Wednesday, 2 May 2012

The Love of Looking


Scoliphila


Scopophilia is the definition of the pleasure of looking. Being looked at and considered attractive is a nice feeling and so is looking at someone who is thought of as attractive. Freud stated that scopophilia is a main component when it comes to sexuality and the drive of the erotogenic zones. This could be applied to many contemporary based media we have today, such as the music industry and cinema. The pleasure of looking means that our curious gaze on the person objectifies. The person then is the object of sexual simulation through sight. This can be seen in both the cinematic and music industries. They are both coded with erotic ‘language’ that satisfies our visual pleasures. Analysing pleasure or beauty almost destroys it. It takes away the pleasure. Of course, this love of looking could be taken too far, and this is where is could also be applied for ‘peeping toms’– “the fondness for looking becomes a perversion[1].” 


[1] DR.Brill, Three Essays on The Theory of Sexuality, Sigmund Freud, (Lits, 2010), Pg 31

(Taken from my dissertation: The Sexulisation of Femininity -2012)

Closer Peep





Peep Portarits





















Selection of peep self portraits.