Pornotopia Volume 3: TIE ME UP! THE MUSEUM OF KINK: LATEX, ROPES, ANARCHY & EROS

Editor’s Note: Welcome back to Pornotopia—that glitter-drenched utopia where nipples are protests, every kink is a masterpiece, and the gallery space comes with a safe word. We’re halfway through our erotico-artistic pilgrimage, and it’s time to enter the velvet-curtained corridors of The Museum of Kink. Think latex instead of linen, rope instead of bronze, and art that whips as hard as it whispers.

Fig.1  PASSIONATE LOVE by Lee Truka, 2021, Erotic BDSM fine art, Saatchi Art collection

Pornotopia isn’t just a vibe—it’s a rebellion. A utopian realm where porn is queer, ethical, inclusive, and drenched in pleasure, not patriarchy. It’s an imagined place—but also a manifesto—for everyone left out of mainstream eroticism: the femmes, the fatties, the trans lovers, the disabled desires, the hairy vulvas, and the perverts who turn their pain into poetry.

So what’s our next stop? The Museum of Kink. A dungeon disguised as a gallery. A chapel of rope, rubber, submission, and the sacred safe word. In Pornotopia, every fetish is a masterpiece—and every gallery comes with aftercare. Here, kink isn’t just hot—it’s holy. Safe word? Never heard of her. Welcome to the revolution. 

Enigma - Sadeness - Part i (Official Video)

The Museum of Kink: Latex, Ropes, Anarchy

A guided tour through the erotic, the forbidden, and the fetishistic—from Etruscan tombs to Shibari shows, Mapplethorpe to Robbe-Grillet

Fig.2  Kigiku (yellow chrysanthemum), 36 personal views of Mount Fuji, 2023. Shunga print series by Senju (Matti Sandberg), contemporary artist, Two Cranes Gallery

From Tombs to Taboo: A Brief History of Forbidden Pleasure

Before Fifty Shades of Beige dulled the edges of kink, we had tombs. The earliest known image of a flogging scene dates to a 5th-century BCE Etruscan fresco at the Necropoli dei Monterozzi, Italy—proving humans have long associated whips with worship and pleasure.

Tools like chains, masks, gags, and rope haven’t changed much over the centuries, and their meanings have only deepened.

In the mid-20th century, the golden age of fetish art blossomed in private manuals and mail-order zines. Illustrated guides, like John Willie’s legendary Bizarre Magazine, combined erotic fantasy with instructions, offering both voyeurism and a how-to on discipline, domination, and delight.

Whether carved into tombs or scribbled in zines, BDSM has always belonged to the underground museum of forbidden pleasure.

Fig.3  Bettie Page, ca 1954 by Linnea Eleanor Bunny Yeager (1929 - 2014). American photographer and pin-up model.

Fig.4  Artwork by Madame Dabi

Fig.5  Alexander SZÉKELY (1901 - 1968), Erotic scene from Liana Lauré Jacinthe oder Anschauungsunterricht Titelblatt. Aquarell. Federzeichnung Collection, 1965

Fig.6  Betony Vernon, The Paris-based fetish BDSM jewelry-maker and radical sexual anthropologist. Photoshoot by Raul Higuera for Flaunt Magazine

Fig.7  Adventures of Sweet Gwendoline cover, Vintage Pop Fictions by John Willie

The Pleasure Principle: Spank Me Like One of Your Etruscans

Our collective obsession with spanking stretches far beyond boudoir roleplay or TikTok kink aesthetics — it’s as old as buried tombs and sacred texts.

When archaeologist Carlo Maurilio Lerici unearthed the frescoes of Tarquinia’s "Tomb of the Whipping" in 1960, he wasn’t just discovering erotic art — he was revealing the earliest known depiction of consensual sadomasochism: a naked woman, mid-spank, caught in an eternal moment of ecstatic punishment.

From the Kama Sutra’s detailed spanking taxonomy (yes, it catalogues hand positions and types of screams) to modern sexology, spanking has remained a curious constant — straddling the line between play and taboo. Psychologist Jillian Plante describes it as a “spectrum of sensation,” from the light flirtatious slap to more intense, ritualized pain.

In a culture still wrestling with rigid sexual scripts, spanking seduces by offering both control and surrender — a primal choreography that transcends kink labels. And perhaps, like high fashion itself, it’s not about utility, but about the thrill of the impact. A sting, a gasp, a blush — the body remembering something ancient.

Fig.8  Bizarre Mag - American artists, including John Willie and Irving Klaw, found inspiration in Yva Richard's daring designs

Fig.9  Bizarre Cover 

Fig.10  Bizarre Cover 

Fig.11  Bettie Page, one of the most well known pinup models of the 40’s and 50’s

De Sade: The Father of Pain, the Philosopher of Freedom

To understand the aesthetics of punishment, one must pass through the dungeon of the Marquis de Sade. A nobleman, a madman, a philosopher—or perhaps all three—de Sade believed that the fulfillment of desire, no matter how depraved, was the highest form of freedom. His infamous works, including Juliette and 120 Days of Sodom, written on a twelve-meter scroll and smuggled out of the Bastille, are grotesque manifestos of anarchic eroticism.

Was he a sadistic misogynist? A moral pornographer? Feminists are split. Simone de Beauvoir saw him as subversive. Angela Carter, in The Sadeian Woman, called him a necessary evil—one who granted women agency through monstrosity. His female characters weren’t just victims; they were villains, too.

Today, his influence echoes in everything from Pasolini’s Salò to Catherine Robbe-Grillet’s BDSM rituals and to musical project Enigma’s hunting soundtrack.

Sade didn’t just write porn. He wrote philosophy with a riding crop.

Enigma - Sadeness (Part II) (Official Video)

Mapplethorpe & Molinier: Aesthetics of Submission

No tour of kink would be complete without Robert Mapplethorpe’s infamous X Portfolio (1978)—an archive of leather, chains, and unapologetic gay sexuality. These photographs, featuring fisting, rubber suits, and bondage, sparked national scandal and an obscenity trial in the US. But their legacy is visual power: the stark beauty of domination framed like high art.

Mapplethorpe’s muse? French surrealist and self-proclaimed pervert Pierre Molinier. In photomontages where he wore corsets, heels, and smiles, Molinier blurred masculinity, femininity, and fetish. He even mixed his own semen into the paint. His body wasn’t just a subject—it was the medium

Fig.12  Book cover graphic by Sardax, The FemDom Experience, Paperback 2006 by Elise Sutton

Become a Premium member now and check out the extended version of the article including:

• Catherine Robbe-Grillet: The Domme as Performance Artist
• Bondage as Body Art: The Rope is the Brush
• Eroticism as Protest, Kink as Revolution
• A GOLDEN RETURN: P:Gold, The Party That Destroyed Normality
• Teaser for Volume 4
• 54 additional images offering an eclectic mix of kink erotica (a lot of Nobuyoshi Araki) 

Click HERE for the surprising evolution to spanking-centric erotica of Janus Magazine

Let us know your thoughts on this third part of the "Pornotopia" series in the comment box below..!!