pornography and erotica
What is the difference?
Lets have a real academic discussion. While anti porn folks and hard core free speech folks will certainly contribute. I am more interested in the opinions art scholars.
= new reply since forum marked as read
I'm not into Science Fiction, either... 
but it came up in a google search for 'pornography.'
Here's an example of their erotica: 
She's not engaged in a sexual act. She's merely posing, showing the incredible beauty of the human form. When I look at this, I'm not fixated on her breasts or vagina. Sorry... I'm just not.
There is also an attempt at idealization and beauty. 
Thanks for your input .
but I'm stealing it.
But the human body is pretty beautiful. Seems like most classes have to draw the naked human form. Sculptures and nudes have been around since antiquity. The poses and drapes add interest.
Seems like lingerie and fancy shoes and that sort of stuff makes it erotica. Leaving more to the imagination makes it much more interesting.
I'm out of my element here. I should know when to keep quiet. 
without automatically seeing porn. Another reason why art classes need to be returned to schools. Understanding how to interpret art, beyond the knee-jerk reactions of various prudes, is important to all
Here's a site if you want to study erotica through the ages: Erotica en la Historia
I've never finished going through it as so much art is represented on it. And some is rather eye-opening...
What's wrong with smut?
One quibble, though - while I agree that clearly fictitious depictions of rape (as in feature films) should not be subject to any censorship, when it comes to simulated "rape porn" there need to be clear disclaimers (or other "proof" that what's being shown isn't a real rape. This is necessary because of the unfortunate existence of real rape/torture footage. But I fear that for many viewers of such material, such a disclaimer would ruin the fantasy, i.e. the illusion that they're actually watching someone be assaulted.
Kink being literally far more objective and demeaning to some of its subjects than Brazzar's tame stuff.
It's the greatest conundrum I've ever encountered.
It's easy to passively watch, get off, turn over and sleep, but the mind's another world complete with your own limitations……
Now this is a bit awkward, but I've written erotic fiction, and have given pointers to other writers. One of the first bits of advice covers exactly this question.
"Before you start writing the piece, decide of you are writing erotica, or smut. Stick with that decision." With a visual medium I guess "porn" would replace "smut" but whatever, same concept.
Now, what's the difference?
Porn (and smut) is content that focuses on the sexual encounter(s). An external plot, if it exists, is simply a prelude or pathway to the sexual scenes ("I'm here to fix the dishwasher, ma'am..." . Those scenes make up the bulk of the piece, and are pretty much what it's "about."
Erotica is something that contains some level of sexualized content but isn't about that content's sexuality. Most films that have any sort of sex scene fall into this category, even whatever small handful are actually graphic depictions, the scene is usually just a few minutes, is meant to convey another point of plot, and is included in a large body of non-sexualized content.
it can get tricky; porn / smut is a sub category of erotica, much in the same way that a square is a kind of rectangle, but a rectangle is not a kind of square. And different people may have different stndards; a fetish video of fully clothed women popping balloons may be a heavily sexualized thing for someone who's into that; given that, and the video's focus on exactly that, i'd class it as porn, even though it has no titilation value for me personally.
Those paintings upthread are erotica; they're sexy but they're not sexual. A depiction of sex is not their purpose, even if the intent may be to display the body of a nude woman for titilation purposes.
