The Sex and Society Blog

HarperPerennial is releasing ten works of classical erotica for series called Forbidden Classics. The works range from the 18th-century to the 20th and the first set is being released today.

Here is a description of one of the works, My Secret Life:

‘My Secret Life’ is a dark work of Victorian erotica, and an explicit memoir of unspoken desires in the English class system — encapsulating the joy of hidden sins in an age of moral fervour. Would you undress with the curtains open? A champagne-drinking Victorian traveller, Walter is lascivious, obnoxious and possessed of an insatiable sexual appetite. Through a bawdy catalogue of indecent scenarios with maids, widows and wenches, he solicits an indulgent exploration of the flesh. His obsessions, fantasies and voyeuristic tendencies are explored and revealed within this diary — one of the most famous examples of Victorian erotic literature from the decadent era. Only six copies of ‘My Secret Life’ were initially printed in 1888. Attempts to republish the book resulted in the novel being repeatedly banned.

You now have no reason not to start a book club.

French photographer Jean-Yves Lemoigne has released a series of photographs in which the model is highly pixelated while the rest of the image is at full resolution. The effect is such that the naked women look as if they’re made out of legos, which raises all sorts of issues for first year grad students. But I just happen to think they’re cool.