Issue No. 28 – Control

What is the nature of control? The desire for it—and to be free of it—are essential parts of both life and art.

Women are Scopophilic too

Women are Scopophilic too

© Cass Bird for A Woman’s Right to Pleasure

© Cass Bird for A Woman’s Right to Pleasure

 

By Gabriela Bittencourt

The new art book A Woman’s Right to Pleasure by BlackBook Publishing, Dr. Marashi and LELO is an anthology of photographs from 77 artists that captures powerful eroticized images of women and includes original texts from over 60 of the world's most important and wellrecognized female-identifying artists, writers and creative thinkers from around the globe. The female-identifying artists give us a purview of the female gaze. It should come as no surprise that women are sexual beings too. In a world that tends to forget that, A Woman’s Right to Pleasure reminds us of this.

It is a subversion of ideas that pleasure is a male-exclusive sensation, these females push back by eroticizing themselves and taking pleasure in it. In doing so, these artists make it clear that pleasure is not exclusive to male domain, that women can pleasure themselves. Women can pleasure other women too.

Sexuality is a privacy made public. Instead of being under a lens controlled by females, we publicize our own bodies. For some time now, the image of female sexuality has been distorted and poorly represents women on the inside and outside. So it’s been a long time coming that Carrie Mae Weems, Nan Goldin, Penny Slinger, Tracy Emin, Cass Bird and many more featured female-identifying photographers shatter the male gaze that has pinned women down. not in a sexy way.

© Dani Lessnau, from extimité, 2017

© Dani Lessnau, from extimité, 2017

Despite this, women embrace sex. They always have. So while some say these pictures are radical, I say they are just pictures of women being women. Take for example Carrie Mae Weems picture entitled Portrait of a Woman Who Has Fallen from Grace. Weems, who models for her own picture, confidently looks back at the camera looking at her. Her legs are wide open, her lips slightly curled upward. This woman is said to have fallen from grace. And yet, there is something unshakeable about her—not overpowering, but empowering. Mind you, the patriarchal view is that sex is something you shouldn’t experiment with if you’re a women. When an audacious woman does, she is perceived to be “naughty.” As Weems casually smokes a cigarette, a more pressing question comes to mind: could it be that we are not used to the sight of a sexually empowered woman?

© Carrie Mae Weems. Courtesy of the artist and Jack Shainman Gallery, New York.

© Carrie Mae Weems. Courtesy of the artist and Jack Shainman Gallery, New York.

In Cass Bird’s picture entitled Kissing, a moment between two beautiful women mid-kiss is captured. Bird provides us with a significant image of female sexuality because it breaks the patriarchal view that pleasure is a heterosexual sensation. Human sexuality is fluid, and Bird’s image attests to that, while also normalizing the image of female homosexuality not only as a view of pleasure for the male gaze but for the female gaze too.

All in all, female sexuality is irrepressible. Women enjoy taste, touch, smell just as well, but sight gets a special spotlight—women are scopophilic too. Those who truly love women should love women loving themselves too. Most importantly, what Weems and Bird seem to get at is that, for female sexuality to flourish, whether it be in art, or in bed, there can be no space for shame.

© Dani Lessnau, from extimité, 2017

© Dani Lessnau, from extimité, 2017

Want to view more? Playboy has collaborated with BlackBook to publish exclusive previews of art and essays from A Woman’s Right to Pleasure on Playboy.com until the book’s official release on August 20, 2020. And BlackBook presents A Woman’s Right to Pleasure’s digital exhibit from August 7, 2020, to September 7, 2020.

You can learn more about Dani Lessnau’s work in her website.




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