Books about sex and Nudity

Due to today’s liberal printing freedom in Sweden censorship here is less than in other countries. Literature is not scrutinised by a government-run authority. The book publishers or the editor in chief is in charge of the written content. Censorship of sex and nudity in today’s literature most of the time involves unwanted pornography. Especially pornography where children are victims or violence is glorified. Discussions are also often held in relation to if pornography is insulting and objectifies women.

The Life and Adventures of Fanny Hill by John Cleland, written 1748, is often seen as the first modern erotic novel in English and was banned for a long time for containing descriptions of sex scenes of men with men. The complaints over D.H. Lawrence’s book Lady Chatterley’s Lover, published and forbidden in 1928, were however aimed mainly towards the inappropriate usage of the English language when giving detailed descriptions of the sex scenes. It was also seen as a disgrace in Britain to discuss the sexual activities of the middle class which was the backgrounds of the main characters in the book.

In Sweden Hjalmar Söderberg published Den Allvarsamma Leken in 1748. The female lover in the novel was based on Maria von Platen who was Söderberg’s real life lover. Söderberg wrote openly about men and especially women’s strong sexual desires as well as openly discussed the commonness of adultery. This was received with great upheaval during these times.

In Great Britain the debate has been great revolving around the book: Belle de Jour- The Intimate Adventures of a London Call Girl, which started as a blog with the same name. The call girl Belle, can be seen as a modern Moll Flanders, the book about a British prostitute in the 18^th century, written by Daniel Defoe. The discussions were not as much about the intimate sex descriptions contained in the book, but the accounts of her clients who were real life high achievers. She also writes idealising about a job which is seen as controversial in ‘we don’t talk about sex’ England.

In Sweden several handbooks have been published about how to get a better sex life, both together with someone and on your own. Katerina Janouch’s The Orgasm Book which was published 2006, is consider an informative book about orgasms and tips on how to climax. The Great Sex Book for Girls- who have sex with other girls by Helene Delilah and Malinda Flodman came out 2007. This was the first book published in the Nordic countries which was aimed specifically towards girls who have sex with girls.

When sex and nudity is shown, described and discussed more in our society and is mixed with our culture it becomes less alienating and taboo. Our fantasies often run away with us and through uncensored material we are free to challenge this more freely. We learn to explore new areas, get to know ourselves better and in many cases feel a lot better as well. Our world is developing and it is our responsibility to lead this change no matter if it is in a political ideology or sexual.