| There
is a fine line between eroticism and pornography. What finally distinguishes
the two is their unique perspective of sexuality has so many faces-
from hetero- to homosexual to bi- and asexual, from sadoism to Maoism
and everything in between- the perspectives on this are, of course,
equally manifold. So where does eroticism end and pornography begin?
Although at various times in various places in the world there might
appear to be a general consensus, only the individual can finally
decide- and this, of course, only for him-or herself. For some, eroticism
is spiritual exercise whereas pornography addresses itself to the
pleasure of the flesh (D.H. Lawrence’s erotic novel versus A.N. Roquelaure’s
popular pornographic version of the “Sleeping Beauty” fairy tale,
for example). For others, eroticism is just another aestheticizing
euphemism for pornography, a mask behind which leers the lascivicious
head of perversion. |
| This
would explain why D. H. Lawrence’s books were immediately placed on
the index and only put back into print many decades later, or why
Robert Mapplethorpe’s homoerotic photographs have recently been under
vehement attack by right wing conservatives in the United States.
Sexuality, such critics would argue, is something you experience but
never talk about and certainly never put into print- neither with
words nor with images. But no matter how you look at it, both eroticism
and pornography deal with highly personal physical expressions of
desire and in some cases even love, although this need not necessarily
be the case. And whether we index books and images or not, both eroticism
and pornography will always be with us. They are both an integral
part of our human culture and probably always will be. In the late
20th century sexuality has become politicized. Women have spoken up
against the way they have been treated by men as objects of desire.
And recently, although this had always been in the case to a greater
or lesser degree, man also appeared in advertising and other phenomena
of popular culture as the object of desire, a plaything of heterosexual
women and homosexual men. Indeed, homosexuality has not only become
widely accepted and even legal (something which is not as matter of
fact as many would like to believe), it has also become an economic
and political factor. |
| Advertising
agencies and campaign specialists around the globe have discovered
that the union of two men or two women with double incomes and cultural
ambitions and no children to feed (and thus no heir to provide for)
inherently brings along with it a financial power which can be exploited
in any number of ways. Not too long ago homosexuals were sent to prison
categorized as pervert; during the Third Reich they were even sent
to concentration camps because they were seen as being hazardous to
the moral health of the nation! Today, numerous homosexuals hold positions
of power in politics, economics, culture, science and just about every
other field of human activity. They are not quite completely accepted
by society, but they have indeed come a long way.And this is precisely
what this differentiation between pornography and eroticism is all
about- it is all a matter of perspective, and in many instances this
perspective is based on power politics, which, in turn, miss, based
on economic factors. |
| Almost
every kind of sexual activity and persuasion has been represented
in one form or another in the visual arts- and this throughout the
entire history of art. |
|