In the lion’s den

The strange encounter which Dr. Strangeways makes inmate Sandy submit to has its own long pedigree. And not just in art, or in mad science, but what is arguably real science as well.

The possibility of sexual excitement between women and animals involves a certain degree of sexual ecitability in animals from contact with women. Darwin stated that there could be no doubt that various qadrumanous animals could distinguish women from men–in the first place probably by smell and secondarily by sight–and be thus liable to sexual excitement. He quotes the opinions on this point of Youatt, Brehm, Sir Andrew Smith and Cuvier (Descent of Man, second edition, p. 8). Moll quotes the opinion of an experienced observer to the same effect (Untersuchungen über die Libido Sexualis, Bd. i, p. 429). Bloch (Op. cit., p. 280, et seq.)… discusses the same point; he does not consider that animals will of their own motion sexually cohabit with women, but that they may be easily trained to it.

—Havelock Ellis, Studies in the Psychology of Sex, Volume V

So I guess now we can figure out what gave Strangeways the idea, yes?

Pertinent artistic representations exist, at least erotica involving women and big cats:

I have yet to find a <em>photographic</em> example of a model in tight with a lion, though perhaps that’s a bit too much to expect (the most elementary kinds of safety considerations make it clear that some things are only for fantasy). I regret not having handy an image of a woman in media coitus the way Sandy finds herself (even less likely as a photograph, certainly!) Though images suggesting leonine sexual menace certain can be found, such as on the paperback cover to the left.

And that’s hardly surprising. For not only is the lion a powerful and threatening animal, but it’s also a real-world example of astonishing sexual stamina (a subject I’ve touched on a little bit in the blogosphere before). If Wikipedia can be believed, a pair of mating lions will copulate 20-40 times per day. Strangeways’s first round of test subjects must have been very busy.

It’s good to be King. Or maybe Queen. Or maybe both!

Dreaming of orgies

The rather exciting, aphrodisiaic-driven Sigma formal that Maureen gets such a close view of of course has its own long pedigree: another dream of a morality-free zone, a melting world of pleasures taken and given. The idea of the orgy appears over and over in the world’s erotic art, so it behooves me to give a few examples. Take, for instance, this exquisite carved-ivory reel from Japan.

In a very different cultural context, consider the temple sculptures at Khajuraho:

One thing you’re supposed to learn about in a modern college education, of course, is other cultures. The Sigmas and their dates are putting this precept into practice.

Of course, I wouldn’t be a a sex blogger worthy of the name if I at least once post one other very famous orgy scene, this one drawn by the great Wally Wood for Paul Krassner‘s The Realist.

(Click on image for larger version.)

Popular culture is a common area of study in contemporary higher education, too.

More locker-room snooping

Maureen takes advantage of her ability to be invisible to find an unusual scene, and an unusual gratification.

A story from Dr. Faustus’s life lies behind this scene (sadly, one less interesting than I’m sure many of you readers promptly thought of). Here is the background: I spent adolescence surrounded by nice, well brought-up Christian girls whose attitude toward erotic materials was “Porn! Icky poo! Baby Jesus cries!” And then I went off to college and found myself amongst outstanding, well-educated college women whose attitude toward erotica was “Porn! Icky poo! Degrades women!”

And then at about 21 or so I found myself in the company of a lady companion who told me — perhaps a little bashfully — about who incredibly horny she found herself watching a gay male porn movie.

It was a revelatory moment. And Maureen’s invisible girl voyeurism is a tribute to that revelation.

In retrospect it should not have been so surprising. The athlete is one form of extraordinary human perfection, and thereby loaded with erotic interest. The Greeks, in their Olympic games, understood this fact perfectly well.

And significantly, the modern Olympics have always been freighted with both heteroerotic and homoerotic interest. There is a goofy fun pre-code Hollywood movie about which I have blogged before called The Search for Beauty (1934), which pus beauty on display in (among many other ways) the form of Buster Crabbe in the shower.

Naturally, the whole fun them will find its way to Japan, where it will be exploited in anime.

(Note: what an awesome era we live in! You google image search on “gay hentai locker room” and you get “gay hentai locker room.” 187,000 results in 0.07 seconds, when I tried it.)

With the beautiful boys going at it in the locker room, there’s a thought that stands out for me, which I might attribute to my lady companion of all those years ago, or to Maureen for that matter.

Quite.

Fresh from the bath

Tricia knew what she was doing, attempting her seduction of the by-mad-science-enhanced Aloysius by showing up fresh from a shower, clad only in a towel. It’s a very sexy way to come on, as Pierre Bonnard clearly understood.

Pierre Bonnard (1867 - 1947), "In the Bathroom" (1907)

(Fine Wet Canvas forum discussion on Bonnard here.) Needless to say the theme continues right down to the present day, and what better excuse than this scene to throw in a picture of an anime goddess, wrapped in a towel.

Click on the image to see more of the same.

What Aloysius is about to discover, rather to his sorrow, is that even if you go through a thaumaturgic transformation like Den, you are not automatically transferred to a sword-and-sorcery realm of abundant sexual gratification. In fact, a surprising number of your life-problems stay with you…