Oct 3, 2009
POSTED BY Dave Snoobs
25,000 Years of Erotic Freedom, with text by Alan Moore, edited by Eva Prinz, is out in hardcover now. It is adapted from Alan’s 12,000-word essay on the subject from the sold-out Arthur No. 25, “Bog Venus Versus Nazi Cock-Ring: Some Thoughts Concerning Pornography.”
The promotional text from Abrams:
“Sexually progressive cultures gave us literature, philosophy, civilization and the rest, while sexually restrictive cultures gave us the Dark Ages and the Holocaust.”—Alan Moore
With each new technological advance, pornography has proliferated and degraded in quality. Today, porn is everywhere, but where is it art? 25,000 Years of Erotic Freedom surveys the history of pornography and argues that the success and vibrancy of a society relates to its permissiveness in sexual matters.
This history of erotic art brings together some of the most provocative illustrations ever published, showcasing the evolution of pornography over diverse cultures from prehistoric to modern times. Beginning with the Venus of Willendorf, created between 24,000-22,000 bce, and book-ended by contemporary photography, it also contains a timeline covering major erotic works in several cultures. 25,000 Years of Erotic Freedom ably captures the ancient and insuppressible creative drive of the sexual spirit, making this book a treatise on erotic art.
Oh yes, Venus of Willendorf is “erotic” art, eh? Because it’s the image of a woman, and women’s bodies = sex. I call bullshit. Nobody knows what the cultural significance of the Venus was, and calling it “erotic” is just the projection of straight male douchebags’ extremely limited imaginations. Fie on that, I say!
Venus of Willendorf is not a realistic portrayal of a woman or a female body. All of the sexual organs are exaggerated, which has led most to believe it a fertility totem. Fertility = Sex. Unless it was created by a woman whose intent was to show the parts of herself unfairly paid attention to by others, a paleo-parody. In the essay, Moore deals with the diverse feminist perspectives on pornography. I would recommend reading it.
Various Fascist regimes have in fact been very permissive regarding sex and reproductive rights. It’s a very broad-brush statement Moore is making here; Greece, the home of Western Philosophy, for instance, while allowing for many different variations of sexual behavior, did so within a pretty rigid, hierarchical social framework. The slaves weren’t buggering the Priests, in other words.
As far as the literature claim goes, I have no idea what he’s trying to say. Plenty of literature has come out of “sexually repressive” cultures, it’s just not the kind Alan Moore likes.
It’s ideologically motivated revisionism..
Moore is one of my favorite living authors, but I hope his argument is more sophisticated than the excerpt indicates.
Lots of theorists have tried to apply Freudian, or Freudian-influenced theories of sexuality to political science, trying to demonstrate some strong correlation or causal relationship between sexual repression/freedom and either the left/right political axis or the liberty/authoritarian poltical axis. I don’t think anyone has been particularly successful in that regard. Remember that Weimar Germany had some of the most liberal attitudes towards homosexuality in Europe, but then look at the 1933 elections.
There’s a far more complex argument presented by Michel Foucault in his “History of Sexuality” left incomplete by his untimely death, the second volume of which goes quite in depth with regards to some of what Uland alludes to.
[...] his extraordinary collection Lost Girls most certainly is. Just this month, he published 25,000 Years of Erotic Freedom, a book expanded from his original essay for Arthur Magazine. Point being, Mr. Moore has proudly [...]