A girl looks out over a city, from the 11th floor balcony of her hotel. It’s too early in the morning. The light is cold and so is the day. She should still be in bed. But she has a plane to catch. 

Time is at her heels, and so is her shadow. 

Re-shoot/re-edit

The original version of this image took in more of the city, which was visible to the girl’s right. And the color was warmer. I liked it originally because of the asymmetry, in which the girl is the focus of the picture, but she’s over to the left, and her shadow, the other focus is at the edge. 

But I like this version better. It better captures the grey cold of that morning, and the moment’s seized peace before we had to leave. And it’s better to have the girl, who is the focus of the picture, actually take her rightful place as its focus. Really, it’s a re-edit rather than a re-shoot, because it was taken in another country and I won’t be back for a while.

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It is a Sinful Sundae indeed. There’s something about an innocent girl reading a naughty book, in a library. I think.

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With the razor strop, in the library. Beautiful girl, who had done no wrong. But she and I are happy. For once I’m going to let this image (mostly) speak for itself.

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That leather implement came from Cambridge University. Yes, that Cambridge, wretched hive of perversion, villainy and scum.

It was sold as a flyswat, though it’s clearly for encouraging Bad Girls (or Boys, according to taste) to behave better. Certainly that’s more or less what the model in this pic said, when she gave it to me. So I could use it on her.

What I like about this pic is largely accidental. That is, I hadn’t really been aiming to get two slightly different Gretels in the one image.

One Gretel lies near the photographer, with the flyswat resting on the small of her back to remind her why her ass and thighs are blushing so prettily. It’s also there so she knows it’s in easy reach for me, if she says or does something inadequately submissive.  

The near Gretel is long and elegant. The further Gretel, in the mirror, is simply a rising swoosh, her bottom round and arched up, and her upper body and yummy thighs descending from that perfectly poised peach.

Two Gretels, one “flyswat” and one me. Heaven!

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Last Sinful Sunday I talked about whether there’s any meaningful difference between “pornography” and “erotica”. I mentioned objectivation, and that objectification isn’t necessarily a distinguishing feature of erotica or pornography. The real difference is that one word is often used in disapproval and the other word is usually used with approval.

This time we’re looking at the idea that erotica is subtle, indirect and suggestive, and pornography is blatantly depictive. Take this example.

The two images are suggestive. They construct a sexual context, even a narrative.

In the first image the woman is relaxed, dreamy, getting pleasured. Her lover might be doing things to her with his tongue, or toys.

In the second image, time has passed and she’s no longer relaxed. She’s flooded (with sensation; I’m not making a come joke). Perhaps her arse has lifted off the bed and her stomach muscles have tightened.

There’s no particular reason why you should accept the idea that “erotic” means “understated, subtle and indirect”. It’s not supported by etymology or by the dictionary definitions. It’s only an arbitrary decision you might make about how you might choose to use the words. Still, if that’s the choice you make, then these images are erotica.

Now, let’s have another “erotic” image.

Police cuffs. Illegal to possess, where I live, except by policemen. A former pro-domme gave these to me, so I can guess how she got them

It’s possible to read the angle of the bound, hand-cuffed woman’s body, to see she’s assuming a classic submissive position. That shadow between her fingers, the hint of the top of her buttocks, promises but denies other sexual vistas of her body. But the suggestions tell you that the woman is submissive, bound and helpless.

Here’s a more blatant image taken a short time later. It’s a depiction of the same bound woman. And her paddled bottom.

I’m afraid that I prefer the blatant image above to the “erotic” version. It makes me feel (since this post is brought you by the letter B) like being the bold bad Baron of Bulgaria, about to bang his bouncing bollocks on his bound lady’s beautifully blushing buttocks.

So the “blatancy” versus “suggestion” distinction can be used, if you choose, to distinguish erotica from porn. There’s no reason to accept that this is a valid distinction between pornography and erotica, but if you do chose to make that distinction, then I prefer porn.