Stamps, Drawings, and Other "Obscene" Materials: Erotica and the Mexican Inquisition during the Eighteenth Century

Among its many responsibilities concerning the eradication of heresy and the regulation of sexual mores, the Mexican Inquisition confiscated “obscene” and irreligious drawings, paintings, stamps, boxes, figurines, cuff-links, and other objects of a sexual nature, and punished the artists, artisans, vendors, and purchasers of these materials. Some items appeared to have a religious context upon first sight, such as drawings of saints and Christ, but could then be transformed into profane images. Body art (tattoos of saints, the devil, and “dishonest figures”) presented inquisitors additional challenges. This presentation will examine approximately twenty cases of pornography housed in the Archivo General de la Nación with a view toward explaining the connections and tensions between sexuality and religion in eighteenth-century Mexico.

Major components of this presentation include: 1) an examination of edicts that banned “lewd” and “lascivious” artistic materials; 2) descriptions of erotic materials given by witnesses, theological evaluators, and the accused; 3) cultural and sexual assumptions made by those who testified at the Holy Office; 4) socio-economic information on those who produced, sold, and purchased erotica; 5) the notorious trial of Fr. Juan María de Miranda, accused of corrupting novitiates and priests who bought his pornographic sketches, which he fashioned to suit his clients’ preferences; 6) methods and goals of inquisitors and their determination to use these cases to instruct and educate the populace on “proper” religious and sexual codes of conduct; 7) the portrayal of sellers and consumers of erotica in colonial Mexico City as individuals who may have received some sexual titillation from these objects, but who mostly reveled in the excitement of seeing and owning prohibited materials or sharing a good laugh with friends.