About

Pornogaphy is about arousal, but at its best, porn is an erotic art form that arouses and adds beauty to the world. There is no line between pornogrpahy and art, there is a Venn Diagram in whihc a small sliver of porn intersects with art, and a small sliver of art intersects with porn.

The philosopher Dennis Dutton (1944 to 2010) identified six universal signatures in aesthetics:

1. Expertise or virtuosity. Humans cultivate, recognize, and admire technical artistic skills.
2. Non-utilitarian pleasure. People enjoy art for art's sake, and do not demand that it keep them warm or put food on the table.
3. Style. Artistic objects and performances satisfy rules of composition that place them in a recognizable style.
4. Criticism. People make a point of judging, appreciating, and interpreting works of art.
5.Imitation. With a few important exceptions like abstract painting, works of art simulate experiences of the world.
6. Special focus. Art is set aside from ordinary life and made a dramatic focus of experience.

Just as abstract art is an exception to the Imitation signature, pornography is an exception to the Non-utilitarian. Pornography usually satisfies a human need, the need for orgasm. But it satisfies all the rest.

We live in an age when in many but not all countries, women can explore and understand the orgasm and its relationship to mental health and happiness. Escaping shame about sexual desire and the orgasm is within our grasp. The study of love, sexual emotions, human relationships, human sexual response, criminal sexual behaviour, sexual function, sexual pleasure and fulfilment have been relatively recent endeavours in the scientific study of sexuality.

In our post sexual revolution world, you can purchase a vibrator just as easily as a pair of shoes. That ease of access is not the same everywhere, and those of us who have a degree of sexual freedom need to remember - we cannot take any of our freedoms for granted.

I commend filmmakers Catherine Oxenberg (b. 1961) and Gabrielle Anwar (b. 1970) who, in their documentary series Sexology sought out sexual experts, tantric masters, researchers and everyday women to unearth fe
women's full erotic potential. Everyone interested in women achieving orgasm, and that should be everyone, should watch their series.