Karen, Missy, Jessica, Hannelore, Elise | Steven Meisel | His Kind of Woman | Vogue Italia July 2004 SN Provocateurs

My own sensual thoughts are a bit of juicy bits today. One of the disadvantages of writing on two websites and in multiple channels is tracking all the connecting dots can get tricky.

Consistent point of view means more to me than anything, so I just can’t go with a hodgepodge assortment of unconnected posts. I prefer columns with common themes and messages.

Last week, one of our more thoughtful readers Laura left this comment on a 2004 Steven Meisel editorial that we posted in Sensuality News Provocateurs.

To me, women are really sexy and provocative, the problem is, of course… they are not doing it for themselves but only for the dominant males. Male at the top, once again.

But… you know it and Vogue either, that this is a women’s fantasy. The problem is, if you try it, they lose respect. What do you think about this?

I then compared the Meisel editorial with the new ‘In the Mood for Love’ editorial of lush femmes, lensed by Mert & Marcus for Interview Magazine, asking

Unintentionally do the two editorials make dramatic statements about male sexuality and female sexuality, knowing that there are exceptions to the rule in the form of cold, sexually bitchy women and lush, sensual men?

Lara’s original question is actually focused on the submission of the women in the Meisel editorial. The Mert & Marcus editorial evokes a similar setup but the women seem more sensually connected.

Preview | Mert & Marcus | Karl Templer | ‘In the Mood for Love’ | Interview Magazine AOC Private Studio

Still not truly intimate, Laura challenged me this morning — even in the Mert & Marcus editorial. And I agree with her.

The images are lushly erotic but the women models remain actresses. Interview Magazine is always willing to push the envelope, producing the sensually erotic editorial ‘Kiss the Bride’ editorial with Abbey Lee Kershaw and Edita Vilkeviciute, filmed by Mario Sorrenti.

Ties That Bind

Karl Lagerfeld has taught me to consider that sensual monasticism is a very strong trend for some luxury brands. This is actually a hallmark of Lagerfeld’s photography, if you study it — except for his images of Baptiste.

If one studies Chanel, couples can be positively aloof from each other, appearing in a relationship of social power and convenience devoid of intimacy and sensuality.

Notably, Lagerfeld broke out of this mold in his recent Hogan campaign, ‘La lettre’. I doubt he’s accustomed to having his images so psychoanalyzed, as I have done for over two years now.

Back to my friend Laura, who says that the Davidoff Hot Water commercial is her idea of sensuality and intimacy.

Davidoff Hot Water TV Commercial

Of course Laura is right. But how many times in our lives to we actually have this kind of love or even lust connection in life?

Lagerfeld’s point is that these connections burn out, which is why it’s better to be good friends with common goals and interests around family and society.

Passion should be compartmentalized because it is threatening and disruptive to the social order, especially at the highest levels of society.

Back to Mert & Marcus’ ‘In the Mood for Love’ editorial, its Asian flavor also demands a more restrained sensuality. This theme came through strongly in the 2008 Pirelli Calendar, shot in Asia. (See videos and Modern Asis | Restrained Beauty Without Ties That Bind.)

Global Fear of Female Sexuality

The imagery of passion of the Davidoff Hot Water commercial is very threatening in its beauty and sensuality. It is this fear of unfettered sensuality that results in 90 percent of Egypt’s girls having their clitoris cut off in the extraordinarily painful and traumatising ritual of female genital mutilation.

UNICEF claims that FGM’s primary raison d’etre is to “reduce the sexual desire of a female…[to] maintain a girl’s virginity prior to marriage and her fidelity thereafter.” Traditions insist that FGM makes girls “clean,” “beautiful,” and “pure,” because it removes the “ugly” and “dirty” genitalia. Superstitious propaganda also contends that men become impotent or sick if their penis contacts a clitoris, that a mother’s milk will be poisonous if she’s uncut, that her face will turn yellow and she’ll get vaginal cancer without FGM, and (perhaps most frighteningly) she’ll masturbate excessively or become a lesbian. via IETT

One of the strongest voices on behalf of women and against religion dehumanization of females is Jimmy Carter who wrote an articulate argument Religion As Agent of Women’s Oppression, which he delivered to the Parliament of the World’s Religions in December 2009 in Melbourne.

Remi Rebillard | Saints & Sensuality

My friend photographer Remi Rebillard send me a new set of images that capture the inner conflicts of female sensuality. I posted them in Private Studio, where this dialogue continues.

Anne of Carversville is long overdue in getting a logo, and we have one in Remi’s photos. His images — and specifically this shot below of Hannah Saul — sums up all the cultural ambivalence women deal with worldwide, in varying degrees.

It’s a perfect place to pause on the dialogue that has no end, as we watch America’s Republicans demand that women turn back their reproductive rights to Washington, Rome and a host of other religious authorities — those I call the global morality police.

We simply must have artists and creatives on our side in this never-ending battle over women’s bodies. Anne

Hanna, Alexandra, Dominique | Remi Rebillard | ‘Saints & Sensuality’ AOC Private Studio