So what is the difference between pornography and eroticism?

In our opinion, pornography is always sexually explicit. It is not necessarily arousing (particularly if the people involved do not appear to be truly enjoying themselves), nor is pornography genuinely interested in artistic merit.

Good quality eroticism, unlike pornography, is generally less sexually explicit and always sexually arousing to the viewer.

Eroticism is more artistic than pornography in capturing the beauty, shape and form of the human body and its deeper portrayal of our emotions, lust and desire. Good erotic art portrays good healthy sexuality and sex; which is joyful, exciting, intimate, interesting and pleasurable. These are some ideas we plan on writing into a short philosophical essay on Erotic Art Vs. Pornography.

So why put up a web page on Erotic Art?

Partly because it is interesting, but most importantly is the belief that the woman’s body has evolved to be very beautiful to both other men and women.

Further, because of the huge industry in Pornography, women (many feminists) have tended to rebel against the idea that a women should be defined by how they look. We are more inclined to believe that both the body and the mind are beautiful, thus there is nothing wrong with cultivating both to increase the pleasure and joy of life.

If sex and sensuality is a beautiful part of life that is enjoyed by both men and women, art that depicts the beauty of sexuality is not necessarily demeaning to women. With the use of quality erotic pictures, stories and text on this erotica webpage (which was created by a woman and a man) we hope to stimulate both sexes (who respond differently to sexual images).

Below is our Gallery of Erotic Art Pictures and excerpts from a fine essay on The Philosophy of Erotic Visual Art by Rick Garlikov.

To portray or capture some element or aspect of sexuality or sensuousness;
or to express or communicate something in pictorial form about sexuality or sensuousness, often some insight the artist has about it.

Of course, one work may incorporate all three of these features; a picture may be arousing, may capture some essential aspect of sex, and may make some sort of statement about sex. In fact a picture / art may be arousing because it captures some exciting aspect about sex or sensuality.

Topless Woman in Full Skirt Not all Eroticism is Degrading to Women
There are some areas I can immediately eliminate from good erotic art – those which portray degradation, humiliation, or treatment of people as merely objects with no consideration for their feelings, and those which portray any sort of pain, brutality, or violence in some manner that tries to extol or equate it, or tries to associate it in some positive manner, with sexuality.

Now some feminists regard all erotic art, by its very nature, as degrading women; but I doubt this is a fair assessment, since

(1) Some women themselves who have a good self- image enjoy looking at and/or posing for some erotic images.

(2) Some men who respect and think very highly of women like to look at some erotic art without therefore thinking any less of the women who pose for it or of women in general.

(3) If sex and sensuality are something both men and women can find wonderful and/or can enjoy equally, then I see no reason why art which deals with it should by its nature be one-sided or degrading to one sex.

Some artists even seem to consider some of their work as an effort to elevate in the mind the sensuousness of women, or at least as an effort to capture or portray the sensuousness of a particular woman or women in general. And they do this for the same kinds of artistic or communicative (or whatever) reasons that one might try to capture, point out, or express any human quality, emotion, or insight.

Lady with Scarves The Art of Eroticism
So I think one element that can contribute to erotic art’s being good is its capturing or portraying some of the things that might make sex good, such as the joy and/or pleasure it can cause, such as the excitement and the calm it can bring, such as its sometimes gentleness, such as its allowing a communion or sharing of spirits or feelings or moods, such as its art to allow the simultaneous giving and receiving of pleasure, and any of the vast variety of things there are that make sex sometimes a wonderful, erotic artistic experience.

Since many of these things are themselves felt experiences or felt impressions, and not visible characteristics, capturing or portraying them visually can be quite an art or intellectual accomplishment. And, except for cases of extreme artistic luck, it requires some sensitive awareness to their occurrence in the first place.

… Visual erotic art is often bad because it either does not capture any of the better essences of good or interesting sex or it does not portray them well visually (due to either technical or artistic reasons i.e., bad lighting, bad composition, bad cropping, bad exposure, etc.), or it overrides good portrayal of these elements by featuring other elements that spoil or ruin the overall effect, such as pain, violence, humiliation, apparent one-sided “use” of one of the participants, terrible consequences for the relationship, or whatever.

Sexy BabeOur thoughts on Sex & Eroticism
As we see things, Sex and Erotica are profound and fundamental aspects of our biological and cultural evolution. We can cultivate and share these beautiful things, and enjoy their growth, or we can ignore them and allow them to fade from our minds and lives. So we like to think that our work in creating Erotica is a positive contribution towards a beautiful erotic human culture where all individuals are free to explore and cultivate their own unique sexuality.

Our Morality? Informed Consent and ‘Do Unto Others’ are a pretty good foundation.

We try to avoid the depressing feel of sleazy pornography and promote quality Erotic Art. We use both vintage and contemporary erotica pictures and erotic stories with the aim of arousing both a sense of beauty and a feeling of lust and sexual passion. Our aim is to complement erotic stories with provocative erotic art / pictures to create the desired mood and sense of sexuality.