Tuesday, August 9, 2011

Sex[y Pictures]

I talk a lot about sex, but it's not really sex I'm after. I'm not a swinger, I'm an erotic artist. I want people to be more comfortable with sex because people who aren't comfortable with sex tend not to have a very favorable attitude toward erotic art. But I'm not trying to promote a platform of unrestrained promiscuity.

The way I see it, modeling for pictures is safe sex. You're opening a window onto your sexuality through which the world can take part in your eroticism. I know a lot of people are hung up on sex being a private thing, to be saved for that special someone. But that's a highly selfish perspective. Through pictures, you can give the gift of eroticism, and even orgasm, to hundreds or thousands of people - particularly people who may never get the chance to sleep with someone as attractive as you. There's zero risk of pregnancy or disease. You don't actually have to touch anyone. And there's less risk of unwanted emotional attachment. It's a win for everyone.

That is, except for the tendency for polite society to shame sex-positive individuals. This kind of moral reactionism is a poison on healthy sexual expression, and it's precisely the thing I want to combat. It's the source of my ambitions for a sexual revolution. I don't necessarily want everyone to start having sex with everyone else, in one big global orgy. I just want people to be more comfortable sharing worldwide in the ancient art of eroticism, without being subjected to a grand shaming scheme. All of that shaming has one particular effect - it is a chilling effect that prevents so much potentially amazing erotic art from being created. I want to create that erotic art. But I can't do it alone, and my potential allies are being brainwashed by the opposition into avoiding having anything to do with me and my work. That's what I'm fighting against. That's what I'm fighting to correct.

Additional Point: You can find lots of galleries on the web of pictures of naked chicks, uploaded mostly anonymously. The anonymity helps in some part to deflect the negative attention a person might get for posting such pictures online, but it's not complete protection, and having to guard one's anonymity creates many limitations. But even more concerning is the suspicion that, although hard to gauge with any certainty, many of these pictures are likely either uploaded without knowledge or against the wishes of the girls in the pictures, or, those pictures have been uploaded by the girls with the intention that they will remain private, yet they have been stolen one way or another, and posted publicly - again, either against the girl's wishes, or without her knowledge.

Obviously, that type of behavior raises ethical concerns, especially considering the reaction one might get if pictures of that sort are found online by friends, families, co-workers, et cetera. Though I must point out, fighting the stigma against that kind of behavior (instead of shaming those who engage in it) would have the effect of reducing the threat of that risk. But people who take these pictures and post them without consent are ruining the practice for everyone - because the girls who are victims, as well as everyone else who objects to such activities, don't tend to make a distinction between the theft and the sexual expression. They think everybody who engages in sexual expression has no morals, and are just as willing to steal pictures for sexual satisfaction as those who actually do. So they attack the expression itself, encouraging girls not to take those pictures in the first place (and to view with derision any guy who asks or encourages a girl to take such pictures).

I like those pictures. I like those pictures a lot. Whether they're shared with consent or not, the pictures themselves are really nice, and fun to look at. I'm not a thief and I'm not a creep. I don't like that girls have to be "victimized" and stolen from for those pictures to be shared. I would never engage in that kind of behavior with any pictures I might take of a girl, or any pictures that a girl might choose to give me in confidence, with the expectation of the pictures remaining private. I don't betray people's trust. And the last thing I want is to poison my noble enterprise (creating erotic art) by engaging in shady and unethical behaviors.

Nevertheless, I like those pictures, and I want them to be available. So, what recourse do I have but to try to talk to society, and girls, and try to get them to open up about sexual expression, so that they will be more willing to share those pictures with strangers? I don't want to steal pictures of girls, so my only choice is to do what I can to create a more friendly environment in the hope that it will lead girls to feel more comfortable to consent to that sort of thing. But it's really hard as long as these stereotypes of perverted creeps are out there, and as long as we as a society at large shame people for embracing their sexuality, and especially sharing it online, regardless of the details of the case. It's why you can't post sexually explicit erotic art most places, because it's treated just the same as porn.

So the next time you find out someone you know has posted sexy pictures on the internet, don't even think of chastising them. Instead, shake their hand and congratulate them for their courage, for standing up against the sick sexual mores of our time, which insist on keeping our sexuality locked up inside ourselves, where it can do naught but screw up our minds.

Also, as long as girls keep saying, "no way, I will never post pictures like that", unscrupulous individuals will continue to post them without consent. There is most definitely a demand, and there is nothing we can do to eliminate that demand. But we do have some measure of control over how to meet it. I'm not going to argue that anyone should be forced into doing it if they don't want to, but I guarantee you there are some girls who are more willing to share than others. What does it accomplish to shame them out of it? We're just fueling the black market trade, where ethics aren't even considered. It's irresponsible. If a girl wants to share her beauty with the world, we should be thanking her for doing her part, not shaming her to stop. Because every girl shamed out of participating just encourages many more girls to become victimized, to fill that hole. I don't believe people are demanding for victimization. I have more faith in humanity than that. It's just, if you intentionally dry up the supply, and victimization is the only source, that's where the demand is going to head. You can't eliminate people's sexual desires. But there are many different ways to satisfy them.

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