Right: https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/GDTLVQ153556106/AHSI?u=omni&sid=AHSI&xid=32b93350&pg=74 Homosexual Erotica

Throughout the 1920s and 30s so-called ‘propaganda films’ about birth control or the dangers from sexually transmitted diseases, such as The Uncharted Sea (1928) and The Irresponsibles (1929) were refused film certificates by the BBFC. This is surprising since neither of these two films depicts how such diseases are actually caught, only that they seem to occur outside “marital relationships”. New media can always rely on sex to propel its popularity. And the motion picture was no exception to this rule. Right from the start, when moving images were developed in the 1890s, their erotic potential was seized upon. We know that a group of adventurous Brazilian pornographers bought one of the first five Kinetoscope cameras manufactured by Thomas Edison in 1893. Three years later, on this side of the Atlantic, George Méliès produced the first moving picture to feature nudity, though only a few frames from Le Bain (1896) have survived. Right: https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/GDAAIR446444339/AHSI?u=omni&sid=AHSI&xid=9376408d&pg=45 The Novel de Flagellation But the reality wasn’t as simple—or as scandalous—as it seemed. Flappers’ reputations were made worse by petting, but the practice also reflected traditional values by avoiding premarital sex. In a day when a woman’s reputation could still be irreparably damaged by divorce or an illegitimate child, petting let flappers thumb their nose at the convention while still protecting themselves against the repercussions of sex.The first known example of British ‘cheesecake’ top ends The Pleasure Principle, a new collection on BFI Player exploring the history of British film erotica. Appropriately shot on a Kinetoscope or ‘peepshow’ camera, the Brighton-based pioneer Esme Collins’ A Victorian Lady at Her Boudoir (1896) is, in effect, a three-minute long stripshow in which the leading lady stops short in her shift, appears confused by the camera and tousles her hair by way of a wink to the audience. Right: https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/GEILBK698847083/AHSI?u=omni&sid=AHSI&xid=eafc0675&pg=31 Delve into the fascinating lives and histories of the authors and artists in Enfer

Leonor Fini was an Argentine-Italian painter who spent much of her artistic career in France. Associated with the Surrealist movement, Fini’s self-portraits and mythological paintings focused on eroticism and dreams. “ Paintings, like dreams, have a life of their own and I have always painted very much the way I dream,” she once said. Genet, Jean. La galère/de Jean Genet.; [Eaux-fortes de Leonor Fini.]. Illustrated by Leonor Fini, Jacques Loyau, 1947. Archives of Sexuality and Gender, Much of the hand-wringing about petting parties focused on the supposed immorality of the young woman who attended them. Critics grumbled about flappers’ refusal to engage in traditional courtship and their flippant attitudes toward long-held social conventions. Paris-Éros is a work of erotic courtesan fantasies written by Auguste Dumont under the pen name Martial d’Estoc. It is set in Paris and offers a fictional, yet historically accurate, view of the society and culture of the city in the early twentieth century. The stories involve what one would expect in an erotic novel, such as prostitution, lesbian sex (likely driven by male fantasy), fashionable courtesans, passionate orgies and erotomania. While the book may or may not stand on its own literary merits, the included illustrations are beautifully rendered. Argentine-Italian surrealist painter Leonor Fini was invited to illustrate La Galère and created six etchings depicting explicit sexual activities between men. Finding homosexual erotica can be challenging given past social attitudes toward homosexuality. In 1956, Genet was given a fine and a suspended prison sentence for publishing the illustrated editions of La Galère and Querelle de Brest, both of which were considered “in contempt of morality”. Finding a work that artistically depicts gay intimacy, especially illustrated by a female artist, is something of a rarity.Not all petting parties were intentional affairs; some broke out spontaneously in dance halls, cars or secluded places. And to some, the very thought of a party devoted to sex—even a relatively chaste version—was cause for outrage. Eve Blue, a college undergraduate, was there for the fun. That December night, she kissed six men, caressing and touching them but never going all the way. The young flapper had just experienced a “petting party”—a 1920s and 1930s fad that titillated youth, scandalized adults and stoked the myth of the immoral flapper. It was between the acts put on in Soho’s strip clubs that the short uncertified films Goodnight with Sabrina (1958) and Burlesque Queen (1961) would have been exhibited. With tassels twirling, over-elaborate dance steps and bodies swathed in voluminous gauze, these 8mm shorts are caught in time, oddly prim in routines that could have been choreographed by the Women’s Institute. Domínguez was a Spanish artist best known for his loosely rendered Surrealist paintings. Influenced by avant-garde European painters such as René Magritte, Giorgio de Chirico, and Yves Tanguy, he employed bizarre subject matter to great effect. Domínguez, like Max Ernst, used a technique called decalcomania, a technique used by some surrealist artists which involves pressing paint between sheets of paper. Hugnet, Georges. Le feu au cul / [Georges Hugnet]; [illustrations d’Oscar Domínguez]. Illustrated by Oscar Dominguez, [Robert J. Godet], [1943]. Archives of Sexuality and Gender, https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/GKUCFJ839309656/AHSI?u=omni&sid=AHSI&xid=be484433&pg=5 Hugnet, Georges. Le feu au cul / [Georges Hugnet]; [illustrations d’Oscar Domínguez]. Illustrated by Oscar Dominguez, [Robert J. Godet], [1943]. Archives of Sexuality and Gender, https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/GKUCFJ839309656/AHSI?u=omni&sid=AHSI&xid=be484433&pg=20 Illustration for plays