Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2013/06/11
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]On Jun 11, 2013, at 10:30 PM, Jayanand Govindaraj wrote: > George, > Thanks for the links. Enlightening, but I notice that nobody ties men up > and photographs them, speaking volumes about the condition of women in > Japanese society. What is kosher in bookbinding is not necessarily so in > BDSM. The whole oeuvre makes me uncomfortable, and to my way of thinking is > extremely distasteful, but to each his own, I guess. When it comes to binding/wrapping living beings - Not my thing either. Not sexually, Not sensually. Nor aesthetically. I don't think you'd have any difficulty finding Japanese "male bondage." I have no desire to look for links - quite sure they'd pop right up. And it may be a real stretch for me to call attention to the very refined aesthetics of Japanese book binding; along with their extremely long and beautiful tradition of wrapping and binding other objects; yet that is what came to my mind as I thought about your original question. The Japanese aesthetics of binding objects (not living beings), books, calligraphy, pottery, haiku, ikebana, and the concepts of wabi sabi appeal to me. I've spent a good deal of time examining these traditions. I could be way off base in assuming that any of those "arts" has anything what so ever to do with binding people. > I think this whole cultural mindset (of which bondage is just one small > part) is coming home to roost right now in Japanese demographics, as young > women are increasingly reluctant to marry early (the average age of women > marrying in Japan is 34, if I remember correctly), therefore not bearing > enough children to maintain the population, which is decreasing at a quite > alarming rate. The "Replacement Ratio" for a population is 2.1 children per > family, to replace the parents, and for early child deaths, and Japan is at > 1.4. Other countries, like Singapore, who have low ratios bridge the gap by > actively encouraging immigration, but we know that is a non starter in > Japan as well. That's a whole lot to contemplate; way beyond the aesthetics found in gallery shows; and way beyond my pay grade. Regards, George Lottermoser george at imagist.com http://www.imagist.com http://www.imagist.com/blog http://www.linkedin.com/in/imagist