Malina Schulz

Malina-Schulz@web.de
3. Semester
B.A. English Studies
Matrikelnummer 45313
!ann" #ill and the Se$ual %e&'luti'n
Shades '( )hatterle"
S'Se *+14
%uth ,ne-el
1. .ntr'ducti'n
*. /he Se$ual %e&'luti'n
3. 0h' .n(luenced 0h'1
4. 0as !ann" #ill %e&'luti'nar"1
5. Summar"
Introduction
Fanny Hill is a book that talks about sex. First published in 1748 it was
republished in 1963, in the midst o the sexual re!olution. "oncomitant with this, there
were discussions about porno#raph$ and obscenit$, literar$ and moral !alues, the law,
sex and censorship. Fanny Hill was dierent than most books. %he topic and especiall$
the turbulences that lead to Fanny Hill bein# published made it well known and #a!e it
a special connotation. &!en toda$ people know about Fanny Hill and man$ associate it
with the sexual re!olution. %his essa$ will explore this connection and the associated
topics o obscenit$ and !alue.
%he 'exual (e!olution
In the 196)s, societ$ saw a lot o chan#e. %wo world wars had passed and
econom$ was on the rise. *eople were inall$ #i!en the possibilit$ to concentrate on
topics be$ond plain sur!i!in#. %he student mo!ement was protestin# the +ietnam war,
the ci!il ri#ht mo!ement ou#ht or minorit$ ri#hts, second wa!e eminism ,uestioned
traditional amil$ structures, the stonewall riots brou#ht attention to homosexualit$
while hippies spread ree lo!e. *eople were $earnin# or a shit in all ractions o lie,
includin# sex. -inse$ had published his amous report in 1948 and 19.4 which made
people much more aware o their sexualit$ and distributed new inormation. / new
re!olutionar$ wa$ o birth control, the pill, was made a!ailable and allowed women to
ha!e sex without earin# pre#nanc$. 0i!orce became easier, the eminist mo!ement
discussed emale sexualit$ separatel$ rom male sexualit$ and ree lo!e ad!ocated lo!e
and sex as somethin# that does not necessaril$ need marria#e. &!en the pla$bo$
ma#a1ine pla$ed its part b$ normali1in# nude pictures 2&nc$clopaedia 3ritannica4.
5!erall sex became more !isible in the media and more apparent to the public. 'ex was
less and less restricted to marria#e and instead became more casual and normali1ed. In
this time o chan#e 6. 3. *utnam7s 'ons decided to publish a book in the 8'/. / book
that had been written o!er two hundred $ears earlier. %he book had not been widel$
a!ailable as or it7s scandalous topic. Fanny Hill 9 Memoirs of a woman of pleasure
2then called John Cleland's Memoirs of a Woman of Pleasure4, a stor$ about a $oun#
woman who becomes a prostitute, contains a air amount o sex scenes and had been
deemed too obscene to publish it beore. :ow seemed to be the ri#ht time to publish it
a#ain, but that was easier said than done. %he edition was banned ri#ht awa$. ;hat
ollowed was a trial, <emoirs !. <assachusetts, that could not pro!e Fanny Hill to be
obscene. Fanny Hill was thereor protected under the irst amendment 2reedom o
speach, reedom o reli#ion, ri#ht to asemble4 and *utnam was allowed to publish the
book. %his decision is deemed a milestone and said to ha!e pla$ed a crucial part in the
sexual re!olution. %he ,uestion that arises is, was the public7s opinion and knowled#e
on and about sex chan#ed b$ #i!in# them an eas$ access to erotic texts or was the
decision to publish the book inluenced b$ the era7s new sentiments= ;ould the court
e!en ha!e decided the same wa$, i the #eneral morale o societ$ had not been extreml$
dierent than onl$ one decade earlier=
;ho Inluenced ;ho=
;hen *utnam decided to publish Fanny Hill, there had alread$ been trials about
Lady Chatterley's Lover and Tropic of Cancer. %his raised the chances o winnin# the
trial or Fanny Hill as the book was seen as ha!in# less literar$ !alue and thereor
ha!in# better chances o bein# published, i other books were discussed irst 2(embar,
>>>4. %he oundation or the trial was alread$ laid out. %o decide i somethin# was
considered obscene or not, the (oth %est, a result o (oth !. 8nited 'tates 219.74 was
used. %o be considered obscene, a book would ha!e to be
?utterl$ without redeemin# social importance.?
and it was important
?whether, to the a!era#e person, appl$in# contemporar$ communit$ standards,
the dominant theme o the material taken as a whole appeals to the prurient
interest.?. 2?(oth !. 8nited 'tates.? L ! Le"al nformation nstitute. :.p., n.d.
;eb. 19 @une >)14. AhttpBCCwww.law.cornell.eduCsupremecourtCtextC3.4C476D. 4
Fanny Hill chan#ed the deinition o obscenit$. I an$thin# lustul would ha!e been
considered obscene beore, now it could onl$ be considered obscene i it had no !alue at
all 2(embar, 44 %he chan#e ater the trial was bi#, books like The #tory of $, Candy
and e!en <ar,uis de 'ades7 stories were published without diiculties 2(embar, 4884.
%he trial had chan#ed the literar$ landscape and pa!ed the wa$ or man$ other books,
both no!els and nonEiction. (embar e!en thinks that histor$ could ha!e happened
dierentl$. I the court would ha!e taken too lon# to chan#e it7s deinition o obscenit$,
societ$ could alread$ ha!e re#ressed. 2(embar, .4 %he trial pre!ented this rom
happenin#.
In &n#land <a$lower tried to publish the book in 1963 and ailed. / scene
includin# mutual beatin#s made the court decide to ban the book 2'abor, .6>4. %he
&n#lish had to wait until Fanny Hill was inall$ published in 197). 0ierent countries
embraced new thou#hts at a dierent pace.
%o win the trial, (embar had to rel$ on positi!e !oices about the book. /s
opposed to books like Tropic of Cancer and %lysses, Fady Chatterley's Lover and
Fanny Hill are books that arouse lust 2(embar, >>34. Ge ound people that still !alued
Fanny Hill. In Margharita Laski's, a defence witness, opinion the book is a gay little
book a jolly book...It made me feel cheerful. !"abor, #$%&. 'ohn Illo wrote an article
and said that (leland celebrated
the supreme human happiness of... sensuously attracti)e se*uality, and,
especially, wholesome heterose*uality. !"abor, #$%&.
+llthough he e*cludes homose*uality, he is open about se*uality and sees it as
something positi)e. ,hile mostly being ignored, the few re)iews of the book were
negati)e !-embar, %./0%.1&. 2inally, there was a fa)ourable re)iew in the "unday
3imes 4ook -e)iew by 5liot 2remont0"mith, he was later used as a defence witness in
the case !-embar, %.1&. In 61$. 4. "lepian and L. '. Morrissey wrote a positi)e re)iew
of the book as well, ,hat is 2anny 7ill establishes the )alue of the book in detail. 8ot
e)erybody liked the book as much as 4. "lepian and L. '. Morrissey though, the judge
was afraid of being seen reading Fanny Hill in public and regarded it as embarrassing
!-embar, %.9&. + priest and a rabbi e)en went on a hunger strike because of their
outrage o)er pornography !-embar, %.$&. In the end, the ban was lifted, the jury )oted
$:. which shows that the opinion on the book was still di)erse !-embar, ;99&.
Fanny Hill e!en mana#ed to become a part o pop culture. It inspired a son# b$
%om Fehrer called H'mutI in which he sin#s about Hdirt$ booksI, his ondness o
porno#raph$
H*orE
:o#raphic pictures I adore.
Indecent ma#a1ines #alore,
I like them more
I the$7re hard core.I
and the obscenit$ trials.
HGip hip hoora$J
Fet7s hear it or the supreme courtJ
0on7t let them take it awa$JI 2?'mut F$rics.? Tom Lehrer &. :.p., n.d. ;eb. 19
@une >)14. AhttpBCCwww.metrol$rics.comCsmutEl$ricsEtomElehrer.htmlD. 4
3ein# represented in music shows how much the trials iniltrated the thou#hts and
minds o people, but also how much more normali1ed porno#raph$ became.
<emoirs !. <assachusetts had redeined the (oth %est. /lthou#h based on
positi!e re!iews and trials beore it, the unbannin# o Fanny Hill inluenced the sexual
re!olution b$ chan#in# the law and helped spread inormation about sex as well as
settin# an example what was considered normal. It e!en reached the music scene. It is
diicult to clearl$ state who inluenced who, e!en (embar himsel sa$s this.
H3ut it works both wa$sB courts are inluenced b$ what is #oin# on in the world
around them, and at the same time their decisions help to shape the world.
2(embar, .4I
/t the same time it is clear, that the sexual re!olution would ha!e turned out !er$
dierentl$ without Fanny Hill.
;as Fann$ Gill (e!olutionar$=
%he word Hre!olutionar$I is deined as Hcausin# or relatin# to a #reat or
complete chan#eH b$ the <erriamE;ebster online dictionar$. 0id Fanny Hill cause a
#reat or complete chan#e= %he essa$ has established that unbannin# Fanny Hill had
inluenced people, and chan#ed the market or authors and publishers o erotic books,
but are the ideas and thou#hts presented in Fanny Hill new and pro#ressi!e=
In the book, Fann$ writes two letters to an unknown woman, tellin# her about
her lie. /s Fann$ spends se!eral $ears as a prostitute, the book depicts se!eral sex
scenes. %he reader encounters a wide !ariet$ o dierent sexual actsB <asturbation,
premarital heterosexual intercourse, emale and male homosexual intercourse, or#ies
and e!en sadomasochism. &!en toda$ some o those acts, like or#ies and
sadomasochism, are #enerall$ considered rin#e interests. %his was e!en more the case
in the 196)s. /t the same time, we ha!e to consider, in what wa$ the sex scenes are
depicted. @ohn "leland uses a wide arra$ o s$non$ms or both the sexual or#an and the
sexual act. 2<c"ord >684 In act, the word HpenisI is not bein# used in the book. ;hile
the descriptions are rather lower$, the$ are still clear enou#h to know what the stor$ is
about. 2<c"ord >684 %he description o sexual acts and the nature o the sexual acts
seem to indicate that Fanny Hill is in act ,uite pro#ressi!e, but a study in 61$1
!&xposure to *orno#raph$B /n &xplorator$ 'tud$ b$ Fawrence (osen and 'tanle$ G.
%urner4 showed, that only 69./< of the studies participants considered Fanny Hill
pornographic. 2urthermore, the end o the stor$ casts a dierent li#ht on this
assumption. Fann$ ends up marr$in# "harles, the man who took her !ir#init$ and
whom she lo!ed throu#hout the whole stor$. HFor#otten him, I ne!er ha!e 2"leland,
>814I Ge or#i!es her or her past and the$ ha!e children to#ether, she ultimatel$
reali1es the importance o true lo!e. It is onl$ in marria#e and motherhood, that Fann$
can ind real happiness and ulillment. Fann$ Kustiies her past as a wa$ or her to learn
true !alues. 2;a#ner, >334
HI $ou do me then Kustice, $ou will esteem me perectl$ consistent in the
incense I burn to +irtue. I I ha!e painted +ice in all its #a$est colours, i I ha!e
decked it with lowers, it has been solel$ in order to make the worthier, the
solemner sacriice o it to +irtue. 2"leland, >>44H
For Fann$ it is clear, that !irtue is the one, most important !alue to li!e b$. 5!erall the
themes o the book are se!eral dierent !alues. +alue of e*perience, )alue of reason and
self control and )alue of lo)e !"lepian, Morrissey, $9& %he idea o indin# ulillment in
marria#e and !irtue is an old and not a pro#ressi!e one. For 'lepian and <orrisse$
Fanny Hill has a con)entional ending for a 6/
th
century no)el. 2urthermore they see the
book as anticlimactic, something essential in pornography and the look at se* as comic.
!$$, 9%& +ccording to "abor, the readers also ignored e*tremer parts of the te*t, like the
concentration on the male genitalia which could be read as homose*ual !"abor, #$%&
and tried to compare it to other author like =efoe, -ichardson, 2ielding, and "terne to
establish (leland's book as good literature !"abor, #$.&
>uennell, who wrote an introduction for the book, e)en went as far as calling (leland a
romantic sentimentalist, !"abor, #$%&
%he social !alue o Fanny Hill pla$ed a maKor role in the trial. 5nl$ because the
court could not pro!e, that Fanny Hill had no social !alue the book could not be
considered obscene. 'lepian and <orrisse$ stated that
L%he rhetoric, theme, and structure o the Memoirs #i!e it some #enuine literar$
merit.H 27.4
It were, in act, !iews on moralit$ and !alues that ha!e a lon# histor$ that made it
possible to publish Fanny Hill. ;hat would ha!e happened, i Fann$ would not ha!e
married in the end= ;hat would ha!e happened, i the books sole purpose would ha!e
been to depict sex and arouse the reader and not to install moral !alues= / book like this
would most likel$ not ha!e been unbanned. &!en ater the trial a book that had no !alue
whatsoe!er could still be censored, the same thin# applied to ima#es which were
excluded b$ Kud#e 3rennan7s explicit use o words 2(embar, 4894 ;hile Fanny Hill had
explicit sexual scenes and depicted acts, not widel$ accepted and talked about, it was
not as re!olutionar$ and pro#ressi!e as it could ha!e been. %he ocus was on ideas, that
were nowhere near new.
"onclusion
*ublishin# Fanny Hill was made possible b$ new opinions and moral !alues that
had alread$ ormed in societ$. Fanny Hill also inluenced the sexual re!olution urther,
b$ brin#in# the public attention to the trials and enablin# other companies to publish
books about sexualit$ without earin# censorship. ;ithout Fanny Hill, we wouldn7t
ha!e man$ books we ha!e toda$. Fanny Hill itsel was not as pro#ressi!e as it seems at
the irst #lance, ne!ertheless, it spread new ideas about sexualit$ and pla$ed an
important part in the histor$ o the sexual re!olution.
'ourcesB
?(oth !. 8nited 'tates.? L ! Le"al nformation nstitute. :.p., n.d. ;eb. 19
@une >)14. AhttpBCCwww.law.cornell.eduCsupremecourtCtextC3.4C476D.
Fehrer, %om. 'mut. ?That Was the 'ear That Was .? F*. (epriseC;arner 3ros.
(ecords . 196. ?'mut F$rics.? Tom Lehrer &. :.p., n.d. ;eb. 19 @une >)14.
AhttpBCCwww.metrol$rics.comCsmutEl$ricsEtomElehrer.htmlD.
%he &ditors o &nc$clopMdia 3ritannica. ?Gu#h Gener 2/merican publisher and
entrepreneur4.? (ncyclopedia )ritannica $nline. &nc$clopedia 3ritannica, n.d. ;eb. 19
@une >)14. AhttpBCCwww.britannica.comC&3checkedCtopicC133677>CGu#hE
GenerNre116)>3)D.
'lepian, 3., and F. @. <orrisse$. ?;hat is Fann$ Gill=.? (ssays in Criticism OI+B
6.E7.. *0F.
'abor, *eter. ?From 'exual Fiberation to 6ender %roubleB (eadin# <emoirs o a
;oman o *leasure rom the 196)s to the 199)s.? (i"hteenth&Century #tudies 33B .61E
.78. *0F.
(osen, Fawrence, and 'tanle$ G. %urner. ?&xposure %o *orno#raph$B /n
&xplorator$ 'tud$.? Journal of #e* +esearch .B >3.E>46. *0F.
(embar, "harles. The end of o,scenity- the trials of Lady Chatterley. Tropic of
Cancer. and Fanny Hill. . (eprint. :ew PorkB (andom Gouse, 1968. *rint.
"leland, @ohn, and *eter ;a#ner. Fanny Hill. or. Memoirs of a woman of
pleasure. . (eprint. Garmondsworth, <iddlesex, &n#landB *en#uin 3ooks, 198.. *rint.