I am certainly not opposed to a free and unrestricted internet but total freedom does bring greater creative responsibility to artists. To me much of the pornography on the internet is desexualized by it’s very excessiveness. It derives its sexuality not from the art or skill of the image but from the shock of taboo depicted. But with the shear volume of it available it’s commonality robes it of any feeling of forbidden. I do think limits should be pushed but often it is the restrictions imposed that inspire the greatest work.

How many times have we seen for example a director make a brilliant small independent film creatively working around a limited budget only to be given complete control and unlimited budget on his next film resulting in an excessive and flawed flop? Restrictions force you to rely on the skill of your execution to overcome obstacles. Working with restrictions forces you to concentrate your creativity and distill your vision.

In India colonial and Islamic pressures created a Victorian sense of restraint with regard to sexuality where even a public kiss was considered taboo. India has a rich erotic history rooted in the very religion but how then to express this eroticism in art when explicit depiction of sexuality is forbidden?

Lets take a look at this Indian book cover painting. In spite of the overwhelming limitations on what can be depicted this image of a woman checking messages on her phone in the street overflows with sexual energy. Her obviously orgasmic face catches our attention first, his hand on her exposed flesh. The cut of her dress emphasizes the weight of her breasts forcing us to imagine their nakedness underneath the fabric.  

We are drawn to the way she holds the glass of wine, exaggeratedly delicate with finders oddly extended. But when we follow the shadow of her arm as it moves down his torso we see how this hand position creates the shadow of a grasped fist at his crotch just where his erection would be. Now when we look at the hand again the wine glass disappears into the dress and now we see the reason for her odd hand position. The color of the wine directs us to consider the space between it and her hand now seemingly grasping his warm flesh.

Lest you think this a happy coincidence consider the mans face. He looks not at her phone or her thrown back head but instead to her grasping hand. His right hand is on his hip implying the arc of it’s thrust which seems to be push her hips away from him. His finger directs us to this invisible story and our eye follows from his crotch to her grasping hand and on up to her hand holding the phone completing the suggestion of erection.

The two men in the background pruriently watch the exhibitionistic couple. This voyeurism reinforcing the sexually charged nature of the scene.

Creating artificial restrictions can be a valuable tool in storytelling. Whether alone or together the key to sex is as much mental as it is physical. Sex is a story we create. Good sex relies on how well we tell it. 

~sadburro