"Hysterical Literature"

This evening I looked at some of the blogs that I link in the sidebar of this one. And when I browsed In Bed With Married Women, I found an entry posted last March (though that seems to be a reposting, with the original back in 2012) called "On Submission to Desire." It's delightful.

The post talks about an art project from 2012, called "Hysterical Literature." The artist was Clayton Cubitt, and the project is a series of videos. Here is the description from the website:

What is Hysterical Literature?
Women are seated with a book at a table, filmed in austere black and white against a black background. They have chosen what to read and how to dress. When the camera begins recording, they introduce themselves, and begin reading. Under the table, outside of the subject's control, an unseen assistant distracts them with a vibrator. The subjects stop reading when they're too distracted or fatigued to continue, at which point they restate their name, and what they've just read. The pieces vary in length based on the response time of the subjects.

In other words, they try (with varying degrees of success) to keep control so that they can continue reading aloud whatever passage they have chosen. At the same time they shift around awkwardly in their seats, or have to contend with changes in their breathing or their voices, struggling to hold on control as it is [figuratively speaking] ever more forcefully pried out of their fingers, until finally, early or late, they surrender to the orgasm and ride it out. Then, when they can talk again -- as the description says -- they restate their name and what they have just read. The camera is supposed to cut then, but rarely does; and it is worthwhile listening to the snippets of their discussions afterwards with the director or cameraperson.

Here are a couple of them, but you should definitely check out the whole series.

       

I love these videos. But then, I think that the female orgasmic response is one of the best things about being human. As I ranted once, on another occasion, …

The female sexual response is one of the most sublime creations on God's earth, proof for anyone who thinks in these terms that the Creator is not only beneficent but powerful and energetic and deeply creative beyond the wildest imagination of men. (Yes, in that context I mean "men".) The other exhibitions of Demiurgic power that are equally awe-inspiring are dangerous and deadly, like volcanoes and tornadoes and earthquakes. But the female sexual response is our size, it is healthy and life-giving, it enriches and fructifies our lives on every level you can imagine, while being as stultifyingly awesome as any volcano. To repress it, to fear it, to bottle it up, to deny it, and to teach others to do the same, is to spit in God's face…. If ever any human act were villainous and wrong, that is.

William Blake once wrote, in The Proverbs of Hell, that "The nakedness of woman is the work of God." That's true even if the women are nominally dressed. Go -- watch these videos -- and worship.