![A man passionately kisses his feminine partner’s underwear, his head held close to her body with her hand.
I hesitated posting this photograph because I see some complicated statements here. The picture was suggested by Bailadora, who wrote in sharing why this image is appealing:
This photo appeals to me on several levels: […] I love the expression on his face, eyes closed as if in ecstasy as he kisses/laps her vagina. […] I like that you can see her hand pulling his head more firmly into her body and […] I like that she is not naked, as if he couldn’t wait for her to get her panties off.
All very sexy indeed, but what I find complicated about this picture is the implication that when a man shows such affection to a woman’s genitals, it is so often perceived as a submissive act. Now, doing this certainly can be a submissive act (that’s how I view this picture, because I’m a submissive man), but of course it doesn’t have to be. Compositionally, I find the fact that she is clothed helps focus the viewer’s eye on his face, not her naked skin, which is in some ways a sad statement about the hyper-objectification of a woman’s sex organs in erotic imagery.
Some women I’ve been with personally have remarked that my inclination to give them oral sex happily and enthusiastically is unusual, a fact anecdotally corroborated by the many things I observe in hegemonic society that tell me cunnilingus isn’t a manly activity (unless I’m a man watching two “lesbians” do it). What would have to change in our culture for a picture like this to be one in which the man isn’t viewed as doing something traditionally non-masculine? And then, what would have to change for most people to simply see love here?
-maymay
bendmeover:
Darker Sights & Sounds: Just before](http://25.media.tumblr.com/7tgPpTciHly1s4pk7z0jG49Eo1_500.jpg)
A man passionately kisses his feminine partner’s underwear, his head held close to her body with her hand.
I hesitated posting this photograph because I see some complicated statements here. The picture was suggested by Bailadora, who wrote in sharing why this image is appealing:
This photo appeals to me on several levels: […] I love the expression on his face, eyes closed as if in ecstasy as he kisses/laps her vagina. […] I like that you can see her hand pulling his head more firmly into her body and […] I like that she is not naked, as if he couldn’t wait for her to get her panties off.
All very sexy indeed, but what I find complicated about this picture is the implication that when a man shows such affection to a woman’s genitals, it is so often perceived as a submissive act. Now, doing this certainly can be a submissive act (that’s how I view this picture, because I’m a submissive man), but of course it doesn’t have to be. Compositionally, I find the fact that she is clothed helps focus the viewer’s eye on his face, not her naked skin, which is in some ways a sad statement about the hyper-objectification of a woman’s sex organs in erotic imagery.
Some women I’ve been with personally have remarked that my inclination to give them oral sex happily and enthusiastically is unusual, a fact anecdotally corroborated by the many things I observe in hegemonic society that tell me cunnilingus isn’t a manly activity (unless I’m a man watching two “lesbians” do it). What would have to change in our culture for a picture like this to be one in which the man isn’t viewed as doing something traditionally non-masculine? And then, what would have to change for most people to simply see love here?
Darker Sights & Sounds: Just before