Alan Moore on Erotic Art and Western Civilization

Porn is everywhere, just as it was in ancient Greece, but nowhere is it art. Nowhere is it an affirmation of common humanity the way it was in classic culture but instead affirms only our alienation and our distance from each other, and despite its mass availability does not appear to be making us any happier.

Rather than functioning as a release for our quite ordinary sexual imaginings, porn functions as another social tether, as control-leash, lure and lash combined in one, a cattle-prod that looks just like a carrot. Dangling temptingly before us everywhere we look it leads us on. Then, in the guilty aftermath of our indulgences, it converts handily into a rod of shame with which to flog ourselves.


Published by Andy


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