Sexuality in the Arts

What does it mean to consider the value of a work of art?

How is value measured?

Popular conceptions might focus on an artwork’s beauty.  Sometimes art is considered valuable because of its historical significance.  Others value art more based on its rarity.

Art can be valued by its level of detail and the amount of work that went into creating it.  Some art receives the majority of its value solely on the perceived value of the artist. 

Trying to add to this discussion, I’ll share some of the main considerations I use to search for and value artworks.

One of the primary questions I ask in evaluating artworks is this:

Does the artwork have clearly positive effects for many people?

I’m not so concerned about an artwork’s rarity, level of detail, number of work hours to create, artist, historical background or other common “value” measures - except to the degree that any of those measures support the understanding that the artwork clearly has many positive effects for many different kinds of people.

If this blog was not named “Sexuality in the Arts,” an alternative title that often comes to mind is:  “Feminism in the Arts.”  That’s not to say a majority of people who identify themselves as “feminists” would approve of this blog’s content, editorial views, or presentation choices.  But from my extensive reading and understanding of feminism, this blog has similar priorities. 

Gloria Steinem, in her book “Outrageous Acts and Everyday Rebellions,” wrote:  “it’s usually pretty easy to tell a censor from a feminist.  The former is trying to get books out of the library, while the latter is trying to get more books in.”

One of the relationship theories commonly challenged in feminist discussion is the idea that a person’s highest and best use is to be focused on being in service to only one other person, one purpose, or one philosophy.  The majority of cultures tend to idealize the pursuit of becoming focused on pleasing one other person, to the exclusion or de-prioritization of everyone else.  Marriage theory suggests that everyone is better off to partner up into groups of two and to focus primarily on your spouse.  Marriage is sort of a trickle down theory, suggesting that if we create a strong dominant relationship, it is better for everyone in subordinate relationship to us, because the benefits from the dominant relationship will create more trickle down benefits for everyone in secondary (or inferior) relationships to us.

Art has a tendency to disagree.

Art tends to be disagreeable often.

Art, for all its sweetness and beauty, can be really quite annoying.

Art is often not very intent on pleasing only one person, one audience, one sect, or one philosophical persuasion.

Art tends to be permiscuous, looking to please as many people as possible in as many ways as it can.

Art is not generally devalued by its willingness and desire to please more people or to please rivals.

I like art because it is honest.  I tend to value art more when it does more good things for more people. 

I’m not saying art that is created with the intent to only please one person is not valuable.  It can be very valuable.  But I tend to value those artworks more to the degree they have the ability to please even more than the one person they were created for.

I encourage friends, familiars, and artists to be pleasing to more people than they are usually encouraged to please.  I place more focus and value on creating artworks with the designed intent to please more people.

What has been the effect of this valuation priority?

The people who have stayed with me have tended to be people with similar intents.

And it’s been beautiful and lovely to watch the artworks and personal relationships those people have created for more people.

For whatever reasons you find artworks to have ”value,” I encourage you to continue to see those values.  My work is to encourage more people to find more healthy ways to see the values in more of the arts, more types of relationships, and more people.

The most valuable art I’ve ever observed is the daily movements of my love.  I’ve never observed a person so sensitively adapt to meet the important desires of more people.

Most people would fault her for not being sufficiently happy and satisfied with the love of just one person.  Most people would probably label her as wanting too much in pursuing the affections and returning affections to more than just one person. 

But if only they could see her in relation to everyone she is close with.  She makes everyone around her feel better.  She makes them smarter.  She makes them more socially aware.  She listens and understands what they often feel no one else can understand about them.

It is consistent that someone, who finds great value in artworks that please more people, would be in intimate relationship with a person who regulalry works to please more people.

My love is not only valuable because of her beauty, rarity, level of detail, hard work, personal history, or specific value to only me.  She is also valuable because of her abilities and consistent work to please more people than only me.  Her depths of love for others is not a weakness or a character flaw.  Her work to love others is a source of her value, her values, and her strengths.

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