A Note on Prudism

I guess I've talked about this before, but it's a trend that keeps coming up again and again. Specifically, it's the tendency for some (thankfully not all) nudists to act as if it's their duty to police every instance of nudity that comes up - in movies, magazines, news stories, and especially publicity stunts - and to make a judgment, based on whether the nudity is pure or sexualized, whether it is a good thing or a bad thing for nudism. I find this troubling because, though there are legitimate reasons for separating sexualized instances of nudity from nudism (which is non-sexual - as you hear constantly), the way this is practiced often reinforces sex shame. Can nudism not coexist with sexualized nudity? Does all nudity have to be nudist nudity in order for it to be acceptable nudity? Or does the existence of sexualized nudity somehow stain nudism?

I don't think it does. Nudism is non-sexual nudity. The existence of nudism does not depend on the lack of sexualized nudity. I am a nudist, and I am a sensualist. I love nudist nudity. It's liberating, it's free, it represents body acceptance, it feels great, it's natural, etc. But I also love sexualized nudity. Sexualized nudity is hot, plain and simple. I won't give up one or another, and I don't believe I have to. I understand the difference between the two, and I'm not willing to make such a significant sacrifice (both types of nudity are very important to me, spiritually) for the sake of those who are too stupid (or, in their defense, merely inexperienced or uneducated) to know that difference.

And yes, there is a fuzzy area between the two edges of nudity. It's not always clear if a given instance of nudity is pure or sexualized - or rather, there are a number of cases where it could be both, and that may depend on a particular observer's reaction. I don't see this as a problem either. Why do people assume "sex" when all they're given is "sexy"? Sure, sexy is a stop on the route to sex, but the route is not the same as the destination, and very few times does one reach that destination - very few instances of "sexy" lead directly to "sex". Think about it, what percentage of the times you see an attractive person (on the street, on TV, in a magazine, wherever) lead immediately to sex? If a nudist happens to be sexy, whether in a picture or in person, why is this bad for nudism? It's not even about sex, it's about a fundamental aspect of the human experience - the sex drive, which doesn't automatically shut off when you enter nudist grounds. And yet, that's not an embrace of sex within nudism - again, sexy is not sex. It's simply saying that sexy is okay, and that the mere existence of sexualized nudity is not a bad mark on nudism, and that nudists don't have to denounce it in order to get "nudist points".

Nudism is not about sex. Nudity is not equivalent to sex. Nudity alone does not necessarily imply sex. Alright. Now that we've got that out of the way, let's go further. Nudity can sometimes (certainly not always) be sexy, and there's not a thing wrong with that. Got it?

(And I'm sorry. By continuing to argue this issue, I'm just mashing the concepts of sex and nudism further together. But I'm only trying to mend the damage that has already been done in trying to "purify" nudism of sexuality. And I don't entirely blame those responsible for this, since it, in turn, is an act of trying to mend the damage already done by society with regards to its twisted notions about sex and nudity. But the fact that sex and nudity are not equivalent is elementary. Prudists seem to be hung up on that point, reiterating it ad nauseum, blaming all of nudism's troubles on its confusion with sexuality in mainstream thought. But the problem is not that people think nudism is about sex - that is an erroneous belief that is easily corrected. The reason it remains problematic is because of our stubborn and unhealthy attitudes toward sex (where sex is involved, accusations are about as bad as convictions, thanks to our active - and naughty - and guilt-ridden - imaginations). The solution is not to wash our hands of sex, but to approach it and try to fix the problem - not by foisting it on someone else (like the perverts, for example), but by facing it head-on and refusing to propagate the dysfunction.)

Heavy Equipment

Here are a couple outtakes from my latest upload on flickr. I was out enjoying the warm fall weather when I stumbled upon this piece of heavy equipment - The Beast. I knew instinctively, right then and there, I had to pose nude in front of it. I see lots of modeling shots of naked girls in front of giant mechanical behemoths - and I like the contrast of smooth skin against cold metal. Also, the clean girl/dirty machine dichotomy adds to the kinkiness of those shots. And of course, there's probably some kind of symbolism with the masculinity of giant construction equipment. Anyhow, that's what I was trying to imitate in these shots - pretty naked girl climbing on big dirty machine.

Greta's Vision For A Sexual World

I just came across a great argument - an argument I've been trying to make for a long time - about the legitimacy of sexuality and sexual concentration (as opposed to obsession or addiction), and I want all of you to read it, because it's the best thing I've read in awhile; you can take my word for it.

My Vision For A Sexual World

I found it by way of Wayne's Nude Musicians, who found it on Sex Is Not The Enemy (which is a great song by the way). The latter blog is quite a find, you should check it out. The pictures may be fun, but the quotes are where it's at. Go ahead and scroll through the pages for a bit. It's really inspiring. I promise.

P.S. Here are a few more posts from Greta Christina's Blog. All of these are highly recommended reading.

Porn, Social Criticism, and the Marginalization of Kink

Why Porn Matters

Sex Writers, Drooling Horndogs, and the Suspectability of Male Sexuality

Sex and the Off-Label Use of Our Bodies

Is All Porn the Same?

Sex -- The Great Exception

Offended

Sex, and the Difference between Jaded and Relaxed

Sexual Perspective, Or, How Can You Eat That?

Are You A Sex Addict?

True Love Waits... And The Rest Of Us Get On With Our Sex Lives

Right Wing Hypocrisy, or Why Sex Guilt Fucks Things Up For Everyone

Kitty Porn: Art, and Pornography

The difference between art and pornography is a discussion that is likely to continue indefinitely, at least so long as it is meaningful to distinguish between them (and this will continue so long as porn is discriminated against). I think there are two main reasons for this. First, "art" and "pornography" are both labels with very vague definitions. People have argued what qualifies as "art" and what qualifies as "pornography" separately for a long time. What does it mean to be art? At what point does something become pornographic? The other reason for the continued discussion is that there is an overlap between art and pornography, yet they are not equivalent - think of it as a Venn diagram. There is some art that can be considered pornographic, and there is some pornography that can be considered artistic, but there will always be examples of art that is clearly not pornography, and pornography that is clearly not art. And to complicate things further, the placement of the circles in the Venn diagram depends on one's definitions of art and pornography, which, vague as they are, is something we as a collective haven't been able to agree on.

Nevertheless, as an erotic artist who sees what I do as being qualitatively different from pornography, I often consider ways that I might explain how my work is separate from porn, even if it may sometimes be considered pornographic. When we talk about the issue directly, there are all sorts of assumptions involved, as well as the value judgments we make about sexuality and anything dealing with it. So let's, for a moment, transfer the issue to something benign - rather than pictures of nudity, let us consider pictures of cats.

There are two very different approaches to taking pictures of cats (or anything else). And which one you use has a lot to do with your intent as the photographer. Are you taking pictures of cats because you think cats are beautiful and you want to share that beauty with the world? Or are you taking pictures of cats simply because you like cats, you like looking at cats, you know that other people like looking at cats, and you want to take lots of pictures for other people to look at? I'm not saying the difference in these approaches isn't subtle, as there are a lot of similarities, but the result - the pictures that are taken and shared - often reveal a fundamental difference of intent.

To play on the comparison further, I will refer to "cats" as pussies from here on out. You can imagine that there are a lot of people out there who love pussies and get a lot of enjoyment out of looking at other people's pussies. They aren't particularly concerned about the artistic quality of these pictures - obviously, they'll like prettier pictures more, but they like the bad ones too because what they're really in it for isn't the aesthetic quality of the pictures but simply the opportunity to look at pussies. Lots of 'em.

Now imagine an artist who recognizes a quality of beauty inherent to pussies, and wants to emphasize that quality in his photographs, and share it with others. He takes lots of pictures of pussies, but he doesn't share them all, because they're not all particularly good pictures. His intent isn't merely to take pictures of pussies, but to take good pictures of pussies. And so he puts in effort to take better pictures, and he is less enthusiastic about sharing the bad pictures than our previous pussy photographer - because for him, it's not just about looking at pussies and sharing them with people, it's about capturing an aesthetic beauty, elusive and captivating, and sharing that with people. That's the art. It's that ineffable quality one is chasing.


And I'll reiterate that this is just an example to get the concept across. It would be far too simplistic to say that the difference between art and pornography is merely the quality of the images, and it would be pretentious for me to say that an artist perceives something ethereal where the pornographer sees just flesh. Although both of these things may be true on some level. I'm not trying to draw up stereotypes - because I don't think you should use them - and I still maintain that an artist can be a pornographer and that a pornographer can be an artist. But hopefully this example will give you some idea of what it means to create porn versus what it means to create art.

The Good Listener

Here is my latest work of art:

The Good Listener
I really like this concept, but I'm not completely satisfied with how it turned out. I don't like how I look in the red dress here (I hate my shoulders), and I probably should have switched the figures, because the composition draws your eye toward the figure on the right, who is slightly more in the foreground (which makes the girl look bigger than the guy, which is not good), whereas the focus of the image should be on what the guy is doing. I'll try it again someday.

Check out this behind-the-scenes footage of my transformation from girl clone to guy clone:



Here's an outtake from the shoot. This is a concept (having sex with my clone) that I want to explore further. This isn't exactly what I'm going for with the concept, but it's a fun little outtake that I thought some of you might appreciate.

And the other piece that I got out of this shoot. A little classic gender-bending:

Mixed Signals
Plus an exclusive outtake for my loyal blog-readers:

And here's a special video that I think you'll like. Flickr wouldn't let me post this in a million years!

Pushing (Not Flooding) The Boundaries

How do you create an environment that attracts erotic artists, while fulfilling the following two conditions:

1) There are to be no unreasonable restrictions on the accepted forms of expression.

2) It must not become a haven for porn addicts.

As an erotic artist myself, some of my work, and some of the work I'd like to do, is such that it would not unreasonably be deemed "pornographic" in content (regardless of intent). To outlaw pornographic material would be to put an unreasonable restriction on my expression. The problem here is to avoid hypocrisy in allowing porn yet not allowing the environment to degenerate into a den of pornography.


What's the difference between porn and pornographic art? For an individual piece, I don't think there is any meaningful way to tell that difference. But there is certainly a difference between my body of work and the body of work that a pornographer produces (amateur or otherwise). The majority of my work is not explicitly pornographic - this is a matter of proportion. And my work, whether pornographic or not, possesses intent above and beyond the seeking of sexual gratification (even if that is a primary component of the intent - so long as it is not exclusive).

My body of work is clearly distinguished from a pornographer's - at least as I see it, and this is often a matter of taste and opinion. Let us imagine the case of an artist whose work is predominantly pornographic, and yet still possesses something above and beyond porn that makes it worthy of being called art. How can we tell, and how do we avoid discriminating against this artist, while not encouraging others who lack the added artistic element? And how do we deal with self-proposed artists whose work is apparently indistinguishable from porn? What about the amateur pornographer who insists that his porn is artistic? We can't simply take a person at his or her word, or we'd be opening the floodgates to exactly what we want to keep out.

The only way I see this working is on a by-invitation system, as much as I hate the idea of creating a system where you have to be evaluated/know the right people/have experience in the business to get in. But it seems like the only solution, and shouldn't there at least be that solution, if no better one? So I ask you to point me in the direction of the secret global community of erotic artists so I may present myself to them and ask for their approval, and acceptance into their privileged club.


I guess an alternative solution would be to just create a porn site that doesn't advertise itself as such, like flickr has done with images (though not videos). Have you ever seen one of those? I imagine they'd be hard to find, since they'd look just like other non-porn-friendly sites...

My Interest in Sex (The Value of Pornography)

It seems to me that there is a not insignificant subset of the population that carries the opinion that sex, at best, is something that should remain private, between two individuals, behind closed doors (doors usually leading to the bedroom), and often within the confines of marriage. And this type of people has a tendency to regard pornography and loose sexuality and such as evidence of the moral decline of civilization. I am obviously not part of this privacy and purity cult. (The purity I espouse is much different from this concept of freedom from sin, and I view it as a preference, not a moral obligation). Whereas members of this cult are often quick to utilize the oppressive tool of censorship, I make it my crusade to support and celebrate the individual's freedom to sexual expression.

And there are different kinds of sexual expression. One of my pet peeves is a person who can't tell the difference between any of them, thinking that every instance of nudity in art is pornography. But there is erotic art, and there is pornography, and they are not the same. (I won't go into the differences and similarities between them here, because that's a huge issue of its own). The reason I bring this up is not to disparage pornography - which I am about to defend - but to raise the point that even a person who is against explicit and "obscene" representations of sexuality has no grounds to argue for the elimination (censorship) of sex in art. Sex is a significant part of life, and a powerful inspiration, and it belongs in art, music, literature, and all the creative pursuits of mankind.

I am an artist myself, and I believe that sex should be explored. That beauty should be shared, not horded. You don't have to agree with me, but you do have a civil obligation to permit me my pursuit. And some people are too quick to jump to the conclusion that someone who pursues an interest in sex is necessarily addicted or obsessed. It's true that any addiction is unhealthy, but a concentration needn't be viewed as such. All sorts of people pursue all sorts of interests, so why should sex be less valid than any other topic?

Getting back to my initial point, I wonder how many of those privacy and purity cult members are happily married to the love of their life. The expected social track, as far as I have gleaned through observation, is that you work on your education as you grow up, date a little bit in high school and college, find a partner at some point, get a job once you graduate, get married, and raise a family (at which point the cycle repeats). Well, not everyone follows that track. I met the love of my life, and she didn't love me back. She didn't even like me. So should I be denied the enjoyment of sex with girls I am attracted to because I choose (or perhaps fate chose for me) not to marry?

What about people who are socially awkward? People who can't get a date? Do they deserve not to ever see a girl naked just because they haven't had the opportunity to make a life commitment to one? Even socially capable people don't always have the luck. Not everyone finds their perfect mate, and not everyone is able to win over the type of girl they are most attracted to. I think there can be a separation between the emotional and physical aspects of mating, as well, but that's another issue that deserves its own discussion.

I am an aesthete, an admirer of beauty. This includes erotic beauty, which happens to be my focus. I believe that beauty exists to be admired, and I think it's selfish for a person to horde their beauty (or their girlfriend/wife's beauty) for themselves and themselves only. I wouldn't force anyone to show off who is not comfortable doing so, but I do encourage beautiful people to share the wealth. It is only my opinion, and I'm willing to respect others, but I feel that beautiful people have some measure of obligation to share their beauty with others.

Maybe not every guy can reasonably be expected to be given the opportunity to have sex with the type of girl they are most attracted to, but I don't think it's too much of a stretch to believe that, with enough willing participants, every guy can at least have access to some kind of material that would facilitate fantasies towards that end. Having your picture taken, or being filmed while having sex, is really not a big deal. Okay, the social stigma against sex makes it a big deal, but we can eliminate that stigma if we want to. The point is, you can record yourself, and then you can give that gift to countless others, and it doesn't mean you have to have sex with anyone you don't want to. Why wouldn't anyone want to share that wealth? It's a harmless act of altruism that benefits the entire human race - and the most needy are the ones who reap the greatest benefit!


If you have much, give of your wealth.
If you have little, give of your heart.
If you have smarts, give of your mind.
If you have beauty, give of your body.