As I watch a lot of the old Christmas classics of the silver screen, such as The Bishop’s Wife, or A Holiday Affair, both made in the 1940’s, I am always reminded of how effective the art form black and white film or photography is. This is true also for erotic images. Often the best nudes are done in the older photographic medium of black and white. In this age of ubiquitous internet porn, where an image of anything can be found anywhere, and the market for any fetish whatever is always flourishing, the restrained classicism of the black and white nude is always refreshing. It is the beauty of such an image that I find pleasurable. There is too much trash out there: cheap and overly graphic depictions of eroticism, of sex and the human body. I care nothing for them. Finding an actually well done photograph of a nude woman, one which expresses her beauty without degrading her humanity, is a bit harder than one may think.

Erotic beauty does not need to be gross or even obscene, although there are many who might believe even a photo such as this, that of a naked woman, is obscene. No, this photo is beautiful, and a beautiful expression of female beauty, eroticism and the mystery of human sexuality. Such photos should be celebrated for their artistic merits than condemned as pornographic smut.