Erotophoria

If the desire for sex is a side effect of viewing ancient Roman art, even when sex has been removed from the collection, should we still fear the artwork?

I visited a museum a short while back with a friend. While there the two of us noticed quite a few randy couples kissing and groping in public in a fashion we don’t see too often here in the States. My friend and I must have been equally influenced by some invisible force because we were hard pressed not to use a few quiet corners ourselves.

The ancient Romans viewed their erotic art as humorous and funny and commonly displayed it in public like the more contemporary collection of Korean statues having sex in a park Simon mentioned in his blog. Yet the museum curators sterilized an ancient culture and eliminated all pieces of erotic art from display.

Their motivation seems foolish to me. If I were to walk down a park path and see a depiction of a couple struggle to have sex while upside down yet still upright I would laugh. I wouldn’t tear off all my clothes and rape my companion. For that I’d wait until we got home. I need no inspiration.

Where is the harm in a good laugh at no one’s expense? Or were those aroused and stimulated couples milling about in a museum on some bright and sunny spring day somehow magically influenced by the perversions of artists dead for hundreds if not thousands of years, even though those artists’ works were hidden from display?

~Virgohippy