Uninhibited models were recruited, these were the.
forerunners of to-days porn stars- .
(Internet site- erotic prints.org).
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some of these photos would now be considered as soft porn, but would then be regarded as risque. However, there were also pornographic images of sexual orgies and the erect penis, they were highly explicit and these early examples fetch hundreds of pounds at auction, they are viewed as a fascinating slice of 19th Century history. These photos are some of the most powerfully charged images of that century; erotic photos were among the first productions of the invention of photography. It could be said that they form a window into the murkier depths of our past. Erotic Victorian novels were also written, as we read these, we look at the world through the eyes of the novelist. Photography is different, we look at the imagery directly through the lens and the actions are frozen in time and as the technology of combining text with image improved, erotic books such as The Yellow Room in 1891 were published: the author remains anonymous. .
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The invention of film brought about its own style and form, from What the Butler Saw to mild sexy hero/ heroine love scenes. Most of these scenes were censored, as the kiss and touching could last only a few seconds and had to be congruent with the narrative. The views of the Christian ministers of the day, on sex outside marriage, influenced film censorship. In today's climate, the church has less influence on people's moral views, and thus society in general accepts pornography, which has lead to censorship being relaxed.
Hugh Hefner in 1953 published the first issue of Playboy, which featured the now famous calendar photo of Marilyn Monroe, it sold 50,000 copies, with the monies from this, Hugh was then able to pay for the costs and produce further publications. He incorporated images of topless women with features and articles that were of interest to men, such as cars and sport.
