"Don't Touch It, Stick A Pin In It"

Details on this antique postcard-slash-pincushion at Kitschy Kitschy Coo.

Spanking Ann-Margret

Grey Villet's 1961 photo of "Starlet Ann-Margret Olson receiving a playful spanking from her uncle" combined with happy memories of Elvis spanking only make me dream a little dream of seeing Elvis spank Ann-Margret.

Scream-Singing The Praises Of The Black Canary Figurine

Collin writes of the latest luck of "B-list DC superheroine", the Black Canary, to get have three high end action figures released at once -- and it amuses me.

Barbie collectors recently got a high-end Black Canary figure for about $40, but the figure caused something of an uproar because of Canary's black-leather-and-fishnets attire. While the comic costume is meant to evoke something of a burlesque crimefighting kind of thing, overzealous parents decried Black Canary Barbie as a prostitute, or a participant in that most unholy of all personal practices, bondage. Never mind that most people should be aware by now that many Barbies are intended for adult collectors and are sold as such - someone just needed an excuse to be outraged.

I don't know why Barbie collectors act so damn weird about this stuff when there's not a kid in the world who collects Babs and Co. All the 'fashion dolls' are for adults, of various levels of perversity and orientations, and they have the adult price tags to prove it.

Collin continues:

Tonner's female figures are absolutely the company's strength but my love of females definitely provides a bias. Man, do I love females. While I loved Tonner's Batman, he's a very pretty man. The delicate, angelic doll look that Tonner employs fits so much easier with the female figures, which are radiant and idealized - very true to the idea behind much comic art. Apparently, superpowers make you really, really hot - unless you're being written by Grant Morrison. That guy's messed up.

I love a grown man who not only admits to playing with dolls (and action figures are dolls), but loves the erotic nature of the babes too. (OK, he doesn't quite use any erotic terms, but do I have to fill in all the dots for you?) Here's a passage wherein the collector hints at his lust more specifically:

Correct me if I'm wrong, ladies, but there must be something pretty awesome about modern fishnet technology, because I'm seeing it used everywhere, and more effectively than ever. Even DC Direct's 6" Black Canary action figure had these great fabric fishnets fixed around her legs - which is always so much more aesthetic than sculpted-on fishnets, which often end up looking like scarring from some kind of horrible waffle iron accident instead of high fashion. Canary has great fishnet stockings, and under them is a thin layer of flesh-colored fabric that covers the leg as a second stocking, and completely hides the knee joins, creating a seamless leg very effectively. And the perfect little boots? They zipper down the back. I almost wish I had some kind of weird shoe fetish, because the engineering of these is really impressive.

"Almost wish" you had a shoe fetish? Sounds like you're already there, Collin.

Personally, I'm intrigued with the metal stand holding her crotch. Now that looks like a great BDSM toy; part chastity belt, with access for forced orgasms.

I don't know a thing about the Black Canary, but I'm told that her secret weapon is a screaming head -- pretty sure that stand's got something to do with it.

Huddled Mass Yearning

The image of Statue of Liberty is projected onto a nude woman's body so cleverly that Lady Liberty's torch seems to toy with her nipple.



Via Heather_Koslov at Flickr.

Serving Master

I know what you're wondering, "Why is this little dog bringing his master his whip here at Silent Porn Star?"

Well, Virginia, I spend many hours looking at smut which colors my, um, "world view"... And I have quite a large number of Dominatrix friends. So I can't help but think this antique piece would be just too wonderful holding BDSM toys. Pups paws are even crossed, reminding me of bound wrists.

If you're inclined to agree, you can bid on it. It's item #1175 in the James D. Julia Auction's three day auction, August 26-28, 2008, the catalog says:

OUTSTANDING CAST IRON UMBRELLA/CANE STAND. The figural form of a standing dog holding a double looped whip. The dog stands on a pedestal and the scrolled base holds a separate cast iron leaf form drip pan marked "Chase Brothers & Co. Makers, Boston No. 11". An unusual and desirable form. Painted in black overall. SIZE: 23" h x 20" w x 13" d. CONDITION: Some rust, generally very good. 9-94027 (1,400-2,000)

Red-Cheeked

I'm going to be interviewed on Radio Blowfish on August 5th... Not sure yet when it will air.

Color me red.

To distract us all, why not read Greta Christina's post at the Blowfish Blog, On Watching the Same Ten-Second TV Spank Scene… Over and Over and Over:

What is it about sex scenes in non- porno movies and TV shows, novels and comic books, that makes them hot?

BDSM On XXBN

From Gracie at Sex-Kitten:

Ever wonder what Gloria Brame would say? Now you can find out, live.

I'm very excited to have Dr. Gloria Brame on Cult of Gracie Radio Wednesday, July 9th (at 9 P.M. central), on XXBN ~ and not just because she calls me "the divine Gracie Passette --sex-kitten and all around erotic goddess" either. *wink*

As you know (or ought to!), Gloria's a licensed clinical sexologist, leading international authority on BDSM and fetish sex, and a wise-cracking kinky person. What's not to love?

You can find out more about Gloria right here at Sex-Kitten.net: Gloria Brame Discusses Sexual Freedom in America, BDSM in Film, as well as the review of her book. More information on Gloria is available at her website, GloriaBrame.com, and her blog, Inside the mind of Gloria Brame.

Click here to listen to the show live, and call in with your comments and questions for Gloria at 1 (646) 200-3136.

Image shown here was found at Gloria's blog; check it out, if you aren't already a fan like I am.

More Quincy Plots Than You Can Shake A Stick At

In London on July 17th, Sothbey's will auction off a collection of case notes on autopsies, records kept by Sir Bernard Spilsbury in a wooden filing cabinet with four drawers, each labeled 1905-17, 1918-1927, 1928-30, and 1931-32. Who was Sir Spilsbury?

the professional records of the father of professional forensic pathology. Bernard Spilsbury (1877-1947) was the foremost pathologist of his day, with a formidible reputation as an expert witness: "his opinions were so impregnable he could achieve single-handed all the legal consequences of a homicide - arrest, prosecution, conviction, and final post-mortem - requiring only the brief assistance of the hangman" (quoted in Rose, p.xix). The post of Honorary Pathologist to the Home Office was created for Spilsbury, who made his name with some of the most famous English murders of the twentieth century, such as the Crippen case, the "Brides in the Bath" murders, the Voisin case, and the Brighton trunk murders, and who conducted over 20,000 autopsies during a career that lasted over forty years. Spilsbury was a media celebrity - Britain's "living successor to mythical Sherlock Holmes" (Time, 2 July 1934) - and was the original figure of the infallible forensic pathologist that is so familiar in contemporary crime fiction. According to his obituary in The Lancet, Spilsbury "stood alone and unchallenged as our greatest medico-legal expert". Recent research has shown, however, that the awe in which Spilsbury was held, combined with his own inflexible opinions, led to a number of miscarriages of justice, including several wrongful executions.

Go here for more on Bernard Henry Spilsbury.

While Sotheby's won't let us look at what is inside, they will tell us some of the tantalizing details from the nearly 4,000 3x5 index cards:

There are many stories recorded in these terse notes, from horrific examples of neglect and abuse to bizarre cases such as the unfortunate Helen Elphinston-Dalrymple, who died of the effects of a dry shampoo applied at the Harrods salon in 1909. On 12 February 1918 Spilsbury performed an autopsy on 16 year-old Nellie Trew, and also examined her clothing for blood and semen: she had been raped then strangled on Eltham Common. The subsequent trial has recently been described by Rose as "one of the most blatant" miscarriages of British justice of the 20th century. Spilsbury's notes for 16 June 1919 record the autopsy of a 72 year-old widower who had been admitted to hospital two days previously: "He stated that on June 13 he had glass of beer ... Then stopped by 2 men who offered him whiskey. Drank 2 tablespoonfull which burnt his mouth". He had been given hydrochloric acid, which burnt through his stomach wall. In October 1923 Spilsbury examined the remains of a soldier, James Frederick Ellis ("H[anker]Chief & piece of cloth tied over mouth ... limbs had been tied ...when found body was reduced to skeleton except portion of lower limbs which were clothed in tight fitting garments..."), who suffocated as a result of masochistic sexual practices with another member of his regiment ("...he & Ellis proposed playing Cowboys & Indians & he trussed up Ellis who then told him that he was all right...").

1980's S&M Advertising Cards

Vintage S & M advertising cards from England, 4" x 5 3/4".





These and others at a Tias

The Bonds Of B-Movie Queen Michelle Bauer

Michelle Bauer is known as July 1981's Penthouse Pet, for her work on the Playboy Channel, and, after auditioning for Fred Olen Ray, as a queen of scream for her roles in B-films such as The Tomb, Vampire Vixens from Venus, and Dinosaur Island.



You might be more familiar with her from the campy Cafe Flesh -- shown here in a relatively clean (but O-so-fun!) clip:



But did you also know she was Pia Sands, legendary in retro bondage films?




When the B-film career took off, she was getting divorced and he then filed a lawsuit requesting she not use his last name, Bauer, for her films. In 1988, for Hollywood Chainsaw Hookers, she tried using the name Michelle McClellen (McClellen was the last name of her second husband), but the press continued to use Bauer, and so her first husband eventually relented & consented.

She also worked under the names Pia Snow and Kim Bittner, and when you add up all the titles, it's pretty clear to see she did perform in more than the trashy topless films she is generally interviewed regarding -- and note that bondage films like Rope Burn didn't make her barefacts list.

(Most of Bauer's bondage films are available in DVD compilations -- for fans and collectors, see this page on how to match feature titles with current bondage film compilations.)

In fact, she's bared more & dared more than she actually admits to in interviews. Like in this interview at Evil Dread, where Cafe Flesh is mentioned, but as you can see, is downplayed greatly:

Did you have a limit as to how far you would go?

Michelle Bauer: I know when I was doing the men's magazines, I was married to Mr. Bauer at the time and he preferred that I did not do any layouts with men for the stills. So I refrained from that. There's maybe, if anybody looked and searched , there's only very few magazine layouts that I did with another guy. It was all with other women. And then when I got into the B movies it was just an occupational hazard. You had love scenes with guys and you had love scenes with girls. And full frontal was a requirement. I you weren't gonna do it somebody else was gonna. You were defeating your own purpose if you weren't. You completely trusted the people you were working with and working for. No one was going to ask you to do anything out of the ordinary other than act like you're making love to this guy. Okay, I can do that. No I never had a problem with it.

And then there's the back-peddling...

During your career you've acted mainly in B movies. Have you ever wanted to break into the mainstream and become the next Meryl Streep as an example?

MB: I don't think that's possible. First of all, I don't think I'm good enough. Second of all, I wouldn't want things in the past that I've done, that I'm ashamed of, to come out and I know that they would. I think that's hindered me and kept me back from ever wanting to pursue that. I just don't think I have the ability. I don't have what it takes.

According to this interview, Michelle had announced her retirement from film. And the photo below is of Bauer at at 1990's Chiller Con (click the link and read the comments as they are priceless). The "going out of business" signs are ominous, aren't they?



Or maybe that was just a sales ploy. Because she's been in films as recently as 2008 -- and in 2006 under the McClellen moniker too. Perhaps another try at rebranding? Well, not if 2004's Tomb of the Werewolf is any indication.


In the film she plays Elizabeth Bathory (Countess Erzsebet Bathori, who killed 612 women -- and documented the death of each).

Here's what one reviewer had to say about the film:

"Tomb of the Werewolf" is about breasts. Naked female breasts. It is not about a Tomb or a Werewolf. There is a wolf man running around but he's just filler until the next breast scene.

And that's a good review -- from a fan of Bauer, boobies, and Bauer's boobies.

But if the film doesn't seem to give Bauer her acting due, it's even worse for poor Bathory who was supposed to get her film revenge in Tomb of the Werewolf by her 14th cousin (16 times removed), Fred Olen Ray. I guess Bauer fared better than Bathory.

And Bauer's bared better.

Red Rape

No, it's not a menstruation situation; it's a pre-cold war pulp to get your blood boiling. One presumes that once you've got your ire up, you'll be ready to take a whack at those Ivans.


From the Conelrad.com review:

The testosterone-bursting speculative adventure begins – literally – with a Russian gang rape and submachine gun fire from the capitalist hero and rescuer of women, Danny Fare. Sellers' immediately exposes the reader to the grim near-future realities of an America under the occupation of the "Reds" or, as they are frequently referred to, "Ivans." The protagonist (Fare) spirits the damsel-in-distress, Fran Wilson, from the scene of her defilement to safety, but not before finding time to disfigure his own treasonous wife, Marta, for sleeping with an "Ivan." Fare brands Marta's pretty face – the tradition of the new American resistance – with the same knife blade that he has just used to kill her Soviet sugar daddy (for good measure, he slits the Russian's throat while the thug is in mid boot-knocking coitus with Marta).

Via Boing Boing (so nice, they named it twice).

High-Five Fridays #16

1) Discovering more about those social gatherings of ninteen-ought-eight -- and don't miss the cute song lyrics on this card from 1912: I’ve Got to Go and Get Myself a Girl Like You. (It's a hoot!)

2) One of the largest collections of vintage erotica.

3) Amanda at SWOP East shares a good link, saying:

The MET has a display of superhero fashion. This is notable since most superhero clothing takes a lot of cues from BDSM attire -- whether publicly acknowledged or not.

4) Why the Leather Archives and Museum is important.

5) A review of The Forgery of Venus, a fictional work.

Find out how to give your High-Five Fridays here!

The purpose of this meme is to give high-fives to 5 people, posts, blogs and/or websites you've admired during the week. I will link to everyone who participates and leaves a link to their 5 high-fives on Friday. Trackbacks, pings, linky widgets, comment links accepted!

Visiting fellow High-Fivers is encouraged! If you participate, leave the link to your High-Fives in others comments (please note if NWS).

Find more High-Five Friday folks here!

** Remember, Mister Linky use is for those #1 participating in the meme (this week's High-Five Friday) and #2 who leave a comment. Thank you!

Retro Mad Doctor Laboratory Sex

The mad doctor is a popular horror theme for enforced sex. I find it to be one of the most comical of the erotic themes, however it does expose societal fear of medicine (in a sort of science fiction "what if" way) and power (in a classic Gothic style), resulting in a "natural" setting for submitting to an authority you are at the mercy of, both intellectually and financially.

Size Matters

Well, at least height does when you are bound with a partner.

Earl Kemp On Censorship & Politics

Continuing my talk with Earl Kemp (Intro, and part one, on science fiction).

SPS: What are you proudest accomplishments?

Earl: Being totally surveillied by law-enforcement for an unbearable ten years before they figured out how to arrange my "downfall." You can't imagine what it feels like to not be able to use a telephone or to receive an unopened and preread letter...to have numbers of people following your every step anywhere in the world. Millions of dollars of public funds spent for...personal amusement of a political few. From Nixon to Mitchell to Rhenquist...criminals all...me no. Much like the Presidential Medal of Honor.

SPS: Was the arrest & time served a relief after all of that?

Earl: Absolutely. Being in prison was extremely rewarding because of the closeup view of what it was really like as opposed to all the myths. Very bad officials doing very bad things for enormous personal profits. Very much like those wonderful people in DC running the world at the expense and lives of others and again only for personal corporate profits and even that for multi nationals...not for the US at all.

Everyone should have the opportunity of gaining such enlightenment.

SPS: Did it continue afterwards too?

Earl: For a while. I can still remember when it stopped because there was such sudden silence and everything felt remarkably as if I had moved to another country permanently, so unlike living under a microscope.

The most difficult part of it all to accommodate was the knowledge that it had taken them ten full years of totally illegal intensely close observation to finally frame a downfall. And all that time I thought they were my best protectors, knowing absolutely every minute thing about me and not being able to find anything actionable. Mindblowing!

SPS: Do you think you are still on lists?

Earl: Isn't everyone? What do you think the Patriot Act is? Homeland Security? Do you follow the news of all the illegal FBI wiretaps nationwide? Do you not know that all email is monitored?

However, my paranoia is no longer in charge but I can still spot an undercover Fed by odor, long before they come into sight.

I lived cross-border US/Mexico and witnessed time and time again Federales handing over drugs to Feds for distribution and mutual profit. Big massive shipments...not your dime bag common prisoner.

SPS: Ever consider moving to another country?

Earl: I lived in Mexico for over 20 years. It was indescribably wonderful.

SPS: If it was so wonderful, why leave?

Earl: A horrible thing called NAFTA screwed it up unbelievably. Forcing it, in just a few short years, to mirror image everything that is bad/wrong with the USA. Gone instantly were most of the local products, customs, including even the cuisine. Now nothing that was good about it remains, all having been replaced overnight with Wal-Marts, CostCos, MacDonalds (they all sell individual bottles of beer through the drive through windows), Starbucks and everything one normally goes on vacation to avoid.

And an incredible amount of red tape, forms to fill out, documents, and finally passports for all US citizens wanting to pass beyond that incredibly ugly, fortresslike wall. "Mr. Gorbachov, tear down this wall!" The Federales replaced by US Feds, spying on innocent tourists...

I could go on and on but my Mexico no longer exists. It looks like suburban NYC and smells worse.

Not an edible taco in sight.

Every poisonous, forbidden to sell in the US food item, long stored in warehouses just waiting for an excuse to ship them across the border and flood the Mexican market and drive away all those delightful things most people won't remember five years from now.

Reason enough?

It works for me.

SPS: Anything you'd like a do-over on?

Earl: Yes, most of it. I'd be noticeably more aggressive....

SPS: That's most intriguing.

Earl: I was Wimp #1. Naive. Trusting. Commonplace. Patriot.

To be continued...

Resources:

The Illustrated Presidential Report Of The Commission on Obscenity & Pornography, Earl Kemp, editor.

Sadomasochism in Comics: A History of Sex and Violence in Comic Books, Greenleaf Classics, by Hans Siden, introduction by Donald H. Gilmore, Ph.D.

All photos from Earl Kemp & his zine; used with written permission.

"I wanted to see a prostitute drawn by my grandmother"

So says Project Prostitute, which then presents all the drawn images. Some of the artistic representations are of the usual variety, fishnets and smoking for example; but others are so absurd they are cute, such as the green 'lot lizard' with handcuffs.



I think what I love about this collection the most is the wide range of ideas shown; certainly the artworks expose as much about the creators as they do values and ideas regarding prostitution.




You'll also find more images from Project Prostitute at Flickr. (I discovered this by clicking 'see larger, and I find that more enjoyable than the flash galleries at Project Prostitute; there is more than one Flickr user involved, as I also found this gallery set too. So poke about and see what you find.)



And I can't help but compare these depictions of sex workers to some of the conclusions jumped to about sex collectors...



Come to think of it, that would be a really excellent project.

If you'd like to send in images of collectors of adult collectibles, sex history, risque items etc., either based on what you've had people say to you, or even what you think about me, then please do so. I'll gladly post them.

Via Fleshbot.

BDSM & Fetish Publication History

Gwen's Leather/BDSM/Fetish History Scrapbook has lots of information of interest to collectors. Look by years for landmark publications, issues & publishers, as well as clubs, persons and events -- including censorship actions.

Note: There are more female covers/images at the site, but few larger than thumbnails; hence the male & gay focused erotic works here.

You Know What They Say About The Green Ones

Via Ads of the World, via Sara Winters.

Cora! Cora! Cora!

I've loved this photo for a long time -- the image of the waspie waist woman as she tries to inhale off the fancy cigarette was etched into my mind the first time I saw it years ago. However, being posted in a forum, no one knew who it was a photo of; it was just an image which circulated in the kink & vintage erotica communities I've visited through the years. Each time I inquired for info, but even the image name was just a bunch of numbers.

Eventually someone knew this was a photo of Cora; I now had something to work with.

I wasn't the only one searching... Andrea Johnson, before I, was searching for the woman too. She had spotted this photo in a copy of a 1972 Domination Annual and became smitten:


The story of Andrea's search for info about Cora (who she has dubbed Cora Korsett) is a great collector's story. So go read it -- there are lots more photos of Cora there too.

And if you have any info on Cora, please do share it!

Feminizing The Female Through Enema

I'm not into enemas ("not that there's anything wrong with that"), but what strikes me the most about this particular artwork is the soft, intimate nature of the women -- right down to the lingerie -- which is in stark contrast to an action which seems rather harsh & strong in-and-of-itself. Very iron hand in the velvet glove, and so atypical of BDSM art where sharp, angled Femdoms wear shiny black as they wield hard objects in bleak dungeons.

Found in Montorgueil and other Erotic Cartoons set at Flickr, I don't believe this is the work of Bernard Montorgueil because he had his females dominate men -- and his works tend to have more of that crisp quality.

You can find lots more of these drawings via manuel1960ar Flickr set.

Putting The Whore Before The Cart

Via Fabulon.

Aroldo Bonzagni (1887 -1918)

Images found here, via Secondhand Rose, who wrote a poem to accompany this one:

The Black Champion & The White Avenger

Saved from a lynching via a female sado-masochist from the future who, it turns out, started the racist hunt, is the story of Terror Blu 113: Il Campione Nero (The Black Champion).

Finding The Parents' Stash

Secondhand Rose recalls her first exposure to adult magazines:

I must have been about 10 years old or so when I found my parents stash of porn. My sister and I were home alone, playing hide-and-seek in the house. I went to hide in the one space I knew she'd never find me -- the one space I'd also be afraid to seek in for fear of a person jumping out at me -- our crawlspace.

...After a few heart-pounding minutes in the arid space, I turned on the light (which could never shine through to the other side as the door fit tightly and it was daytime anyway) and looked for something to occupy myself. I poked in the box closest to the door. That's where I found the then-current porn magazines.

I flipped through them, saw all the photos. Mostly women with their come-hither stares, big and wild hair (both on their heads and covering their genitals), and glossy lips. I didn't feel much of anything at first. Certainly not uncomfortable, for I continued to flip through the pages of first one magazine, then another and another. Until I hit an illustration.

I think it was an advertisement for a bondage swing, but I can't really recall... This paper-white woman with ink-black hair was set against a vivid purple square. Her fascinating red lips were pursed around a ridiculously large black circle, its black lines drawn against that white-white skin, holding the ball in place in her mouth. Her body was also bound in the leather strips, providing more black lines against white skin -- lines to read between. This woman was bound, apparently suspended from what I could only imagine was a ceiling painted as grape as the walls, and naked she sat, or swung, on display in a position similar to my sit-squat against the wall. Splayed. Bound. Gagged.

Instead of being disgusted, or even confused, I was mesmerized.

Photo via Flickr.

The Night Porter

I was reading a list compiled by Gloria Brame of (relatively recent) BDSM movies and was struck by The Night Porter (1974). I have not seen this film (nor many others on her list), but when she said this, I decided to take a look:

Its themes were more seriously, intensely, and disturbingly frank. Very dark but very realistic. And it explores fetishes filmmakers still shirk from.

I had no idea that the 'very dark' (and perhaps 'fetishes') referred to yet another Nazi theme... I am not trying to beat a dead horse here, and even toyed with not posting this (at least for awhile), but this is from a slightly different angle than my recent posts (1, 2)...

The story line revolves around Lucia (Charlotte Rampling), a concentration camp survivor, who runs into her former captor and lover, SS officer Max (Dirk Bogarde), who is now a night porter at the Vienna hotel she is staying at with her husband.




The film has been considered everything from tasteless to arousing, from blaming the victims to missing its potential, and, of course, as anything but feminist.

According to Liliana Cavani, the film's director, The Night Porter is feminist as it's from a woman's point of view and "It was her investigative journalism into the personal experiences of victims after the war that inspired her to make The Night Porter." (This quote from a wonderful piece exploring women in film, including S/M issues: Lena Wertmuller and Liliana Cavani: Knee-jerk Anger and Slow Understanding for The Black Sheep of Italian Feminist Film. [Italian contemporary women film-makers 1973-1976].)

This is the film's iconic scene,in which Lucia dances and sings topless in a Nazi outfit:



This was apparently the first scene filmed, according to this interview with actress Charlotte Rampling on NPR's Fresh Air.

The film is aging well. Now people are seeing more than the 'potential' but seeing that perhaps it has realized them.

Where once Robert Ebert said, "I can imagine a serious film on this theme—on the psychological implications of shared guilt and the identification of the slave with the master—but "The Night Porter" isn't such a film," now others are suggesting that the film has in fact done so.

Perhaps this is still a case of 'too soon' and as the years pass and taboo of showing Nazis as anything other than evil (and therefore incapable of having any real emotion, or sex we can imagine as pleasurable for another) the film will grow in it's credibility.

Images via The Criterion Contraption, where you can read a full review of the film too.

In Skin Two's issue 57, you can also find an article by Claudia Andrei on the use of Nazi style in fetish films, including The Night Porter.

This Is *So* Going On The Sidebar

I've just been referred to as "the lusciously intellectual silent porn star" -- by none other than the Gloria Brame!

Yes, that Gloria Brame, Ph.D., ACS. Author, therapist, sex expert and all-around extraordinary woman.

She dubbed me thus in this post about Hilda (who I mentioned briefly here).

Would it be too much -- too insecure -- for a lusciously intellectual person to say this ranks up there with the birth of her children? (I have 3, so if I say this ranks in my Top Ten Cool Moments, would that be OK?)

Thanks, Gloria. I'm as giddy and twitchy as if you stood before me with a switch.

A Study In Victorian (Printed) Erotica

Grumpy Old Bookman discusses Victorian pornography. This third part focuses on an intriguing 1882 publication called The Mysteries of Verbena House.

The subtitle is 'Miss Bellasis Birched for Thieving', which, if you know anything about Victorian porn, speaks for itself.

The book was published privately, in a print run of 150 copies. The price was four guineas, a sum which you can probably multiply by 100 to get today's equivalent price (perhaps US$600). This, of course, placed it far beyond the reach of the vulgar crowd.

The cost at the time would be the equivalent of two weeks pay now. Which as we know from the banned books post, wasn't uncommon -- either price them out of range, or mark them for "private collections" or the medical community, and you're publishing-ass was covered.

So speaking as a collector, the limited number of copies then leads to an even less abundant number of books now -- far, far out of my reach. (Though I too have spotted French versions now and then.) So the closest I may ever come to knowing this book is via Grumpy. Viva La Internet.

His post is full of mystery, as (perhaps only) the literate and astute (collectors &/or researchers) can really appreciate. I am so 'there.'

One thing I noted from Grumpy's post was this bit on Algernon Swinburne:

And Swinburne was yet another Victorian who, as a result of his experience at Eton, was totally obsessed by flagellation. Though in his case his interest was masochist rather than sadistic; his sole sexual interest was in being the slave of a beautiful, violent woman.

Apparently this making of a Dom or sub is a very common English school phenomenon which continues today.

Just another reason for a kinky American to wish to travel abroad. (Of course, I mean to look for the books. Or speak with Grumpy Old Bookman. *wink*)

Whip Me, Beat Me, Make Me Buy Dumb Things

From Spank While you Sell: Corporal punishment imagery in print advertising:




Of particular note:

Schoolboys in Disgrace

This is a record sleeve, which I suppose is a kind of advertising. The album, by that most uncompromisingly British of veteran rock bands, The Kinks, dates from 1975. This cartoon image (credited to one Mickey Finn) was already the height of retro when it first appeared, and the era alluded to is probably really the late 1950s, when Kinks leader/songwriter Ray Davies and his brother Dave were at school in suburban north London. The lyrics of one song on the disc, Headmaster, clearly refer to getting the cane. From a cultural historian's point of view, it's extremely interesting that there is such a clear reference -- in the lyrics and in the drawing -- to bare-bottom canings, since even in the 1950s that was not at all the norm for ordinary local secondary schools:

Headmaster, this is my confession,
I've been such a little fool.
I've dishonoured one who trusted me,
I have broken all the rules.
I've been such a little fool.
Don't tell all my friends I bent over,
Don't tell them you made me cry.
Don't tell them I've been sacrificed,
Don't tell all my friends or I'll die.
Headmaster don't beat me I beg you,
I know that I've let you down.
Headmaster please spare me I beg you,
Don't make me take my trousers down.

Erich von Gotha, Erotic Artist

Erich von Götha (aka Erich von Götha de la Rosière) is the pseudonym of the British illustrator and comic book artist Robin Ray. (Ray has also worked under the pseudonyms Janssens, Baldur Grimm and Robbins.) Robin Ray or Erich vonGotha, the artist has gained fame with his erotic works most of all that with sadomasochist themes.

As Gotha, he contributed to early editions of Dr. Tuppy Owens' The Sex Maniac's Diary. And then he went on to produce his own ground-breaking magazine, Torrid.




There were only 16 issues of Torrid (circa 1980's), but they not only had a cult-like following but have become hot collectibles today.

Other publications from Gotha include The Troubles of Janice Part (three parts), A Very Special Prison, Twenty (two volumes so far), and The Insatiable Curiousity of Sophie.



Erich Von Gotha's show, Twenty Chastis'd, May 5 - June 5 2007, is at the Mondo Bizzarro gallery in Rome. Here's what the gallery has to say about the artist:

Erich Von Gotha belongs firmly to the second category. Despite having worked as an artist for well over twenty years he has only just begun to give interviews.

However, besides taking delight in mistery (for many years he was obsessed by the treasures hidden by the Templar Knights) it is also important to point out that he lives in puritan England, a country with censorship laws so strict that they do not allow any of his books to be published. His works are translated and read throughout the world, apart from in his country. Erich Von Gotha is one of the greatest erotic and English comic strip artists ever.

You can also see more at the artist's own site, Erich von Gotha dot com.

XXX Record Albums

Somethings to delight, and somethings to offend... LP Cover Lover has Triple-X covers for you to see...




Link found via Red Blooded Thing.

Weird Cults, BDSM and Vintage Sci-Fi (aka Of Brundage and Bondage)

Once again, ptupper72 at Beauty In Darkness is intriguing me... This time with Ancient Mystery Cults.

This is from Part One:

A mystery cult or mystery religion is what might be called a boutique religion. Instead of being a total institution one is born into, people are voluntarily and optionally initiated into them. It was also possible to be a member or even an officiant of multiple cults.

Mystery cults have initiation rituals, and initiation seems to be the main point of them, for their own sake. Victor Turner distinguished between liminal rituals, which result in significant and permanent changes in status (e.g. weddings, graduations), and liminoid rituals, which don't have a permanent change in status (e.g. BDSM scenes, in my opinion).

And this is a quote from Ancient Mystery Cults by Walter Burkert, as quoted in Ancient Mystery Cults Part Two, on the subject of flagellation as (possibly) depicted in the mural at the Villa of the Mysteries:

A kneeling girl, keeping her head in the lap of a seated woman and shutting her eyes, the seated woman grasping her hands and drawing back the garment from the kneeling girl's bare back, while a sinister-looking female behind is raising a rod -- these are all quite realistic details of caning. But the threatening figure wielding the rode has black wings; she is not from this world but rather an allegorical personality.

Image of Weird Tales via Gloria Brame, and one of her readers comments, "The cover illustration is by Margret Brundage, who did most of the vintage Weird Tales covers of the 'thirties. Her covers often featured naked or nearly nude women in bondage."

For more on Margaret Brundage, see this interview with her in 1973.

Shibari

Shibari is a Japanese style of bondage involving tying up the bottom in intricate patterns, usually with several pieces of thin rope which not only restrains the bottom, but provides the bottom pleasure from the pressure and strain of the ropes.

It's also an art form. And photographer Lee "Bridgett" Harrington likes to give classes on the subject, including Erotic Macramé Classes.

In an interview regarding the workshops, Harrington said:

Suffice it to say that shibari derived from rope restraints used on Japanese prisoners of war. "How it evolved into an erotic art, we're not quite sure, since the only earlier documentation we have are erotic woodcuts from the 1700s," she said.

You can find out more about the artist/performer/educator at Passion and Soul, in her blog, and see more photos at her website, RopeLover.com, and Black Book Art.

Memo to self: Must meet Lee "Bridgett" Harrington.

Seeing Smut Where There Isn't Any

I consider myself an amateur sex historian as much as I do a collector of adult items, but many folks just call me 'The Smut Lady' or 'that girl who likes nudies' and while they joke it's rather clear they think I'm so into sex that I see it everywhere -- even in places it isn't. Examples are the Mary & her Monkey card and the pie postcard -- the former proves me right and the latter still eludes an answer.

However, the fact remains that folks think I see smut where there isn't any.

And maybe I do.

Ptupper72, an author researching for his book, Beauty in Darkness: A history of BDSM, runs into this same problem.

Being more scholarly, he calls this phenom of seeing smut where there isn't any or interpreting things to fit your beliefs by its proper name, confirmation bias. And he recently discussed this possible bias in viewing Venus of Urbino by Titian.

When researching and evaluating anything there is always the potential for errors. You can be androcentric (or in my case, gynocentric) in your approach, ethnocentric, have confirmation bias or any other other cognitive bias. These are things one must watch for when trying to find answers.

Because I know my mind often looks for sex, I also watch myself for this bias and all the others which affect my interpretation of items. But that doesn't mean if I see 'sex' it's not there. We've been having sex since the beginning of our time as a species. Duh. And our art and objects are loaded with it.

As the saying goes, just because you are paranoid it doesn't mean someone isn't out to get you.

Sensuous Sadie's Selling Sexy 60's Smut

She's selling some of her private collection of sexy pulp novels both direct at her site and at eBay. Here are a few of the covers.

Don't Say Phooey to Fumetti

Bandes Dessinées Adultes is a French site devoted to Fumetti, also know as comics for adults -- think Anime or Hentai.

I don't read French, but I just clicked about and Voila! Look what I found:

Tana Louise

Tana Louise was a burlesque striptease artist & fetish model in the 50s, who is most known for her appearances in Exotique. She was both a columnist and model, eventually marrying the mag's publisher, Lennie Burtman.

Tana also worked with Irving Klaw. Betty Page stole some of her thunder, but while Page was the "kinky" pin-up queen, Tana was the dark fetish diva.

Not only was Tana more exotic looking, but she was constantly clothed in high boots with high heels, leather outfits, corsets and long or opera gloves.

In the 1960's Tana and a fellow burlesque striptease artist, Mara Gaye, started an "exotic bizarre costumes mail order catalog" called Tana and Mara. I've never seen one, but I'd like to. (hint hint)

Bettie Page Films

The Notorious Bettie Page is now available over at alt.binaries.pictures.erotica.vintage.

You may also want to check out Bettie Page: The First and Only Live Interview DVD.