G rated: 1908

CONTEXT:

The Mayor turned so pale at this that the Constable had to thrust a banana into his mouth to restore his courage.

--From The Magic Pudding--

I can't tell if it's better that this sentence is illustrated or not. And what does it mean that these two characters (both portrayed as rather weak and/or effeminate) are stuffing themselves with bananas while everyone else in the book is eating pie and the occasional egg?

Are these bananas just bananas?

NSFW:1663

A: "Can you believe he was spending all his time looking at heliocentric models?"

B: "Thank goodness it was encrypted in Latin, so a child couldn't understand it!"

Homoeroticism: circa 900

His face shone like the moon at its full and he seemed as if he had just come from the bath, with his rosy cheeks and flower-white forehead and mole like a grain of ambergris, even as says the poet:

Within one mansion of the sky the sun and moon combine; With all fair fortune and delight of goodliness they shine. Their beauty stirs all those that see to passion and to love: Good luck to them, for that they move to ravishment divine! In grace and beauty they increase and aye more perfect grow: All souls yearn out to them for love, all hearts to them incline. Blessed be God, whose creatures are so full of wonderment! Whate'er He wills He fashions forth, even as He doth design.

--From The Book of the Thousand Nights and One Night--

That was one man describing another man. It sounds homoerotic, but it was just how straight men acted. It's kind of like what Kenneth Anger (my obsession this weekend) was able to capture in Scorpio Rising:



Anger says in the director's commentary that he was surprised at what the guys in the motorcycle club he was filming did and that they made it seem more queer than even he thought it was.

Another similarity, in both the poem above and the movie, God makes an appearance.

Female sexuality: circa 900

So for fear of the genie, they lay with her one after the other, and when they had done, she bade them arise, and took out of her bosom a purse containing a necklace made of five hundred and seventy rings, and said to them, "Know ye what these are?" They answered, "No." And she said, "Every one of the owners of these rings has had to do with me in despite of this Afrit. And now give me your rings, both of you." So each of them took off a ring and gave it to her. And she said to them, "Know that this genie carried me off on my wedding night and laid me in a box and shut the box up in a glass chest, on which he clapped seven strong locks and sank it to the bottom of the roaring stormy sea, knowing not that nothing can hinder a woman, when she desires aught...

--From The Book of the Thousand Nights and One Night--

We didn't invent it, and in comparison to this, we sound like we're in the closet about it.

Not Pornography: 1641

It's Ruth and Naomi.

I think the painter is suggesting, none too subtlety, that it wasn't just her devotion to her mother-in-law that got her remarried.

Breast Feeding, circa 1500

In another post a commenter, Trooper York, says:

"Milk in the breasts of the Virgin Mary"

Holy blashemy Batman (or however you spell that).

So of course, I have to post a picture!

I love how the angels are carefully looking at the floor, and the angel on the left seems to have a knowing smile. Everything about the picture is over-the-top in its religiosity, except for baby Jesus, who's painted plainly, but as cute as can be.

Six-pack abs, 1894 edition

They've always gotten attention, and they let you walk around in your underwear. For comparison, here's a crowded beach in 1901. Try counting how many people don't have shirts on:

Not Pornography, circa 1613

It's not pornography, it's just Saint Sebastian. The arrow location is entirely random, so is his posture; also, the look on his face is pain, I swear. It's religious! Anyway, there's no room under the bed, so it's going to hang on the wall.

Voyeurism, 1781 edition

Two ladies getting ready to kiss, and a putto watching in the background. Dirty! But have the woman in blue (Diana) be the God Jupiter in disguise (the final title was Jupiter and Callisto) and everything is fine. So, if you're ever worried about lesbianism offending people, just make one of the women a transvestite and everything becomes tasteful.