595.md?page=2)