Culture

The History of Porn in One Exhibition (ATTENTION: Very NSFW)

564b719b1e00002d00264b01

Have you ever wondered what pornography was like back in 1821? How current porn stars differ from their predecessors?

That was the field of interest of the retrospective exhibition “Hardcore: A Century and a Half of Obscene Imagery”, which took place at the Museum of Sex in New York. “People still believe that hard porn is a modern invention”, the director of the exhibition, Mark Snyder, said to the Huffington Post. Judging by the following images, we can easily conclude that no erotic fetish and no sexual perversion was unknown even in the previous centuries. The oldest porn photograph dates back to 1821 in America and it depicts hardcore sexual encounters. “They were using sex toys, participated in erotic triangles and like today they were not restricted to specialised sex toys” adds Snyder. The photo with the woman who uses a candle as a dildo is the proof of it.

The first porn movies hit America almost simultaneously with the evolution of the film industry. Material from the first film that managed to survive (“A Free Ride”, 1915) was exhibited in the museum. Other objects on display portrayed homosexual acts, bondage scenes and signs of the first brothels.