The Censorship Dance

Throughout history, erotic literature and censorship have performed an endless dance. The Marquis de Sade wrote his most extreme works from prison, where he had abundant time and motivation. Fanny Hill (1748) is widely regarded as the first English novel written as pornography, and it was prosecuted for obscenity soon after it appeared.

Erotic censorship has never truly been about protecting morals. It has always been about controlling who is permitted to express desire and in what terms. When courts prosecuted Fanny Hill, when customs officials seized smuggled books, the target was rarely the sex itself — it was the voice behind it.