Tag: masturbation

Source unknown – Title unknown (19XX)

I have a preference for graphic depictions of sexuality focusing on a woman’s pleasure. Thus, although clearly staged–this appeals to me with a particular intensity.

The intensity is amplified by the fact that I also find it alluring where nudity is not presented as a facet of a woman’s sexual expression.

What I am really trying to communicate is the completeness with which this had me from the start.

There are two things it refuses to clarify: is the woman’s thousand yard stare a by product of the obvious staging of the scene or is she fantasizing about another man–perhaps the one rendered as a ghostly presence in the background.

My suspicion this is the intended–as much as authorial intention bears any relationship to the audience’s reading/interpretation (which is to say little if any)–outcome; however, to me the image exudes a sort of aching physical desperation. And that feeling causes me to wander if the ghostly presence is perhaps actually corporeal–a third party waiting to be invited to join the proceedings. The positioning doesn’t really support this interpretation; but wondering about the position caused me to notice the pose and musculature is oddly posed–legs together and touching, abdomen perhaps stretched…

…and I can’t help but thinking if the woman is thinking about the Crucifixion–a notion that would certainly fit with the feeling of seething sexual desperation I get from the image.

It doesn’t have to be that. In all likelihood it isn’t; but the ambiguity within the work that allows such an obscene meditation appeals with glee to the stretching darkness in me.

Sebastién Gherrë – Feña (2011)

If I have a weakness when it comes to image making, it’s audacity. Show me an image with the same couldn’t-give-a-fuck-less single-mindedness seen in that iconic image of Johnny Cash and I’ll be happier than a pig in shit.

The stumbling block with audacity is not unlike the problem with punk rock–the feral burst of righteous fury is usually usually at it’s best when it’s both absent discipline and especially clever.

Thing is: making good art requires at least some concerted discipline and cleverness is all too often willing to rest on its laurels which in turn predisposes cleverness to providing the impetus for a lot of bad art. [Consider a spectrum from clever (Andres Serrano) to smart-feigning cleverness (Arvida Byström) to smart (Laurence Philomene).]

With the above image, I adore the underlying idea: lotion as lube as foreshadowing of masturbatory ejaculation. Unfortunately, the execution–context eliminating close-up, unmotivated middle-of-the-road strobe and soft focus–is just fucking sloppy; detracting–woefully–from an otherwise promising image.

Source: gag-ball-gallery

Source unknown – Title Unknown (20XX)

Artfully depicting masturbation is not an easy feat.

The act is private, sequestered. Thus, the question of how one witnesses such goings on becomes central—is it voyeurism, exhibitionism or a bit of both?

The more voyeuristic the image, the less intentional it appears, the more it relies upon the reputation of the image maker to supplement its ‘artistic’ merit.

The more exhibitionist the image, the less artful it appears–exhibitionism being rooted in self-consciousness and the efficacy of art being so commonly measured on its ability to annihilate notions of self and other.

This scene suggest an altogether brilliant fucking with this dichotomy: subvert the distinction between subject and object. What’s one of the oldest means of doing that? Reflections.

Now, I will not argue the young woman is unaware of the camera. (She definitely is… at least initially but she’s watching herself trigger and experience her bodies sexual response.

This discursive nesting of contexts–for me at least–continually refocus my attention on her increasing arousal and accompanying pleasure.

That to me is such a fucking turn-on that I really can’t even…

(NOTE: I had previously published .gif excerpts from this clip. I’ve elaborated somewhat on the comments accompanying those .gifs in an effort to tidy things up a bit.)

Source unknown – Title unknown (XXXX)

In general, I’m not especially forgiving of tacky composition in erotic imagery.

At first glance–with the young woman’s left index finger and genitals positioned dead center–my gut reaction is to scream BULLSHIT.

That I’m not only willing to give it a pass but to actively engage it has less to do with my profound preoccupation with the politics of depicting masturbation and more to do with the fact that unlike the claims by Gregory Crewdson about his own work– the above is a narrative image (albeit a crude one).

Note: the active workspace, school uniform and skin pricked with sweat. I think we all can remember a time when the heat makes focusing on work impossible and high on hormones, the ache of lust is more than one can endure; so in assumed privacy, one pushes aside various clothing blocking unfettered sensual touch–oh but what that twist in her knickers inside her left ankle doesn’t make me shiver– and sets off in search of release (however temporary).

Things run a little deeper than that though. The room in which this occurs is–in the Japanese style–open to a courtyard which not only contributes a lush and verdant green to the proceedings it also insinuates questions of public vs. private that perhaps not completely but at least tangentially implies a cast aside explanation of the ridiculous framing: someone of whom the young woman is unaware is watching her. (This does raise questions w/r/t consent–invariably experiences in life where we can watch others unbeknownst to them occur and how one responds speaks to personal integrity; however, this is too posed, the lighting orchestrated for me to believe the young woman is entirely unaware of her audience.

What the image does exceedingly well is presenting a carefully manicured fiction that invites suspension of disbelief. Two things I notice is that their is a picture of what appears to be a pop star pinned over her desk. You can’t see enough to determine who that pop star might be. In my mind–always hungry to fill in the blanks–it’s a female pop star on whom she has a crush.

Also, the picture in her hand is tilted at an angle that reduces the glare for the camera but not for the young woman. I’d like to think it’s a picture of her and a girlfriend and that the angle is explained by the fact that she’s already orgasmed–the beaded sweat on her legs (which almost certainly is water from a spray mister)–and is exploring the mostly sated, hyper-sensitive perhaps a little horny again already ecstatic afterglow body high that comes with being young, alive and tragically longing for life, as it were, to begin.

The thing this does best is to show that using the frame edges to decapitate a body for the sake for the sake of preserving anonymity is the worst thing you can do. There is almost always a way to preserve anonymity in such a fashion so as not to disembody the subject.

Source: partialboner

Source unknown – Title Unknown (20XX)

With the ubiquity of un-sexy Hollywood sex scenes, why can’t someone figure out how to make a film with a layered, nuanced, well-developed female protagonist with a relate-able, accessible and engaging story and put the above scene in it.

Excepting regressive and prudish attitudes towards female sexuality, there’s no reason this scene couldn’t be part of an awesome indie feature. Yeah, maybe she wouldn’t be completely naked but notice how in the throes of ecstasy even though her pose is cheated toward the viewer for maximum visibility, this scene–based on the what 60-something frames in this gif–is about her pleasure.

Source: girls-who-love-masturbation

Tomi Knox – Baby, that’s not where that goes feat. Odette Delacroix (2014)

Even if I don’t always feel Mr. Knox work, I have an affinity for his art porn with a kink-positive perspective along with a healthy leavening of BDSM. (Also the fact that he is stridently committed to analog technologies earns him mad fucking respect in my book.)

With this photo, I like the subject matter but I just don’t understand–beyond the obvious that it’s about what she’s doing with the toothbrush (which by the way, I have on good authority feels freaking amazing)–why her head needed to be decapitated by the top frame edge.

The thing I will say–to keep myself honest–is that it doesn’t bother me as much here as it typical does. And I don’t know if it’s that during the back and forth interviewing Lady Sensuality commented that Knox is one of the most kind-hearted people she’s ever met but despite the extremity of some of the things his work depicts and as much as I feel in the depth of my soul that such work needs to clearly evidence the negotiation of the performers with regards to consent and personal boundaries, looking back through Knox’s archives I’m struck by just how–and it’s dumb to say that an image feels consent-y (that’s not how consent works)–but there always seems to be a (for lack of a better word) joy imbuing the proceedings he documents.

I’d have liked this image more in a wider framing but I think it works as is. I just don’t understand why the negative seems to have been flipped. If you study other pictures of Odette Delacroix, you’ll understand what I’m getting at. 🙂

Yesterday’s Porn – Title unknown (2014)

Puritanical responses to nudity and/or sexuality are an enormous pet peeve of mine.

But I have a very special hatred setting reserved for failing to inquiring as to whether the pic was requested or consent was sought and received before it was sent and instead applying the default, knee-jerk response: no one wants to see that.

Um… saying no one wants to see peen is completely fucking untrue. What no one wants is seeing shitty picks that involved little thought beyond having a hard on and a camera nearby.

(Also, while we’re on the topic bear in mind saying no one wants to see that not only implicitly dictates (pun semi intended) an insanely narrow view of sexual propriety but is also hugely problematic as this is entirely disproportionate to the typical response when women who post nudes or have their nudes leaked face a staggering gambit of slut shaming, body shaming and myriads of other forms of harassment, not to mention threats and the long term consequences of losing employment or narrowing future options.)

With that in mind I present this as a sort of gold standard template of what a classy cock shot entail:

  1. A dick pic doesn’t have to be fine art but quality never hurts–this image is effective because it presents a decent tonal range between shadow and highlight while also featuring three distinct, effectively rendered textures, i.e. wall paper, sweater and skin. (Plus, the sweater adds a somewhat feminine note which juxtaposes well with the more phallological content.)
  2. Anytime a frame includes genitalia, the inclusion is already charged. Placing the genitals at the center of your frame isn’t just preaching to the choir, it’s screaming in their face while beating them around the head and shoulders. Here: the left hand directs the cock out of the center of the frame. This dodges the common trap of thinking images magically become 3D when others view them or worse the tendency of treating the aperture as little more than another fuckable orifice.
  3. Avoid the oh my god! look at how huge I am trope. This image is preoccupied with that but I am willing to overlook that due to the sublimation and also because the small triangular sheen of reflected light his corona makes my molars feel all itchy.
  4. Another great strategy is decontextualizing the dick or finding a way to present it in a more mundane and natural setting. This image isn’t concerned with that but this does both interestingly.

Thus before you send/post that shot ask yourself how does it compare to the above. If it pales in comparison, maybe think about hitting delete. If it’s on the same level or better, go forth and conquer.

Joe Swanberg & Adam Wingard – clips from Autoerotic (2011)

Yesterday, I posted this with a plea for someone to help me identify the source. (Credit to Den for the id.)

Alas, knowing the origin somewhat tarnishes my previous sterling opinion of the clip. (In fairness, I am torrenting the movie as I write this.)

So without having seen the entire film, let me focus on what I like about this clip–which essential boils down to production value.

I’d wager the exterior cafe, narrow hallway and bathroom are in three disparate geographic locations; however, note the way the character is blocked in the left third of the frame in the al fresco scene, then moves from left of center to right of center in the narrow hallway. Along with the ambient cafe noises, this contributes the illusion of continuity of physical space that appears seamless.

You can quibble that although holding on the exterior and holding on the narrow hallway contributes a sense of editing rhythm, the hold in the hallway seems to long. Also, although I understand why the character enters the restroom from the right third of the frame–given this is the same position from which she exited the previous frame and matches the angle at which she entered the bathroom, I’d have probably cheated it and had her entering from the left just to continue the movement from left to right in the previous frame.

I have no idea why focus wasn’t pulled to keep her in focus as she approaches the camera on her bike–but then I would have insisted on shooting it as a horizontal tracking master shot.

Despite these admittedly nitpicking flaws and the awkwardly porn-esque alleyway masturbation, I am rather fond of this clip for it’s attention to detail–you know what she’s going into the bathroom to do and instead of going for an explicit close up, the details of her arousal are conveyed through her flushed, sweat glazed face.

I’m pretty sure my opinion will diminish after seeing the full film but on the strength of these scenes, I am intrigued enough to take the plunge and that’s not nothing.

Source unknown – Title unknown (XXXX)

I like this v., very much.

Yes, I do have a fixation upon creative, non-sexist strategies for the visual depiction of ejaculation.

& yes, there’s def/ room for improvement as far as the line work here…

…but: the core idea–the physical act of seminal ejaculation as an event resulting in beauty–reads unambiguously as-is

& this is exactly the sort of work that if I ever had a space to truly claim as my own, I’d want this displayed prominently. I gives me very warm and fuzzy feels.

(Also, I’m borrowing knitphilia’s pretty masculinity and crafty cocks tag because they are v. apropos.)