What's the diffference between pornography and erotica in your view?

Question

Mature answers.

Answer 1

I would say that erotica is aiming more for artistic expression, whereas porn is either simply a business or else just someone one enjoying the thrill of "writing dirty" or taking dirty pics, or posing for pics, etc. So the real question then boils down to the difference between art and porn. I've written on this before, and here is basically my view:

This will sound strange, but I think that the important differences between art and pornography have nothing to do with sex. The difference between art and porn is exactly the same as the difference between art and pulp fiction (romance novels, mass market tabloids, etc.). There are significant grey areas between art and pulp, but one central idea is that art should strive to evoke a contemplative mood, in contrast to pulp entertainment which aims to distract us from the world. A “contemplative mood” is one in which you find yourself trying to think more deeply, live more fully, or simply exist more completely in the moment of Being. Sometimes contemplation is positive in the sense that you “feel good” or revel in a sense of awe and wonder without fear. At other times a contemplative mood can be dark and disturbing – provoking anxiety of some sort, but nevertheless it is still has a feeling of significance and perhaps some element of enlightenment. We do not always have to experience art as deep, nor does the artist necessarily have to consciously aim for any great depth, but there should at least be some potential for slipping into a sense of being more fully engaged with the world. Sometimes art can seem like mere distraction at first – you just get absorbed into it for a while, but if something truly affects you as art, you will eventually discover that the experience provokes some sort of meaningful response within you. It may not strike you consciously until several day (or years) later, but something somewhere along the line will make you go "hmmm…I hadn't seen things quite in this way before." Also notice that there are probably no absolutes in any of this. Art/porn does not necessarily affect every one AS art or porn in the same way.

Whereas art is an expression of human existence striving to understand itself, pulp entertainment is an expression of humanity trying to escape from itself. Distraction, tends to take us away from contemplation. It is a matter of fleeing from the world; escaping from our difficulties and the challenges of being fully engaged in life. We sometimes become too tired to think deeply or “grow” in any way, we just want to purely relax and enjoy something. This is ok. We don’t need to be profound every minute of the day. We need time to just unwind and be totally frivolous. Pulp fiction/porn is an avenue for this escape (also: video games, TV shows, daydreaming, etc.) Personally, I see nothing wrong with this sort of thing, so long as it doesn’t consume one's existence and prevent healthy engagement with the real world.

The fact that porn aims to evoke erotic desire (typically used to assist with sexual self-gratification) adds nothing whatsoever of any significance to the porn/art distinction. Obviously people will disagree with me on this, but this is because they have a relatively negative view of erotic desire. Sure, porn is typically shallow and rather stupid, but a lot of porn is of a more or less “home crafts” variety – in the same category as people just screwing around trying to have fun or make some money - not really so different than making crafts for sale in a flee market. Or else it is in the big business category, in which case it is really not much different than romance novels or tabloid magazines. In any case, the fact that it aims to evoke erotic desire does not make it any morally worse or any shallower than other non-artistic efforts to have fun or make money. Porn is just like other sorts of entertainment designed to distract us from the troubles of reality. It typically does not even try to be art.

Answer 2

It's a fine line. Sometimes the term erotica is used to jump pornography into art. Usually erotic art tends to be a celebration of the human form, whereas pornography tends to be more commercial and aimed at a very specific audience for a very specific use. It's a fine line and probably not easy to answer.

Answer 3

Pornography shows our animal instinct and does not intend to make a relation with your brain/feelings/love
Erotica makes a connection with our emotions/feelings of love/ and shows a certain degree of tenderness . It's not so wild but its intens