What sort of social stigma might a well to do gentleman in the Victorian era face if he was found to be frequenting prostitutes? Would it depend on, er, how classy the hooker(s) was, or would that not really matter? Would it matter much if he was married or not, or was that unimportant judgmentally?

And of course, while his peers are all judging him, is there a rough idea at least as to how many of them probably are also saying an inner thanks that it wasn't them who were found out?

So with regards to pornographic literature, did Victorians ever try and put political or social commentary in their pornography?

Also, for /u/prehensilefoot , did Victorian prostitutes have any methods for protecting themselves from violence or people who didn't want to pay?

When there were no cameras, TVs, computers, magazines, was there anything remotely like today's porn? I know there were hookers and mistresses, but was there such a thing as entertainment erotic stuff like today's porn?

Was there a certain way birth control worked for prostitution during the Victorian times? If so, what ways were used, and is there any reports on the effectiveness?

Here is one for /u/vertexoflife

In one of the books I've read there is this notion that domestic pornography that was written often used outside locales and its people to convey certain things for the reader. For example, French/British Pornography would use Russia/Russians as the 'other.' Placing them as pseudo barbaric and 'asiatic.' Do you think this portrayal was the reinforcement of societel mores, or was it a cheap way to stereotype?

Or rather, was pornographic steroeotypes a result of the culture, or was it just in pornography?

Were the names for genitalia and sexual acts very different from now? Do we assume particular words are euphemisms now when during their time periods, they had very strong connotations?

I ask because I was told that in the 19th century, wild west "swearing" that we associate with Yosemite Sam from the Bugs Bunny cartoons (e.g. "by tarnation! great horny toads!") was actually considered quite strong, which is why Deadwood would be considered accurate if you were translating the "force" of the swears rather than their "literalness."

I was wondering if there was an associated phenomenon amongst sexually related speech, whether in swears, the naming of genitalia, or sexual acts.

Why are pornographic daguerreotypes nearly always French, with American examples being vanishingly rare by comparison? Was French society in the 1840s and 50s much more open to pornography than the US and Britain?

This is probably outside the scope of the AMA but I thought it worth asking in case you knew:

How did the stereotype of Victorians as "very buttoned-up people" who "avoided sexual topics, ideas, and conversation" come about or rather, if this is the case, how did it get so exaggerated?

Could you address the stereotype a little?

This is slightly pre-Victorian, and actually, I might have asked this of you before vertex, but it is a silly thing I have wondered for a long time:

Is the character of "Fanny Hill" an intentional pun on the "Venus mons", or am I just trying to be too clever? Cause this seems pretty obvious to me, but I've never been able to find anything saying it is correct.

Question for prehensilefoot: Have you come across any record of female prostitutes who partnered with women romantically and/or sexually in their personal life? In my research on mid-20th century lesbian subcultures in the US, the trope of the working-girl femme with a butch partner comes up fairly often. Obviously it is challenging-to-impossible to translate that idea back to a time when lesbian identity wasn't really "a thing" or a thing in the same way. That being said, I'd be curious about any/all same-sex female relationships with or amongst prostitutes.

What do we know about male prostitutes in the Victorian era? How common were they relative to their female counterparts, and what sort of culture or stigma existed around the phenomena?

Additionally, is there any record of erotica depicting male/male sexual activity?

How did sexual behavior and morality differ between different parts of Europe at this time? In particular, can how similar or different were the social standards in the Germanies (plural is deliberate) compared to France or England?

In your opinion, who was Walter (author of 'My Secret Life')?

Hello to both of you, and I hope this isn't coming too late!

I'm ABD at a university in western PA and my dissertation focuses on Victorian sensation fiction and its intersection with the medical humanities, specifically how hysteria, (sexual) deviance, and obsession were so gendered and the distinct ways in which their representations differed from the more "high-brow" literature of the same period.

Anyway, my question for you is this: In your opinion, did the introduction of the Contagious Diseases Act in the 1860's have any effect on the content or reception of Victorian erotica? I'm very excited to hear your thoughts on this.

Thank you!!

I remember reading about the invention of the vibrator came from the cure for histeria (which at the time was fingering the victim), and vibrating tables as a method came about.

Is there truth to these? In addition, was there any sexual movement that tried to claim the cure being used for Histeria was curing repressed sexuality?

The issue I see here is that for the most part modern psychology didn't exist then, and the victorian period was ending around the time of the first "vibrator" was invented, but it still makes me curious about the history surrounding it