Renaissance art and lust

Multi-purpose Renaissance Art

Renaissance art and BDSM: The roots of celibacy in the western church go back to the apostles where “The sacrifice of married life for the "sake of the Kingdom” was a phrase common in their writings. Church leaders writing in the 4th century AD indicate that the requirement that priests, whether married or celibate, should be continent continued to be the the established rule. During the renasance, when celibacy was impacted by art it became possible for church leaders using paintings and drawings by great artists to bring to life passages from the bible for the illiterate peasantry which formed the bulk of the churches membership.

A side effect of these graphic depictions was to provide a medium to refocus some members of the clergy’s pent-up sexual desire and to feed the propensities of some toward what we know today as BDSM. This was especially true when commissioning art depicting the martyrdom of the saints, men and women in various stages of undress undergoing sadistic torture and death by the enemies of the church. An example of this is the image that accompanies this entry. It is a painting of Saint Sebastian by Andrea Mantegna ca 1459. High ranking churchmen or the nobility commissioning a sculpture or painting of a young scantily clad male or female Saint being grilled, beheaded or pierced with spears or arrows would be getting a twofer; publicly celebrating the patron’s religiosity while at the same time privately slaking his appetites for brutality or masochism by having the image of an attractive human body in pain or ecstasy close at hand to use for his own purposes. This feeding of the beast somewhat offset the desires of the flesh the clergy were sworn to ignore.

Royalty and the aristocracy on the other hand were never really confined by any moral code except where it pertained to other men’s lust for their own wealth and women. Self interest was their first priority, so the most aggressive continued robbing and raping to satisfy two of their voracious cardinal sins; greed and lust. Only later as they became more sophisticated did the aristocracy develop a taste for painting and sculpture and recognized the niche it could fill to bank the fires of lust for a young body when no suitable male or female virgin was available. Even so, in the courts of the more insatiable the household staff being unable to produce a virgin for an evenings pleasure of the Master was a capital offense, so young sons and daughters of peasants routinely disappeared along the more infamous nobles travel routes. That sort of thing continues to this day, but rarely makes the headlines.

Latex allergies: For professional performers, escorts and rubber fetishists including St Lucy’s students latex allergies can be a problem. Our clinic has been keeping records and over the past 4 years about 4% of our performers and escorts have had some allergic reaction to latex used in their profession. I think the level is that low because by the time they have the experience needed to perform at the level needed to hold a job here in Vegas most with latex sensitivity will already have encountered the problem and have changed professions. About 7% of fetishists from the general public locally have reported sensitivity to latex at some level and either learn to live with the symptoms or switch to PVC, silicone or leather and a few to Lycra. At St Lucy’s the students use silicone almost exclusively for contraceptive devices and sex toys. The ballet troupe, swim team and the girls taking my Advanced Sexual techniques course all have several latex encasement suits and less than 1% has had to drop out due to latex sensitivity so severe that they couldn’t participate at an acceptable level. We have tried to use alternative materials, like silicone, but for some things only latex will do because the scent stretchiness and heat transfer of latex can’t be duplicated.