Tales Of Erotica That Literally Changed The World

In the age of instant gratification, it's become increasingly difficult for erotica to stimulate us. It's no doubt a result of the trash masquerading as erotica (I'm looking right at you "Snowqueens Icedragon"), but there was a time when the published word was infinitely more scandalous than the pornography we're overloaded with today.

Lelo (link below) has gathered together a look back at five "sex stories that changed the world," each one more scintillatingly scandalous than the one before. 

The Kama Sutra

An of-the-time guide to gracious and virtuous living, it spans everything from personal hygiene to ‘how to be a good wife’. In the West, though, the work has become synonymous with its lyrical descriptions of some 64 sex acts and positions.

The Marquis de Sade

Spanning film, literature and art, de Sade’s legacy is as complicated as it is rich. Certainly, the posthumous publication of works like ‘120 Days of Sodom’ in 1905 (described by Sade himself as “the most impure tale that has ever been told since our world began”) raised important issues surrounding pornography, morality and censorship.

John Cleland's Fanny Hill

‘Fanny Hill’ broke the mold with a likeable, principled female protagonist who – shock! horror! – enjoys sex. That her erotic encounters are described in such delightfully poetic metaphors – think “flesh brush” and “pleasure-thirsty channel” – only adds to the seduction. Unfortunately for Cleland his publishers and printers, neither the Church of England nor the British Government shared our assessment, resulting in the author’s imprisonment for “corrupting the King’s subjects”.

Lady Chatterly's Lover

The plot centers on Connie – the eponymous Lady Chatterley – and her frustration at being emotionally and physically neglected by her war-wounded husband. So what does she do? She begins a passionate affair with handsome gamekeeper, Mellor. Smashing taboos of class, gender roles and sex along the way, Connie comes to understand that love is as much about the body as it is the mind.

The Story of O

The book follows O, a young Parisian woman who is schooled by her lover in the art of unwavering submission. To that end, her anus is widened, her labia pierced and her bottom branded. Needless to say, blindfolds, whips and chains are par for the course. She becomes the willing slave, unrequited lover and ultimately ‘property’ of new master, Sir Stephen before things take an altogether darker turn…

Via Lelo