The Naked Brunch

Keseimbangan pornografi antara komponen politik dan seks, berfluktuasi sejalan dengan berlalunya waktu. Pada abad ke-16 politik di Italia berperan sangat kuat sekali dalam perkembangan pornografi dan di Inggris pada abad ke 19, ketika fungsi utamanya adalah untuk merangsang pembaca. Literatur pornografi Eropa, pada awal kebangkitannya dalam abad ke-16 dan ke-17, tujuan utamanya adalah untuk subversi, berkembang melebihi apa yang dibutuhkan baik oleh artis maupun penulis untuk melampaui batas politik. Cara terbaik untuk menarik perhatian masyarakat terhadap politisi atau pejabat gereja yang korup dan membongkarnya dengan skandal seks dengan biarawati. Sewaktu Revolusi Perancis, disebarkannya famplet yang menggambarkan Ratu Maria Antoinette sedang berpesta pora sangat ampuh, untuk melontarkan kebencian terhadap ratu, sebagai cara untuk menarik rakyat yang sudah kesal terhadap kelakuan para aristokrasi.

In the 20th century, pornography has carved out a literary and artistic niche all its own, and functions less as a political tool and more as a genre devoted exclusively to the depiction of sexuality. But true to its subversive genes, it continues to inspire fear and loathing. To wit: the word "pornography" itself has become a handy epithet, a term hurled indiscriminately at any explicit image or text deemed sexually offensive.

Pornography's main purpose has always been to shock. In societies where the role of women was severely restricted, pornography transgressed social boundaries by often depicting female characters as self-empowered, sexual beings. While these early characterizations were almost always the expressions of male writers, they nonetheless underscore pornography's role of inverting social norms and toying with established social order. A quick review of the last few hundred years would indicate that pornography has had an extremely important, if thankless role, in questioning authority and reflecting social angst about established sex roles.

If anyone can be called the originator of European pornography, it is Pietro Aretino, the man responsible for what has been called the premier stroke book of the Western world. -- I modi . -- or "The Ways." Aretino's work combined 16 sexually explicit sonnets with 16 engravings of couples having sex in varying positions. Aretino, born in 1492, was one of the first writers to produce forbidden works for the emerging print culture . He was a resident of the Republic of Venice , a journalist, publicist, entrepreneur, and art dealer who made a living writing political tracts and essays. The fact that Aretino managed to create and circulate I modi had as much to do with the social and political conditions of Renaissance Italy as it did with an increasingly literate audience.

The new interest in humanism during the Renaissance inspired an endless fascination with classical antiquity. Intellectuals schooled in Latin and Greek, read Cicero and Virgil, as well as the bawdy tales of Ovid and Catullus. For artists, figures from pagan myths provided an endless excuse to paint nudes or depict erotic scenes. While the portrayal of nude bodies involving contemporary individuals was certainly off-limits, depictions of naked gods and goddesses, satyrs and nymphs were not. Even in religious paintings, images of the Madonna and Child, as well as scenes from the Bible, were greatly eroticized. Given this general climate, Aretino had a built-in audience for material with a sexual theme.

The production of I modi involved three major artists of the Renaissance: Aretino, Guilio Romano and Marcantonio Raimondi. The trouble started in 1524 when Romano, a contemporary of Aretino's and a great Mannerist painter, drew 16 scenes of copulating couples on some walls in the Vatican . One theory is that he was angry over the fact that Pope Clement VII had been late in paying for some work. (It is, however, conceivable that Romano had been commissioned to do this as his teacher, Raphael, had himself once been hired to paint erotic scenes in the bathroom of a cardinal at the Vatican.)

Raimondi, another contemporary who happened to be one of foremost engravers of the time, made copper plates of Romano's I modi (literally, "postures"), printed up copies and circulated them among the higher echelons of Roman society. The Pope, clearly outraged, ordered all prints and copper plates destroyed and made reprinting of I modi punishable by death. Romano fled town, while Raimondi was arrested and left to languish in the Vatican prison -- until the intervention of a powerful Medici and Pietro Aretino.

It isn't clear whether Aretino wrote his piquant sonnets when he heard about Raimondi's arrest or whether he penned them after Raimondi's release. Whatever the case, the second edition of I modi , containing Raimondi's engravings and embellished by Aretino's 16 sonnets, was meant to bait the authorities at the papal court. Aretino had already established a reputation as a free-lance journalist critical of certain politicians, and I modi provided an excellent venue for targeting his enemies. The new edition of I modi was ordered destroyed as well, and to date all that survives are a few fragments of the presumed original engravings in the British Museum, as well as one subsequent 16th-century imitation printed very soon after the first one, possibly in the same year -- 1527.

Aretino's purpose in publishing I modi was certainly twofold: to depict earthy sex in vivid and colloquial terms, but also to mock the papal court as a repository of corruption. Some of those named in the sonnets, for instance, are thought to have been prominent courtesans as well as noteworthy figures of the day. Ultimately, what made Aretino's work so reprehensible in the eyes of the Catholic Church was that he used sex to expose the corruption of the elite and worse, in doing so, informed a much broader audience about papal corruption as well.

Aretino also played with another radical concept by evoking an earthly utopia -- a world of limitless sex and possibility, in which women expressed their desires as vociferously as men. His work is a paean to sex, a celebration of eros, and reflects a powerful reaction against centuries of Church repression. Much of this is also evident in his violation of linguistic taboos: he pushed boundaries by employing the most colloquial language possible. He avoided euphemisms and used words like cazzo , potta and fottere -- "prick," "cunt," and "fuck."

Aretino's influence on the development of pornography did not end with I modi . In a work called Ragionamenti , or Discussions , which he published in 1539, two Roman courtesans discuss what goes on among whores, housewives and nuns (the conclusion: very much the same -- "they all have sex."). While the dialogue form is a literary genre with precedents in Greek literature, it was Aretino's Ragionamenti that most profoundly influenced the proliferation of this genre over the next two centuries. These dialogues, which often involved talk about sex between an older woman and a younger one, weren't necessarily written for the purposes of arousal but rather as an excuse to convey information about sex -- as bluntly as possible.

Artists and writers borrowed heavily from the Aretinian tradition long after his death in 1556. (Even the term "Aretinian postures" became synonymous all over Europe with the depiction of acrobatic sex.) In effect, Aretino helped to create a new marketplace for sexually explicit material. With works like I modi and those following, pornography became closely linked to political and religious subversion.

Coming in December: The Enlightenment to the French Revolution Part 2 The French Enlightenment Takes on Sex By Marianna Beck, Ph.D.

The growth of pornographic literature in 17th-century Europe can certainly be linked to the beginning of the Enlightenment, when basic attitudes about authority, religion, and science began to change. There was greater emphasis on the value of science -- hence interest in the mechanics of conception and contraception. Condoms, for instance, were available in London in the 1660s, along with Italian-made dildos. In some ways, the defining paradigm of porn literature in the Enlightenment was the propagation of sexual pleasure as a new religion.

In these years France provided fertile soil for subversive literature. It became a primary function of libertine philosophy to attack the bastions of sexual repression, which were embodied, above all, by the moral teachings of the Catholic Church. Much libertine porn is set in churches and monasteries — one sure way to break moral, religious and sexual taboos all at the same time.

Creating female narrators who were essentially the intellectual equals of men and as capable of, if not eager for, sexual pleasure, was certainly a transgression of expected female roles, and underscored pornography's subversive function. A courtesan or prostitute could not only convey sexual information but also act as a kind of social barometer. While some courtesans wielded enormous power and influence, women in society were generally powerless. In large part, the character of the autonomous woman, sophisticated in the ways of the world, was a fictional creation because her powers generally weren't reflected in social reality.

L'Ecole des Filles' anarchistic message was the idealization of sex. While it by no means resembled the dark and more politically subversive works that made the Marquis de Sade notorious more than 100 years later, L'Ecole des Filles is considered by scholars the origin of pornography in France . The book was severely criticized for celebrating a libertine lifestyle of decadence and debauchery despite the fact that the dialogue between two young women, 16-year-old Fanny and Suzanne, her older, more experienced cousin, is more ribald than subversive. Largely, L'Ecole des Filles offended because it represented a gross undermining of the moral teachings of both parents and religion. Its language is explicit and the characters relate their sexual encounters with great enthusiasm.

The accused authors of the book, Michel Millot and Jean L'Ange, were given light jail sentences, suggesting that the true author might have been someone higher up and more politically connected. Several authors have been linked to L'Ecole des Filles, including Louis XIV's mistress, Madame de Maintenon, and his finance minister, Nicholas Fouquet.

Given the climate of political repression during the reign of Louis XIV, L'Ecole des Filles symbolized the fusion between sexual explicitness and political dissidence. This connection between debauchery and tyranny is a theme that played out frequently in the 17th and 18th centuries, and it assumed a pivotal role in the years leading up to the French Revolution in 1789.

The spread of literacy in the 18th century triggered even greater concern over pornography's supposed power to corrupt and undermine society. Traditionally, its consumers were the male ruling elite, but a burgeoning middle class whose moral attitudes weren't as easily patrolled, was increasingly challenging the power of the ruling classes. Anxiety centered on the growing belief that while erotic literature might not necessarily corrupt educated men, it threatened the morals of women and servants. Mothers were viewed as the family guardians of morality and therefore in need of special protection from vulgar and salacious representations of sex. This middle-class fear of porn's potentially deleterious effect on women was largely the same as earlier concerns of aristocrats, who feared the dissemination of incendiary material among the lower classes.

The belief in the power of pornography to deprave and corrupt (which remains the official motive for censorship even in the 20th century) continued to fuel fear of the perceived causal connection between sexual immorality and political subversion.

The Roots of Western Pornography Part 3 England Bites Back With Fanny Hill By Marianna Beck, Ph.D.

The English viewed the anti-clericalism of French libertine literature as a political threat, believing that exposing a population to blasphemous works would inevitably encourage political insurrection. The English feared the French for both their radical politics and their literature: France , after all, produced books like L'Ecole des Filles and, later, Laclos' Les Liaisons Dangeureuses (1782) -- a manual of seduction.

By 1748, however, the British had their own erotic classic to contend with: John Cleland's Memoirs of a Woman of Pleasure , later known as Fanny Hill , which is among the most frequently reprinted, translated and illustrated of all English novels in history. (It has only been legally available in the U.S. since 1963 and in England since 1970.) Cleland was no doubt very much influenced by the French libertine novels that had found their way into England . Based on the adventures of its eponymous character, Fanny Hill is a wonderful window into the sexual mores and social customs of 18th-century life.

Cleland quit school early, went to India as a foot soldier and rose up through the ranks of the East India Company. When he returned to England and his fortunes declined, Cleland found himself in debtors' prison. He is thought to have revised and rewritten a draft of Memoirs of a Woman of Pleasure while still in jail. Some scholars think Cleland wrote Memoirs of a Woman of Pleasure as a way to get out of debtors' prison, but the consensus is that he began an early draft of the novel sometime in the 1730s.

When the book first appeared in 1748-49, Cleland and his publisher experienced little trouble -- despite the fact that the Bishop of London blamed it for two minor London earthquakes and wanted to have the book prosecuted, calling it "a vile Book, which is an open insult upon Religion and good manners, and a reproach to the Honour of government and the Law of the Country."

Within several months, however, a warrant was issued for the arrest of Cleland and his publisher, partly as a result of the above letter but more likely because Cleland had produced an anonymously written pamphlet critical of the government. They were released shortly after their arrest and Cleland proceeded to rewrite Memoirs of a Woman of Pleasure , reducing it by one-third and omitting the sexually explicit portions, including one gay male scene that had resulted in enormous criticism, and renamed it Fanny Hill . This cleaned-up version of Fanny Hill resulted in Cleland's arrest again, but no legal action appears to have been taken.

Oddly enough, Cleland might even have profited from the experience. After being arraigned before the Privy Council, he secured a benefactor: a certain John Earl Granville stepped forward and arranged for Cleland to receive a small annual pension in return for not penning any more bawdy works (but more likely to ensure that Cleland wrote articles in favor of the government). His publisher continued selling the expurgated version, but pirated editions of the longer, more explicit version were much more in demand all over Europe , and the book enjoyed a vigorous underground existence for decades, even centuries.

In many ways, John Cleland's work was a celebration of human sexuality and a reaction against the severe morality imposed by both religion and society. Memoirs of a Woman of Pleasure is structured in the form of a series of first-person letters addressed to an unnamed "Madam," wherein Fanny sets out to confess all the "scandalous stages of my life." But rather than portraying her adventures negatively (as might be expected by this confessional track), she instead delights in titillating and arousing the reader.

What made Cleland's work revolutionary -- and therefore dangerous in his time -- were his sex-positive attitudes and characterizations. At a time when novels were filled with characters who, when they morally transgressed, almost always suffered dire consequences, Cleland's heroine, Fanny, settles into middle-class respectability after a life of sexual adventure. In Memoirs , both women and men feel sexual desire: an anarchistic message at a time when "virtuous" women were supposed to be repelled by such thoughts.

Cleland's use of language is also unusual for an erotic novel, since he employs no obscene or objectionable words. While he may have broken societal taboos with his novel, he clearly avoided breaking linguistic ones and in doing so became the master of the sexual metaphor. One rumor has it that Cleland may have written Memoirs to prove that he could produce a book about sex without including an offending word. Thus, in circumventing colloquial terms like "cunt" and "prick," Cleland came up with wonderful euphemisms: over 50 metaphors for penis, such as "master member of the revels," "instrument of pleasure," "picklock," and, oddly, "nipple of love." For vagina, he invented "soft laboratory of love," "pleasure-thirsty channel," "embowered bottom cavity," and "abyss of joy."

Unfortunately, Cleland never made any money from the publication of Memoirs or from any of the pirated editions. Although he went on to write other novels, including a Fanny Hill sequel, Memoirs of a Coxcomb , he failed to gain much literary attention. He died in 1789.

Prosecutions against pornography were largely haphazard in England during the 18th century, although the publication of pornography was judicially declared to be an offense of common law. As noted, Memoirs was successfully driven underground without any legal prosecution and, generally speaking, there seems to have been little government interference in regard to publications described as bawdy or licentious. The main exception, of course, was if sexual activity found itself mixed in with politics and/or blasphemy.

Although the major campaigns against obscenity didn't start taking shape until the beginning of the 19th century, it was clear that the winds of tolerance were shifting as the 18th century ended. One of the more perceptible changes occurred in 1787, when King George III issued a proclamation against vice, exhorting the public to "suppress all loose and licentious prints, books, and publications dispensing poison to the minds of the young and the unwary, and to punish publishers and vendors thereof."

Many of these "licentious" materials were coming in from France and highlighting England 's angst over the consequences of politically subversive literature. France was on the brink of revolution, and its preoccupation with "immoral" and "blasphemous" libertine materials was, in the English view, fanning the flames of political insurrection.

Part 4

The French Revolution and the Spread of Politically-Motivated Pornography
By Marianna Beck, Ph.D.

In the years leading up to the French Revolution, politically motivated pornography increased steadily, reaching a fevered pitch in both volume and vitriol after the presses were freed in 1789. The prime targets were the aristocracy and the clergy, and both groups were frequently depicted as impotent, disease-ridden and morally corrupt. Paradoxically, sexually oriented materials, which had once been the sole domain of the upper classes, now became the weapon used by the lower classes against the despised aristocrats.

No one connected with the aristocracy was immune to attack, including King Louis XVI and Queen Marie-Antoinette. Some of the most vicious attacks were leveled at the Queen. Pamphlets questioning the paternity of her children, her wild orgies and presumed lesbian activities circulated for the first time to large numbers of the bourgeoisie and working class. These misogynistic attacks continued even after she was imprisoned, at which point materials were circulated accusing her of having an incestuous relationship with her young son.

The purpose for these vicious assaults was to undermine royal authority; if the king couldn't control his wife or know for certain whether he was the father of his children, then how could he possibly demand obedience from his subjects? Another possible reason for the extreme viciousness may center on the underlying anxiety about the role of women and the issue of delineating clear gender boundaries. Degrading the queen had a kind of leveling, democratizing effect, particularly when she was depicted having sex with members of the lower classes. In other words, her body, especially when portrayed as a prostitute, made her ostensibly available to every man. These attacks continued until she was beheaded in 1793.

The Marquis de Sade's novels marked a major transition in the 1790s. After the French Revolution, pornography lost its political overtones and gradually began to be replaced by material that pushed more generalized social boundaries. Rather than targeting political figures, Sade attacked every aspect of conventional morality.

In many of his works, Sade focused primarily on the complete annihilation of the body in the pursuit of pleasure, and in doing so, he has been characterized as everything from a raving lunatic to the embodiment of the devil to a brilliant philosopher and prophet of disorder. Many of the themes in modern pornography were touched on in Sade's novels.

Part 1: I modi
Part 2: The French Enlightenment Takes on Sex
Part 3: England Bites Back With Fanny Hill

For information on reprinting this series for classroom use, please contact us at Alamat e-mail ini diproteksi dari spabot, silahkan aktifkan Javascript untuk melihatnya , or phone 800-495-1988 Coming in March: How Sade's warped vision became an embryonic form of 20th-century existentialism and nihilism.

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