Disinformation Book of Lists (24 page)

 

The rumor that the Vatican has an immense collection of erotic material may or may not be true, but for several decades, the Library of Congress definitely did. Called the Delta Collection, it was housed on the top floor of the Library, in Deck 38, to be exact. In what might be an exaggeration, a magazine article from the time said that the collection held “almost every erotic poem, essay and story ever written or translated into English.”

Sometime in the 1880s, a wealthy businessman in California left his vast collection of rare books to the Library when he died. Almost all of it was erotic, much privately printed and irreplaceable. As a bonus, the librarians also received hundreds of the deceased's erotic artworks. Luckily, instead of pulping this scandalous material, the Library created a special, restricted area to house it. In any era this would be an admirably progressive stance, but in the latter 1800s it was downright revolutionary.

The Delta collection grew as other erotica collectors bequeathed their stashes to the Library. On top of that, US Customs started sending over some of the “obscene” material seized on its way into the country.

Moldering documents recently recovered from the Library by intrepid researcher Michael Ravnitzky reveal that, as of 1960, the Delta collection was contained in two rooms described as “cramped.” In that year, plans were already being made to dissolve the collection, mainly by putting all but a few of the books into the open stacks. Only three books with “rather graphic illustrations” were pulled aside to be given to other libraries with erotic collections.

Some of the porn movies in the Delta Collection were destroyed in 1957, possibly earlier than that. A memo shows that in fall 1971, librarians incinerated thirteen large boxes of “other than printed matter,” plus more boxes containing photos, transparencies, hundreds of magazines, dozens of monographs, and “miscellaneous advertising.” At this point, the Delta collection seems to have gone the way of the dodo.

1.
Attaining Manhood
by George Corner (Harper, 1938)

2.
Birth Control on Trial
by Lalla Secor Florence (London: Allen, 1930)

3.
The Bride of Ho Ling-Fu

4.
The Decameron
by Boccaccio

5.
Encyclopedie de la Vie Sexuelle
by Ludwig Levy-Lenz

6.
Eugenics and Sex Harmony
by Herman H. Rubins (New York: Pioneer Publishing Company, 1933)

7.
Fanny Hill
by John Cleland

This is a first edition bound in Morocco leather, allegedly from the collection of King George III.

8.
The Golden Ass
by Lucius Apuleius

9.
Kama Sutra
by Vatsyayana Mallanaga, translated by Richard Burton (New York, 1936)

10.
Lady Chatterly's Lover
by D.H. Lawrence

11.
Lolita
by Vladmir Nabokov

12.
A Love Starved World
by J.L. Pritcher (Los Angeles: Yale Publishing Company, 1932)

13.
My Lives and Loves
by Frank Harris

14.
Odoratus Sexualis
by Iwan Bloch (1933)

15.
The Perfumed Garden
by Sheikh Nefzaoui, translated by Sir Richard Burton

16.
The Sex Criminal
by Bertram Pollens (Macmillan, 1938)

17.
Sex
Questions and Answers
by Fred Brown (Whittlesey, 1950)

18.
Sexual Misbehavior
by Arthur Hirsch (1955)

19.
Sonnets Luxurieux
by Pietro Aretino (Paris?, 1948)

20.
Tropic of Cancer
by Henry Miller

21.
Tropic of Capricorn
by Henry Miller

22-23.
The Kinsey reports

(Sexual Behavior in the Human Male
and
Sexual Behavior in the Human Female)

24-26. Works by
Catullus, Chaucer
, and
Rabelais

27.
“Fuchs' multivolume set”

28.
“A Gichner work”

This undoubtedly refers to Lawrence E. Gichner, who self-published three books:
Erotic Aspects of Hindu Sculpture, Erotic Aspects of Japanese Culture
, and
Erotic Aspects of Chinese Culture.

29. One document notes that seized copies of
“certain Communist propaganda publications”
are to be sent to the Delta Collection.

30. Two documents mention that the Delta Collection houses
“three-dimensional materials,”
but no elaboration is given. Could this refer to dildos, diaphragms, and other types of sex toys and contraceptive devices? The mind reels.

31. The magazine article mentions
“drawings and etchings
, beautifully done by French, German and Italian masters—all portraying men and women engaged in the strangest types of sexual activities.”

32.
“Girly” photos of nude and semi-nude women

Official descriptions include: “Nude girl lying prone on bearskin rug. Red background. Title: Grin and bare it.” “Red-haired girl clutching frantically at torn halter of skimpy bathing suit. Title: Help!”

33.
Pornographic comic books

(certainly including the legendary Tijuana bibles) with titles such as “Maggie and Jiggs,” “Toots and Casper,” “Jimmy Durante and Mae West,” and “Terry and the Dragon Lady.”

34.
Stag films

35.
Naughty postcards

36.
“life-sized reproductions of the famous Marilyn Monroe nudes”

37. “the original versions of cleaned-up
folk songs
sung by artists like Burl Ives, Josh White and Harry Belafonte.” Specific songs include “Erie Canal” and “The Streets of Laredo.”

38.
“torrid jazz songs”

39.
“stag-party jingles”

40.
English translations of non-erotic works in Greek and Latin

These books were considered “socially undesirable” because university students were expected to read them in their original languages, and having an English-language copy would've been cheating.

The following are movies seized by the Post Office or Customs 1950-1957, and sent to the Delta Collection:

41.
Como Desnudarse Delante Del Marido

42.
Crimines Sexuales

43.
Dos Entre Nudistas

44.
Kernesse Rouge

45.
Lectura Selecta

46.
Our Sinful Daughters

47.
El Profesor de Musica

48.
Story of Birth

49.
Vie Peccato

50.
Plastycy

51.
El Secreto de las Viciasos

52.
Test Tube Baby

 

1

Autopederasty

The unlikely act in which a man inserts his partially hard penis into his own anus. Obviously, it's a trick that a very small percentage of men can achieve, but it is for real. The porn video appropriately titled
Go Fuck Yourself
is devoted to the act, and the Latino guy on the cover shows how it's done.

2

Axillism

Once you've exhausted the potential of your partner's mouth, vagina, and/or anus, it's time to look for new possibilities. In axillism, the virgin territory being invaded by the penis is the armpit. One famous axilliphile was Dada/Surrealist photographer Man Ray, who, when asked his favorite parts of a woman, replied: “The breasts and armpits.”

3

Bestiality

Sure, we've heard about donkey shows in Tijuana and the rumor of gerbils in tailpipes, but things get a whole lot weirder than even that. In his 1894 book
Medical Jurisprudence
, German lawyer G. Herzog reports: “She would lie down on a sofa and separating her thighs would smear honey on and in the vulva. The flies thus attracted by the honey would tickle her until her sexual appetite was appeased.” Elsewhere in his book, while commenting on guys committing bestiality, Herzog wrote: “In male animals the rectum is generally used, although in one reported case a man used the nostrils of a horse.”

4

Cannibal fantasies

The sexually charged phrase “eat me” becomes almost literal with the kinksters into cannibal fantasies. They thrill to the thought of truly eating another person or, conversely, being eaten. On the Deviant Desires website—based on the book of the same title—Katharine Gates explains that some people bring these fantasies to life in consensual roleplaying. One of her friends “painted the woman's nude body with dotted lines to represent cuts of meat.” She continues:

One very tasteful (heh, heh) website, Muki's Kitchen [
www.mukiskitchen.com
], features photographs of lovely female models trussed up in pans filled with vegetables, and stuffed in their mouths, vaginas and assholes with flavorful treats like apples, bananas and carrots. Thus, erotic feeding, messy fun, bondage, gags and vaginal or anal penetration may be incorporated into the sexual scenario.

5

Docking

Involves two men, at least one of whom must be uncircumcised. With penises facing each other, the foreskin of the uncut guy is pulled over the cockhead—and part of the shaft, if it's really stretchy foreskin—of the other guy. One of the partners grabs the foreskin and uses it to stroke both dicks. On a Web message board, a “docker” shares his experiences: “I've been with a couple of guys with skin loose enough. Feels great. Cock head to cock head, inside his warm moist cover. One of the guys was loose, but not excessively. I could stroke and stretch his skin about 3” or so, or about 1/2 my cock. Felt all warm and ‘comfy' inside there.”

6

Erotic vomiting

Certainly it's hard to imagine two words that seem to belong together less than “erotic” and “vomiting.” It might be the ultimate oxymoron. But vomiting and coming aren't as far apart as you may think. Both are reflex actions caused by a stimulus. Both trigger the release of hormones and neurotransmitters that make you feel warm and relaxed afterward. And in the case of male orgasm, at least, both result in fluid forced through a canal and out of a bodily opening. The main difference—and it's a big one—is that most people experience the act of vomiting as extremely unpleasant. Psychiatrist/sexologist Robert J. Stoller was the first to reveal the existence of erotic vomiting in medical literature. In a brief article, he describes the cases of three women.

One of the women doesn't herself barf. Instead: “I can reach a sure orgasm by imagining someone vomiting in a hard, humiliating fashion.” The second woman actually experiences orgasm while she's throwing up. The final woman describes her feelings:

Vomiting for me is like sex or an orgasm in that I'm tensed, I feel the rush or intense flood of good feelings almost continually throughout the vomiting and experience relief and quiet warmth in my body when I'm finished. It is not identical to an orgasm. I do not feel it intensely in my genitals alone, but I do feel it there as well as the rest of my body and feel pleasure in my mouth.

Additionally, a small number of people like to be puked upon, a practice known as Roman showers.?

7

Felching

Involves licking, sucking or otherwise orally retrieving semen from a partner's pussy or asshole.

8

Meatotomy

To prepare for meatotomy, men enlarge the opening of their urethras by cutting or tearing.
The Encyclopedia of Unusual Sex Practices
informs us: “A few men have such a large opening that they were able to insert the glans penis of another man into the tip of their penis.”

9

Mummification

A total-body form of bondage in which a person is completely wrapped from head to toe in bandages (sometimes overlaid with masking tape), strips of cloth, or—for those who want to feel less helpless—toilet paper.

10

Pediophilia

Not to be confused with pedophilia, pediophilia (note the extra “i”) denotes sexual arousal from dolls.
The Encyclopedia of Unusual Sex Practices
cites the case of one such man: “He shaved the hair from Barbie doll heads and then swallowed the heads to produce sexual arousal.”

11

Ponyplay

A form of bondage and discipline, ponyplay involves a “pony” and a rider. The person in the pony part is typically outfitted with a leather saddle, straps, reins, and blinders, with a bit in the mouth. The other person, perhaps wielding a whip or riding crop, either rides the pony or gets pulled in a cart.

12

Pseudonecrophilia

If you like the idea of romancing the dead but you don't like the trouble and risk involved in actually doing it, pseudonecrophilia offers a more acceptable outlet. Just have your lover remain completely still and unresponsive during sex. For added realism, have him or her soak in cold water first. This form of sex reached a mass audience in an episode of
Law and Order: Special Victims Unit
, a show that has introduced middle America to a whole lot of sex practices it probably had been blissfully unaware of.