Pornography or Erotica? What does it matter?

There have been many blogs of late that have either shut down or moved to a new home. Much of the reason for this has to do with providers cracking down on what they consider to be pornographic content. I don’t know what other providers terms are, but WordPress terms of service states that you can have a blog that is mature in content, and they will gladly support you, but you can not “post explicit sexual materials that can be considered pornographic, such as explicit images or video of sexual acts or close-up images of genitalia.”

You can find some thoughts on this by Kayla here , Ferns here, and Molly here. There are links and comments on their posts that you may also want to follow and read.

My issue with this is that what you consider pornographic and what I consider pornographic may be very different. Some may consider a woman in sexy lingerie pornographic because it shows off the woman and regardless the intent of the pic it will turn someone on. Some may consider a picture of a woman, or man for that matter, who appears to be performing fellatio on a man, even though a cock does not appear in the pic, pornographic. Some may consider pictures or descriptions of sex toys and how they are used pornographic. Many women get turned on by men in suits or uniforms, that’s where we get the term “suit porn.” Personally I don’t consider any of these to be pornography because none of them turn me on.

Pornography is defined as printed or visual material containing the explicit description or display of sexual organs or activity, intended to stimulate erotic rather than aesthetic or emotional feelings. Erotica is defined as literature or art intended to arouse sexual desire. Under these definitions most things I write, and pictures I post, would be considered pornographic or erotic. Although, I want to inspire you to look at your own personal life and desires rather than fantasize about mine.


I have close up images of my vagina on my blog. They are included in my Pussy Pride post. I have an artists renderings of vaginas on my blog as part of another Pussy Pride post. Neither are pornographic in nature, but they each seem to go against what is acceptable. But then, one definition of genitalia says it refers to the external reproductive organs and since the vagina is internal, the external parts not being reproductive parts, maybe it isn’t included. I don’t know.

Many things, such as porn and erotica, are so subjective they are hard to strictly define. A piano, for example is not considered erotic or pornographic in any way. It is strictly a musical instrument. But, if a piece of music is being played on it that evokes a particular feeling or sexual desire in a person, then could the music not be classified as pornographic? No, I guess not since the music is played rather than printed or visual. It is art however so it could conceivably be erotica, although I do not know anyone who would say that any kind of music, regardless the effect it has on you, would be considered erotica.

In days of old one would buy a “girlie” magazine wrapped in a brown paper bag and tuck it away until they could get home and peruse it in the solitude of their room. Nobody talked about it and it was always hidden away from prying eyes of parents or friends or spouses. There was no internet. No Tumbler or Twitter or blogs. These days you can find anything anywhere and at any time. We still hide a lot of things away behind closed doors, but I believe we are, as a whole, more open about the things that turn us on. Just take a look at Facebook and the “adult” themed pages or groups that your friends like and share postings from. Tumbler has become pretty much nothing more than a library of erotic images and animated gifs.

Pornography and erotica are legal art forms. Of course there can be illegal aspects, as with many things in life, but that’s not what I am referring to here. I am talking about regular everyday, hardworking honest people and the things they enjoy. What is so awful about having a blog that talks about relations between people, or shows pictures of nudity? It’s natural, the human form and people loving each other, loving themselves. The way we do it differs from person to person sure, but it is still a natural thing for us to do. Some have fetishes or kinks that many don’t share or understand. To talk about those, to share our thoughts and views and fantasies on our blogs, that doesn’t make us awful people. What it does is let people know they aren’t alone in the world, that there are others who enjoy the same things they do and that it is ok. Why do companies feel so threatened by that? They shouldn’t, and we shouldn’t be punished because they do.

4 thoughts on “Pornography or Erotica? What does it matter?

  1. Here, here! I agree with you completely!

  2. I agree with you yet…
    I live in Belgium, Europe and I know that what follows may seem narrow-minded and it probably is so I apologize.
    Most of the companies that host blogs are American. For us, Europeans, Americans freak out when they see a shadow of a nipple(gate) yet most households own a least one deadly weapon. I guess I have more chance, as a tourist in the VS, being killed by a bullet than by a nipple. So am I going to put the future of my “erotic” blog in the hands of an US CEO that learns his/her baby or toddler using an assault weapon but vomits when some nudity is shown? I don’t think so.
    Sexual/erotic/porn, it is such a thin line and in most cases based on education and beliefs, maybe personal experience.
    Except for the huge US porn industry of course but then we are talking big bucks and thus it is another type of discussion.

  3. Agrees, this, like all art, is subjective. I find particular images very erotic, where as others I know would say they were porn. It would be nice if people could just enjoy the images they liked, and ignore the things that offend them (so others could enjoy them 😛 )

    And Erotica vs Porn isn’t just for visual images either. I often find it funny that people will label a book Porn because it has graphic descriptions of sex between consenting adults who are enjoying themselves, but don’t seem to have issue with ‘Historic Romance’ novels that portray virginal young women (and if historically accurate…teenagers) having sex with virtual strangers.

  4. I enjoyed this article so much. You have really said so much about the way people view things and the way others portray these views. People this is art (any way you put it) just like any old painting in a museum only it is live and ever changing

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