Tijuana Bibles were eight-page comic strips that depicted movie stars, athletes, cartoon characters or stock figures in sexual situations.  The plots were often based on dirty jokes.  Palm-sized, they were printed largely in black-and-white on cheap paper and were sold…

The Storyville Portraits are photographs of the sex workers of Storyville, New Orlean’s red-light district.  The pictures were taken by E.J. Bellocq in the 1910’s.  The 89 photographs depict women, some nude, some dressed, some masked.  The women are shown…

Olympia (1865) is an oil painting by Édouard Manet.  It depicts a courtesan, with her servant and cat, as she waits for a client.  After he was challenged to display a nude painting at the Annual Salon, Manet created Olympia. …

Moms Mabley (1897-1975) was an American stand-up comic.  Appearing as a frumpy older woman, speaking in a raspy voice, she made sexually explicit jokes, particularly focusing on her desire for young men and her disdain for older men.  Her grandmotherly…

Pablo Picasso (1881-1973) was a Spanish painter, sculptor and ceramicist.  He co-founded the Cubist movement.  Among his famous works are Les Demoiselles d’Avignon, Guernica and Les Fleurs de la Paix.  He was, probably, the most important artist of the 20th…

Lumi Ray (b. 1997) is an American adult film actor, model, writer, photographer and podcaster.  Before she became a sexual artist, she worked for several years as a cook.  Ray began as a nude model and an OnlyFans performer.  Among…

Holly Randall (b. 1978) is an American erotic photographer, director, producer and podcaster.  Her photographs have appeared online in Twistys and Playboy and in the magazines Hustler, Club, High Society and Penthouse. Her books include Erotic Dream Girls, Kinky Nylons and Kinky Lingerie. …

The Saklava Funeral Posts are wooden sculptures carved by the Saklava people of Madagascar.  Displayed at the four corners of graves, they are often composed of a man and woman in sexual intercourse.  Other poses show men with erect penises…

“To His Mistress Going to Bed” (c. 1593) is an erotic poem by John Donne.  In the piece the poet encourages his lover to undress, asking her to remove her clothes, starting at the top and finishing at the bottom. …

Emmanuelle (1974) is an erotic French film about the wife of a diplomat stationed in Bangkok.  Bored, the wife is sexually active, and the other characters also engage in sexual activity.  While no penetration is shown, the film includes masturbation,…