History of Pornography, Part 1: Prehistory & the Start of Sexual Shame

In this History of Pornography series, we’ll be discussing pornographic content from around the world, and throughout history — covering everything from ancient cave paintings to CGI and greenscreen videos you can stream on your phone. What a long, strange, sexy trip it’s been!

Here in Part 1, we’ll cover how humans moved from joyous, even religious sexuality—to puritanical values creating a need for titillating forbidden content.

Humans tend to romanticize the past as being “simpler times” that were more calm, less worrisome, and didn’t contain sexually provocative materials like the smut peddlers of today. As someone who loves peddling so-called smut, I’m here to tell you that humanity has been obsessed with boobies, butts, and reproductive bits for tens of thousands of years. The proof? Someone decided to carve a hoo-ha in stone during the Paleolithic era.

A carving of a “disk with vulva slit” from Czechoslovakia, circa 20,000 BCE, shows us that humanity has always been keen on admiring the vajayjay for art, religion, pleasure, and baby-making. But is it porn? If I’m being honest, that disk doesn’t make me feel particularly aroused.

Exactly how old is the concept of pornography?

We can’t pinpoint dates in porn history until we define what we mean when we say ‘porn.’

Some prudish types *glares at Mark Zuckerberg* are happy to label any nudity as “pornographic content,” regardless of how it’s depicted. Those people will tell you that anything from Michelangelo’s David to Cabanel’s Birth of Venus are positively filthy and unfit to be seen by chaste eyes. And we’re not just talking about Catholics in the 1500’s. This nonsense was spouted in Florida, USA just last year.

Prehistoric Porn

As long as humans have been painting crude depictions on cave walls, we have been fascinated by human bodies in general—and genitalia in particular. In fact, penis worship has been around for at least 28,000 years. That may sound like an impressively long time, but in fact worship of the vulva (as the portal from which all life emerges) is even older. Venus figures are exaggerated nude female carvings featuring oversize breasts and child-bearing hips. These represented divine energy and the miracle of reproduction.

But is it porn as we understand it? Again—that’s a matter of opinion. Plenty of people find Venus figures pretty hot.

Early depictions of sex and nudity were public, celebratory, even reverent. Perhaps more shocking to modern sensibilities is that nudity and genital depictions were considered holy, and very much in line with religions of their time that encouraged people to drink, be fruitful, and multiply. Dionysia was a holiday laden with drinking, performances, phallus-heavy parades, and other festivities for aristocracy and servants alike. Sounds great, right?

China: Not Tardy to the Pornography Party

Bronze-age pieces of erotic art from China were discovered in the early 1980s and have become the subject of intense speculation. According to archaeologists, petroglyphs from the Xinjiang province appear to depict a drunken orgy.

Those who have examined this work in a historical context note two things in particular:

• The people depicted do not appear to have typically Chinese facial structures and in fact, appear more Caucasian.
• The art left behind is rife with sexual symbology.

Graves from this time in history contained phallus or vulva markings on the gravestones, and women were sometimes interred with carved dildos. You know, so they didn’t show up in the afterlife unprepared.

Read More: The Long, Fascinating History of the Vibrator

All around the world, nudity and sexuality were celebrated, even sacred. So what changed?

Why Did Nudity Become Pornographic?

Though it’s easy to point to Abrahamic religions (Christianity, Judaism, Islam) as the institution that spoiled the 2,000 year Dionysian rager that preceded it, the truth isn’t that simple. You know how Europe and Asia both invented noodles separately around the same time? Making sex shameful — thus creating an underground demand for pornographic content — happened in a few places in the world at around the same time.

China Criminalized Porn? Then What?

Beginning in the late 900s with the Song Dynasty in China, sex became impolite in decent society. It was considered rude to speak about sexual topics in mixed company, or in any public place. Sex education was unheard of for most people, in sharp contrast to Japan where Geisha turned artistic expression and sexual expertise into its own art form.

China then made the creation and sale of pornographic content illegal. Interestingly though, the Fangzhongshu remained in popular use. This guide to sex based on Taoist principles is even more detailed than the more popular Kama Sutra. In addition to explaining and depicting sexual positions, Fangzhoungshu provides instruction on timing sex for pregnancy, foreplay and arousal, and specific patterns of thrusting. The Fangzhongshu is still used today as a reference for treatment of erectile dysfunction.

Creating and selling pornography for profit is still illegal in China. Most of the porn enjoyed by Chinese folks streams in from other places—largely Europe and the United States. In modern China, pornographic images are used as sexual education tools for newly married couples. We imagine, with mixed results.

Porn use in China remains high, but because sex is still considered an impolite topic for discussion, sex education is woefully inadequate and sexual ignorance is rampant. I say that as an American (the United States has no national standards for sex ed). In fact, the lack of reproductive health education in China became so concerning that the Chinese government released public service videos explaining to adults where babies actually come from. Specifically, some adults needed to be told that babies did not come from the garbage dump.

Meanwhile, in Europe...

While we think of Europe as being on par with Asia and the Americas in terms of artistic growth and development, a wee annoyance called the Black Death swept through in the 1300’s and knocked them off their game for about 100 years or so.

But then...the Renaissance.

In short, Europe spent 100 years or so on Biblical fan-fiction, bare-breasted-Mary-of-Nazareth fan art, and a whole bunch of music meant to either exalt baby Jesus or make sure he goes down for his nap. It was the last great bastion of artistic nudity before Pope La-Di-Da Pius the 4th decided that the Sistine Chapel was in dire need of clothing.

What happens every time commoners are told they can’t have something they want—like porn? To misquote Jurassic Park: “Porn, Ah, finds a way!”

Because nudity was considered shameful among the nobility, bawdiness was celebrated by the lower classes in forms like graffiti and live performances. For the uninitiated, it’s important to know that Shakespearean comedies and pastorals were positively filthy.

In the next part of our History of Pornography series, we’ll talk about high class porn versus pornography for the masses, starting with the Marquis de Sade — that scamp!

Wait. Does that Mean There Wasn’t Prehistoric Porn?

Okay, you got me. The sexual imagery of prehistory doesn’t really qualify as porn. At least not the way we define porn.

If you really want the kind of prehistoric porn that involves modern humans boning various dinosaurs, demons, dragons, or even early mammals—well, that’s something you can buy yourself right now.

Sure, these are modern books. But if prehistoric porn is what you’re looking for, dino-erotica is far more likely to help you get off than a cave painting or a 2,000 year-old stone carving of a dildo.

Or maybe not. We don’t know what you’re into, and we don’t judge.