Lesbian erotica

Boucher, The nymph Callisto, seduced by Jupiter in the shape of Diana (1759).

Depictions of lesbianism are found among the erotic frescoes of Pompeii. Having all but disappeared during the Middle Ages, they made a comeback after the Renaissance. François Boucher and J. M. W. Turner were among the forerunners of 19th century artists who featured eroticism between women among their work. Like other painters (such as Jean-Honoré Fragonard), Boucher found inspiration in classical mythology. He was one of many artists to use various myths surrounding the goddess Diana, including the often-depicted story of Callisto, Diana's nymph who was seduced by Jupiter, with the god taking Diana's form since Callisto had vowed chastity.[3]

In the 19th century, lesbianism became more openly discussed and found its way into many fields of art. In France, the influence of Charles Baudelaire is considered crucial, on literature as well as on the visual arts,[4] though according to Dorothy Kosinski it was a matter not for the high arts but mostly for popular erotica.[3] Auguste Rodin's illustrations for Baudelaire's Les Fleurs du Mal included lesbian scenes.[4] Gustave Courbet's Le Sommeil (1866) illustrates a scene from the 1835 story "Mademoiselle de Maupin" by Théophile Gautier (though Baudelaire's "Delphine et Hippolyte" from Les fleurs is also cited as an inspiration[4]), depicting two women asleep after love-making.[5][6] Its lesbian subject matter was controversial enough to be the subject of a police report in 1872,[7] but Courbet's painting is credited with inspiring others to depict "sapphic couple[s]", which in turn led to "soften[ing] taboos by revealing love between women and forcing society to see those whom it regarded as deviants and sinners."[8] Nonetheless, the audience for such artwork was predominantly male (Courbet's painting was commissioned by a profligate Turkish diplomat), therefore "the term lesbian should perhaps be provided with quotation marks, insofar as we are dealing with images made by men, for men, and in which the very disposition of the women's bodies declares that they are arranged more for the eyes of the viewer than for those of one another."[9] In the twentieth century the image's sensuality would appeal to lesbian viewers as well.[10]

An Orientalist depiction (cunnilingus as exotica)

In 19th century French painting, lesbianism was often depicted within the context of orientalism, and was thus apt to be affected by the era's colonialism and imperialism; as a result, assumptions regarding race and class informed the images, especially when lesbianism was linked to harem and brothel scenes. Later depictions of lesbians in Western art may reflect like cultural mores, or merely borrow from formal pictorial conventions.[11]

In the second half of the 19th century, the lesbian theme was well-established, and its artists include Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec,[3] Constantin Guys,[3] Edgar Degas,[3] and Jean-Louis Forain.[3] Later artists include Gustav Klimt, Egon Schiele, Christian Schad,[12] Albert Marquet, Balthus, and Leonor Fini. More explicit depictions were an important part of the work of erotic illustrators such as Édouard-Henri Avril, Franz von Bayros, Martin van Maële, Rojan, Gerda Wegener, and Tom Poulton. Explicit depictions of lovemaking between women were also an important theme in Japanese erotic shunga, including the work of such masters as Utamaro, Hokusai, Katsukawa Shunchō, Utagawa Kunisada, Utagawa Kuniyoshi, Yanagawa Shigenobu, Keisai Eisen, and Kawanabe Kyōsai.

In art and fetish photography, notable artists to work with lesbian themes include David Hamilton, Steve Diet Goedde and Bob Carlos Clarke. More recently, lesbian and bisexual photographers such as Nan Goldin, Tee Corinne, and Judy Francesconi have focused on erotic themes, reclaiming a subject that has traditionally been mainly treated through the eye of male artists.

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  Lesbian scene, engraving, 18th century
• 
  Hokusai, Shunga Lesbians, painting, c. 1814
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  Lesbian play, lithograph, 1840
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  Jean Auguste Dominique Ingres, The Turkish Bath, oil on canvas, 1862. An example of erotica within the context of Orientalism
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  Édouard-Henri Avril, pastoral lesbian scene including Sappho
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  Two women in bed in 69 position, photograph, 1883
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  Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, The Two Girlfriends, oil, ca. 1894-5
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  Martin van Maële, print from La Grande Danse macabre des vifs, 1905
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  Gustav Klimt, Zwei auf dem Rücken liegende Akte, drawing, ca. 1906
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  Egon Schiele, Two female nudes embracing each other, drawing, 1919

Erotica and pornography involving sex between women have been predominantly produced by men for a male and female audience. A 1996 study by Henry E. Adams, Lester W. Wright, Jr., and Bethany A. Lohr, published in the Journal of Abnormal Psychology, found that heterosexual men have the highest genital and subjective arousal to pornography depicting heterosexual activity, rather than lesbian activity.[17] Another study indicated that heterosexual men are more aroused by depictions involving lesbian sex than they are by depictions of heterosexual activity, while heterosexual and lesbian women were aroused by a wide range of sexual stimuli.[18] On-screen lesbian sex (in both Western and Japanese pornography), while typically aimed at a male audience, has developed a small lesbian audience as well, but still contrasts with gay male pornography, which is considered a genre of its own.

Deborah Swedberg, in an analysis published in the NWSA Journal in 1989, argues that it is possible for lesbian viewers to reappropriate lesbian porn. Swedberg notes that, typically, all-women films differ from mixed porn (with men and women) in, among other things, the settings (less anonymous and more intimate) and the very acts performed (more realistic and emotionally involved, and with a focus on the whole body rather than just the genitals): "the subject of the heterosexually produced all-women videos is female pleasure". She argues (against Laura Mulvey's "Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cineman" and Susanne Kappeler's Pornography and Representation, for example) that such movies allow for female subjectivity since the women are more than just objects of exchange.[19] Appropriation by women of male-made lesbian erotica (such as by David Hamilton) was signaled also by Tee Corinne.[20]

Some pornography is made by lesbians, such as the defunct lesbian erotic magazine On Our Backs; videos by Fatale Media, SIR Video, Pink and White Productions, and BLEU Productions; and web sites such as the CyberDyke Network.

A PornHub report indicates that "lesbian", "orgy", "BDSM" are the most popular category for female viewers of its porn portal. The category was 151% more popular with women than with men.[21]

Mainstream lesbian pornography is criticized by some members of the lesbian community for its inauthenticity.[22] According to author Elizabeth Whitney, "lesbianism is not acknowledged as legitimate" in lesbian porn due to the prevalence of "heteronormatively feminine women", the experimental nature, and the constant catering to the male gaze, all of which counter real life lesbianism.[22]

A study conducted by Valerie Webber found that most actors in lesbian porn consider their own pornographic sex somewhere on a spectrum between real and fake sex, depending on several factors.[22] They were more likely to consider it authentic if there was a real attraction between themselves and the other actor(s) in the scene,[22] and if they felt mutual respect between themselves and the producers.[22]

Authenticity in porn is disputed because some assert that the only authentic sex has no motive other than sex itself.[22] Porn sex, being shot for a camera, automatically has other motives than sex itself.[22] On the other side, some assert that all porn sex is authentic since the sex is an occurrence that took place, and that is all that is needed to classify it as authentic.[22]

With regard to the authenticity of their performance, some lesbian porn actors describe their performance as an exaggerated, altered version of their real personality, providing some authenticity to the performance.[22] Authenticity depends on real life experiences, so some lesbian porn actors feel the need to create an entirely different persona in order to feel safe.[22] Webber writes of Agatha, a queer actor in lesbian porn who "prefers that the activity and ambiance of her performances be very inauthentic, because otherwise it feels 'too close to home'", referring to the oppression and verbal abuse she is subject to by homophobic men in her daily life.[22]

Like in straight and gay male porn, there is an emphasis on penetration in lesbian porn.[22] Even though studies have found that dildos have minimal use in real life lesbian sexual activity,[22][23][24] lesbian porn prominently features dildos.[22] According to Lydon, the ability to achieve orgasm clitorally, as opposed to penetratively, eliminates the need for a phallus and, by extension, for a man.[22] For this reason, male producers continue to include, and male viewers continue to demand, a phallus as a central feature in lesbian porn.[22]

Several penile plethysmography studies have shown high levels of arousal in heterosexual men to pornography showing sexual activity between women.[17][18] One study found heterosexual men to have the highest genital and subjective arousals to pornography depicting heterosexual activity, rather than lesbian activity,[17] while another study reported that on average heterosexual men are more aroused by pornography showing sexual activity between women than they are by depictions of heterosexual activity.[18] These findings correspond with reports in several earlier studies (summarized in Whitley et al. (1999);[25] see also anecdotal reports in Loftus (2002)).[26] Male perception of lesbianism as erotic has been shown[25] to correspond with recent exposure to lesbian pornography; however, men who have recently viewed lesbian pornography are no more likely than others to perceive lesbians as hypersexual and/or bisexual. Bernard E. Whitley, Jr., et al. hypothesized, upon reaching this conclusion, that "pornography may [...] lead heterosexual men to view lesbianism as erotic by means of a generalized association of female-female sexual activity with sexual arousal", but noted that "more research is needed to clarify the relationship between exposure to pornography and the perceived erotic value of lesbianism."

Enjoyment of lesbian 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 toward gay men.[25][27] Studies have further shown that, while men tend to correlate lesbianism with eroticism more often than women do, women perceive male homosexuality as erotic no more often than men do.[25]

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 objections to pornography and the sexual objectification of women have influenced the lesbian community, with some feminists objecting to all pornography. However, since the end of the 1980s' "Feminist Sex Wars" and the beginning of the "women's erotica" movement, feminist views on pornography, both lesbian and heterosexual, have shifted.[28] 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.[29] 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.

An increasing amount of queer erotic literature has been released in recent decades, written by women and usually for women.[30] There is a large sub-category of this erotica that involves various queer relationships while also including bisexuality and transgender characters into the writing.[30] By introducing various other identities and sexualities, it opens up the erotica world to more gender-fluidity and acceptance of other queer or non-heteronormative sexualities.[30]