“Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.” We all know this one. It’s probably also fine to say “Erotic is in the eye of the beholder” as well, except perhaps when it comes to commercializing erotic images, or defining fine art as erotic.

I recently looked through a Juxtapoz Erotica book, expecting some diversity for an art publication catering to a more educated audience, but was I sadly disappointed. There were approximately 115 women and about 15 men in this collection of contemporary "erotic" art. What is worse is that I'd guess about 90 percent of the women were, of course, young, attractive, and thin. Today’s typical standard of beauty. The men in the book were usually just watching women do something sexual, or were themselves doing something to the woman who was clearly meant to be the point of focus in the composition. I did not see a single image of a male, without a sexualized woman present. As a heterosexual female, and as a consumer who not only buys but also creates art, I don't find this representing the spectrum of "erotic." I find it catering to a typical, traditional, and very limited viewpoint entrenched in gender and sexual bias.