The other day, a friend told me their opinion that porn wasn't art, since it was just meant to titillate instead of... well, whatever it is that art is supposed to do for people.

At any rate, I got to thinking about it. Lately I've been doodling a little, and I've been trying to draw some erotic images. Sex scenes, provocative poses, that sort of thing. And you know, it's really hard. Not the actual technique--though I'm not really good at that anyway--but the comfort and ease of producing that kind of imagery. In other words, I have trouble expressing arousal, desire, intimacy, and sex when it comes to creating visual representations of it. It feels a little embarrassing and uncomfortable putting that sort of thing on paper. It's frustrating not being able to draw this kind of pornographic pictures.

Thinking that, I started wondering about artists who do create porn. I really envy the people who are so comfortable expressing sexual feelings so openly. Freedom of expression, lack of inhibition... that's certainly part of the definition of art, right? I think sometimes people try to demean porn because the inspiration for that expression is sexual tension... but to me, that's something really beautiful. At least for me, creating porn isn't "easy" or "cheap," so I really value the people who do make and share it. Sex is something so convoluted due to society's conceptions of it... but, when an artist creates a piece of porn, the convolutions are just kind of drossed away... it becomes an exchange of arousal, ideas, and energy between the artist and the viewer. Not to get all mystical about it, though... But my point is, I think it's wrong to assert that such a communication has no redeeming value. To me, it has quite a lot of value.

So anyway... porn is porn. But it's not "just" porn... I think it qualifies as art in its own right.