Pornography and Erotica

The terms “pornography” and “erotica” are often defined in opposition to each other and are best treated together. As a minimal descriptive definition we may say that both refer to mediated communication that depicts sexually explicit subject matter. But beyond this the two terms part company in a variety of ways. “Erotica” was coined in the 1950s to designate something more elevated and exclusive than pornography. Social scientists have drawn up typologies for categorizing sexually explicit material. These usually oppose the “ideal” character of erotica, in which no power relations are discerned, with the degrading and sexist nature of “standard” or “violent” pornography. Today the term erotica is often used in reference to material produced by and for women and gays as opposed to (male) pornography. There is also a range of distinctions made in terms of intentions and outcomes; pornography is designed to sexually arouse the producer and/or audience, whereas erotica is whatever a given individual finds arousing; pornography induces a purely sexual response, whereas erotica combines sexual with emotional and aesthetic responses; pornography stimulates solitary male masturbation whereas erotica provides an aphrodisiac for interpersonal sex.