OVO

In the modern world of controlled sexuality and rational mysticism, extremes in sensuality are basic tokens of interpersonal exchange. Visions of passion and desire that once produced states of unparalleled bliss appear bland and vapid. There is no longer any value in experiencing that which is directly obtainable. Eroticism has become a frontier whose boundaries must be expanded, and we have become explorers on this great sexual sea.

The need for increased sophistication in the methodologies of physical pleasure has led sensualists to carry out serious studies of sexual parameters (eg oriental traditions). These somewhat academic attempts at a polysexual historicity have been a great boon, providing us with a wide variety of exploratory devices (a toolkit for the backwoods ethno-eroticist). The easy accessibility of such inspirational devices in turn generated an entire body of modern folklore which has helped to make the various sexual undergrounds stronger, larger and more visible.

With the acceptance of the entire spectrum of sensual activities, it is only natural that the associated accessories enter the marketplace. Besides the commerce in the sensual items themselves, sensualist accoutrements have become increasingly important consumerist icons. The elemental nature of sexuality makes this association natural (soft tissue does indeed feel good). Virtually all products are associated with some sexual aspect and the particulars have only become more deviant.

By its very nature, the marketing of sensuality produces a valuation (price tags, sales, closeouts, seconds). In a free market, this also leads to a hierarchy of quality (you get what you pay for). The poor are forced to experience sensual pleasures with inferior products while the wealthy are able to choose from the gamut of sexual stimulants. Thus, different types or brands of sexual accessories have become identified with different socioeconomic classes and help to delineate the cultural hierarchy.

At the top of the sensual hierarchy lies the most sophisticated of sexual deviances.  Beautiful women, fiftyish, with snow white skin and ebony handled whips.  Tanned men with manicured hands holding platinum revolvers.  Coprophageous delights served in golden urns.  The smells of rotten offal kept in airtight crystal decanters.  Surgically altered individuals with all manor of appendages and self-lubricating orifices.  The gentrification of pain lies at the boundaries of sensual experience.  It presents a very appealing picture of physical pleasure that few can afford.

As sensuality becomes an increasingly open element of commerce its effect upon the definition of social classes will be more dramatic.  The disparities caused by the sensual hierarchy will become more dramatic.  Just as monetary socialism has helped to prevent economic stratification from causing cultural collapse, sensual socialism may be required to avert destruction of the social fabric.  It is only a matter of time before socialists or even communistic solutions to the problems of physical pleasure will have to be considered.

(from OVO 7 INFORMATION October 1989)