Comments on: Rome’s obscured pornoculture

By: livius drusus

livius drusus — Thu, 10 Jan 2008 14:37:49 +0000

Oo, lucky! I’ve never had the chance to see the Secret Museum. One of the things Lynda Nead discusses in the BBC story is that putting all that stuff together in one “sex room” sort of kinkifies it all, or pornographizes it.

Apparently there’s a cabinet of phalluses that used to hang like windchimes in doorways the way people use horseshoes now. Seeing them all together in one display strips them of their good luck, town-wide context and makes it looks like the dildo section of a sex shop.

By: cappuccino

cappuccino — Thu, 10 Jan 2008 14:27:54 +0000

When I visited the Naples museum back in 2002 or so, my mother and I leapt at the chance to see the Secret Room because of course we heard the sordid stories about the horrors kept within the Room.

My first thought upon seeing the objects and the frescos was “Awww how cute are they?!”

It was an enjoyable trip into the Romans’ sex lives.

By: livius drusus

livius drusus — Sat, 05 Jan 2008 19:01:04 +0000

“Priapus has got nothing on you, my Lord.”

By: Clutch

Clutch — Sat, 05 Jan 2008 18:49:34 +0000

Great article! And a good point about how the moral protectionist angle had the curious side effect of reserving the porn for the enjoyment of the gatekeepers.

I wonder what stories could have been told by the wives, or more likely the prostitutes, with whom those moral guardians came into intimate contact. “Will you be Jupiter again today, my glorious white bull, and I Europa in the pasture?”