Sex in the art scene
SEX, SEX, SEX. Next to eating and sleeping it’s one of the most mundane and self-evident phenomenons in our human lives, however with constituted social norms telling us to oppress our sexuality and discard any exceptions on the ‘normal’ conceptions, thus treating it as a taboo subject, I bet that somehow some of you still feel the embarrassment creeping into your body when reading those three first words out loud in the office or during a family dinner.
Living in 2015, there is still so much wrong with the misconceptions formed around this broad subject. Yet luckily for us there is an active movement going on in the creative scene and the polished and one-sided approach we’re used to is gradually being substituted by an honest representation changing our narrow perspective on what sexuality really entails.
Describing themselves as a liberation from a culture of self-hate and impossible ideals, Ladybeard fights the reinforcement of a demeaning attitude towards sexuality. When we were all too busy flashing our boobs on the Internet with the hashtag #freethenipple hoping for a change, the team behind Ladybeard made an entire magazine!!! accessing real sexual experiences and voicing sexual diversity.
© Shan Huq SS16 - Photography Thomas McCarty - via dazedigital.com
Shan Huq
“These clothes are the essentials of your wardrobe, but also the essentials of your mind, the essentials of life and the essentials of your sexuality”. New to the fashion scene and already making statements, Shan Huq’s creations represent the reality of young Americans, tackling sexual taboos in a brilliantly cheeky way. Subtly touching the taboo subjects: gender, beauty and sex, the brand pushes the straightforward boundaries which the fashion industry continues to occupy.
Ren Hang
Having been arrested for “suspicion of sex”, Chinese photographer Ren Hang has experienced right handed how much of a taboo sexuality continues to be in this modern age. Yet instead of being discouraged by the extreme consequences of his work, Ren does not let this get in the way of his creative process. Showcasing the naked bodies of his friends in its purest form, he manages to capture images that go beyond the focus on sex, making them both arousing and scenically interesting at the same time.
To the people that think our generation of artists is deconstructing everything that has been built up for the last hundreds of years, I say so what. It was about time. Our society is in need for individuals like the ones above, so we can leave all those misconceptions about sex and sexuality behind us and work towards that one moment where we can finally all openly accept that women do masturbate, there is no one in this world that is 100 per cent straight, and sex is as opposed to what you have been watching in your bedroom with the door locked, more raw and real than anything you have ever been confronted with on the internet, rap song video clips or perfume adds.
