Eroticism

[softbird]

Soft lines, curvilinear sensuality, do something to the eye, like ancient mysticism, like the thin spaces that the Celts loved so dearly, those spaces where the line between the sublime otherness and our own world was the thinnest. The female body is no mere body, then, but a territory, a space where we come closest to some kind of transcendence

Model: Sam Bloom

 

[MuffandNonsense]

I wonder whether eroticism is so difficult to define because it is not really a thing in itself, but a particular way of experiencing the world. I appreciate that the erotic and the sexual are not identical. The sexual can certainly be erotic, but there are also experiences that feel deeply erotic without being overtly sexual at all. A voice can be erotic. A piece of music can be erotic. A lingering glance, a certain quality of light, a subtle touch, a passage in a novel, even a silence between two people can carry an erotic charge.

What these experiences seem to share is not sexuality, but fascination. Perhaps eroticism begins where imagination enters desire. Sexuality seeks satisfaction; eroticism seems content to linger in anticipation. It lives in suggestion rather than disclosure, in what is hinted at rather than revealed. The moment everything is exposed, something of the erotic often disappears.

For that reason, I wonder whether mystery is a more useful concept than sexuality when thinking about eroticism. We are drawn not simply to another body, but to another consciousness. Another person always remains partly hidden, partly unknowable. No matter how intimate we become, there is always something that escapes us. Eroticism seems to reside in that space.

This may also explain why eroticism often appears in art and literature. Great love stories are rarely about possession. They are about longing, tension, distance, possibility. The erotic is often strongest not at the moment of fulfilment, but in the charged interval before it, when imagination is still free to wander.

So perhaps eroticism is the pleasure of remaining enchanted, the awareness that there is always something more to discover, something that resists complete understanding. At least, that is closer to my experience of the erotic than anything purely sexual.

Good morning Lottie
What a beautiful post.
Modern life is too fast.
So many people seeking instant gratification, whether sexually or online shopping.
We need to slow down to appreciate the sublime subtlety of eroticism, encompassing the mystery you mention.
A quick glance or smile from a stranger in a crowded place can fire the imagination, and that's where eroticism lies for me.
Often, a simple kindness like holding a door open or picking up something a stranger has dropped and returning it to them is enough to spark that momentary connection.
It's not always erotic or sexual, but those moments are worth exploring.
I remember attending a charity dinner many years ago and a beautiful Asian violinist was sitting at another table. At one point our eyes met and she gave me a wonderful smile. At the end of the evening, as everyone was leaving, she walked over and gave me a kiss on the cheek. No words were spoken and she turned and walked away. I have often relived that moment and imagined a variety of scenarios.

 

[lucy_anne21]

https://i.postimg.cc/GrQvzKMK/IMG-4264.gif