Commentary on article How Sex Influences Art

I'm not a sexual obsessive, I'm an artist!  ^_^


How Sex Influences Art
05-Dec-2005



Steve Connor writes in the Independent about a new study showing that artists and poets have more sexual partners than ordinary people. This is true for women as well as men, and may be because sex is linked with creativity in the brain.
A survey found that creative people have twice as many sexual liaisons as non-artists. Many artists, writers and actors have been famous womanizers, who left behind many illegitimate children as well as resentful sexual partners.
The rest of us might think that people seek out these partners because they're dazzled by their fame and fortune, but that doesn't appear to play a major role. UK researcher David Nettle didn't only study celebrities—he studied little known artists as well, and found his theory still held true. n
He asked 425 men and women about the number of sexual partners they’d had, including one-night stands. The study found the average number of partners for artists and poets was 4 to 10, while uncreative people had to be content with only about 3.
Evolutionist Geoffrey Miller, who wrote a book called The Mating Mind, thinks that artistic ability may have evolved as a form of human sexual display. He also thinks that men are more promiscuous than women, something most women would agree with. However, Nettle's study found no difference in sex drive between the sexes.
Nettle's study may help to explain a connection between schizophrenia, which affects about 1% of people, and serious artists, who share many of the same personality traits. Historians think that Van Gogh may have had schizophrenic tendencies. A genetic tendency towards schizophrenia could also lead a person to become an artist.


I have long concidered myself a man of dual natures.  The fact is we all are dualistic as we have our spiritual side and our material side.  Some of us are in balance, which is what I strive for, while others lean more or much more to one side or the other.  As it pertains to me there are times when I find myself in somewhat of a battle.  I know, love and embrace my spiritual nature.  The divine spark within me.  What others see as The Angel.  In my service to my Faith and in my daily life I work on my spiritual side.  I often fail but never give up.  I practice chastity to the best of my current abilities.  Let me tell you it is a tough battle for I also am a very passionate and sensual being, sexually speaking.  Of course there is much more to being passionate and sensual than sex.  I am passionate about my beliefs and my loves and when it comes to the five senses I am very sensual.  I love the feel of the sun on my body and the feeling of the breeze.  I love the taste of good food and the sound of great music and I love the beauty and divinity of nature and visual arts. So I am very sensual in that respect.  Now concerning sexual intimacy and love-making I am very secure and at peace with that aspect of my nature.  Sure, intercourse is off limits to me due to being single but that does not mean I don't miss it terribly and fantasize about it.  The thing is I am very, very much a sexual being also.  That apparently, according to the above article, is due to my creative nature.  I also know a big part of it is due to sexual abuse.  It opens sexuality, even in this negative way, to a person early in life. I won't get into the details here because this is primarilly about  sexuality and the creative individual. What I what to say here is that I agree with this article although I don't condone promiscuous sexual behaviour.  The article makes a valid point in comparing sexual activity with creativity.  A very creative person tends to be a very open-minded person and that open-mindedness can extend to the sexual arena.   My next blog will be the inclusion of an email response I got from someone I sent the article to who like me was sexually abused at a young age.