University Campus Suffolk

When promiscuity is discussed its usually associated with hedonism. Hedonism is a school of thought that argues that pleasure is the only intrinsic good. In very simple terms, a hedonist strives to maximize net pleasure (pleasure minus pain).

Ethical hedonism is the idea that all people have the right to do everything in their power to achieve the greatest amount of pleasure possible to them.

Hedonism lies at the core of many social constructionist accounts of human interaction, and to illustrate how it precludes an adequate understanding of agency, morality, and intimacy.

I wanted to add this as it’s always been in the back of my head with this project. Are sexual encounters hedonistic? This is something I’m still thinking about with my work. I wanted to introduce it with a view of discussing it later on.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hedonism

I first encountered Tracey Emin’s piece Everyone I Have Ever Slept With 1963 – 1995 at the beginning of this project before I started my dissertation. I thought I would add it here in a post, as it seems relevant now.

Although at first Emin’s tent appears to be a very distasteful homage to her sexual encounters however on closer inspection this is not entirely true. It is in fact everyone she’s slept literally and not in a sexual sense. There are 102 names on it.

“Some I’d had a shag with in bed or against a wall some I had just slept with, like my grandma. I used to lay in her bed and hold her hand. We used to listen to the radio together and nod off to sleep. You don’t do that with someone you don’t love and don’t care about”

(Didcock, Barry (2006). “The E spot”, The Sunday Herald, 30 April 2006. Retrieved from findarticles.com, 19 June 2007.)

I like this piece of work I like how it knows that you’ll assume the worse and see it as a sexual monument. I also like the transition it goes through from your first sight and horror to the overall acceptance of its not so horrific nature.

But, is it horrific or distasteful? it’s a widely accepted part of life that we no longer have one partner for the rest of our lives, is its bare facedness that show us our own humanity too much. After all do we really like to see what we really are?

The pigment piles are in a way my “tent”. They offer a narrative as to why, through my practice I’ve transformed women into penis snapping brutes because I’m ashamed of my own promiscuity but do I need to be?

Following on from recent posts about promiscuity i thought i would look at this in more detail because as this project progresses and rapidly approaches its finish its clear to me that I’m addressing other underlying issues other than my blatant prejudice of women.

Promiscuity then is the act of having casual sex with multiple sexual partners. A good example of promiscuity in our culture is the one-night stand. This however differs from culture to culture.

Feminist’s, traditionally have argued that there is a double standard for men and women. With the women being branded a ‘slut’, while her male counterpart is hailed as a ‘stud’. I side with the feminists on this. Surely what’s good for one should be good for the other.

Female promiscuity is a recurring theme in mythologies and religions. In Greek mythology, nymphs are portrayed as dangerous nature spirits sexually uninhibited with humans; hence, the Victorian medical term nymphomania. Female promiscuity features heavily in the bible. It was also a sign that a female was a witch.

Why is it that still in our modern culture women that promiscuous women are always demonized?

Women with partners feel threatened by these women. They fear that they may loose their partner to this sexually free women with no strings attached.

Men may also feel threatened by the promiscuous women she, essentially is taking what is his. He should be preying and collecting conquests, she should be one of his not the other way round. The hunter has become the hunted. Change is bad.

“Evolutionary psychologists propose that a conditional human tendency for promiscuity is inherited from hunter-gatherer ancestors. Promiscuity increases the likelihood of having children, and thus evolutionary fitness. Female promiscuity is advantageous in that it allows females to choose fathers for their children who have better genes than their mate, to ensure better care for their offspring, have more children, and as a form of fertility insurance. “

(Anthony Browne Women are promiscuous, naturally. Scientists now believe infidelity is a genetic mechanism for creation of healthy children. The Observer, September 3, 2000.)

I know that this must all sound odd coming from a male however its just my views on the realization I have gained as this project progresses.

Well today, I attacked my room with poly-filla as you can see from the action shots to the right. What a laborious task it was too. I didn’t realize quite how many holes and cracks there were in the walls.

I ended up spending a good hour and a half filling and sanding. The plasterboard panels at either end of the room had cracks all around them so they had to be filled, there was also some holes in the ceiling that were filled.

As time went on in the space it started to get to me in a strange way. It made me feel very depressed and caged in. it felt almost prison like. I suppose I could link this to abusive relationships, you cannot escape from. It also made me think about the show and how this feeling could be amplified when surrounded by the traps. As a result of the crushing feeling the room was giving me I decided to call it a day and finish the last bits of sanding tomorrow.

Tomorrow I’m faced with the very daunting task of painting the whole room white. Not just the walls but also the ceiling as it is very patchy and with it being such a small space I feel its lack of paint could be noticeable.

Busy day today, in and out of the studio.

Second day in my degree show space today didn’t get all id hoped I would but I’ve made a start. I spent well over an hour removing copious amounts of white-tac off all four walls. White-tac is a little bit like chewing gum – very stringy and hard to remove.

Next I removed all of the pins, hooks and nails left in the walls and ceilings from previous installations. This has revealed lots of holes and cracks that need filling in before I can start thinking about painting the walls. I hope to be able to get everything filled and sanded by the end of tomorrow, ready for the first coat of paint Wednesday.

Need to ask the powers that be about painting the floor white or getting it cleaned as it doesn’t look very clinical at the moment.

The first picture shows the fruits of my labor. The second picture shows a sign on the door that I intend to keep. I think the ‘now wash your hands’ sticker will add to the clinical look of my show and I like its irony.