THE ROYAL DILDO
Marie Antoinette was the subject of countless cruel, and sometimes pornographic, pamphlets throughout her reign. Pornography in eighteenth century France took the form of crude caricatures, colorful cartoons, and even sophisticated etchings and engravings.
Pornographic songs, plays and news-like stories were also popular. Marie Antoinette was a favorite target of seditions libelers because, to them she represented an extravagant lifestyle, everything they hoped to attain but knew they would not. To some pamphleteers, Marie Antoinette was the symbol, the very cause, of all that was wrong with their economy, society and government. Pamphlets were used to accuse Marie Antoinette of all manners of debauchery, including adultery, lesbianism, and incest.
Attacks against Her Family
The Royal Dildo and The Royal Orgy were two pamphlets that circulated during Antoinette's lifetime. In one pamphlet, Louis XVI is accused of homosexuality and Marie Antoinette is accused of perverted and profuse masturbation. In another pamphlet, Antoinette is accused of holding orgies and fornicating with her brother-in-law, Comte d'Artois. A third pornographic pamphlet, (image at left) depicts Marie Antoinette leading Lafayette, the great French general and politician, as he rides a giant penis.
Although this image implies that the queen and the general were intimate, that was not so. Lafayette attempted to be a moderate - positioning himself between the royals and the revolutionaries. This won him few friends. He was made the head of the National Guard in 1789 but eventually had to flee France.
Before departing, Marie Antoinette is believed to have said, "I can see that Monsieur de Lafayette wishes to save us, but who will save us from Monsieur de Lafayette?" Clearly, there was no love lost (and nothing illicit) between Marie Antoinette and Lafayette.
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