Today I’m bringing you the letter A, by Joseph Apoux from his Pornographic Alphabet (1880). As long as people have been making anything, they’ve been making naughty things, and Apoux proves it! But what Apoux proves, too, is that there are often surprising twists on power and desire in art, as in literature. As you’ve probably noticed, the inversions of these stereotypes and expectations are one of my favorite things to see and explore. I have never, and will never, think of women as anything less than the arbiters—indeed, the owners—of not just sexuality but humanity itself. We have been demeaned and oppressed, and yet we as women rein mighty and powerful, still and always.
What’s so fun and unexpected about Apoux is how much agency women have in his drawings and illustrations. Just look at the letter A, for starters. She’s looking away, using her foot, and isn’t even letting her suitor touch her. Notice, too, where her foot is placed; on inch to the left, and the poor guy would be crumpled up in a ball on the floor.
Ostensibly, Apoux’s intention with his alphabet was to educate his readers; a kind of elementary Kama Sutra, if you will. But in truth, every letter simply titillates and delights. So naughty! I’ll be bringing you all of them, one by one.
Yours in the dirty words and letters,
xoxo
Nicola