erotica

Well, I think those distinctions are implied, and there are some value judgements built into them, though I don't think it's such an (ahem) hard and fast binary. My (very limited) sense of it is that erotica isn't based on an explicit blow-by-blow rendering of an act, but rather a more tantilizing and suggestive sort of thing. The pleasure of mediation, you might say. I think the implied distinction here is a visual medium vs a verbal/written medium. Words aren't going to show you the guy banging the girl nearly as clearly or realistically as a video. You're always going to be at a remove with a written document, but there can be something exciting about that too. Maybe erotica works with the strengths of its medium, doing what can't be achieved nearly so well on film.

I think its about representing the person and their feeling(s) rather than just the act.

My take on this is that erotica is porn + aesthetics. The process of sublimation (the de-bestialisation of sex) is under way. Porn that has no aesthetic element and simply intends to arouse is not erotica. At the other extreme erotica that is so determined by aesthetic considerations that it ceases to be arousing (the paintings of Alma Tadema, say) is arguably not porn.

i guess you dont know it when you see it then.

where does art come into all this?

Porn is for men, erotica is for women.

"where does art come into all this?"

Surely that's obvious enough? If someone is taking photographs of a woman he can pose her with the sole thought of arousing the spectator. More artistic photographers will also start to concern themselves with form, composition etc - ie aiming for a formal beauty that has nothing to do with arousal but has to do with aesthetics. A talented writer can also become preoccupied with elements - elegance of prose style etc - that do not relate to arousal but aesthetics.

Roman Polanski said that erotica was using a feather, porn was using the whole chicken.

I thought the 'whole chicken' was a description of 'kinky'.

I think there's a series of these, involving a live chicken, etc...