0. ATTENTION: NUDITY AHEAD
If you feel offended by pictures of nude human bodies please leave now!
1. IT'S ALL ABOUT ME. I MEAN YOU. I MEAN ME.
This is the second part of my blogposts on erotic imagery and erotic art in general. The first one can be found here (text in german)
. The reason for this blogpost are my deep concerns about a rapidly growing negligence of our culture and language in the field of sex and erotic. A field where a lot of fears are cultivated instead of healed. A field – nota bene – that couldn't be more natural. After all everyone of us was born from the wombs of our mothers. All of us. No exception. Don't most of us love sex and nature's beauty in general? So let's start making a clear difference between sex, nudity, porn, natural and healthy expressions of them on one hand and unhealthy expressions of them on the other hand. Sex does not equal porn. Also nudity does not equal porn. What about gender equality in those fields? What about being true to one's own fears, desires and suppressed / expressed emotions? In the end it's all about me. I mean you. I mean me.
2. NUDE DOES NOT EQUAL PORN!
It seems to me, that a lot of people attach the label porn to all that is erotic in the faintest. How deranged do you have to be to be so ashamed of the most natural thing on earth: your body and how it works? Well, to each his / her own. I'll leave you your shame but be at least correct in your labeling things! Of course there is a fine line between nudity and porn and not always the distinction is clear. There are works, that could very well be put in both categories, erotica and pornography. But with a whole lot of pictures it's obvious that they belong in only one of those categories (as we will see further down).
What is pornography? Pornography is all representation (in pictorial, written, audio recording form etc.) of sexual content speaking directly to our animalistic nature without any other levels of meaning. Pornography wants to sexually arouse. Nothing else. It does usually not want to tell any stories, it does not make political statements, it has no meta-levels, does not want to make you think intellectually, does not criticize culture or social behavior, does not want to be understood in context, does not want to still your curiosity, does not want to make a spiritual statement and most of all: does not want to celebrate the beauty of life by celebrating the female and or male body… It is the sole depiction of sexuality for the purpose of arousing, leading in consequence – as the derivation from the greek word πόρνη / pornē for «prostitute» and πορνεία / pornea for «prostitution» implies – to some kind of sexual action and in last consequence usually to sexual satisfaction in one or the other form.
By the way: I don't consider any of the following images pornographic. Erotic? Yes. Arousing? Yes. Ugly? Yes. At the limit? Yes. Provoking? Yes. Pornographic? No. Why? Because they all have one or more levels of the aforementioned intentions, meanings and meta-levels. All of them.
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Pornography: one-dimensional
representation of human sexual interaction. |
3. FOR ALL THAT HAVE NEVER SEEN A NAKED HUMAN BODY
Here we go. That's basically how you and me look like. The majority of us at least. Phuu, I'm glad we've got that out of the way now. Let's focus on the things that really matter…
4. YOU THOUGHT NUDITY ALWAYS EQUALS EROTIC OR AROUSING?
Think again. You say without skin is not natural, that doesn't count? Well then let's see some examples with skin intact. Satisfied? You say illustration doesn't count? Why not? Did you really think, illustration cannot be erotic or arousing? Mmh. Let's come back to this point later, shall we?
5. LIMITS AND FINE LINES
Oh, I don't deny that there are limits, frontiers and borderlines. Fine lines sometimes. Is the depiction of nude children morally ok? Would you object to me showing a family picture of my 2-year-old son naked right before getting his new diapers? Or the nakedness of a newborn? How about self mutilation in the name of beauty? Do some childlike depictions of nuditiy arouse you? Are we allowed to be aroused by such pictures? Can we freely control all of our sexual emotions? What about obviously artificially altered body parts? Can any of these be called pornographic nudity? Yes? No?
Sometimes there IS a fine line to pornography like in this picture of the adult comic «Druuna»:
6. «FRONTAL» DOES NOT ALWAYS MEAN «BEAUTIFUL»
Some snatches and dicks are just not presented at the right moment in the right way to be pleasantly looking. No offense. Just a plain observation. Or they are not intended to be erotic but for example for educational purposes.
7. NUDITY IN DIFFERENT CULTURES
There is nothing more natural than beauty. One could think that it is quite subjective and by chance what we look upon as beautiful. But that's not the case. Beauty has a deep natural meaning. What we perceive as beautiful has often a good chance of survival in that specific epoch and in that specific environmental context. Because beauty can only be defined in the context of evolution, otherwise it's nearly impossible to define beauty in a meaningful way. So let me present to you what I actually came here for: some of the most beautiful pictures I've ever seen. Of course it is also subjective. Of course over time and the course of ages this perception could change – will change. But still…
8. NUDITY IN ART
Artists of all centuries were completely fascinated by the human body. And this for a good reason. Is there anything more mysterious and exciting than the adventure of our human body?
9. THE CELEBRATION OF EROTIC
A lot of erotic pictures are just simple reproductions of beautiful bodies. But the most erotic pictures do much more: they capture special moments, the electricity crackling in the air…
10. IMAGINATION AND FANTASY HAVE NO LIMITS
Imagination offers a whole lot more erotic possibilities to be explored. Come and dive in with me to some erotic imaginations…
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11. A HEALTHY AND NATURAL RELATIONSHIP WITH YOUR BODY AND SEXUALITY
A natural, self-confident and open-minded relation to your and others body and sexuality is of utmost importance and an essential part of happiness. Such a relation can only be admired. On the other hand: what does it tell us if somebody feels the urge to slander and insult people that have a healthy and natural relation to sexuality?
Let me introduce you to this extraordinary weblog «
Smilez». Smilez shows a collection of photographs and films of young, naked women. A lot of the pictures seem to be self-portraits or taken by close friends. They also give the impression to be hand selected, representing the bloggers (not mine!) focus on an ideal of a female body – mostly young, white, western women – and not a cross section through all ages and types of women. That's ok as beauty is always
also in the eye of the beholder. All of those women on Smilez are beautiful. But the most characteristic trait of the models in these pictures is their emanation of self-confidence, straight forwardness, pleasure, joy and their plain and original beauty. Let me show you a small extract of one film and a few of the photographs to give you the feeling what I'm talking about.
To all those young women represented on Smilez I want to say: Wow! I admire you. And not only for those pictures but also for your cool attitudes, your well grounded self confidence. You are beautiful. Don't let anyone tell you otherwise. Deep in your heart you know it and you are on the right path. This is not about (pathological) egoism or narcissism, it is about enjoyment of the beauty of life. It's about forgetting your self for a moment in the stream of the eternal flow…
«This film is not yet rated» and probably never will. A film that covers quite a few of the above mentioned topics… :)
If you like this post, you might also like the following ones:
The danger of censoring child pornography! Child pornography is not always bad…
Sexfilme (1) (in german) Endlich, endlich aber habe ich gefunden, nach was ich schon lange gesucht habe: gute Filme in denen gesund mit Sex umgegangen wird. Fortsetzung der Serie «Sexfilme»…
Grenzgang Erotik (1) (in german) The difference between sick prudery and a healthy relation to sexuality? Here are my most appreciated erotic pictures…
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