Jupiter and Callisto (1744) by François Boucher. In this myth, Jupiter disguises himself as Diana in order to seduce the nymph Callisto.

For discussion of women's views on gay pornography, see Gay pornography: Audience.

Depictions of lesbianism have been relatively common in erotic art and pornography throughout history. Image File history File links Download high-resolution version (2024x2736, 574 KB) File links The following pages on the English Wikipedia link to this file (pages on other projects are not listed): Callisto (mythology) Lesbianism in erotica ... Image File history File links Download high-resolution version (2024x2736, 574 KB) File links The following pages on the English Wikipedia link to this file (pages on other projects are not listed): Callisto (mythology) Lesbianism in erotica ... François Boucher The Toilet of Venus (1751) typifies the superficially pleasing elegance of Bouchers mature style. ... For the planet see Jupiter. ... ‹ The template below (Expand) is being considered for deletion. ... In Jupiter and Callisto by François Boucher, Jupiter/Zeus takes the form of Diana/Artemis (Pushkin Museum, Moscow) This article is about the mythological figure. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ... This article is about homosexual women, not inhabitants of the Greek island of Lesbos A lesbian (lowercase L) is a homosexual woman. ... Fragonards The Swing is rather tame for modern standards, but in the 18th century depicting a lady with a man able to look up her skirts was considered highly erotic. ... Porn redirects here. ...

Lesbianism in visual arts

Depictions of lesbianism are included among the erotic frescoes of Pompeii. Later, a number of European painters, particularly modernists, would include themes of eroticism between women among their work; these artists include François Boucher [1], JMW Turner [2], Jean Auguste Dominique Ingres [3], Gustave Courbet [4], Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec [5] [6], Gustav Klimt [7], Egon Schiele [8], Christian Schad [9], Albert Marquet [10] Balthus [11], and Leonor Fini [12]. More explicit depictions were an important part of the work of erotic illustrators such as Édouard-Henri Avril [13] [14], Franz von Bayros [15], Rojan, Gerda Wegener [16], Vala Moro [17], and Tom Poulton [18]. Explicit depictions of lovemaking between women were also an important theme in Japanese erotic shunga, including the work of such masters as Utamaro [19], Hokusai, Yanagawa Shigenobu [20], and Shofu Kyosai. Audrey Kawasaki is a contemporary painter for whom erotic depictions of lesbianism form an important segment of her work.[21] [22] [23] Prehistoric erotic art The pre-historic era doesnt have much information available, taking in to account the kind of communication humans used to have. ... François Boucher The Toilet of Venus (1751) typifies the superficially pleasing elegance of Bouchers mature style. ... J. M. W. Turner, English landscape painter The fighting Temeraire tugged to her last berth to be broken up, painted 1839. ... Jean Auguste Dominique Ingres (pronounced (Ang, rhymes with bang, with a hint of the r, but the final es is not pronounced) (August 29, 1780 - January 14, 1867) was a French Neoclassical painter. ... Jean Désiré Gustave Courbet (10 June 1819 – 31 December 1877) was a French painter who led the Realist movement in 19th-century French painting. ... Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec [äNrÄ“ du tOOlOOz lōtrek] (November 24, 1864 – September 9, 1901) was a French painter, printmaker, draftsman, and illustrator, whose immersion in the decadent and theatrical life of fin de siècle Paris yielded an oeuvre of provocative images of modern life. ... Gustav Klimt (July 14, 1862 – February 6, 1918) was an Austrian Symbolist painter and one of the most prominent members of the Vienna Art Nouveau (Vienna Secession) movement. ... Photograph by Anton Josef Trčka Egon Schiele (June 12, 1890 – October 31, 1918) (pronounced approximately SHEE-luh) was an Austrian painter, a protege of Gustav Klimt, and a major figurative painter of the early 20th century. ... Christian Schad (August 21, 1894 in Miesbach, Oberbayern - February 25, 1982) was a German painter associated with the New Objectivity movement. ... Albert Marquet (27 March 1875, Bordeaux – 13 June 1947, Paris) was a French painter, associated with the Fauvism current. ... Nude with arms raised, oil on canvas, 1951 by Balthus Balthazar Klossowski de Rola (February 29, 1908 in Paris – February 18, 2001) was an esteemed Polish/French modern artist whose work was ultimately anti-modern. ... Leonor Fini Leonor Fini (August 30, 1907, Buenos Aires—January 18, 1996, Paris) was an Argentine surrealist painter. ... Édouard-Henri Avril drawing depicting the life of Sappho Édouard-Henri Avril (21 May 1843 in Algiers – 1928 in Le Raincy) was a French painter and commercial artist. ... Franz von Bayros (1866, Zagreb - April 3, 1924, Vienna) was a Decadent artist responsible for such works as Tales at the Dressing Table and thousands of others. ... Feodor Stepanovich Rojankovsky (December 24, 1891 – October 12, 1970), also known as Rojan, was a Russian emigré illustrator. ... Gerda Wegener (1886-1940) Danish illustrator and painter, from the provinces but moved to Copenhagen to pursue her education at the Royal art Academy, and married fellow artist Einar Wegener in 1904. ... Shunga ) is a Japanese term for erotic pictures. ... Kitagawa Utamaro, Flowers of Edo: Young Womans Narrative Chanting to the Shamisen, ca. ... Katsushika Hokusai, (葛飾北斎), (1760—1849[1]), was a Japanese artist, ukiyo-e painter and printmaker of the Edo period . ... Shigenobu signature seal. ... Shofu Kyōsai (1831-1889), also known as Kawanabe Kyōsai (河鍋暁斎), was a Japanese painter born at Koga in the province of Shimotsuke, Japan, in 1831. ... Audrey Kawasaki (born March 31, 1982) is a Los Angles-based painter and erotic artist, known for her distinctive, erotically charged portrayals of young, adolescent girls. ...

The rise of photography was instrumental in the genesis of modern visual pornography, but erotic themes, including erotic lesbian themes, have been an important genre in art photography. Erotic and fetish photographers, such as Heinz von Perckhammer [24], David Hamilton [25], Steve Diet Goedde [26], and Bob Carlos Clarke frequently have included themes of eros between women in their work. More recently, lesbian and bisexual photographers such as Nan Goldin, Tee A. Corinne [27], and Della Grace have focused on erotic themes, reclaiming a subject that has traditionally been mainly treated through the eye of male artists. Photography [fәtɑgrәfi:],[foʊtɑgrәfi:] is the process of recording pictures by means of capturing light on a light-sensitive medium, such as a film or electronic sensor. ... Fine art photography, or simply art photography, refers to high-quality archival photographic prints of pictures that are created to fulfill the creative vision of an individual professional. ... Wikipedia does not yet have an article with this exact name. ... David Hamilton (born April 15, 1933) is a photographer from Britain. ... Steve Diet Goedde was born in Saint Louis, Missouri in 1965. ... Robert Carlos Clarke (b. ... The Ballad of Sexual Dependency (1986). ...

Lesbian erotic themes in cinema

Although both lesbian and erotic themes were restrained in early cinema, suggestive scenes of dancing between women were presented in the films Pandora's Box (1928) and The Sign of the Cross (1932). Although lesbian themes were sometimes found in European movies such as Mädchen in Uniform (1931), lesbianism was not treated openly in US cinema until the 1962 release of Walk on the Wild Side. Depictions of lovemaking between women were first shown in several movies of the late 1960s — The Fox (1967), The Killing of Sister George (1968), and Therese and Isabelle (1968). Pandoras Box (Die Büchse der Pandora) was a German silent film directed by G.W. Pabst and released in 1929. ... A 1932 film directed by Cecil B. DeMille, starring Claudette Colbert, Fredric March, Charles Laughton, and Elissa Landi. ... Dorothea Wieck and Hertha Thiele in a scene from Mädchen in Uniform (Germany, 1931), the first openly lesbian feature film. ... A Walk on the Wild Side is a 1956 novel by Nelson Algren, best known today by way of a 1962 film of essentially the same name directed by Edward Dmytryk. ... The Fox was the nickname given to Malcolm Fairley who, in the summer of 1984 attacked several victims in their homes at night within a small area of Buckinghamshire and Bedfordshire. ... The Killing of Sister George is a 1964 play by Frank Marcus. ...

During the 1970s, depictions of sex between women were largely restricted to semi-pornographic softcore and sexploitation films, such as Cherry, Harry & Raquel! (1970), Score (1973), Emmanuelle (1974), and Bilitis (1977). Although semi-explicit heterosexual sex scenes had been part of mainstream cinema since the late 1960s, equivalent depictions of women having sex only began making their appearance in mainstream film during the 1980s. These were typically in the context of a film that was specifically lesbian-themed, such as Personal Best (1982), Lianna (1983), and Desert Hearts (1985). Vampire film The Hunger (1983) also contained a seduction and sex scene between Catherine Deneuve and Susan Sarandon. Cherry, Harry & Raquel! is a 1970 film produced and directed by Russ Meyer. ... Score is the name of a sexploitation film directed by Radley Metzger that was one of the first films to explore bi-sexual relationships. ... It has been suggested that this article be split into articles entitled Emmanuelle and Emmanuelle (film character), accessible from a disambiguation page. ... Personal Best is a 1982 movie centered around a group of women who are trying to qualify for the Olympic Games track-and-field team. ... Lianna is the name of the 1983 film directed by John Sayles. ... Desert Hearts is a 1985 lesbian-themed romantic drama film loosely based on the Jane Rule novel Desert of the Heart. ... The Hunger is a 1983 English language horror film. ... Catherine Deneuve (born Catherine Fabienne Dorléac) (French IPA: ), (October 22, 1943, in Paris, France), is an award winning French actress. ... Susan Sarandon (born October 4, 1946) is an Academy Award-winning American actress. ...

Henry and June (1990) had several lesbian scenes, including one that was considered explicit enough to give the film an NC-17 rating. (There was some controversy as to whether the MPAA had given the film a more restrictive rating than it normally would have because of the lesbian nature of the scene in question.) Basic Instinct (1992) contained mild lesbian content, but established lesbianism as a central theme in the erotic thriller genre. Later in the 1990s, erotic thrillers such as Wild Side (1995) and Bound (1996) featured more explicit lesbian scenes.^[1] Henry and June: From A Journal of Love: the Unexpurgated Diary of Anais Nin (1931-1932) Henry and June (published 1986) is based on material expurgated from the first volume of Anais Nins published diaries, written between October 1931 and October 1932. ... The MPAA film rating system is a system used in the United States and instituted by the Motion Picture Association of America to rate a movie based on its content. ... The Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) is a non-profit trade association formed to advance the interests of movie studios. ... Basic Instinct is a 1992 thriller film, directed by Paul Verhoeven and written by Joe Eszterhas. ... The erotic thriller is a film genre which consists of erotica and thriller and had become popular since the 1980s and the rise of VCR market penetration. ... Wild Side is a 1995 film co-written and directed by Donald Cammell starring Anne Heche, Joan Chen, Christopher Walken and Steven Bauer. ... Bound is a 1996 neo-noir film about a woman who longs to escape her relationship with a Mafioso; when she meets the alluring drifter hired to renovate the next-door apartment, the two women begin an affair and hatch a scheme to make off with $2 million of Mafia...

From the 1990s onward, depictions of sex between women became fairly common in mainstream cinema, in no small part based on its ability to titilate heterosexual male audience members. Lesbian kissing also was increasingly shown in films (as well as television), often as a way to include a sexually arousing element in a movie without actually having the film gain a more restrictive rating by depicting sex or nudity.

Lesbianism in contemporary pornography

Futari 02, an example of contemporary "girl-girl" pornography.

Contemporary lesbian (or girl-girl) pornography, is a prominent genre in mainstream hardcore and softcore pornography, with many adult video titles and websites devoted entirely to depictions of women engaging in lesbian sex. Many heterosexual adult videos include at least one lesbian scene. In Japanese adult video, however, lesbianism is considered a fetish and is only occasionally included in mainstream heterosexual videos. Rezu (lesbian) video is a specialized genre, though a large number of such videos are produced, nevertheless.^[2] Image File history File links Download high-resolution version (427x610, 92 KB) Licensing This image is of a DVD cover, and the copyright for it is most likely owned by either the publisher of the DVD or the studio which produced the DVD in question. ... Image File history File links Download high-resolution version (427x610, 92 KB) Licensing This image is of a DVD cover, and the copyright for it is most likely owned by either the publisher of the DVD or the studio which produced the DVD in question. ... Hardcore pornography is a form of pornography that features explicit sexual acts. ... Softcore is a form of pornography that is less explicit than hardcore pornography in depicting or describing sexual behaviour. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ... Sexual fetishism is the attribution of attractive sexual qualities to non-living objects as an overwhelming alternative to the sexuality of a man or a woman, or as an enhancing element to a relationship. ...

Most porn actresses perform in lesbian sex scenes at least occasionally. A number of porn actresses, such as Felecia, Justine Joli and Charlie Laine, even specialize in this genre and only have sex with other women on camera. Though porn industry publicity tends to portray porn actresses as being bisexual, such on-screen activity does not necessarily reflect real-life sexual orientation. While many actresses who perform in these scenes are bisexual or lesbian in real life, many others are "gay for pay" and are exclusively heterosexual off-camera. In some cases, performing exclusively with women is seen as a way of staying faithful to a real-life male partner. A pornographic actor or a porn star is somebody who appears in pornographic movies, live sex shows or peep shows. ... For the R&B singer of Mo Thugs fame, see Layzie Bones. ... Justine Joli (July 16, 1980) is the stage name of an American adult model and porn actress. ... Charlie Laine (born January 31, 1984) is an American pornographic film actress and model originally from Marion, Wisconsin. ... In human sexuality, bisexuality describes a man or woman having a sexual orientation to persons of either or both sexes (a man or woman who sexually likes both sexes; people who are sexually and/or romantically attracted to both males and females). ... Gay-for-pay is the slang term accorded to male (and sometimes, but less frequently, female) actors, pornographic stars or prostitutes who identify as heterosexual but perform homosexual acts professionally. ...

In addition there is small genre of pornography made by lesbians, such as the magazine On Our Backs and videos by Fatale Media, SIR Video, and Pink and White Productions. On Our Backs (ISSN 0890-2224) was the first women-run erotica magazine and the first magazine to feature lesbian erotica for a lesbian audience in the United States. ...

Views about lesbianism in erotica

Historically, the majority of erotica and pornography has been produced by men for a male audience. Lesbian themes have nevertheless been extremely popular because for many heterosexual men; the depiction of sexual activity between two women, for some, is more arousing than sexual activity between a man and a woman. A study has shown that on average heterosexual men are more aroused by pornography showing lesbian activity than they are by depictions of heterosexual activity.^[3] This finding corresponds with several earlier studies (summarized in Whitley et al. (1999);^[4] see also anecdotal reports in Loftus (2002).^[5]) Heterosexuality is a sexual orientation characterized by esthetic attraction, romantic love or sexual desire exclusively for members of the opposite sex or gender, contrasted with homosexuality and distinguished from bisexuality and asexuality. ...

Enjoyment of "girl on girl" pornography can have little connection to feelings towards homosexuals in real life. A heterosexual man may be aroused by pornographic depictions of lesbianism yet hold homophobic views. However, several studies suggest that men who perceive lesbianism as erotic may have less negative attitudes toward lesbians than they do towards gay men.^[4][6] Homophobia is a term used to describe: A culturally determined phobia manifesting as fear, revulsion, or contempt for homosexuality. ...

Lesbian views on sex between women in erotica are complex. Historically, women have been less involved in the production and consumption of erotica in general and visual pornography in particular than have men. Since the late 1960s, radical feminist viewpoints on pornography and the sexual objectification of women have influenced the lesbian community. Some lesbians and bisexual women object to all pornography on feminist grounds. Since the end of the 1980s "Lesbian Sex Wars", however, lesbians and bisexual women are less likely to identify with radical feminist opinions on sexuality and are more likely to have positive views about erotica and pornography.^{[citation needed]} Some lesbians are even consumers of mainstream pornography, but many dislike what they perceive as inaccurate and stereotypical depictions of women and lesbianism in mainstream pornography. Some are also uncomfortable with male interest in lesbians.^[7] As of the early 2000s, there is a very strong lesbian erotic literature movement, as well as a small genre of pornography made by lesbians for a lesbian audience (see "Lesbianism in contemporary pornography" above). Radical feminism views womens oppression as a fundamental element in human society and seeks to challenge that standard by broadly rejecting standard gender roles. ... Sexual objectification is objectification of a person. ... The Feminist Sex Wars, Lesbian Sex Wars, or simply the Sex Wars or Porn Wars, refers to the acrimonious debates within the feminist movement and lesbian community in the late 1970s through the 1980s around the issues of pornography, sex work, sadomasochism, gender identity, sex roles, and other sexual issues. ...

Some heterosexual women also enjoy lesbian erotica or pornography, although they may have little interest in actual sexual activity with other women.^{[citation needed]}

References

1. ^ "Sex in Cinema: The Greatest and Most Influential Erotic/Sexual Films and Scenes" by Tim Dirks, The Best Films of All Time: A Primer of Cinematic History (website), 1996–2007. Accessed October 19, 2006.
2. ^ "Japanese AV FAQ" by Tetsuwan Atom, Lezlovevideo.com, 2001. Accessed June 14, 2006.
3. ^ Chivers ML, Rieger G, Latty E, Bailey JM. (2004). "A sex difference in the specificity of sexual arousal". Psychological Science 15: 736–744. (PDF)
4. ^ ^{a b} Whitely BE Jr, Wiederman MW, Wryobeck JM. (1999). "Correlates of heterosexual men's eroticization of lesbianism". Journal of Psychology and Human Sexuality 11: 25–41.
5. ^ Loftus, David. 2002. Watching Sex: How Men Really Respond to Pornography. ISBN 1-56025-360-6
6. ^ Louderback LA, Whitely BE Jr. (1997). "Perceived erotic value of homosexuality and sex-role attitudes as mediators of sex differences in heterosexual college students' attitudes toward lesbians and gay men". Journal of Sex Research 34: 175–182.
7. ^ Bright, Susie. 1992. "Men who love lesbians (who don't care for them too much)". In: Susie Bright's Sexual Reality: A Virtual Sex World Reader. pp 93-98. ISBN 0-939416-58-1

John Michael Bailey (born 2 July 1957 in Lubbock, Texas) is an American psychology professor, best known for his controversial work on homosexuality, bisexuality and transsexualism. ... PDF is an abbreviation with several meanings: Portable Document Format Post-doctoral fellowship Probability density function There also is an electronic design automation company named PDF Solutions. ... Susie Bright (also known as Susie Sexpert) (born March 25, 1958, Arlington, Virginia) is a writer, speaker, teacher, audio show host, performer, all on the subject of sexuality. ...

Further reading

• Bonnet, Marie-Jo. 2000. Les Deux Amies: Essai sur le couple de femmes dans l'art. Paris: Editions Blanche. ISBN 2-911621-94-8
• Bunch, Charlotte. (1982) Lesbianism and erotica in pornographic America. In: Laura Lederer (ed). Take Back the Night. New York: Bantam Books. ISBN 0-553-14907-5.
• Penelope, Julia. (1980). The Lesbian in Heterosexual Fantasies. Sinister Wisdom 15:76–91.

Charlotte Brunch at Beijing +5 Charlotte Bunch (b. ...

See also

LGBT Portal

• History of erotic depictions
• Femslash
• Yuri (term)

Image File history File links Portal. ... Roman oil lamp depicting coitus more ferarum Erotic depictions include paintings, sculpture, photographs, dramatic arts, music and writings that show scenes of a sexual nature. ... It is proposed that this article be deleted, because of the following concern: original research, no citations whatsoever, NPOV problems, fancruft, debatable encyclopedic notability, MANY neologisms If you can address this concern by improving, copyediting, sourcing, renaming or merging the page, please edit this page and do so. ... Utena Tenjou and Anthy Himemiya from Revolutionary Girl Utena, a popular yuri couple. ...

External links

• Erotic and Pornographic Art: Lesbian by Tasmin Wilton, glbtq, 2002.
• Pornographic Film and Video: Lesbian by Teresa Theophano, glbtq, 2002.
• "Kira Cochrane wishes Keira and Scarlett would stop it" by Kira Cochrane, New Statesman, February 27, 2006
• It's February; Pucker Up, TV Actresses by Virginia Heffernan, New York Times, February 10, 2005. (requires login)
• "Celebrating Lesbian Sexuality: An Interview with Inoue Meimy, Editor of Japanese Lesbian Erotic Lifestyle Magazine Carmilla" interview by Katsuhiko Suganuma and James Welker, Intersections: Gender, History and Culture in the Asian Context 12, January 2006.
• Shoujo-ai Canada
• Yuricon

The following links may contain explicit content: The New York Times is an internationally known daily newspaper published in New York City and distributed in the United States and many other nations worldwide. ...

• Isle of Lesbos – historical poetry, classical art, and vintage images for lesbians.
• Le Musee Lesbien, Saphisme.com.
• The Encyclopedia of Lesbian Movie Scenes - Lesbian scenes in mainstream film.
• Lezlove Video Group – discussion group for lesbian erotica.
• Shoujo-Ai Archive