{"id":2513,"date":"2025-05-05T19:09:10","date_gmt":"2025-05-05T19:09:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/victorianlit\/?p=2513"},"modified":"2025-05-05T19:09:10","modified_gmt":"2025-05-05T19:09:10","slug":"womens-sexuality-and-its-association-with-the-obscene","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/victorianlit\/2025\/05\/05\/womens-sexuality-and-its-association-with-the-obscene\/","title":{"rendered":"Women\u2019s Sexuality and its Association with the Obscene"},"content":{"rendered":"

The biblical Eve is regarded as the temptress, the mythical whore who created sin.\u00a0 As \u201cthe inventor of female sexuality,\u201d she is responsible for the world\u2019s first sexual acts (Tumanov, 507).\u00a0 Well-known from Genesis, she ate the \u201cpleasing\u2026 and also desirable\u201d fruit giving into the \u201cobvious phallic\u201d serpents’ seductions (Genesis 3.6) (Tumanov, 513).\u00a0 This created sin.\u00a0 After being punished and outcast from Eden, Adam \u201cmade love to his wife\u201d and \u201cmade love to his wife again\u201d populating the Earth (Genesis 4.1, 4.25).\u00a0 What makes sexual acts in Eden \u2018bad\u2019 and those afterward \u2018good\u2019?\u00a0 Eve is expected to be the \u201cmother of all the living,\u201d and yet is also considered the \u201cembodiment of the whore\u201d (Genesis 3.20) (Tumanov, 507).\u00a0 Why?\u00a0 The sin in the garden is not sex in and of itself, but specifically the sin of woman\u2019s sexual agency and desire.\u00a0 \u201cBecause she is the first one to disobey the divine interdiction, Eve represents not just female sexuality but specifically female sexual choice\u2014the real source of masculine anxiety\u201d (Tumanov, 512).<\/span><\/p>\n

The erotica poem \u201cThe Origin Species\u201d uses the characters Adam and Eve to imagine the first sexual encounters.\u00a0 In a deviation from the times sexual norms, the poem depicts Eve not as the recognized sinner; instead, it supports her sexuality and depicts her as Adam\u2019s equal.<\/span><\/p>\n

In the poem, Eve is the first to engage in a sexual act, with Adam following immediately after (line 9-10).\u00a0 He does not have more authority than she does.\u00a0 The first time they have sex happens before they both eat the fruit, which occurs in the fourth stanza.\u00a0 Any actions prior to eating the fruit would be considered innocent and pure; they are not yet able to sin.\u00a0 The poem presents pleasurable, non-penetrative sex as something that is sinless.\u00a0 This goes against the Victorian and Biblical ideals of ‘good’ sex, as previously mentioned.\u00a0 The Victorians would see the only good sex as \u201cproductive\u201d sex.\u00a0 Bluntly, penetrative intercourse for the purpose of pregnancy.\u00a0 The final stanza again positions men and women as sexual equals.\u00a0 All Eve\u2019s children are \u201cfilled with desire\u201d for men (line 25-26).\u00a0 Adam\u2019s sons have a similar lust: \u201cFor where is the man who can live without cunt\u201d (line 28).\u00a0 Typical of the genre, the sexuality of the characters is supported.\u00a0 In perhaps the poem\u2019s most notable alteration, Adam is described as being made for Eve.\u00a0 Genesis tells the story of Eve\u2019s origin, where she is created to be an ideal companion for Adam.\u00a0 \u201cThe Origin Species\u201d modifies this story, adding that \u201cAdam\u2019s thing was just formed any maiden to please,\u201d (line 7).\u00a0 Additionally, his penis is referred to in the poem as \u201cAdam\u2019s root\u201d (line 14).\u00a0 This word choice links Adam\u2019s penis to his origin or source (Root).\u00a0 Just as Eve was created for Adam, Adam was created for Eve.\u00a0 The poem presents Eve\u2019s autonomy and sexuality as equally valued.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThe Origin Species\u201d frames pleasure and women’s autonomy positively, deviating from the sexual norms of the time.\u00a0 With the use of well-known characters and stories from Genesis, this deviance is brought to the forefront of the reader’s attention.\u00a0 Because the poem exists in the pornographic genre, these deviant ideas can be discussed.\u00a0 Works of this genre do not have to meet the same standards as something more mainstream; it is already condemned.\u00a0 But this also condemns any content discussed.\u00a0 Including concepts of women\u2019s autonomy in pornography associates these ideas with the perverse or obscene.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Works Cited<\/span><\/p>\n

NIV The Holy Bible. New International Version, 2011 Edition.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cRoot.\u201d Merriam Webster Dictionary, 30 Apr. 2025, https:\/\/www.merriam-webster.com\/dictionary\/root.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThe Origin Species.\u201d The Pearl, July 1879.<\/p>\n

Tumanov, Vladimir. \u201cMary Versus Eve: Paternal Uncertainty and the Christian View of Women.\u201d Neophilologus, vol. 95, no. 4, 2011, pp. 507\u201321, https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1007\/s11061-011-9253-5.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The biblical Eve is regarded as the temptress, the mythical whore who created sin.\u00a0 As \u201cthe inventor of female sexuality,\u201d she is responsible for the world\u2019s first sexual acts (Tumanov, 507).\u00a0 Well-known from Genesis, she ate the \u201cpleasing\u2026 and also desirable\u201d fruit giving into the \u201cobvious phallic\u201d serpents’ seductions (Genesis 3.6) (Tumanov, 513).\u00a0 This created … Continue reading Women\u2019s Sexuality and its Association with the Obscene<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5519,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[135984],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2513","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-2025-posts"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/victorianlit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2513","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/victorianlit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/victorianlit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/victorianlit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5519"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/victorianlit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2513"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/victorianlit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2513\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/victorianlit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2513"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/victorianlit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2513"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/victorianlit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2513"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}