political porn

…But the intellectual and philosophical criticism of the French monarchy during the French Revolution never compared in number with the pornographic novels and squibs. One of the most popular clandestine novels was Les Amours de Charlot et Toinette. It is a very explicit, very scabrous account, in which Marie Antoinette, scarcely disguised at all, is portrayed as a rampaging sensualist allowing nothing to stand in the way of her gratification. This book was far more widely read than Rousseau’s Social Contract, and certainly had a far more powerful effect in discrediting the French monarchy.

Sexual politics 1809 as lampooned by thomas Rowlandson: the Duke of York’s mistress secures his patronage for a long list of her “friends,” who in turn paid her for the promotions thus procured. click image for source…

Just before the Revolution, tons of political pornography swamped the clandestine booksellers of Paris, and the chief characters of these obscene tales were always the scarcely disguised figures of the king-fumbling, impotent, cuckolded- and Marie Antoinette- insatiable, wanton.

A hundred years earlier, in the reign of Louis XIV, the purveyors of such political pornography would rapidly have found themselves in the Bastille. And there would have been less of a market as well; for Louis XIV enjoyed immense respect as the symbol of the dignity and glory of France. This does not mean that Louis XIV was not a target for gossip. There is however, a world of difference between political pornography and political smut. At Versailles in Louis’s day there were plenty of dirty jokes about Mme de Maintenon and lurid tales of his effeminate brother and his catamites. But this was only the gossip of the couloirs, not political pornography for the mass market.

—Marie-Antoinette was cruelly lampooned throughout her life in France. This (obviously) anonymous cartoon from around 1791 blames her for everything. There are allusions to her alleged infidelity, to the scandal provoked by her alleged greed in the affaire du collier (the necklace affair, too complicated to go into here, but well documented), to the doomed flight to Varennes and to counter-revolutionary intrigue. It shows her carrying the Dauphin, her eldest son, and Louis XVI, followed by her daughter Madame Royale and the King’s aunt Madame Elisabeth, leaping to safety from the Tuileries. The royal couple are both holding the (broken) scepter and are encouraged by the King’s brother, Comte de Provence (left), holding a purse full of money. Beneath are references to the Queen’s alleged sins. —click image for source…

The function of such tales is an essential one in all circles of power; they provide a release for the envy and malice of those on the fringes. These people gain a sense of being on the inside from gossiping about a senator, for example, just as a seventeenth century aristocrat felt in the know when he heard what Mme de Maintenon reportedly said to her confessor. That is political smut, but it rarely gets into print in a democratic society and never in an autocratic world.( to be continued)…

—This particular caricature is a great example of the change of pornography’s role in terms of both political and religious subversion. It was distributed anonymously throughout the new republic and was intended as a double insult. This person featured was both a politician and member of the clergy.—

ADDENDUM:

(see link at end)…The French Revolution marked a major turning point in the history of modern pornography; it marked the rise and fall of political pornography as a genre. French political pornography had increased steadily from 1774 to 1788, it then spiked at the outbreak of the Revolution in 1789. There were one hundred and twelve pornographic novels published in 1789, compared to forty in 1792 and fifteen in 1794 . Prior to the Revolution, pornography had been the domain of the upper class. With the introduction of the pornographic pamphlet and the freeing of the presses in 1789, pornography was democratized. Pamphlets ranging from eight to sixty pages were much cheaper than novels and were marketed aggressively across France; to a broad and burgeoning readership. By 1792, anti-royalist engravings could be found in most Parisian shop windows; over half the displayed work was pornographic .

The pornography was an attack against the authority of the Church State. Nuns, monks, priests, aristocrats, and royalty were all ridiculed; depictions of impotency, venereal disease, and sexual debauchery were the norm . Queen Marie Antoinette was the most popular target in terms of titles written and pamphlets sold. Titles ranging from Le Godmiché royal (The Royal Dildo) to L’Autrichienne en goguettes (The Brothel of the Queen), depicted the Queen engaging in complicated orgies with priests, men and women, her son, and even animals . Such pornography undermined the legitimacy of the ancien régime as both a social and political system. By accusing Marie Antoinette of incest, the revolutionaries portrayed the royal blood as poisoned and unnatural, by desacralizing the royal body, they paved the way to Marie Antoinette’s execution . The pornography begged the question; if King Louis XVI could not control Marie Antoinette, “or even be sure he was the father of his children, including the heir to the throne, then what was his claim on his subjects’ obedience or the future of the dynasty’s claim to the throne itself?” .

Political pornography played a major role in the French Revolution and the demise of Marie Antoinette and King Louis XVI. After the Reign of Terror and with the exception of Sade, pornography was removed from politics in the Western world. Pornography’s future lay not in politics but in the depiction of sexual pleasure for pleasure’s sake.R