Pornography, or “porn,” as sexually explicit material intended for arousal, has no single inventor but rather evolved over tens of thousands of years alongside human culture. The earliest known pornographic artifacts are prehistoric, dating back at least 25,000 to 35,000 years, such as stone and wooden female figurines emphasizing sexual features, and cave paintings.
The term “pornography” itself is derived from the Greek language but only came into modern use in the 19th century. Erotic imagery and texts have existed since antiquity, with notable examples including the Indian Kama Sutra (3rd century CE) and the French erotic literature of the 18th century, such as Fanny Hill (1748), considered the first English prose pornography.
With technological advancements, pornography adapted to new media. The invention of photography in the 19th century led to erotic photographs, with the earliest surviving pornographic photo dating to about 1846. The birth of pornographic films followed soon after the invention of motion pictures in 1895, with early pioneers like Eugène Pirou and Albert Kirchner producing some of the first pornographic films in the late 19th century.
In summary, pornography was not invented by a single individual but has been a continuous cultural phenomenon shaped by evolving human expression, technology, and societal attitudes over millennia. Early forms were prehistoric art, followed by classical erotic literature and images, and later by photographic and film media in the 19th century.