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Erotic literature

Erotic literature comprises fictional and factual stories and accounts of eros (passionate, romantic or sexual relationships) intended to arouse similar feelings in readers. This contrasts erotica, which focuses more specifically on sexual feelings. Other common elements are satire and social criticism. Much erotic literature features erotic art, illustrating the text.

Although cultural disapproval of erotic literature has always existed, its circulation was not seen as a major problem before the invention of printing, as the costs of producing individual manuscripts limited distribution to a very small group of wealthy and literate readers. The invention of printing, in the 15th century, brought with it both a greater market and increasing restrictions, including censorship and legal restraints on publication on the grounds of obscenity. Because of this, much of the production of this type of material became clandestine.

Early periods
The oldest located love poem is Istanbul 2461, an erotic monologue written by a female speaker directed to king Shu-Sin.

In ancient Sumer, a whole cycle of poems revolved around the erotic lovemaking between the goddess Inanna and her consort Dumuzid the Shepherd.

In the Hebrew Bible, the Song of Songs, found in the last section of the Tanakh, celebrates sexual love, giving "the voices of two lovers, praising each other, yearning for each other, proffering invitations to enjoy".

Many erotic poems have survived from ancient Greece and Rome. The Greek poets Straton of Sardis and Sappho of Lesbos both wrote erotic lyric poems. The poet Archilochus wrote numerous satirical poems filled with obscene and erotic imagery. Erotic poems continued to be written in Hellenistic and Roman times by writers like Automedon (The Professional and Demetrius the Fortunate), Philodemus (Charito) and Marcus Argentarius. Notable Roman erotic poets included Catullus, Propertius, Tibullus, Ovid, Martial and Juvenal, and the anonymous Priapeia. Some later Latin authors such as Joannes Secundus also wrote erotic verse.

Haft Peykar also known as Bahramnameh (بهرام‌نامه, The Book of Bahram) is a romantic epic by the Persian poet Nizami Ganjavi written in 1197. This poem is a part of the Nizami's Khamsa. The original title Haft Peykar can be translated literally as "seven portraits" with the figurative meaning of "seven beauties." The poem is a masterpiece of erotic literature, but it is also a profoundly moralistic work.

During the Renaissance period, many poems were not written for publication; instead, they were merely circulated in manuscript form among a relatively limited readership. This was the original method of circulation for the Sonnets of William Shakespeare, who also wrote the erotic poems Venus and Adonis and The Rape of Lucrece.

The Perfumed Garden of Sensual Delight (Arabic: الروض العاطر في نزهة الخاطر) is a fifteenth-century Arabic sex manual and work of erotic literature by Muhammad ibn Muhammad al-Nefzawi, also known simply as "Nefzawi". The book presents opinions on what qualities men and women should have to be attractive and gives advice on sexual technique, warnings about sexual health, and recipes to remedy sexual maladies. It gives lists of names for the penis and vulva, and has a section on the interpretation of dreams. Interspersed with these there are a number of stories which are intended to give context and amusement.

17th and 18th centuries
In the 17th century, John Wilmot, Earl of Rochester (1647–80) was notorious for obscene verses, many of which were published posthumously in compendiums of poetry by him and other "Restoration rakes" such as Sir Charles Sedley, Charles Sackville, 6th Earl of Dorset, and George Etherege. Though many of the poems attributed to Rochester were actually by other authors, his reputation as a libertine was such that his name was used as a selling point by publishers of collections of erotic verse for centuries after. One poem definitely by him was "A Ramble in St. James's Park", in which the protagonist's quest for healthy exercise in the park uncovers instead "Bugg'ries, Rapes and Incest" on ground polluted by debauchery from the time when "Ancient Pict began to Whore". This poem was being censored from collections of Rochester's poetry as late as 1953, though, in line with the subsequent general change in attitudes to sexuality, it was dramatised as a scene in the film The Libertine about his life, based on an existing play.

English collections of erotic verse by various hands include the Drollery collections of the 17th century; Pills to Purge Melancholy (1698–1720); the Roxburghe Ballads; Bishop Percy's Folio; The Musical Miscellany; National Ballad and Song: Merry Songs and Ballads Prior to the Year AD 1800 (1895–97) edited by J. S. Farmer; the three volume Poetica Erotica (1921) and its more obscene supplement the Immortalia (1927) both edited by T. R. Smith. French collections include Les Muses gaillardes (1606) Le Cabinet satyrique (1618) and La Parnasse des poetes satyriques (1622).

A famous collection of four erotic poems, was published in England in 1763, called An Essay on Woman. This included the title piece, an obscene parody of Alexander Pope's "An Essay on Man"; "Veni Creator: or, The Maid's Prayer", which is original; the "Universal Prayer", an obscene parody of Pope's poem of the same name, and "The Dying Lover to his Prick", which parodies "A Dying Christian to his Soul" by Pope. These poems have been attributed to John Wilkes and/or Thomas Potter and receive the distinction of being the only works of erotic literature ever read out loud and in their entirety in the House of Lords—before being declared obscene and blasphemous by that body and the supposed author, Wilkes, declared an outlaw.

Robert Burns worked to collect and preserve Scottish folk songs, sometimes revising, expanding, and adapting them. One of the better known of these collections is The Merry Muses of Caledonia (the title is not by Burns), a collection of bawdy lyrics that were popular in the music halls of Scotland as late as the 20th century.

19th century

One of the 19th century's foremost poets—Algernon Charles Swinburne—devoted much of his considerable talent to erotic verse, producing, inter alia, twelve eclogues on flagellation titled The Flogging Block "by Rufus Rodworthy, annotated by Barebum Birchingly"; more was published anonymously in The Whippingham Papers (c. 1888). Another notorious anonymous 19th-century poem on the same subject is The Rodiad, ascribed (seemingly falsely and in jest ) to George Colman the Younger. John Camden Hotten even wrote a pornographic comic opera, Lady Bumtickler's Revels, on the theme of flagellation in 1872.

Pierre Louÿs helped found a literary review, La Conque in 1891, where he proceeded to publish Astarte—an early collection of erotic verse already marked by his distinctive elegance and refinement of style. He followed up in 1894 with another erotic collection in 143 prose poems—Songs of Bilitis (Les Chansons de Bilitis), this time with strong lesbian themes.

20th century
Although D. H. Lawrence could be regarded as a writer of love poems, he usually dealt in the less romantic aspects of love such as sexual frustration or the sex act itself. Ezra Pound, in his Literary Essays, complained of Lawrence's interest in his own "disagreeable sensations" but praised him for his "low-life narrative". This is a reference to Lawrence's dialect poems akin to the Scots poems of Robert Burns, in which he reproduced the language and concerns of the people of Nottinghamshire from his youth. He called one collection of poems Pansies partly for the simple ephemeral nature of the verse but also a pun on the French word panser, to dress or bandage a wound. "The Noble Englishman" and "Don't Look at Me" were removed from the official edition of Pansies on the grounds of obscenity; Lawrence felt wounded by this.

From the age of 17, Gavin Ewart acquired a reputation for wit and accomplishment through such works as "Phallus in Wonderland" and "Poems and Songs", which appeared in 1939 and was his first collection. The intelligence and casually flamboyant virtuosity with which he framed his often humorous commentaries on human behaviour made his work invariably entertaining and interesting. The irreverent eroticism for which his poetry is noted resulted in W H Smith's banning of his "The Pleasures of the Flesh" (1966) from their shops.

Canadian poet John Glassco wrote Squire Hardman (1967), a long poem in heroic couplets, purporting to be a reprint of an 18th-century poem by George Colman the Younger, on the theme of flagellation.

Italian Una Chi distinguished herself among other publications for coldly analytical prose and for the crudeness of the stories.

Erotic fiction
Erotic fiction is fiction that portrays sex or sexual themes, generally in a more literary or serious way than the fiction seen in pornographic magazines. It sometimes includes elements of satire or social criticism. Such works have frequently been banned by the government or religious authorities. Non-fictional works that portray sex or sexual themes may contain fictional elements. Calling an erotic book 'a memoir' is a literary device that is common in this genre. For reasons similar to those that make pseudonyms both commonplace and often deviously set up, the boundary between fiction and non-fiction is broad.

Erotic fiction has been credited in large part for the sexual awakening and liberation of women in the 20th and 21st centuries.

Ancient, medieval, and early modern periods

The Satyricon of Petronius Arbiter (later made into a film by Fellini) is an ancient Roman novel, which has partially survived, narrating the misadventures of an impotent man named Encolpius, who has been cursed by the god Priapus. The novel is filled with bawdy and obscene episodes, including orgies, ritual sex, and other erotic incidents. The discovery of several fragments of Lollianos's Phoenician Tale reveal that a genre of picaresque erotic novel also existed in ancient Greece. Some of the ancient Greek romance novels, such as Daphnis and Chloe, also contain elements of sexual fantasy.

From the medieval period, there is the Decameron (1353) by the Italian Giovanni Boccaccio (made into a film by Pasolini) which features tales of lechery by monks and the seduction of nuns from convents. This book was banned in many countries. Even five centuries after publication, copies were seized and destroyed by the authorities in the US and the UK. For instance, between 1954 and 1958 eight orders for destruction of the book were made by English magistrates.

From the 15th century, another classic of Italian erotica is a series of bawdy folk tales called the Facetiae by Gian Francesco Poggio Bracciolini. The Tale of Two Lovers (Historia de duobus amantibus) written in 1444 was one of the bestselling books of the 15th century, even before its author, Aeneas Sylvius Piccolomini, became Pope Pius II. It is one of the earliest examples of an epistolary novel, full of erotic imagery. The first printed edition was published by Ulrich Zel in Cologne between 1467 and 1470.

The 16th century was notable for the Heptameron of Marguerite de Navarre (1558), inspired by Boccaccio's Decameron and the notorious I Modi which married erotic drawings, depicting postures assumed in sexual intercourse, by Giulio Romano, with obscene sonnets by Pietro Aretino.

Aretino also wrote the celebrated whore dialogue Ragionamenti, in which the sex lives of wives, whores and nuns are compared and contrasted. Later works in the same genre include La Retorica delle Puttane (The Whore's Rhetoric) (1642) by Ferrante Pallavicino; L'école des filles (The school for girls) (1655), attributed to Michel Millot and Jean L'Ange. and The Dialogues of Luisa Sigea (c. 1660) by Nicolas Chorier. Such works typically concerned the sexual education of a naive younger woman by an experienced older woman and often included elements of philosophising, satire and anti-clericalism. Donald Thomas has translated L'École des filles, as The School of Venus, (1972), described on its back cover as "both an uninhibited manual of sexual technique and an erotic masterpiece of the first order". In his diary Samuel Pepys records reading and (in an often censored passage) masturbating over this work. Chorier's Dialogues of Luisa Sigea goes a bit further than its predecessors in this genre and has the older female giving practical instruction of a lesbian nature to the younger woman plus recommending the spiritual and erotic benefits of a flogging from willing members of the holy orders. This work was translated into many languages under various different titles, appearing in English as A Dialogue between a Married Woman and a Maid in various editions. The School of Women first appeared as a work in Latin entitled Aloisiae Sigaeae, Toletanae, Satyra sotadica de arcanis Amoris et Veneris. This manuscript claimed that it was originally written in Spanish by Luisa Sigea de Velasco, an erudite poet and maid of honor at the court of Lisbon and was then translated into Latin by Jean or Johannes Meursius. The attribution to Sigea and Meursius was a lie; the true author was Nicolas Chorier.

A unique work of this time is Sodom, or the Quintessence of Debauchery (1684), a closet play by the notorious Restoration rake, John Wilmot, 2nd Earl of Rochester in which Bolloxinion, King of Sodom, authorises "that buggery may be used O'er all the land, so cunt be not abused", which order, though appealing to soldiery, has deleterious effects generally, leading the court physician to counsel: "Fuck women, and let Bugg'ry be no more".

18th century
An early pioneer of the publication of erotic works in England was Edmund Curll (1675–1747), who published many of the Merryland books. These were an English genre of erotic fiction in which the female body (and sometimes the male) was described in terms of a landscape. The earliest work in this genre seems to be Erotopolis: The Present State of Bettyland (1684) probably by Charles Cotton. This was included, in abbreviated form, in The Potent Ally: or Succours from Merryland (1741). Other works include '' A New Description of Merryland. Containing a Topographical, Geographical and Natural History of that Country (1740) by Thomas Stretzer, Merryland Displayed (1741) and set of maps entitled A Compleat Set of Charts of the Coasts of Merryland'' (1745). The last book in this genre appears to be a parody of Laurence Sterne's A Sentimental Journey Through France and Italy (1768) entitled ''La souricière. The Mousetrap. A Facetious and Sentimental Excursion through part of Austrian Flanders and France'' (1794) by "Timothy Touchit".

The rise of the novel in 18th-century England provided a new medium for erotica. One of the most famous in this genre was Fanny Hill (1748) by John Cleland. This book set a standard in literary smut and was often adapted for the cinema in the 20th century. Peter Fryer suggests that Fanny Hill was a high point in British erotica, at least in the eighteenth century, in a way that mainstream literature around it had also reached a peak at that time, with writers like Defoe, Richardson and Fielding all having made important and lasting contributions to literature in its first half. After 1750, he suggests, when the Romantic period began, the quality of mainstream writing and of smut declined in tandem. Writes Fryer: "sex was driven out of the English novel in the latter half of the eighteenth century. The castration of imaginative English literature made the clandestine literature of sex the most poverty stricken and boring in Europe".

French writers kept their stride. One genre, which vies in oddness with the English "Merryland" productions, was inspired by the newly translated Arabian Nights and involved the transformation of people into objects which were in propinquity with or employed in sexual relationships: such as sofas, dildos and even bidets. The climax of this trend is represented in French philosopher Diderot's Les Bijoux indiscrets (1747) in which a magic ring is employed to get women's vaginas to give an account of their intimate sexual histories.

Other works of French erotica from this period include Thérèse Philosophe (1748) by Jean-Baptiste de Boyer, Marquis d'Argens which describes a girl's initiation into the secrets of both philosophy and sex; The Lifted Curtain or Laura's Education, about a young girl's sexual initiation by her father, written by the French revolutionary politician Comte de Mirabeau; and Les Liaisons dangereuses (Dangerous Liaisons) by Pierre Choderlos de Laclos, first published in 1782.

In the late 18th century, such works as Justine, or the Misfortunes of Virtue and 120 Days of Sodom by the Marquis de Sade were exemplars of the theme of sado-masochism and influenced later erotic accounts of sadism and masochism in fiction. De Sade (as did the later writer Sacher-Masoch) lent his name to the sexual acts which he describes in his work.

19th century
In the Victorian period, the quality of erotic fiction was much below that of the previous century—it was largely written by 'hacks'. Some works, however, borrowed from established literary models, such as Dickens. The period also featured a form of social stratification. Even in the throes of orgasm, the social distinctions between master and servant (including form of address) were scrupulously observed. Significant elements of sado-masochism were present in some examples, perhaps reflecting the influence of the English public school, where flagellation was routinely used as a punishment. These clandestine works were often anonymous or written under a pseudonym, and sometimes undated, thus definite information about them often proves elusive.

English erotic novels from this period include The Lustful Turk (1828); The Romance of Lust (1873); The Convent School, or Early Experiences of A Young Flagellant (1876) by Rosa Coote [pseud.]; The Mysteries of Verbena House, or, Miss Bellasis Birched for Thieving (1882) by Etonensis [pseud.], actually by George Augustus Sala and James Campbell Reddie; The Autobiography of a Flea (1887); Venus in India (1889) by 'Captain Charles Devereaux';  Flossie, a Venus of Fifteen: By one who knew this Charming Goddess and worshipped at her shrine (1897). A novel called Beatrice, once marketed as another classic of Victorian erotica from the pen of the ubiquitous "Anon", now appears to be a very clever 20th-century pastiche of Victorian pornography. It first appeared in 1982 and was written by one Gordon Grimley, a sometime managing director of Penthouse International.

Clandestine erotic periodicals of this age include The Pearl, The Oyster and The Boudoir, collections of erotic tales, rhymes, songs and parodies published in London between 1879 and 1883.

The centre of the trade in such material in England at this period was Holywell Street, off the Strand, London. An important publisher of erotic material in the early 19th century was George Cannon (1789–1854), followed in mid-century by William Dugdale (1800–1868) and John Camden Hotten (1832–1873).

An evaluation of 19th-century (pre-1885) and earlier underground erotica, from the author's own private archive, is provided by Victorian writer Henry Spencer Ashbee, using the pseudonym "Pisanus Fraxi", in his bibliographical trilogy Index Librorum Prohibitorum (1877), Centuria Librorum Absconditorum (1879) and Catena Librorum Tacendorum (1885). His plot summaries of the works he discusses in these privately printed volumes are themselves a contribution to the genre. Originally of very limited circulation, changing attitudes have led to his work now being widely available.

Notable European works of erotica at this time were Gamiani, or Two Nights of Excess (1833) by Frenchman Alfred de Musset and Venus in Furs (1870) by the Austrian author Leopold von Sacher-Masoch. The latter erotic novella brought the attention of the world to the phenomenon of masochism, named after the author.

Toward the end of the 19th century, a more "cultured" form of erotica began to appear by poets such as Algernon Charles Swinburne, who pursued themes of paganism, lesbianism and sado-masochism in such works as Lesbia Brandon and in contributions to The Whippingham Papers (1888) edited by St George Stock, author of The Romance of Chastisement (1866). This was associated with the Decadent movement, in particular, with Aubrey Beardsley and the Yellow Book. But it was also to be found in France, amongst such writers as Pierre Louys, author of Les chansons de Bilitis (1894) (a celebration of lesbianism and sexual awakening).

Pioneering works of gay male erotica from this time were The Sins of the Cities of the Plain (1881), which features the celebrated Victorian transvestite duo of Boulton and Park as characters, and Teleny, or The Reverse of the Medal (1893).

Two important publishers of erotic fiction at the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th were Leonard Smithers (1861–1907) and Charles Carrington (1867–1921), both of whom were subject to legal injunctions from the British authorities in order to prohibit their trade in such material. Because of this legal harassment the latter conducted his business from Paris. Erotic fiction published by Carrington at this period includes Raped on the Railway: a True Story of a Lady who was first ravished and then flagellated on the Scotch Express (1894)   and The Memoirs of Dolly Morton (1899) set on a slave-plantation in the Southern States of America.

20th century
20th-century erotic fiction includes such classics of the genre as: Suburban Souls (1901), published by Carrington and possibly written by him also; The Confessions of Nemesis Hunt (issued in three volumes 1902, 1903, 1906), attributed to George Reginald Bacchus, printed by Duringe of Paris for Leonard Smithers in London; Josephine Mutzenbacher (1906) by Anon. (presumably Felix Salten); Sadopaideia (1907) by Anon. (possibly Algernon Charles Swinburne); Les Mémoires d'un jeune Don Juan (1907) and the somewhat disturbing Les onze mille verges (1907) by Guillaume Apollinaire; The Way of a Man with a Maid (1908) and A Weekend Visit by Anon.; Pleasure Bound Afloat (1908), Pleasure Bound Ashore (1909) and Maudie (1909) by Anon. (probably George Reginald Bacchus), and My Lustful Adventures (1911) by the pseudonymous 'Ramrod'; Manuel de civilité pour les petites filles à l'usage des maisons d'éducation (1917) and Trois filles de leur mère (1926) by Pierre Louys; Story of the Eye (1928) by Georges Bataille; Tropic of Cancer (1934) and Tropic of Capricorn (1938) by Henry Miller; The Story of O (1954) by Pauline Réage; Helen and Desire (1954) and Thongs (1955) by Alexander Trocchi; Ada, or Ardor (1969) by Vladimir Nabokov; Journal (1966), Delta of Venus (1978) and Little Birds (1979) by Anaïs Nin and The Bicycle Rider (1985) by Guy Davenport and Lila Says (1999) by an anonymous author.

A study found that the most popular of the Armed Services Editions paperbacks distributed to American soldiers during World War II "are novels that deal frankly with sexual relations (regardless of tone, literary merit and point of view, no matter whether the book is serious or humorous, romantically exciting or drably pedestrian)".

Vladimir Nabokov's Lolita is usually described as an erotic novel, but in the view of some it is a literary drama with elements of eroticism. Like Nabokov's Lolita, Johannes Linnankoski's The Song of the Blood-Red Flower is also often described as erotic novel, only a little explicit and cleverly cloaked in gentler romance.

Lolita and The Story of O were published by Olympia Press, a Paris-based publisher, launched in 1953 by Maurice Girodias as a rebadged version of the Obelisk Press he inherited from his father Jack Kahane. It published a mix of erotic fiction and avant-garde literary works. The Girls of Radcliff Hall is a roman à clef novel in the form of a lesbian girls' school story written in the 1930s by the British composer and bon-vivant Gerald Berners, the 14th Lord Berners, under the pseudonym "Adela Quebec", published and distributed privately in 1932.

Another trend in the twentieth century was the rise of the lesbian pulp fiction. Works such as The Price of Salt (1952), Spring Fire (1952), Desert of the Heart (1964), and Patience and Sarah (1969) were only a few examples of this subgenre. Many of the authors were women themselves, such as Gale Wilhelm and Ann Bannon. Many gay men also enjoyed gay pulp fiction, which borrowed the same sexploitation format as the lesbian books.

Asian erotic fiction
Chinese literature has a rich catalogue of erotic novels that were published during the mid-Ming to early-Qing dynasties. Some well-known erotic novels with explicit sexuality during this period include Ruyijun zhuan (The Lord of Perfect Satisfaction), The Embroidered Couch, Su'e pian, Langshi, Chipozi zhuan, Zhulin yeshi, and The Carnal Prayer Mat. The critic Charles Stone has argued that pornographic technique is the "union of banality, obscenity, and repetition", and contains just the "rudiments" of plot, style, and characterization, while anything that is not sexually stimulating is avoided. If this is the case, he concluded, then The Lord of Perfect Satisfaction is the "fountainhead of Chinese erotica", but not pornography. The novel Jin Ping Mei (or The Plum in the Golden Vase), written by an author who used only a pseudonym (as his real name is unknown), is generally regarded as the greatest of all Chinese erotic novels. Its literary status is unparalleled among erotic fiction and it has been described by critic Stephen Marche in the Los Angeles Review of Books as "one of the world's great novels, if not simply the greatest."

There is also a tradition of erotic fiction in Japan. Jun'ichirō Tanizaki often touches on erotic themes in his novels, eg. obsession in Naomi, lesbianism in Quicksand or sexuality in The Key. Some portion of this is doujinshi, or independent comics, which are often fan fiction. The sharebon (洒落本) was a pre-modern Japanese literary genre. Plots revolved around humor and entertainment at the pleasure quarters. It is a subgenre of gesaku.

Contemporary erotic fiction
In the 21st century, a number of female authors, including Alison Tyler, Rachel Kramer Bussel, and Carol Queen, rose to prominence. Mitzi Szereto is an editor and author who said she wants to see the term erotica removed from novels and anthologies that include depictions of sexual activities. Other authors celebrate the term but also question why literature featuring sexual activity should be considered outside literary fiction.

The debate was rekindled in 2012 by the release of the 50 Shades of Grey trilogy written by E. L. James. The success of her erotica for every woman, dubbed 'mommyporn', gave rise to satires like Fifty Shames of Earl Grey by 'Fanny Merkin' (real name Andrew Shaffer), a book of essays called Fifty Writers on Fifty Shades (ed. Lori Perkins) and editors of erotic imprints re-evaluating the content and presentation of the genre.

One development in contemporary erotica is the knowledge that many women, and not just men, are aroused by it. This is regardless of whether it is traditional pornography or tailor-made women's erotica. Romantic novels are sometimes marketed as erotica—or vice versa—as "mainstream" romance in recent decades has begun to exhibit blatant (if poetic) descriptions of sex. Erotic romance is a relatively new genre of romance with an erotic theme and very explicit love scenes, but with a romance at the heart of the story. Erotic fantasy is a subgenre of fantasy fiction and utilizes erotica in a fantasy setting. These stories can essentially cover any of the other subgenres of fantasy, such as high fantasy, contemporary fantasy, or even historical fantasy. The extents of the genre to break existing conventions and limits in subject matter have managed to shock popular audiences, with genres such as monster erotica emerging with the ease of digital publishing.

Erotic fantasy fiction has similarities to romantic fantasy but is more explicit. Erotic fantasy can also be found in fan fiction, which uses plot elements and characters from popular fiction such as television, film, or novels. Erotic fan fiction may use characters from existing works in non-canon relationships, such as slash (homoerotic) fan fiction. Fan fiction and its Japanese counterpart, doujinshi, account for an enormous proportion of all erotica written today.

Internet erotic fiction
The Internet and digital revolution in erotic depiction has changed the forms of representing scenes of a sexual nature.

Erotica was present on the Internet from its earliest days, as seen from rec.arts.erotica on Usenet. This news group was a moderated forum for the exchange of erotic stories that predated the creation of the World Wide Web. Most of this migrated to the alt.* hierarchy forums by the 1990s, including alt.sex.stories. The bandwidth/speeds available to end users on the internet influenced usage, and during early days of dial-up internet connections, the limited speeds, especially in developing countries, limited the number of users trying to access visual forms of erotica including images and videos, and might have created a niche for erotic literature. Platforms such as nifty.org presented a vast library of erotic literature categorized according to the narrative, including heterosexual, gay, bisexual and transgender themes. The vast majority of Internet erotica is written by amateurs for the enjoyment of the author and readers instead of for profit. The increased interactivity and anonymity allows casual or hobby writers the opportunity not only to author their own stories but also to share them with a world-wide audience. Many authors adopt colorful pseudonyms and can develop cult followings within their genre, although a small number use their real names. Among transgender or non-binary authors, it is a common practice to adopt a feminine or masculine alter-ego, although a writer may use their own given name.

Student erotica
In the 21st century, a new literary genre of student published journals at American universities was started. The following is a partial list of publications:
 * The Moderator – Bard College
 * Virgin Mawrtyr – Bryn Mawr College
 * H-Bomb – Harvard University
 * Quake – University of Pennsylvania
 * Squirm – Vassar College
 * Vita Excolatur – University of Chicago
 * Bang and Untouchables – Swarthmore College
 * Boink – Boston University

Writings of prostitutes
Prostitution was the focus of much of the earliest erotic works. The term pornography is derived from the Greek pornographos meaning "writer about prostitutes", originally denoting descriptions of the lives and manners of prostitutes and their customers in Ancient Greece. According to Athenaeus in The Deipnosophists these constituted a considerable genre, with many lubricious treatises, stories and dramas on the subject. A surviving example of this genre is Lucian of Samosata's Dialogues of the Courtesans.

Accounts of prostitution have continued as a major part of the genre of erotic literature. In the 18th century, directories of prostitutes and their services, such as Harris's List of Covent Garden Ladies (1757–1795), provided both entertainment and instruction.

In the 19th century, the sensational journalism of W. T. Stead's The Maiden Tribute of Modern Babylon (1885) about the procuring of underage girls into the brothels of Victorian London provided a stimulus for the erotic imagination. Stead's account was widely translated and the revelation of "padded rooms for the purpose of stifling the cries of the tortured victims of lust and brutality" and the symbolic figure of "The Minotaur of London" confirmed European observers worst imaginings about "Le Sadisme anglais" and inspired erotic writers to write of similar scenes set in London or involving sadistic English gentlemen. Such writers include D'Annunzio in Il Piacere, Paul-Jean Toulet in Monsieur de Paur (1898), Octave Mirbeau in Jardin des Supplices (1899) and Jean Lorrain in Monsieur de Phocas (1901).

Well-known recent works in this genre are The Happy Hooker: My Own Story (1971) by the Dutch madame Xaviera Hollander and The Intimate Adventures of a London Call Girl (2005) by Belle de Jour.

Erotic memoirs

Erotic memoirs include Casanova's Histoire de ma vie, from the 18th century. Notable English works of this genre from the 19th century include The Ups and Downs of Life (1867) by Edward Sellon and My Secret Life by "Walter". Edward Sellon was a writer, translator and illustrator of erotic literature who wrote erotica for the pornographic publisher William Dugdale, including such works as The New Epicurean (1865). The true identity of "Walter" is unknown. Ian Gibson, in The Erotomaniac speculates that My Secret Life was actually written by Henry Spencer Ashbee and therefore it is possible that "Walter" is a fiction.

A famous German erotic work of this time, published in two parts in 1868 and 1875 entitled Pauline the Prima Donna purports to be the memoirs of the opera singer Wilhelmine Schröder-Devrient. Various discrepancies with known facts of the singer's life, however, have led many to doubt the veracity of this book and the erotic adventures contained in the second volume, at least, appear to be implausible. These include the author indulging in lesbian sadomasochism, group sex, sodomy, bestiality, scatology, necrophilia, prostitution, and vampirism all before she had reached the age of 27. 20th-century contributions to the genre include Frank Harris's My Life and Loves (1922–27) and the convicted Austrian sex criminal Edith Cadivec's Confessions and Experiences and its sequel Eros, the Meaning of My Life (published together 1930-1). A 21st-century example is One Hundred Strokes of the Brush Before Bed (2004) by Melissa Panarello.

Sex manuals
Sex manuals are among the oldest forms of erotic literature. Three brief fragments of a sex manual written in the fourth century BC that is attributed to Philaenis of Samos have survived. Modern scholars generally regard it as a work of parody probably written by a man, and this was most likely Athenian sophist Polycrates. Other examples of the genre from the classical world include the lost works of Elephantis and Ovid's Ars Amatoria. The Indian Kama Sutra is one of the world's best-known works of this type. The Ananga Ranga, a 12th-century collection of Indian erotic works, is a lesser known one. The Perfumed Garden for the Soul's Recreation, a 16th-century Arabic work by Sheikh Nefzaoui, is also well-known and is often reprinted and translated. There is anecdotal evidence that, as late as the mid-20th century, sex therapists and other physicians prescribed erotic literature as treatment for erectile dysfunction.

The ancient Chinese versions of the sex manual include the texts that contain the Taoist sexual practices. These include books that show illustrations of the ideal sexual behavior because sex in this religion is not considered taboo but a manifestation of the concept of the yin and yang, wherein the male and female engage in an act of "joining of energy" or "joining of essences". The belief is that proper sexual practice is key to achieving good health. The manuals included the Ishinpo text, which is a medical document that also included sections devoted to sexual hygiene and sexual manuals of the Tang and Han dynasties.

Qigong manuals include warming a wet towel and covering penis for a few minutes, then rubbing one direction away from base of penis hundreds of times daily, similar to qigong. Squeezing sphincter while semi-erect or fully erect dozens of times daily, particularly a few hours before intercourse will help delay orgasm or enhance non-ejaculatory pleasure. The Universal Tao system was developed by Mantak Chia to teach Taoist meditative and exercise techniques to balance the body and increase and refine one's vital energy, or qi. Front and back channel, the back channel is where the perineum is located between anus and scrotum moving up the tailbone to the crown, the front channel is moving down the front of your body down the midline. Breathing up the back channel and then breathing out from the front channel down to and from the abdomen moves chi. Many practices combined help chi to be transformed into spiritual energy or shen.

Not all sex manuals were produced to arouse or inform readers about sexual acts. Some were created as a form of satire or social criticism, as in the case of a mock-sex manual produced in the early sixteenth century by Pietro Aretino. It was in response to the clerical censorship of the nude engravings of the Roman artists Marcantonio Raimondi. This was released in cheap wood, with a corresponding sonnet serving as the voice of the characters.

To 1857
Erotic or pornographic works have often been prosecuted, censored and destroyed by the authorities on grounds of obscenity. In Medieval England, erotic or pornographic publications were the concern of the ecclesiastical courts. After the Reformation the jurisdiction of these courts declined in favour of the Crown which licensed every printed book. Prosecutions of books for their erotic content alone were rare and works which attacked the church or state gave much more concern to the authorities than erotica or 'obscene libel' as it was then known. For instance the Licensing Act 1662 was aimed generally at "heretical, seditious, schismatical or offensive books of pamphlets" rather than just erotica per se. Even this Licensing Act was allowed to lapse in 1695 and no attempt made to renew it.

The first conviction for obscenity in England occurred in 1727, when Edmund Curll was fined for the publication of Venus in the Cloister or The Nun in her Smock under the common law offence of disturbing the King's peace. This set a legal precedent for other convictions. The publication of other books by Curll, however, considered seditious and blasphemous, such as The Memoirs of John Ker, apparently most offended the authorities. Prosecutions of erotica later in the 18th century were rare and were most often taken because of the admixture of seditious and blasphemous material with the porn.

1857–1959
It was the Obscene Publications Act 1857 which made the sale of obscene material a statutory offense, giving the courts power to seize and destroy offending material. The origins of the act itself were in a trial for the sale of pornography presided over by the Lord Chief Justice, Lord Campbell, at the same time as a debate in the House of Lords over a bill aiming to restrict the sale of poisons. Campbell was taken by the analogy between the two situations, famously referring to the London pornography trade as "a sale of poison more deadly than prussic acid, strychnine or arsenic", and proposed a bill to restrict the sale of pornography; giving statutory powers of destruction would allow for a much more effective degree of prosecution. The bill was controversial at the time, receiving strong opposition from both Houses of Parliament. It was passed on the assurance by the Lord Chief Justice that it was "intended to apply exclusively to works written for the single purpose of corrupting the morals of youth and of a nature calculated to shock the common feelings of decency in any well-regulated mind." The House of Commons successfully amended it so as not to apply to Scotland, on the grounds that Scottish common law was sufficiently stringent.

The Act provided for the seizure and destruction of any material deemed to be obscene, and held for sale or distribution, following information being laid before a "court of summary jurisdiction" (magistrates' court). The Act required that following evidence of a common-law offence being committed – for example, on the report of a plain-clothes policeman who had successfully purchased the material – the court could issue a warrant for the premises to be searched and the material seized. The proprietor then would be called upon to attend court and give reason why the material should not be destroyed. Critically, the Act did not define "obscene", leaving this to the will of the courts.

While the Act itself did not change, the scope of the work affected by it did. In 1868 Sir Alexander Cockburn, Campbell's successor as Lord Chief Justice, held in an appeal that the test of obscenity was "whether the tendency of the matter charged as obscenity is to deprave and corrupt those whose minds are open to such immoral influences and into whose hands a publication of this sort may fall." This was clearly a major change from Campbell's opinion only ten years before – the test now being the effect on someone open to corruption who obtained a copy, not whether the material was intended to corrupt or offend.

Cockburn's declaration remained in force for several decades, and most of the high profile seizures under the Act relied on this interpretation. Known as the Hicklin test no cognisance was taken of the literary merit of a book or on the extent of the offending text within the book in question. The widened scope of the original legislation led to the subsequent notorious targeting of now acknowledged classics of world literature by such authors as Zola, James Joyce and D.H. Lawrence plus medical textbooks by such as Havelock Ellis rather than the blatant erotica which was the original target of this law.

In contrast to England, where actions against obscene literature were the preserve of the magistrates, such actions were the responsibility of the Postal Inspection Service in America. They were embodied in the federal and state Comstock laws and named after the postal officer and anti-obscenity crusader Anthony Comstock, who proved himself officious in the work of suppression both in his official capacity and through his New York Society for the Suppression of Vice. The first such law was the Comstock Act, (ch. 258 enacted March 3, 1873) which made it illegal to send any "obscene, lewd, and/or lascivious" materials through the mail. Twenty-four states passed similar prohibitions on materials distributed within the states.

Modern legislation
This question of whether a book had literary merit eventually prompted a change in the law in both America and the UK. In the United Kingdom the Obscene Publications Act 1959 provided for the protection of "literature" but conversely increased the penalties against pure "pornography." The law defined obscenity and separated it from serious works of art.

The new definition read:

"[A]n article shall be deemed to be obscene if its effect or (where the article comprises two or more distinct items) the effect of any one of its items is, if taken as a whole, such as to tend to deprave and corrupt persons who are likely, having regard to all relevant circumstances, to read, see or hear the matter contained or embodied in it."

After this piece of legislation questions of the literary merit of the work in question were allowed to be put before the judge and jury as in the Lady Chatterley trial. The publishers of the latter book were found not guilty by the court on the grounds of the literary merit of the book. In later prosecutions of literary erotica under the provisions of the act, however, even purely pornographic works with no apparent literary merit escaped destruction by the authorities. Purely textual pornographic texts, with no hint of libel, ceased to be brought to trial following the collapse of the Inside Linda Lovelace trial in 1976. However, in October 2008, a man was unsuccessfully prosecuted under the Obscene Publications Act (the R v Walker trial) for posting fictional written material to the Internet allegedly describing the kidnap, rape and murder of the pop group Girls Aloud.

The First Amendment to the United States Constitution gives protection to written fiction, although the legal presumption that it does not protect obscene literature has never been overcome. Instead, pornography has successfully been defined legally as non-obscene, or "obscene" been shown to be so vague a term as to be unenforceable. In 1998 Brian Dalton was charged with creation and possession of child pornography under an Ohio obscenity law. The stories were works of fiction concerning sexually abusing children which he wrote and kept, unpublished, in his private journal. He accepted a plea bargain, pleaded guilty and was convicted. Five years later, the conviction was vacated.

Importing books and texts across national borders can sometimes be subject to more stringent laws than in the nations concerned. Customs officers are often permitted to seize even merely 'indecent' works that would be perfectly legal to sell and possess once one is inside the nations concerned. Canada has been implicated in such border seizures.

Although the Obscene Publications Act of 1857, as well as 1959 legislation, outlawed the publication, retail and trafficking of certain types of writings and images regarded as pornographic, and would order the destruction of shop and warehouse stock meant for sale, the private possession of and viewing of pornography was not prosecuted in those times. In some nations, even purely textual erotic literature is still deemed illegal and is also prosecuted.

General

 * Atkins, John (1970) Sex in Literature, 4 vols. 1970–1982
 * Bertolotti, Alessandro. Curiosa la bibliotheque érotique. Paris, Editions La Martiniere, 2012, ISBN 978-2-7324-5274-6
 * Di Folco, Philippe, ed. (2005) Dictionnaire de la pornographie. Paris: Presses Universitaires de France, ISBN 2-130-54414-2
 * Englisch, Paul (1927) Geschichte der erotischen Literatur, 1927, Reprint 1977, ISBN 3-921695-01-5
 * Fischer, Carolin (1997) Gärten der Lust: eine Geschichte erregender Lektüren, Stuttgart; Weimar: Metzler ISBN 3-476-01563-7, paperback: München: Dt. Taschenbuch-Verlag, 2000
 * Gnüg, Hiltrud (2002) Der erotische Roman: von der Renaissance bis zur Gegenwart, Ditzingen: Reclam ISBN 3-15-017634-4
 * Kronhausen, Eberhard & Phyllis (1969) Bücher aus dem Giftschrank: eine Analyse der verbotenen und verfemten erotischen Literatur
 * Pia, Pascal, ed. (1971) Dictionnaire des œuvres érotiques. Paris: Mercure de France
 * Schreiber, Hermann (1969) Erotische Texte: sexualpathologische Erscheinungen in der Literatur
 * Spedding, Patrick, curator (2010) Lewd and Scandalous Books: An exhibition of material from the Monash University Library Rare Books Collection , Clayton (Melbourne): Monash University,

Ancient world and Middle Ages

 * Leick, G. (1994) Sex and Eroticism in Mesopotamian Literature ISBN 0-415-06534-8
 * Mulchandani, S. (2006) Erotic Literature of Ancient India: Kama Sutra, Koka Shastra, Gita Govindam, Ananga Ranga ISBN 81-7436-384-X

Modern times to 1900

 * Goulemot, J. (1993) Gefährliche Bücher: erotische Literatur, Pornographie, Leser und Zensur im 18. Jahrhundert ISBN 3-499-55528-X
 * Moulton, I. (2000) Before Pornography: erotic writing in early modern Europe ISBN 0-19-513709-4

title: Erotic literature


text:
Intellectual giftedness

Intellectual giftedness is an intellectual ability significantly higher than average. It is a characteristic of children, variously defined, that motivates differences in school programming. It is thought to persist as a trait into adult life, with various consequences studied in longitudinal studies of giftedness over the last century. These consequences sometimes includes stigmatizing and social exclusion. There is no generally agreed definition of giftedness for either children or adults, but most school placement decisions and most longitudinal studies over the course of individual lives have followed people with IQs in the top 2.5 percent of the population—that is, IQs above 130. Definitions of giftedness also vary across cultures.

The various definitions of intellectual giftedness include either general high ability or specific abilities. For example, by some definitions, an intellectually gifted person may have a striking talent for mathematics without equally strong language skills. In particular, the relationship between artistic ability or musical ability and the high academic ability usually associated with high IQ scores is still being explored, with some authors referring to all of those forms of high ability as "giftedness", while other authors distinguish "giftedness" from "talent". There is still much controversy and much research on the topic of how adult performance unfolds from trait differences in childhood, and what educational and other supports best help the development of adult giftedness.

Overview
The identification of giftedness first emerged after the development of IQ tests for school placement. It has since become an important issue for schools, as the instruction of gifted students often presents special challenges. During the twentieth century, gifted children were often classified via IQ tests; other identification procedures have been proposed but are only used in a minority of cases in most public schools in the English-speaking world. Developing useful identification procedures for students who could benefit from a more challenging school curriculum is an ongoing problem in school administration.

Because of the key role that gifted education programs in schools play in the identification of gifted individuals, both children and adults, it is worthwhile to examine how schools define the term "gifted".

Definitions
Since Lewis Terman in 1916, psychometricians and psychologists have sometimes equated giftedness with high IQ. Later researchers (e.g., Raymond Cattell, J. P. Guilford, and Louis Leon Thurstone) have argued that intellect cannot be expressed in such a unitary manner, and have suggested more multifaceted approaches to intelligence.

Research conducted in the 1980s and 1990s has provided data that supports notions of multiple components to intelligence. This is particularly evident in the reexamination of "giftedness" by Sternberg and Davidson in their collection of articles Conceptions of Giftedness (1986; second edition 2005). The many different conceptions of giftedness presented, although distinct, are interrelated in several ways. Most of the investigators define giftedness in terms of multiple qualities, not all of which are intellectual. IQ scores are often viewed as inadequate measures of giftedness. Motivation, high self-concept, and creativity are key qualities in many of these broadened conceptions of giftedness.

Joseph Renzulli's (1978) "three ring" definition of giftedness is one frequently mentioned conceptualization of giftedness. Renzulli's definition, which defines gifted behaviors rather than gifted individuals, is composed of three components as follows: Gifted behavior consists of behaviors that reflect an interaction among three basic clusters of human traits—above average ability, high levels of task commitment, and high levels of creativity. Individuals capable of developing gifted behavior are those possessing or capable of developing this composite set of traits and applying them to any potentially valuable area of human performance. Persons who manifest or are capable of developing an interaction among the three clusters require a wide variety of educational opportunities and services that are not ordinarily provided through regular instructional programs.

In Identifying Gifted Children: A Practical Guide, Susan K. Johnsen explains that gifted children all exhibit the potential for high performance in the areas included in the United States' federal definition of gifted and talented students:

There is a federal government statutory definition of gifted and talented students in the United States.

"The term 'gifted and talented' when used in respect to students, children, or youth means students, children, or youth who give evidence of high-performance capability in areas such as intellectual, creative, artistic, or leadership capacity, or in specific academic fields, and who require services or activities not ordinarily provided by the school in order to fully develop such capabilities.' (The Improving America’s Schools Act of 1994, P.L. 103–382, Title XIV, p. 388)"

This definition has been adopted partially or completely by the majority of the individual states in the United States (which have the main responsibility for education policy as compared to the federal government). Most states have a definition similar to that used in the State of Texas:

"'gifted and talented student' means a child or youth who performs at or shows the potential for performing at a remarkably high level of accomplishment when compared to others of the same age, experience, or environment, and who
 * exhibits high-performance capability in an intellectual, creative, or artistic area;
 * possesses an unusual capacity for leadership; or
 * excels in a specific academic field.' (74th legislature of the State of Texas, Chapter 29, Subchapter D, Section 29.121)"

The major characteristics of these definitions are (a) the diversity of areas in which performance may be exhibited (e.g., intellectual, creativity, artistic, leadership, academically), (b) the comparison with other groups (e.g., those in general education classrooms or of the same age, experience, or environment), and (c) the use of terms that imply a need for development of the gift (e.g., capability and potential).

Since the late 90s, the development of the brain of people with high IQ scores has been shown to be different to that of people with average IQ scores. A longitudinal study over 6 years has shown that high-IQ children have a thinner cerebral cortex when young, which then grows quickly and becomes significantly thicker than the other children's by the time they became teenagers.

Identification methods
In psychology, identification of giftedness is usually based on IQ scores. The threshold of IQ = 130 is defined by statistical rarity. By convention, the 5% of scores who fall more than two standard deviations from the mean (or more accurately 1.96) are considered atypical. In the case of intelligence, these 5% are partitioned to both sides of the range of scores, and include the 2.5% who score more than two standard deviations below the mean and the 2.5% who score more than two standard deviations above the mean. Because the average of IQ is 100 and its standard deviation is 15, this rule places the threshold for intellectual disability at IQ = 70, and the symmetrical threshold for giftedness at IQ = 130 (rounded). This arbitrary threshold is used by most psychologists in most countries.

While IQ testing has the advantage of providing a standardised basis for the diagnosis of giftedness, psychologists are expected to interpret IQ scores in the context of all available information: standardized intelligence tests ignore actual achievement and can fail to detect giftedness. For example, a specific learning disorder such as dyslexia or dyspraxia can easily decrease scores on intelligence tests and hide true intellectual ability.

In educational settings, many schools in the US use a variety of assessments of students' capability and potential when identifying gifted children. These may include portfolios of student work, classroom observations, achievement tests, and IQ test scores. Most educational professionals accept that no single criterion can be used in isolation to accurately identify a gifted child.

One of the criteria used in identification may be an IQ test score. Until the late 1960s, when "giftedness" was defined solely based on an IQ score, a school district simply set an arbitrary score (usually in the 130 range) and a student either did or did not "make the cut". This method is still used by many school districts because it is simple and objective. Although a high IQ score is not the sole indicator of giftedness, usually if a student has a very high IQ, that is a significant indicator of high academic potential. Because of this consideration, if a student scores highly on an IQ test, but performs at an average or below-average level academically, school officials may think that this issue warrants further investigation as an example of underachievement. However, scholars of educational testing point out that a test-taker's scores on any two tests may vary, so a lower score on an achievement test than on an IQ test neither necessarily indicates that the test-taker is underachieving nor necessarily that the school curriculum is under-challenging.

IQ classification varies from one publisher to another. IQ tests have poor reliability for determining test-takers' rank order at higher IQ levels, and are perhaps only effective at determining whether a student is gifted rather than distinguishing among levels of giftedness. The Wechsler test manuals have standard score ceilings of 160. However, higher ceilings, including scores into the exceptionally and profoundly gifted range, exist for the WISC-IV and WISC-V, which were specifically normed on large samples of gifted children. Today, the Wechsler child and adult IQ tests are by far the most commonly used IQ tests in hospitals, schools, and private psychological practice. Older versions of the Stanford-Binet test, now obsolete, and the Cattell IQ test purport to yield IQ scores of 180 or higher, but those scores are not comparable to scores on currently normed tests. The Stanford-Binet Third Revision (Form L-M) yields consistently higher numerical scores for the same test-taker than scores obtained on current tests. This has prompted some authors on identification of gifted children to promote the Stanford-Binet form L-M, which has long been obsolete, as the only test with a sufficient ceiling to identify the exceptionally and profoundly gifted, despite the Stanford-Binet L-M never having been normed on a representative national sample. Because the instrument is outdated, current results derived from the Stanford-Binet L-M generate inflated and inaccurate scores. The IQ assessment of younger children remains debated.

While many people believe giftedness is a strictly quantitative difference, measurable by IQ tests, some authors on the "experience of being" have described giftedness as a fundamentally different way of perceiving the world, which in turn affects every experience had by the gifted individual. This view is doubted by some scholars who have closely studied gifted children longitudinally.

Across cultures
Characteristics and attributes associated with giftedness varies across cultures. While intelligence is extremely important in Western and some other cultures, such an emphasis is not consistent throughout the world. For example, in Japan, there is more of a value placed on an individual's motivation and diligence. When Japanese students are given a task, they attribute success to factors like effort, whereas American students tend to attribute success to ability. Similarly, when Japanese students fail, they refer the failure to lack of effort. On the other hand, American students believe failure is due to a lack of ability. There are conceptions in rural Kenya that identify four types of intelligence: initiative (paro), knowledge and skills (rieko), respect (luoro), and comprehension of how to handle real-life problems (winjo). Chan cites the Chinese belief that aspects of giftedness are innate, but that people can become gifted through industriousness, perseverance, and learning. Not all who are intellectually gifted display every noticeable characteristic.

There are many reasons gifted students who have various backgrounds are not as successful at Western intelligence/achievement tests:

 * Not used to answering questions just for the purpose of showing knowledge – they must use their knowledge to respond to authentic problems.
 * May perform poorly on paper-and-pencil tasks in an artificial lab setting.
 * May perform poorly on a culturally biased test, especially if not their own.
 * Have test anxiety or suffer from stereotype threat.

Many traits that demonstrate intellectual giftedness are identified across a multitude of cultures, such as:

 * Displaying advanced reasoning and creative thinking, generating ideas beyond the norm
 * Resourceful and adaptable
 * Strongly motivated to understand the world
 * Well developed vocabulary in native language
 * Learns concepts quickly, and builds/develops these concepts
 * Strong sense of justice and morality
 * Displays leadership skills in various ways, such as persuasion, taking initiative, and leading by example
 * Comprehending and using humor beyond their age

Developmental theory
Gifted children may develop asynchronously: their minds are often ahead of their physical growth, and specific cognitive and emotional functions are often developed differently (or to differing extents) at different stages of development. One frequently cited example of asynchronicity in early cognitive development is Albert Einstein, who was delayed in speech, but whose later fluency and accomplishments belied this initial delay. Psychologist and cognitive scientist Steven Pinker theorized that, rather than viewing Einstein's (and other famously gifted late-talking individuals) adult accomplishments as existing distinct from, or in spite of, his early language deficits, and rather than viewing Einstein's lingual delay itself as a "disorder", it may be that Einstein's genius and his delay in speaking were developmentally intrinsic to one another.

It has been said that gifted children may advance more quickly through stages established by post-Freudian developmentalists such as Jean Piaget. Gifted individuals also experience the world differently, resulting in certain social and emotional issues.

Francoy Gagne's (2000) Differentiated Model of Giftedness and Talent (DMGT) is a developmental theory that distinguishes giftedness from talent, offering explanation on how outstanding natural abilities (gifts) develop into specific expert skills (talents). According to DMGT theory, "one cannot become talented without first being gifted, or almost so". There are six components that can interact in countless and unique ways that foster the process of moving from having natural abilities (giftedness) to systematically developed skills.

These components consist of the gift (G) itself, chance (C), environmental catalyst (EC), intrapersonal catalyst (IC), learning/practice (LP) and the outcome of talent (T). It is important to know that (C), (IC), and (EC) can facilitate but can also hinder the learning and training of becoming talented. The learning/practice is the moderator. It is through the interactions, both environmental and intrapersonal that influence the process of learning and practice along with/without chance that natural abilities are transformed into talents.

Multiple intelligences theory
Multiple intelligences has been associated with giftedness or overachievement of some developmental areas (Colangelo, 2003). Multiple intelligences has been described as an attitude towards learning, instead of techniques or strategies (Cason, 2001).

Howard Gardner proposed in Frames of Mind (Gardner 1983/1994) that intellectual giftedness may be present in areas other than the typical intellectual realm. The concept of Multiple Intelligences (MI) makes the field aware of additional potential strengths and proposes a variety of curricular methods. Gardner argued that there are eight intelligences, or different areas in which people assimilate or learn about the world around them: interpersonal, intrapersonal, bodily-kinesthetic, linguistic, logical-mathematical, musical, naturalistic, and spatial-visual.

The most common criticism of Gardner's MI theory is "the belief by scholars that each of the seven multiple intelligences is a cognitive style rather than a stand-alone construct". Others consider the theory not to be sufficiently empirical. This perspective has also been criticized on the grounds that it is ad hoc: that Gardner is not expanding the definition of the word "intelligence", but rather denies the existence of intelligence as traditionally understood, and instead uses the word "intelligence" where other people have traditionally used words like "ability" and "aptitude".

Identification of gifted students with MI is a challenge since there is no simple test to determine the giftedness of MI. Assessing by observation is potentially most accurate, but potentially highly subjective. MI theory can be applied to not only gifted students, but it can be a lens through which all students can be assessed. This more global perspective may lead to more child-centered instruction and meet the needs of a greater number of children (Colangelo, 2003).

Savantism
Savants are individuals who perform exceptionally in a single field of learning. More often, the terms savant and savantism describe people with a competence level in a single field of learning well beyond what is considered normal, even among the gifted community. Such individuals are alternatively termed idiot savants ─ a term that has been mentioned as early as the eighteenth century. Autistic savantism refers to the exceptional abilities occasionally exhibited by people with autism or other pervasive developmental disorders. These abilities often come with below-age-level functioning in most, if not all areas of skilled performance. The term was introduced in a 1978 article in Psychology Today describing this condition. It is also proposed that there are savants with normal or superior IQ such as those with Asperger syndrome, who demonstrate special abilities involving numbers, mathematics, mechanical, and spatial skills.

Gifted minority students in the United States
The majority of students enrolled in gifted programs are White; Black and Hispanic students constitute a smaller proportion than their enrollment in school. For example, statistics from 1993 indicate that in the U.S., Black students represented 16.2% of public school students, but only constituted 8.4% of students enrolled in gifted education programs. Similarly, while Hispanic students represented 9% of public school students, these students only represented 4.7% of those identified as gifted. However, Asian students make up only 3.6% of the student body, yet constitute 14% in the gifted programs. Poor students are also underrepresented in gifted programs, even more than Black and Hispanic students are.

Lack of equity and access in programs for the gifted has been acknowledged since the early twentieth century. In the 1920s, research by Lillian Steele Proctor pointed to systemic racism as a contributor to the relative invisibility of gifted African American youth. In their 2004 study, "Addressing the Achievement Gap Between Minority and Nonminority Children by Increasing Access to Gifted Programs" Olszewski-Kubilius et al. write that minority students are "less likely to be nominated by teachers as potential candidates for gifted programs and, if nominated, are less likely to be selected for the program, particularly when such traditional measures as I.Q. and achievement tests are used for identification."

This underrepresentation of such students in gifted programs is attributed to a multiplicity of factors including cultural bias of testing procedures, selective referrals and educator bias, and reliance on deficit-based paradigms. To address the inequities in assessment procedures, researchers suggest the use of multiple tests and alternative methods of testing, such as performance-based assessment measures, oral-expressiveness measures as well as non-verbal ability assessments (such as Naglieri Nonverbal Abilities Tests (NNAT) or Raven's Matrix Analogies Tests).

According to 2013-2014 data collected by the Office of Civil Rights of the Department of Education, White students have more opportunities and exposure to attending schools that offer gifted and talented education programs (GATE) than racial and ethnic minority students, specifically Black and Latino students. Data collected by the Office of Civil Rights department of the Department of Education also reveal that racial/ethnic minority students are underrepresented in gifted and talented education programs. Forty-nine percent of all students enrolled in schools that offer GATE programs are White. Whereas 42% of all students enrolled in schools that offer GATE programs are Latino and Black. Thus revealing that white people have more opportunities to be a part of a school that offers GATE programs. The issue is within these GATE programs 29% of the students are Latino and Black and 57% are White (U.S. Department of Education, 2016).

Weinstein's (2002) suggests that some teachers recommend racial minority students – with the exception of Asian students – to special education and remedial classes more often than gifted and talented classes due to teacher expectancy biases placed on racial minority students. Teachers' expectations of their students' academic performance influence how students perceive themselves. If a teacher expects more success academically from specific students, those students are prone to displaying behavior and work ethic that will set them apart from others in a positive light. Whereas if a teacher only expects the bare minimum from his or her students, those students will merely do what is expected of them (Weinstein, 2002).

Racial minority students who are perceived as being disadvantaged from their peers in regards to socioeconomic status tend to have less supportive relations with their teachers (Fitzpatrick, 2015). Due to this lack of support, teachers do not expect these disadvantaged students to go above and beyond, therefore they are often overlooked when it is time for gifted and talented education program nominations. Research suggests that teacher expectancy bias can also be diminish by matching the racial demographics of students to that of teachers. Gershenson and colleagues (2016) found that non-Black teachers held low expectations of their black students specifically in relation to black male students and math. Whereas, Black teachers held high expectations to black male students in regards to math. This finding suggests that racial diversity in our educators is a positive step toward diminishing teacher expectancy bias.

Weinstein and colleagues (1991) aimed to change the low expectations attached to racial minority students of an urban high school that placed many Black and Latino students in remedial programs rather than college preparatory or honor classes. The study aimed to prepare these racial minority students for college-level academic work while attending high school. With positive teacher attitudes toward students and greater teacher self-efficacy, the students who were once on track to being recommended for remedial classes were performing at advanced academic levels after 2 years of intervention. They were also more heavily involved in leadership roles at their high school. This study supports the claim that teacher expectancy contributes to how a student sees him or herself in regards to achievements (Weinstein et al., 1991).

Gifted students of color experience success when multicultural content is incorporated in the curriculum and furthermore when the curriculum itself is designed to be culturally and linguistically compatible. A culturally diverse curriculum and instruction encourages gifted minority students to experience a sense of belonging and validation as scholars. Furthermore, the educator's role in this process is significant as Lee et al. argue that "[t]eacher awareness and understanding of students' racial and cultural differences and their ability to incorporate multicultural perspectives into curricular content and instructional techniques may counter gifted minority students' discomfort in being one of the few minority students in gifted programs."

Twice-exceptional
The term twice-exceptional was coined by James J. Gallagher to denote students who are both gifted and have disabilities. In other words, twice-exceptional students are those who have two special needs. For instance, they might have gifted learning needs and a learning disability. Or, they may be a gifted learner and have a developmental disability, such as autism spectrum disorder.

People have known about twice-exceptional students for thirty years; however, identification and program strategies remain ambiguous. These students represent a unique challenge for the educational system. Teachers and educators will need to make special accommodations for their learning deficits (such as remediation), yet adapt the curriculum to meet their advanced learning needs (for instance, through acceleration or enrichment). Twice-exceptional students are considered to be at risk because they are hidden within the general population of their educational environment, and often viewed as either underachievers or average learners.

Early identification and intervention is critical; however, giftedness in the twice-exceptional population is often identified later than in the average population as it is masked by the disability. The disabilities may include auditory processing weaknesses, sensory-motor integration issues, visual perceptual difficulties, spatial disorientation, dyslexia, and attention deficits. Recognition of learning difficulties among the gifted is made extremely difficult by virtue of their ability to compensate. Among the signs that the student may be twice-exceptional are apparent inconsistencies between abilities and results, deficits in short-term memory and attention, and negative behaviors such as being sarcastic, negative, or aggressive.

A child prodigy who demonstrates qualities to be twice-exceptional may encounter additional difficulties. With insight at a young age, it is possible for them to be constantly aware of the risk of failure. This can be detrimental to their emotional state and academic achievement. If a child comprehends a subject well, but due to a developmental disorder receives poor grades in a subject, the child may have difficulty understanding why there is little success in that subject.

Isolation
Social isolation is a common trait in gifted individuals, especially those with no social network of gifted peers. In order to gain popularity, gifted children will often try to hide their abilities to win social approval. Strategies include underachievement (discussed below) and the use of less sophisticated vocabulary when among same-age peers than when among family members or other trusted individuals.

Some believe that the isolation experienced by gifted individuals is not caused by giftedness itself, but by society's response to giftedness and to the rarity of peers. Plucker and Levy have noted that, "in this culture, there appears to be a great pressure for people to be 'normal' with a considerable stigma associated with giftedness or talent." To counteract this problem, gifted education professionals recommend creating a peer group based on common interests and abilities. The earlier this occurs, the more effective it is likely to be in preventing isolation. Since the mid-1940s, several high-IQ societies of varying levels of selectivity have been established to help gifted individuals find intellectual peers, the oldest ones being Mensa and Intertel, established in 1946 and 1966 respectively.

Some research suggests that mathematically gifted adolescents might have deficiencies in social valuation and mentalization, while gifted adolescents in general may struggle with social adaptive learning, but these conclusions are not supported by a large literature.

Perfectionism
Perfectionism, while considered to have many positive aspects, can be another issue for gifted individuals. It is encouraged by the fact that gifted individuals tend to be easily successful in much of what they do.

Healthy perfectionism refers to having high standards, a desire to achieve, conscientiousness, or high levels of responsibility. It is likely to be a virtue rather than a problem, even if gifted children may have difficulty with healthy perfectionism because they set standards that would be appropriate to their mental age (the level at which they think), but they cannot always meet them because they are bound to a younger body, or the social environment is restrictive. In such cases, outsiders may call some behavior perfectionism, while for the gifted this may simply be their standard. It has been said that perfectionism "becomes desirable when it stimulates the healthy pursuit of excellence."

Some believe that perfectionism can be unhealthy. Unhealthy perfectionism stems from equating one's worth as a human being to one's achievements, and the simultaneous belief that any work less than perfect is unacceptable and will lead to criticism. Because perfection in the majority of human activities is neither desirable, nor possible, this cognitive distortion creates self-doubt, performance anxiety, and ultimately procrastination.

Unhealthy perfectionism can be triggered or further exacerbated by parents, siblings, or classmates with good or ill intentions. Parents are usually proud and will extensively praise the gifted child. On the other hand, siblings, peers, and school bullies may generally become jealous or envious of the intellectual ease of the gifted child and tease him or her about any minor imperfection in his or her work, strength, clothes, appearance, or behavior. Either approach—positive reinforcement from parents or negative reactions from siblings and peers for minor flaws—may push gifted children into equating their worth amongst their peers to their own abilities; thus, any imperfection could be viewed as a serious defect in themselves. This unhealthy perfectionism can be further exaggerated when the child counters bullying with the same tactics (i.e., insulting the less exceptional abilities of others), thus creating further disdain in himself for low or even average performance.

There are many theories that try to explain the correlation between perfectionism and giftedness. Perfectionism can become a problem as it frustrates and inhibits achievements.

D. E. Hamachek identified six specific, overlapping types of behavior associated with perfectionism. They are:

 * Depression
 * A nagging "I should" feeling
 * Shame and guilt feelings
 * Face-saving behavior
 * Shyness and procrastination
 * Self-deprecation

Underachievement
Underachievement is a significant issue for gifted learners. There is often a stark gap between the abilities of the gifted individual and their actual accomplishments. Many gifted students will perform extremely well on standardized or reasoning tests, only to fail a class exam. It is estimated that half of gifted children do not perform in school at a level that is up to their abilities. Studies of high school dropouts in the United States estimate that between 18% and 25% of gifted students fail to graduate. This disparity can result from various factors, such as loss of interest in classes that are too easy or negative social consequences of being perceived as smart. Underachievement can also result from emotional or psychological factors, including depression, anxiety, perfectionism, low self esteem, or self-sabotage.

An often-overlooked contributor to underachievement is undiagnosed learning differences. A gifted individual is less likely to be diagnosed with a learning disorder than a non-gifted classmate, as the gifted child can more readily compensate for their paucities. This masking effect is dealt with by understanding that a difference of one standard deviation between scores constitutes a learning disability even if all of the scores are above average. Assessments may also fail to identify some gifted students entirely because their underachieving behaviours keep them from being recognized as exceptional.

Some gifted children may not be aware that they are gifted. One apparently effective way to attempt to reverse underachievement in gifted children includes educating teachers to provide enrichment projects based on students' strengths and interests without attracting negative attention from peers. Other methods include matching the underachiever with an achieving role model, correcting skill deficiencies and ensuring that proper assessments are in place to identify all learning issues with underachieving students.

Depression
It has been thought in the past that there is a correlation between giftedness and depression. This is not an established research finding. As Reis and Renzulli mention, With the exception of creatively gifted adolescents who are talented in writing or the visual arts, studies do not confirm that gifted individuals manifest significantly higher or lower rates or severity of depression than those for the general population. Gifted children's advanced cognitive abilities, social isolation, sensitivity, and uneven development may cause them to face some challenging social and emotional issues, but their problem-solving abilities, advanced social skills, moral reasoning, out-of-school interests, and satisfaction in achievement may help them to be more resilient.

There is also no research that points to suicide attempt rates being higher in gifted adolescents than other adolescents.

license: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

title: Intellectual giftedness


text:
Talk:Coat of arms of Canada

Ribbon
The blazon seems to omit the ribbon? —Ashley Y 08:18, Dec 12, 2003 (UTC)
 * the blazon is original, and the use of a decoration would not normally be blazoned, although as the Order of Canada ribbon is now used for all occassions (not just by holders of the Order) the blazon should (may already have been) updated by the Heraldic Authority garryq 00:56, 9 Aug 2004 (UTC)

As the edits have gone back and forth on the date that the ribbon was added (1987 or 1994), I would think that this page would settle the matter: www.pch.gc.ca/progs/cpsc-ccsp/sc-cs/arm2_e.cfm. HistoryBA 22:45, 8 Aug 2004 (UTC)
 * all I get is HTTP Error 404, so I go by the official statements in the House of Commons, and have deleted the name of the PM. Careful reading of the paragraph in the first place would have shown that 1987 refers to the date of change, and 1994 was the year the new design was allowed for all uses.  By 1995 the new design came into widespread use and the change was advertised by the government. garryq 00:56, 9 Aug 2004 (UTC)

 * Here's the text: "On the advice of the Prime Minister of Canada, Her Majesty The Queen approved, on July 12, 1994 that the arms of Canada be augmented with a ribbon with the motto of the Order of Canada: "Desiderantes Meliorem Patriam". (They desire a better country)." This is from the following page: www.pch.gc.ca/progs/cpsc-ccsp/sc-cs/arm2_e.cfm.  If Garryq read the complete Hansard page that he quotes, he would see the following statement from Herb Gray near the bottom: "On the advice of the Prime Minister of Canada, Her Majesty the Queen approved, on July 12, 1994, that the Royal Arms of Canada be augmented of a ribbon with the motto of the Order of Canada, desiderantes meliorem patriam."  HistoryBA 23:16, 9 Aug 2004 (UTC)

I have read it, and have read the article which you keep editing, without changing a second reference.

http://www.gg.ca/heraldry/emblems-canada_e.asp

"This version was approved in 1994, and it replaced the previous rendition, created in 1957 by Commander Alan Beddoe."

So what happened to the 1987 version the House of Commons was discussing?

I have not said the change was not made in 1994, I have said it was changed in 1987 for limited uses, and that 1994 the change was approved for all uses. For several years the Order of Canada had been displayed on the arms in Rideau Hall for several years before 1994

Have a look at the section on armorial evolution, if you insist on changing dates, you may as well change both references --garryq 09:23, 14 Aug 2004 (UTC)

 * The question here is one of evidence. The only evidence to suggest that the change was made in 1987 is the statement by one cabinet minister in the House of Commons on one day.  But ministers do make mistakes.  All the other evidence, including evidence cited by Garryq him/herself suggests the change was made in 1994.  This includes statements by other cabinet ministers as well as the federal government internet sites (sites cited both by me and Garryq).  So, to summarize the evidence: In favour of 1994, we have (1) the Department of Canadian Heritage (www.pch.gc.ca/progs/cpsc-ccsp/sc-cs/arm2_e.cfm) which says, "On the advice of the Prime Minister of Canada, Her Majesty The Queen approved, on July 12, 1994 that the arms of Canada be augmented with a ribbon with the motto of the Order of Canada: 'Desiderantes Meliorem Patriam'. (They desire a better country)."  We have (2) a picture of the pre- and post-1994 versions presented by the Treasury Board (www.tbs-sct.gc.ca/fip-pcim/man_e.asp).  We have (3) the Tax Court of Canada (www.tcc-cci.gc.ca/logo_e.htm): "Finally, on July 12, 1994, Her Majesty the Queen approved certain changes, one of which was to add the motto of the Order of Canada: 'Desiderantes Meliorem Patriam' (they desire a better country)."  We have (4) the Military Police Complaints Commission (www.mpcc-cppm.gc.ca/300/3000/2001/c_e.html):  "FOLLOWING THE ADVICE OF THE PRIME MINISTER OF CANADA, HRH QUEEN ELIZABETH II APPROVED THE ADDITION OF A RIBBON TO THE ROYAL ARMS. THE MOTTO IS THAT OF THE ORDER OF CANADA, 'DESIDERANTES MELIOREM PATRIAM' (THEY DESIRE A BETTER COUNTRY). THE AUGMENTATION OF THE RIBBON WAS SUGGESTED BY MR. BRUCE HICKS, OF OTTAWA, AND WAS APPROVED ON JULY 12, 1994." We also have (5) a statement by the former deputy prime minister in the House of Commons: "On the advice of the Prime Minister of Canada, Her Majesty the Queen approved, on July 12, 1994, that the Royal Arms of Canada be augmented of a ribbon with the motto of the Order of Canada, desiderantes meliorem patriam."  In favour of the date being 1987, we have (1) one minister (a hapless minister who did not last long in cabinet), who made one statement in the Commons.  Is there anythign else that I'm missing?  Is there any reason I shouldn't change the date back to 1994?  HistoryBA 15:10, 15 Aug 2004 (UTC)

 * a hapless minister and the architecture of Rideau Hall. Please read what I have said.  Yes the change was approved in 1994, but it had earlier been approved of for certain uses in 1987.

 * A search of the library of the House of Commons at http://www.parl.gc.ca/english/hansard/previous/271_95-12-05/271OQ1E.html#17236 notes:-

 * Yes Bruce Hicks did suggest the change a decade but that was in the 1980s.  The change was made in limited circumstances in 1987, as the quote says:-

 * "In 1987 the Queen approved this change for limited use in Canada. In fact everyone who has been to Rideau Hall will have seen this new coat of arms in the stained glass window near the entrance. Last year the Queen authorized its general use and slowly it is being introduced so as to not cost the taxpayers any money. Last year I sent a copy of these arms in electronic format to every MP and encouraged them to start using them on their letterhead and publications when they reorder. The Minister of Canadian Heritage drew attention to it last month when he unveiled the latest edition of symbols of Canada."

 * So this is a quote from a different minister MP (Mr. Patrick Gagnon (Bonaventure-Îles-de-la-Madeleine). They cannot all make mistakes or be hapless.

 * Why should not change the date back to 1994? Because my dates are correct, they qualify limited and general use, and are backed up by documents and a stained glass window in Rideau Hall showing that the change took place before the year upon which you seem fixated.  --garryq 18:51, 15 Aug 2004 (UTC)

 * I don't think Garryq is saying that I am acting in bad faith, but several of his statements, if taken together, might suggest that my contribution has been motivated by something other than a desire to solve this dispute. Specifically, Garryq suggests that I have not read what he has said.  I have.  I have pointed out that some of the evidence supports 1987, but even more supports 1994.  Garryq also suggests that I am arguing that all ministers were hapless, which I have not said.  I was quite clear in saying that Michel Dupuy was hapless.  I made no comment on Patrick Gagnon, who, by the way, was not even a minister, or any other cabinet minister.  Finally, he says that I "seem fixated" on a particular date.  I don't really care what the date is, so long as we get it right.  In fact, I have entered 1994 fewer times than he has entered 1987 in the article, and I have not accused him of being "fixated" on a particular date.  All that matters here is that we get this right.  That is why I started this discussion and openly provided the evidence from which I concluded the date was 1994.  I won't change it again until I can find something further that might settle this.  As it stands, however, there is as much evidence to support 1994 as 1987 (if not, more). HistoryBA 23:46, 15 Aug 2004 (UTC)

---

What has become of the images? I tried to revert them to their earlier versions but they seem to persist as a bad rendering of Azure a saltire argent. - Montréalais 22:28, 28 Aug 2004 (UTC)

Whoa! What's with the Cross of St. Andrew? --Alexwcovington 13:42, 30 Aug 2004 (UTC)

Page Update
Page may need to be updated with the new symbols adopted upon the coronation of King Charles III of Canada today. 71.173.17.175 (talk) 15:05, 6 May 2023 (UTC)
 * Yes, but someone has to make free versions first. We also need reliable sources. -- ₪   MIESIANIACAL  15:05, 6 May 2023 (UTC)
 * Hello IP 71. When those new symbols are available to add? by all means add them. GoodDay (talk) 15:40, 6 May 2023 (UTC)
 * @GoodDay, Miesianiacal - I presume what IP 71 was referring to is the announcement of the new royal standard & heraldic Canadian crown today. The Canadian Heraldic Authority published this today, with the new Royal crown. I believe the IP was requesting the arms be updated, which the CHA says will be changed (gradually). Estar8806 (talk) 01:55, 7 May 2023 (UTC)
 * @GoodDay, @Miesianiacal there is now a free version available here File:Canadian Royal Crown.svg —f3ndot (TALK) (EMAIL) 02:16, 10 May 2023 (UTC)
 * Yes, however there's been no change to the coat of arms. The blazon is the same and the CHA itself has stated "Changes to symbols of sovereignty such as the Arms of Canada and to official insignia will likely take place over the coming years". Mention of the Canadian Royal Crown can be and is made in the article. But, redesigning the arms ourselves would be original research. -- ₪   MIESIANIACAL  02:37, 10 May 2023 (UTC)
 * If there's possible original research involved? then don't do it. GoodDay (talk) 03:18, 10 May 2023 (UTC)

Move discussion in progress
There is a move discussion in progress on Talk:Royal coat of arms of the United Kingdom which affects this page. Please participate on that page and not in this talk page section. Thank you. —RMCD bot 17:15, 14 May 2023 (UTC)

New Crown
The new Crown is said to be replacing the St Edwards crown, according to its wikipedia page. Is that accurate? Is it automatic? Should the change be noted somewhere in this article? TimeEngineer (talk) 14:39, 30 January 2024 (UTC)

 * It is accurate ...but no new arms as of yet..wating on a new one to be offical. Moxy -Maple Leaf (Pantone).svg 14:55, 30 January 2024 (UTC)

title: Talk:Coat of arms of Canada


text:
Talk:List of Canadian federal elections

I cant get the table of contents stuff to all center up right, and the table of contents I dont want centered!! arg!! Pellaken 08:36, 12 Dec 2003 (UTC)

That's because you put a "center" tag at the beginning :) Adam Bishop 05:25, 29 Jan 2004 (UTC)

no, I only want part of the page centered. but this will do. Pellaken 23:21, 8 Feb 2004 (UTC)

The page has more than 36kb. It needs to be broken up into sections

I know for a fact there was 1 independent elected in 1984 and re-elected in 1988 (Tony Roman), also an independent in 1993. Please recheck and confirm Independent numbers for elections since 1984

title: Talk:List of Canadian federal elections


text:
Talk:List of feeding behaviours

Untitled
Feeding and food seem like two differnet topics to me (a biologist). While food is what an organism consumes, feeding is the process by which the organism consumes food. There are many types of feeding, such as deposit feeding, filter feeding, etc. However, should this page be merged with the feed page that currently discusses the other uses of the word? --Mperkins 08:50, 12 Dec 2003 (UTC)

food finding
There does seem to be some confusion. Feeding and Eating and Obtaining Food?? Not the same. So scavenging is not actually feeding. Similarly hunting and foraging are not included here and I guess should be some how. As for hunter-gatherers? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 212.246.69.184 (talk) 16:56, 16 March 2010 (UTC)

 * The whole page is very bad, and needs a lot of work. However, typically feeding refers to mode of ingestion (and sometimes more broadly to prey-processing such as chewing or venom delivery).  What you eat would be more along the lines of "diet", IMHO. Anyhow, I'll get around to a big re-write someday, but it might be a while.  Mokele (talk) 18:24, 16 March 2010 (UTC)

Fungivore?
Is there such a thing as a fungivore? Anxietycello (talk) 19:14, 6 July 2008 (UTC)
 * I see that this has been added. There's the alternative mycophage, but this apparently does duty as a synonym of fungivore and as a synonym of mycovirus. Lavateraguy (talk) 10:09, 24 May 2016 (UTC)

Exudativore
What about: Exudativore (exudativorous, exudativory) - "Feeding on gum and other exudates (that which oozes out or diffuses) from trees."

These are not particulary rare, e.g.: ("... dietary category that is remarkably prevalent among primates") - from:

 * The Evolution of Exudativory in Primates; Editors: Anne M. Burrows, Leanne T. Nash; Springer, 2010; ISBN 1441966609, 9781441966605; pp. 303.

Also common among possums (including sugar gliders). Sugar gliders also feed on insect exudates! (honeydew from aphids, and "manna" -> lerp: sugary structure produced by larvae of psyllid insects).

Possibly Nectivore is a sub-set of Exudivore? Does "exude" include "secrete" AND "excrete"? -- Will look into this some more. Note: there currently is no page for Exudativore - only Exudate. ~E 74.60.29.141 (talk) 22:34, 4 October 2012 (UTC)

P.s.: added to list ~E 74.60.29.141 (talk) 06:11, 21 October 2012 (UTC)

Teuthophagore?
Teuthophage/ous and teuthovore/ous would be the regularly derived forms, and are attested as rare words by a Google search. Teuthophagore is attested at a similar rate, but that might be a consequence of its use here. Is there a reliable source for teuthophagore.

title: Talk:List of feeding behaviours