A recent picture on Male Submission Art, and the accompanying text, caught my eye today. Here is the picture:
and here is some of what its creator, Kelly, wrote:
…here I explore something that I thought was interesting. The angel being the aggressor and the devil being the submissive. The other way around would have been fairly an obvious thing to depict—I think. But, this gave it a twist that made for an interesting visual.
I suppose I shouldn’t call it an “assumption” that the angel is the aggressor/dominant here, since the artist intended it that way, and he should know, but for me the image is hotter and more interesting if I imagine that the angel is actually submitting by servicing the devil in this way. He looks like he’s doing his best and the devil is like, “C’mon, harder,” or something.
I mean, you get a reversal either way, right? Either the angel is unexpectedly the top, or the fucker is unexpectedly the submissive. And I find the latter reversal more interesting, perhaps because I find the idea that receiving anal sex is submissive to be more prevalent (and harmful) than the idea that a devil is more likely to sodomize you.
I know that when I get fucked, it’s Joscelin pleasuring me, and not the other way around. (Also, I can’t stop looking at that angel’s butt. Have I ever mentioned I’m into asses? For me, that objectifies the angel more, making him the likely submissive.)
Yeah, that stood out for me, too, when I read that post, and I would have commented except that MSA doesn’t have comments. The artist’s description seemed to equate penetration with aggression. Not even with dominance – but with *aggression*. Of course that may not be what he intended, it was only a few sentences. But it stood out for me.
The idea that penetration is aggressive is so utterly all-pervasive that I feel I want to challenge it anywhere it appears, and the more unconscious the connection seems to be, the more I want to challenge it. It seems to me to be so central to everything that is fucked up in the way our world things about sex. The penis is a weapon. Pentration is an act of violence. Women (and sometimes men) need protecting from men. Men are intrinsically potentially sexually violent, women are not. Etc etc etc. I hate it.
There was another image recently on MSA (9th Oct) where someone had said, “The look on the dominant [man’s] face is just so in power.” And I looked at it and thought, that’s not power, that’s contempt and hatred. The expression on that guy’s face seemed to me such a perfect example of an attitude I hate, the ‘take it, bitch’ attitude. That attitude that is all bound up in the idea that penises are violent and vile, and that any insertion of penis into orifice is humiliating and uncomfortable for the receiver (not the right word, too passive, but I can’t think of a better one). It’s awful. Awful.
How on earth are we ever going to separate the idea of the penis from the idea of violence? Are we going to be stuck with it forever, simply because penises are long and hard and therefore remind us of swords and spears and the like? Or do we have a chance of disentangling these ideas, even in the mainstream?
I couldn’t possibly agree more. :) That said, I wanted to make a point about religion, so I ceded the discussion to artist’s intent.
That’s precisely my favorite way to have (submissive) sexual intercourse as well. Have you seen this Male Submission Art picture? I think you’d like it.
Here’s why Male Submission Art doesn’t have comments.
I have seen all of the pictures on Male Submission Art. Heh.
Back in the 70s (yes, I’m that mature), Playboy (a magazine with some excellent articles, BTW) had a poem by (I think) Shel Silverstein, in which he recounts (or perhaps rehashes) the story about a man who, as a result of a deal with the Devil, is able to have sex with anyone. The gist of the story is that he “wins” if he can find someone who refuses his advances. When it comes time for the big payoff, he demands to bugger old Nick. The demons are astonished “He’s gonna fuck the boss” is how I remember the line.
The devil refuses because, as we all know, being fucked would make him subservient. Or inferior. Or something. So he refuses, and the guy wins whatever it was supposed to be (with the Devil naturally tossing in a curse or two for good measure).
Heh – just found it:
The Devil & Billy Markham
God, I love Shel Silverstein. :)
Funny enough, when I first saw this on MSA, my first thought was that this was a kinked-up version of St. Michael casting Lucifer down into Hell. He’s hung here well enough that that might have hurt pretty bad! LOL! Just a random memory of my long-lost catechism wafting up and getting turned sideways.
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The angel actually looks more submissive to me as well. Something about the bowed head and his body posture seems almost surrendering, while the devil is lashing his tail and looks ready for action. Also, his face is utterly confident.