Thinking of pornography

So photography and Zenpuss. Hopefully, a reasonable combination.
Let us look at photography in greater detail. And I am going to talk about pornography/photography. Because in many ways, the word 'pornography' suffers the same social distaste as its sister (!) word that I discussed in the previous blog. How many other words are out there under the disdainful cloud of public miscomprehension I wonder? Maybe we could go out and search for these words and rescue them from the tawdry demise.

Now many people would argue that one of the most beautiful sights in the world is that of the human, natural form. Why is this the case? Well, in itself, I actually think we are a beautiful species. We walk around zoos and look at all these animals in their wonderful, unrobed natural state and never, ever consider popping some panties over their bits as they freely pee for public view. A few little children may giggle, and their adults companions avert their eyes as the mammals mount one another in full glare of their little darlings but let us not forget, these are animals, who are working from their instinctive intelligence and performing according to a specific need of theirs. They don't worry about who is watching. I know. They do not have the brains and the intelligences of us human counterparts, but bear with me on this. We, as a species of animal, were once in this natural, raw state, where our sexuality was as instinctive as the giraffes and the zebras. I wonder when we decided to run into the cave to have sex rather than do it outside infront of other human beings? (Interestingly, there is an article discussing stone age sexuality which suggests that they were ‘the oldest swingers in town’ and certainly did discover recreational sex way, way before some people have previously thought. It was assumed that their sexual acts were merely performed for procreation. The article goes on to suggest that monogamy only became established “as hunter-gatherer societies took up agriculture and settled in houses, allowing the social roles of men and women to become more fixed”. Now this is definitely worth a blog later).

Gradually as the world moved on, and the functions of the brain became more refined, we developed other intelligences, other senses, other emotions and ultimately social taboos. (I realise that I am jumping around rather here, and need to get back to the point!). What I am trying to say is that we were once exactly as other animals; free to pee in public, free to have sex as and when our instinct told us to do so. We may not have developed the emotional and spiritual aspects of good sex at this point, but that is how it was. And jumping ahead again, we now find ourselves in a society when we do not express ourselves sexually in front of other people. We may kiss or hold hands. We might even have a little grope 'behind the bike sheds' or in the shadow of a backstreet building. But we do not have sex in front of other people. By this statement, I am not advocating this as a required day to day occurrence. I don't actually want to watch everyone having sex but I would quite like to see some people doing it, when I choose to, when I feel that it is going to turn me on and excite me.

And this is where the issue of pornography enters into the discussion.

Pornography. What is its actual meaning? The word itself derives, as with many of our language, from the Greek for prostitute ‘porne’ and writing ‘grapho’ – writing about prostitutes. So it already has a social complication. People are fine with writing and recording but they may not be as comfortable with prostitution, and many are certainly not comfortable with recording via photography. And those of us who have enjoyed posing for a few tantalizing photographs or video clips, have we been prostituting ourselves for the satisfaction of being recorded in our full, natural, glorious and sexual state? I don’t think so. The dictionary definition is ‘sexually explicit material whose primary purpose is to cause arousal’. Well that isn’t so bad, but now have a look at this other dictionary definition. Pornography is “obscene writings, drawings, photographs or the like, ….. those having little or no artistic merit”. Yet again, we are into the very negative interpretation of the word. Who the hell has made the judgement that photographs or pictures, words on a page, erotic sculptures and artefacts have no ‘artistic merit’? Our history, our treasured art throughout the world is full of images of naked people. Picasso, Michelangelo, Degas and Dali – they all produced the most wonderful, beautiful, sensual images of men and women; pictures of women splayed on chairs, displaying their sexuality for everyone to see. Do these masterpieces have no artistic merit? I don’t think so. Do we honestly, in our prudish manner, imagine that these pictures, statues etc were produced without the ‘primary purpose to cause arousal’? I don’t think so either.

Russell Brand opens his Booky Wooky with a scene from his confinement in a sexual addiction treatment centre. When he had arrived, the counsellors at the clinic had removed his copy of the Guardian because it had a photograph of the Venus de Milo. Bizarrely, they had allowed him to retain his copy of The Sun without removing the page three ‘stunner’. Now isn’t that a weird thing but it could further my argument about the true state of the art of pornography. Maybe these ‘sex experts’ realized that that the curvature of the statue, the life-like folds of the layers of muscle and skin on the stomach, the pertness of the breasts, the looseness of the clothing around the lower body were all far more tantalizing, arousing and exciting than the day to day big knockers on Page Three of the red tops. Maybe, the slight sight of the buttocks defined by that vertical line draws you to the linen drape and entices you into ‘thinking’ about what might the artist have seen on that day. What beauty lay beneath that piece of cloth? Isn’t this the tantalizing issue? Isn’t the arousal sometimes, in what we cannot see? These counsellors at Russell’s clinic clearly thought so. I am totally convinced that Mr. Brand, like many Essex and other boys, would certainly get off by looking at the tits as seen on page three, but the point is, he could equally have been aroused by the beauty and the definition of sexuality as seen through this image of Aphrodite. In our society, one is defined as pornography, albeit it mild, and one is defined as an internationally accepted thing of significant beauty. Yet, I strongly suspect that there was more sexual arousal, more expression of excitement in the making of the statue than the quick snap of the blond, boobed bombshell.

And why do I come to this conclusion? Well, I have visited a range of sites recently to have a peep (deliberate use of the word) at some naked bodies. I have looked at men with huge dicks, women touching themselves intimately. I have seen women with their hands cupped over another woman’s breasts, holding their tongues tantalizingly close to an erect nipple of another. I have seen men pushing their sizeable cocks into a woman’s shaven pussy, whilst she has her tongue sliding into her female partners cunt. I have seen women pouring juices out of their very needy and excited bodies. I have seen women’s faces splashed with cascading cum. Do these photographs excite me? Are they there for the purpose of causing arousal? Well of course they are. They are pornography, and they work for me. As I look, I can feel that familiar sensation growing within me; that bruising urgency of arousal that requires me to direct my hands to stimulate my clitoris or to finger my g spot until I too cum with a glorious gushing of my own sexuality. And yet, the real excitement is possibly in the ‘now’ when the photograph was taken. I am more excited by the fact that these people, who were posing for the photographs, were in a moment of extreme excitement when the photograph was taken. The real turn on is that. I am looking at their well-defined bodies, and enjoying their form, their features, the sex of it but I am also celebrating their moment of energy and vitality when that ‘now’ event took place. I know from experience how it feels to be photographed in some of those situations. I know what it is like to have someone snapping away as I gush. I know what it feels like to have a camera pointing at my cunt as I splay my legs and open my hole so that the folds of my skin, the redness of my desire, the wetness of my wanting can be seen by the photographer. I know all about the excitement of having a wonderful cock inside me and having a clear image, taken for prosperity, capturing the moment when I could feel that warmth of two bodies rubbing together and enjoying one another’s needs. The end product of the photographs is wonderful. They certainly are produced for the main purpose of arousal but the real arousal comes from the taking, from the actual moment, from the ‘now’ when it happens. Maybe this is why there can never be an exhaustion of wanting more images. I can look at many photos of cocks. There is a world wide web full of them. And yes, they can excite me. But nothing, nothing excites me more than the cock that is in front of me when I choose to take a photograph of it. I can look back at those photographs and get the whole flavour of the day, of the cock, of the sexual urgency and lust of the moment.

So my opinions of pornography have changed. Or have they? In reality, maybe I was always suppressing a desire to have a look. Maybe I have always had a need and a desire to look another people’s bodies. Maybe there are plenty of other people out there like me. The art of pornography is all about recording the sexuality of the moment from which others can take pleasure. As long as people are consensual then what can possibly be wrong with this? We have beautiful bodies. Like the animals in the zoo, we have nothing to hide. Some of our bodies may be less conventionally beautiful than the alleged ‘perfect ten’ but we all have a body that is sexual in form, and we should celebrate this as and how we choose.
I am very conscious that this discussion is just a starting point. I am aware that there is probably gross naivity in its writing, and it is certainly not the end of my blogging on pornography. I would like to explore this subject in far greater detail and have far more personal experience of it too.