CHAPTER 6:  ANALYSIS

Introduction

As noted in the introduction to this paper, one of the most striking immediate observations was the careful use of terms shown by each librarian interviewed.  Many of these professionals have years of practice fielding sexually explicit questions from a variety of users.  They have learned how to talk about their collections in a careful, objective and scientific manner.  This was well expressed by Liana Zhao, at Kinsey for over ten years and now head librarian.  She noted,  “the choice of words is the end product of how you interpret human sexuality in general.” 

An important part of my interviews was that these librarians were teaching me the proper way to talk about “pornography” with them.  The ways of understanding sexually explicit materials, “pornography,” “erotica” and other locally acceptable terms and collections are embodied in the conversations, the thesauri, and the portals.  In the following section, I will examine several specific sexual topics that illustrate differences in the subject analysis of sexually explicit materials – “Pornography” and “Erotica,” “Sexual intercourse” and “Pedophilia.” 

Part 1:  “Pornography” and “Erotica”

The preferred general thesaurus term for sexually explicit materials in many of these collections is “Erotic” and “Erotica.”  The Library of Congress Subject Headings, used by so many collections, uses “Erotic” as a postcoordinated term, which is combined with other terms to form subject headings like “Hair – Erotic aspects” and “Fiction – Gay male – Erotic.” 

LCSH does not have scope notes for the term “Pornography.” There are three ‘search also under’ terms:  “Children in pornography,” “Erotica,” and “Telephone sex.”  “Erotica” has some more predictable ‘search also under’ references such as “Erotic videos” and “Erotic films” as well as some surprising ones like “Girlie collectibles.”  It’s an ongoing cataloging problem whether these subject headings will be used to refer to studies about, say, “Erotic videos,” or the “Erotic videos” themselves.

 Table 1:  LCSH on “Erotica”

Like LCSH, the Kinsey thesaurus, Sexual Nomenclature also uses the descriptive term “Erotica.” The subject heading for “Pornography” is only a note to “search under Erotica.”  The scope note for “Erotica” reads “[a] type of pictorial or written material which is intended to produce sexual arousal in readers and viewers.  Excludes discussion of artistic value – is always dealt with in a social, moral, or legal context.”  This is consistent with Kinsey’s vision that a sexological library is not equipped to judge the artistic merit of sexually explicit materials.  It also ignores the argument often made that “Erotica” is something with cultural or artistic merit, while “Pornography” does not have these socially redeeming values. 

“Erotica” may be subdivided by geographical name and historical period.  Many subject headings exist such as “Erotica consumers” [subdivided by age, gender, and geographical name]; “Erotica industry” “Sadomasochistic erotica,” etc. 

These subject headings and the Kinsey collection are interesting because these subject headings are consistently assigned to studies about the particular forms of erotica and examples of these kinds of erotica themselves.  The erotic fiction, for instance, is subject analyzed and listed in the catalog alongside academic studies of the various kinds of sexual behaviors.  In this way a researcher can effectively find descriptions of the behavior written by practitioners as well as objective research studies by scientists and professionals.

Table 2:  Sexual Nomenclature on “Erotica”

The International Thesaurus of Gay and Lesbian Index Terms takes a perspective on “Pornography” that emphasizes the legal problems faced by gay and lesbian people around the issue of their sexual practices, and representations of those practices 

Table 3:  International Thesaurus of Gay and Lesbian Index Terms on “Pornography”

Part 2:  “Fucking” and “Sexual intercourse”

LC uses the term “Sexual intercourse” for the terms “Coitus,” “Copulation,” “Intercourse, Sexual,” “Lovemaking,” and “Sexual connection.”  “Sexual intercourse” is the heading that Sanford Berman critiqued so resoundingly and recommended that the term “Fucking” also be included in this ‘used for’ list.    

Table 4:  LCSH on “Sexual intercourse”

Although LC has not yet heeded this advice, The International Thesaurus of Gay and Lesbian Index Terms has, and includes a see reference from “Fucking” to “Sexual behavior.”  “Sexual behavior” is divided as below.  Most of the terms have to do with behaviors or activities, but a few are more discipline-based, such as “Sociology,” and “Philosophy of gay liberation.”

Table 5:  International Thesaurus of Gay and Lesbian Index Terms on

“Sexual Behavior”

The LC heading “Sexual intercourse” does have a collection of ‘search also under’ terms.  Two are more specific kinds of intercourse:  “Anal sex” and “Oral sex.” One refers to the kind of people involved in the sexual intercourse, “Incest.”  The others are things that may happen during intercourse: “Coitus interruptus” and “Orgasm.” 

Table 6: LCSH on “Sexual Intercourse”

The Library of Congress “Sex” heading is more like the “Sexuality” or “Sexual behavior” headings of other thesauri and especially Web portals, which will be examined in detail later.  There are several topics of note in this LC heading.   For instance, LC has removed most of the remaining subject heading gender bias.  For instance this heading for “Sexuality” includes both “Females” and “Males.”  There is the missing heading “Single men – Sexual behavior,” though there is a heading for “Single people – Sexual behavior” and “Single women – Sexual behavior.” 

Table 7:  LCSH on “Sex”

A loose organization of catalogers has been submitting sexually explicit subject headings to the Library of Congress using SACO, the Subject Authority COmponent of the Library of Congress Program for Cooperative Cataloging (PCC).  Recent additions include “Leather bars,” “Leather clubs,” “Uniforms – Erotic aspects,” and “Latex garments.” 

This group does face problems with their proposals.  For example, the suggested term “Bears (Gay men)” has been suggested several times, but has not yet been accepted.  Proposals for “Anal fisting” and “Vaginal fisting” were not established, as LC decided they would not create individual headings for specific combinations of body parts.  As a result of this decision, they also decommissioned the already established headings “Cunnilingus” and “Fellatio,” which now have a use pointer to “Oral sex.”[1]

In A Queer Thesaurus, The subject terms that include kinds of sexual intercourse are the headings “Sexuality’ or “Sexual techniques.”  This document does not use either the term “Sexual intercourse” or “Fucking.” The terms detail some very specific acts such as “Mud sex” and “Strangulation sex.”  This queer-oriented thesaurus also found they needed to specify “Vaginal sex” and “Phallic sex,” something most other thesauri take for granted 

Table 8:  A Queer Thesaurus on “Sexuality” and “Sexual techniques.”