Not Safe for Workers of the USSR

June 24, 2014 8:01 AM

Inside the Soviet Union's Secret Erotica Collection (The Moscow Times). "Across from the Kremlin, the country's main library held a pornographic treasure trove." Photogallery. "Legend has it that Soviet henchmen used to come to the archive".
posted by stbalbach (25 comments total)

That Photogallery is totally false advertising, man!
posted by lagomorphius at 8:08 AM on June 24, 2014 [9 favorites]

Secret Soviet Erotica is the name of my next band
posted by The Whelk at 8:17 AM on June 24, 2014 [3 favorites]

In Russia, back comes in YOU.
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 8:20 AM on June 24, 2014

Well that didn't deliver.
posted by Stonestock Relentless at 8:21 AM on June 24, 2014 [3 favorites]

From one of the captions: "Other materials shown to our reporter are too explicit to show on our website."

Sure.
posted by Curious Artificer at 8:24 AM on June 24, 2014 [1 favorite]

Not Safe for Wankers of the USSR?
posted by Daddy-O at 8:33 AM on June 24, 2014

I, for one, get turned on by pictures of library shelves.
posted by dances_with_sneetches at 8:34 AM on June 24, 2014 [6 favorites]

"Gore Vidal" and "Erotica" are not a combination I ever want to ponder again.
posted by Think_Long at 8:34 AM on June 24, 2014 [2 favorites]

Legend has it that Soviet henchmen used to come to the archive

They went for the articles, right?
posted by filthy light thief at 8:47 AM on June 24, 2014

They went for the articles, right?

I thought Russian didn't have articles. Is this what makes them titillating?
posted by Mrs. Pterodactyl at 8:49 AM on June 24, 2014 [25 favorites]

I, for one, get turned on by pictures of library shelves

If you only knew...
posted by sammyo at 8:50 AM on June 24, 2014

Amused to notice that J.G. Ballard's "Crash" is among the English-language books seized at the border. I can only imagine some Brezhnev-era apparatchik's reaction to that one; for once, they wouldn't be wrong in considering the book an artifact of decadent capitalism.
posted by ThatFuzzyBastard at 9:03 AM on June 24, 2014 [4 favorites]

Union of Soviet Socialist Republics why are your libraries full of sperm?
posted by thelonius at 9:12 AM on June 24, 2014

I was hoping for something like Pornosec from 1984. This is actually more interesting in a way.
posted by Hactar at 9:33 AM on June 24, 2014

Who needs porn when you have communal housing?
posted by The 10th Regiment of Foot at 9:40 AM on June 24, 2014

Wankers of the world, unite! You have nothing to lose but your wrists.
posted by Spatch at 9:45 AM on June 24, 2014

Secret Soviet Erotica is the name of my burlesque Boney M cover band.
posted by Tknophobia at 11:43 AM on June 24, 2014

Потолочный аппаратчик смотрит на тебя дрочить.
posted by Ogre Lawless at 12:39 PM on June 24, 2014 [2 favorites]

I came here to say something clever, but everyone beat me to it.
posted by charismatic megafauna at 2:52 PM on June 24, 2014

Metafilter: I came here to say something clever, but everyone beat me to it.
posted by telstar at 3:45 PM on June 24, 2014 [3 favorites]

Surely it should be "Legend has it that Soviet henchmen used to come IN the archive".
posted by graventy at 6:05 PM on June 24, 2014 [1 favorite]

Metafilter: I came here to say something clever, but everyone beat me to it.


*d'oh!*
posted by mazola at 10:23 PM on June 24, 2014

If only you knew

Non-Soviet library porn is a thing
posted by evil_esto at 2:19 AM on June 25, 2014

Not suitable for vegetarians proletarians.
posted by acb at 4:26 AM on June 25, 2014

Non-Soviet library porn is a thing

Of course as the joke goes: in Soviet Russia library porn secretly shoots you!
posted by The 10th Regiment of Foot at 10:00 AM on June 26, 2014