Not your Mama's polite dirty pictures

The Bitch's coffee table bears monogrammed silver heirloom candlesticks and a cut crystal bowl, proudly sharing the polished surface with some favorite books of fine art erotic photography. Some truly exciting, brand new volumes have just been added to her distinguished collection, so she is thrilled to give her loyal readers the well-deserved inside word.

Mind you, these are not Victoriana, Vaseline-smudged vignettes of lingerie-clad deshabille wantons on tufted velvet chaise lounges in repose under lace-filtered shafts of sunlight. These are not balletic sybarites frolicking pan- and- nymph-like through sylvan glades, festooned with floral garlands observed by startled fawns. These are not inscrutable incunabula -- Eastern erotic illustrations so extensively embellished that finding the stinking lingam or yoni is like playing "Where's Waldo?" These are not your Mama's pretty, polite, dirty pictures.

These fine art erotic photographs have visceral resonance because they are disarming, charming and challenging art images; and because these photographers have the courage to make this art, which is likely to be as provocative of ire as of desire. The images are all sexual in content, erotic or not, depending on the viewer's response. The subjects are not models, though some are quite conventionally attractive, but many are totally outside the range of mainstream, commercially-defined aesthetics and are not "pretty" at all. Pretty has nothing to do with these images, although they contain much rare beauty, in many diverse permutations. And these artists definitely comment on the nature of beauty, among other thoughtful and unsettling statements which their work articulates. In addition to their serious intent, talent, intellect and technique, this is what distinguishes them from pornographers (in case you require that delineation for the generous endowments you are planning to give them).

"Kiss of Fire," Photography by Barbara Nitke

Barbara Nitke's photographs of loving couples doing SM are astounding. She has had a varied career, beginning with her job shooting publicity stills on the set of porn films. These stills developed into a series of her own fine art photo commentary on the adult industry. Barbara teaches at The New School in New York and around the country. The most remarkable aspect of her work is her ability to be so in sync with her subjects. The photos in "The Kiss of Fire" are obviously genuine moments of intense passion with real couples who have a sincerely intimate emotional connection. Having spoken with her many times about her work, I know she wants couples to interact as they would if they were alone. Naturally, there is an inherent voyeur/exhibitionist factor, but she tries to diffuse that by planning it into the length of the shoot, so that "novelty" wears off as much as possible and she becomes a less prominent element in their experience.

Always between loving couples, the sexuality in her work seems extreme to mainstream society -- bondage, whipping, fireplay, homoeroticism, transvestism, sensory deprivation, mummification, etc. This is definitely my cup of tea and her bread and butter. It's just heartburn (and possibly a hard-on) for Attorney General John Ashcroft, whom she is suing.

When I decided to create my website, I asked John Wirenius [of the National Coalition for Sexual Freedom, NCSF] and other lawyers what would be legal. I was told that my photographs of loving SM and behind-the-scenes shots of the porn industry could get me into trouble with federal law under the Communications Decency Act. That's because it's a felony to put obscene material on the internet, and obscenity is defined according to local community standards. What's fine in New York might be considered obscene to people in another community. . . . Potentially a prosecutor in their community could bring a federal obscenity case against me under the CDA.
. . . the Bush administration has made it clear under Attorney General John Ashcroft that they will pursue general obscenity prosecutions. That means a lot of people who work with sexual subjects are at risk.

Barbara's new hardcover book, "Kiss of Fire," presents 60 duotone prints of her black and white images on heavy stock. You can purchase personally inscribed copies (with free shipping) on her web site, www.barbaranitke.com. You can also buy the book from Amazon.com.

The Bitch recommends this NY cultural event: An engaging speaker with fascinating stories, Nitke will be presenting her slide show, discussing her work and signing books on Wednesday, October 1, 7:00-8:30pm at NY's Museum of Sex, 233 Fifth Avenue.

"Diary of a Thought Criminal," Photography by Mark I. Chester

Synchronicity connected this work to Sen. Jesse Helms. Helms created legislation that banned the NEA from supporting artists or institutions exploring issues around sexual art -- which Helms defined as obscene or lewd art. For Helms, that meant any art that was explicitly sexual, homosexual or radically sexual. . . . my photographs were (and are) . . . the perfect example of the kind of work Helms considered so dangerous that it had to be banned by law from governmental support. . . . But in a way it's also a compliment. Helms is right. My work is dangerous. Because the truth is *always* dangerous."
--Mark I. Chester, from the introduction to "Diary of a Thought Criminal"

Mark I. Chester's title, "Diary of a Thought Criminal," for his 1996 book is more perfect than ever. Only seven years later, with the Bush Administration and Ashcroft (or, the ghost of Anthony Comstock, as I think of him in my nightmares), repression is more pervasive than ever. "Radical sex photographer" is how Mark defines himself. A gay, Jewish artist into SM, he has always keenly felt the need to claim the right to be himself, to express himself, to claim space -- and has always felt the pain of that struggle. Mark's courage to live as uncompromised and as authentically as he does is what makes him a "thought criminal." Also in the introduction to the book, he says: "[T]he way they keep us down is to silence us. To treat our lives and our histories as if they are unimportant or worse, as if they don't exist. We end up marginalized, disenfranchised. And invisible . . . . It's an important book. Not because I am important, but because every story that every non-standard person has to tell is important." It is extremely important to Mark to preserve his record of the gay male bondage scene experience in San Francisco. He almost lost it all when a neighborhood fire partially destroyed his work and in the aftermath, police raided his residence/dungeon/studio and confiscated his work.

These pictures are not just homoerotic (like a Bruce-Weber-image-in-a-Calvin-Klein-ad homoerotic) -- with the ubiquitous, sculpted, boy-next-door model gazing blankly into the distance wearing CK tightey-whiteys. These pictures are of hard dicks and bondage; men in hoods with thigh-high, lace-up Big Boss Boots. There is a cherished friend and lover with a hard dick donning a spandex Superman outfit, grinning madly, and covered in KS lesions. In Mark's introduction he also explains, "Somewhere in the karmic past I was forced to write on the metaphysical blackboard of life, one million times: I believe in the beauty and power of sex, sexuality and eroticism. It is constant like the tide washing against the shore. . . . What can I do? I'm obsessed by hard dicks."

Mark's web site is the best place to find the book for sale. Also, you can view his other extensive collections of work ranging from the 1980s to the present.

"Photo Sex," Edited by David Steinberg

As I write this in 2003, a Republican Party dominated by Christian fundamentalists has begun to put in place unprecedented surveillance of the general population, intensified censorship systems, and judicial appointments that promise to return us to the laws and mores of the nineteenth century. Yet . . . increasingly large segments of the citizenry engage both privately and openly in the libidinal explorations encompassed by this provocative survey of what its editor, David Steinberg, calls 'photo sex.'"
--A.D. Coleman, from the Introduction to "Photo Sex"

This new book of fine art erotic photography has 115 images by 31 photographers. The editor, David Steinberg, has edited another collection of photography, "Erotic by Nature: A Celebration of Life, of Love, and of Our Wonderful Bodies" and other literary titles. He writes "Comes Naturally," a monthly commentary on the culture and politics of sex. Steinberg is also a photographer himself, and a few pieces of his work are in this collection. In this group are also Barbara Nitke and Mark I. Chester. Others' images in the group also meet David's three basic criteria for inclusion: The photos must be of sex, without apology; have something meaningful to say about sex; and, have a strong aesthetic impact. He carefully selected images with an eye to diversity and inclusiveness.

David explains, "In general, I have avoided glamorized images in favor of photographs that show unpretentious people being sexual in genuine ways. I think of these photographs as a testament to the fact that all sorts of 'ordinary' people are truly sexy and sexual . . . I hope these photos document that the ways people choose to express their sexual natures -- what gives them pleasure . . . and personal fulfillment are as diverse as people themselves, a diversity that should be cause for celebration rather than fear."

An excellent preview of the book, showing most of the individual artists and samples of their work, may be viewed on Mark I. Chester's web site.

Wisely included in the collection is Michele Serchuk, whose highly aesthetic, style-conscious eye and unique creative imagination has informed many diverse erotic subjects for various publications including many tantalizing covers and feature spreads for "On Our Backs." You can read my interview with Michele and my article about a NY exhibition of her work.

Mark I. Chester's studio will be open during the Folsom Street Fair on Saturday and Sunday, September 27 and 28 from 11am - 6pm. "Photo Sex" will be on sale there. It can also be purchased online.

The Bitch hopes you will explore these volumes of adventurous, intoxicating, infuriating erotic art images. Celebrate our right to live, love and express ourselves however we please. Support artists who dare to. Hurry before the neo-Comstockians slap us all in irons -- and not in a good way.

About Elizabeth F. Stewart

E-mail Elizabeth

Talk sex at The Water Cooler

Past Columns:
November 4: The Bitch gets into fishnets and codpieces
October 27: Nasty tricks and delicious treats
October 21: A hairy question
October 13: "Orange Alert" for gay rights and pro-choice issues
October 6: Bitch's buzz on the birds and bees
September 29: Beating the sexual doldrum conundrum
September 22: Not your Mama's polite dirty pictures
September 15: Nipples jubilee
September 8: Bitch's bawdy bio bonbons
September 2: Size batters
August 25: Bitch boots Bush from boudoir
August 18: Nurse Bitch's forsaken femme asylum
August 11: Sperm gotta swim, eggs gotta die
August 4: The Bitch plays pretend
July 28: Touched for the very first time