Quarantine and Chill: How People Everywhere Are Keeping Lockdown Steamy
We may be stuck indoors due to an apocalyptic pandemic that’s reshaped very aspect of our lives, but sex still sells. For many, the landscapes of sex and eroticism have had to shift just like everything else in order to fit into our new locked down lifestyles. As one would expect, things are looking pretty interesting. We’ve found a couple of interesting ways that communities around the world are adapting and keeping quarantine sexy, and you could too if they tickle your fancy.
Turn your nudes into art
After weeks of being locked down, smartphone galleries must be overflowing with more than the usual amount of steamy mirror pics (what else is there to do these days?). If you’re getting tired of the same old iPhone picture, though, and you’re looking for a creative way to surprise bae, there’s a new trend on the rise.
Deep in the depths of Instagram, there’s an artist named Kat Pryer, who makes her living drawing nudes. Under the instagram handle @draws_nudes, Pryer takes commissions from people who want to see their sneaky selfies transformed into art, either for their own delight, or for that of a lover, but she says the whole thing began when she started drawing her own nudes.
“I started out this project as a way to give old nudes a new lease of life, to reclaim them, and give them a new purpose,” she explains in an interview for Dazed Digital. Though initially the practice was in order to shift the purpose of nudes from bringing pleasure to someone else back to bringing pleasure to the subject of the photos, she found that the process came with other unexpected upsides.
“I also found that drawing myself is really therapeutic. Looking at my body really helped heal old body hang-ups and wounds, and see myself in a different light,” she said.
Pryer told Dazed that her incoming commissions have definitely gone up since people have gone into quarantine. “I’ve had loads of commissions for long-distance lovers, which I think is the most romantic thing ever,” she said “But also lots of people buying them for themselves, hanging them in pride of place — one woman commissioned two for her bathroom wall and I’m totally here for that sort of unashamed self-appreciation”.
Sexy selfies and thirst traps seem to be turning into a coping mechanism in their own right, with people tiring of languishing at home in their sweats and seeking a way to feel sexy without leaving the house.
In addition, many people have extra time on their hands right now and are taking up new, home-friendly hobbies (does taking selfies count?). If drawing is one of your new creative pastimes, why not use it to fall more in love with your own body, or create a spicy birthday card for that special someone in your life?
If the idea of holding a pencil to paper sends shivers down your spine, but you still want your naked body on your bathroom room wall, there are a bunch of artists out there, like Pryer, who will be more than happy to do it for you.
Sexy Zoom parties are a thing now
It’s starting to seem like being on the precipice of apocalypse has gotten everyone in the mood.
According to this article by Brit Dawson, “sex toys, condoms, and sex dolls have spiked in sales, Pornhub has seen a surge in visitors, and searches for homemade sex toys are on the rise”. Clearly, a pandemic is putting nobody off.
Everything has moved into the virtual realm and we’re becoming accustomed to living life through a screen. It should be no surprise then that the platform we’ve become reliant on for our work meetings is also filling a void in our sex lives. Enter: online sex parties.
NSFW is a New York-based members club that hosts virtual play parties and sex-ed workshops “We host five parties a week and each one is designed for a specific group of our membership,” its founder, Daniel Saynt, told Dazed. Organisations like his provide a wide range of experiences, while keeping in mind that not everybody feels comfortable being on camera- In this case, they can keep their cameras turned off and interact through chat.
Dawson reports that NSFW isn’t the only group arranging these events. “Back in March,” she writes, “London-based sex club Killing Kittens hosted a digital orgy, complete with a burlesque show, fire performers, and 100 masked attendees.”
Though online parties like this are opening doors for those who can no longer attend them in real life, it’s impossible to ignore the potential for breaches of privacy. This is an especially big concern after reports of numerous Zoom hackings, dubbed “Zoombombing”. Not to mention, any one of the party members could take screen grabs or record what they see.
“There are fears about recordings which we can’t control,” Saynt says, “so we actively tell our members that they never have to be on camera to enjoy the experience. We also advise anyone choosing to be on camera to wear masks or hide their identity.”
On top of that, some video calling platforms like Zoom have regulations about what they can be used for. NSFW doesn’t use Zoom- although Saynt refused to divulge which platform they are using for fear of being banned- because of the way it polices its use. “They are not sex-positive”, he said. Whether Zoom likes it or not, these events are here to stay, and they’ll probably still be taking place on Zoom as the service’s own privacy policy prohibits it from storing content not recorded by the host.
“The parties aren’t the same as physically being somewhere,” Saynt admits. “It’s just a temporary solution for a problem we won’t solve for a while. They do, however, allow people an escape from their current- and let’s be real, pretty bleak- situation and they create an opportunity to connect with others in the same situation. They give people who’ve been stuck indoors and stopped feeling sexy an excuse to shave their legs and get in touch with their sexuality for a while.
Watch a German indie film festival on Pornhub (maybe)
Remember when Pornhub decided to make all its premium content free worldwide to keep us all at home?
Vice President, Corey Price explained the decision by saying that “With nearly one billion people in lockdown across the world because of the coronavirus pandemic, it’s important that we lend a hand and provide them with an enjoyable way to pass the time”. He added that they hoped that providing viewers with more opportunities to stay home and..well, you know… they hoped to help flatten the curve and make the pandemic a little more bearable. It’s really a very noble cause.
Now, in an effort to support small businesses, they’ve offered to partner up with the Oldenburg Film Festival, a German Indie film festival, which is scheduled for later this year.
Though it’s yet to be confirmed, the streaming service offered to host the 26-year old event, and to take it to the next level. In a letter to the Oldenburg organisers, Price told them that Pornhub would “love to elevate the event beyond simply making your content viewable online, and take advantage of the digital format to engage with audiences who will be tuning in from around the world. This will offer a much different viewing experience and be more immersive.”
Though the festival doesn’t focus on erotic content in particular, they may be tempted to accept the offer on the basis that Pornhub’s viewership has seen a dramatic spike since we all went into quarantine. However, they may follow in the footsteps of Cannes, who did not accept an offer by another streamer, YouPorn, to host their festival online. Either way, things are getting pretty weird out there.
Just like our social lives haven’t stopped (they’ve just become digital), our sex lives clearly haven’t either. They’re mutating along with every other facet of our realities and perhaps becoming even more intwined with them- so much so in fact that porn sites are offering to host international film festivals and nobody’s batting an eye.
We’ve said it before, and we’ll say it again. We’re not going “back to normal” any time soon, but we’re still being exposed to so many new opportunities and experiences that we may never have considered before. If you decide to spice up your lockdown by joining an online sex party, or painting your naked body in watercolours, write to us and share your experience! Those of us who are a little less brave will live vicariously through you.
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Originally published at http://essentialmillennial.com on May 18, 2020.
