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Sexualised Art and Contemporary Media

What is sexualised art? Can it be religious?

Religious symbolism and iconography refer to artistic expressions such as forms, gestures, and sensory representations that communicate spiritual ideas and beliefs. These can take visual, auditory, or physical forms and serve as tools to express complex religious concepts. Across cultures and throughout history, all major religions have made use of such symbols and imagery. Since the 20th century, many scholars have shifted their focus toward understanding religion through its symbolic nature, rather than strictly through rational or doctrinal frameworks. In fields such as psychology, mythology, and comparative religion, symbolism is often viewed as a central feature of religious life. Researchers studying global and indigenous traditions have uncovered a vast body of material illustrating the symbolic dimensions of belief and practice. This renewed attention to symbolism has also influenced modern Christian theology and worship, where symbolic elements are being reassessed and integrated in new ways.

Religious symbolism plays a significant role in shaping how the body and sexuality are represented in art. In many traditions, symbols associated with fertility, creation, and divine union often carry sexual connotations that are deeply embedded within religious narratives. Sexualised art, particularly when it draws on religious themes, uses the body as a symbolic vessel to explore ideas of transcendence, power, and sacredness. For instance, in Hindu temple art, erotic imagery does not merely depict physical pleasure but symbolises cosmic unity and spiritual liberation, reflecting the belief that sexuality can be a path to the divine. Similarly, in Western art, figures like Eve or Mary Magdalene are often portrayed through a sexualised lens, revealing the tension between purity, sin, and redemption. This interplay between the sacred and the sensual shows how sexualised art continues to engage with religious symbolisms and can reinforce traditional meanings, and other times to challenge or subvert them.

Indian temples of Sex

An example of this artwork is on the title page!

For the past several centuries, India has been largely shaped by conservative values, influenced by a range of forces including Islamic rulers, British colonial authority, and its own Brahminical traditions. However, India’s cultural history reveals a far more open attitude toward sexuality in earlier times. Prior to the 13th century, Indian society maintained a balance between spiritual and worldly life, where sexual education was formalized, and texts like the 'Kamasutra'. This is one of the earliest known treatises on human sexuality and it was composed between the 4th century BCE and 2nd century CE.

Evidence of this more liberal outlook is still visible today in the country’s ancient art and architecture. Erotic sculptures adorn the lower walls of the 13th-century Sun Temple in Konark, located in the eastern state of Odisha. In Maharashtra, the rock-cut caves of Ajanta and Ellora, dating from the 2nd century BCE to the 10th century CE, feature sensual depictions of celestial women. The most striking and detailed representations, however, are found in Khajuraho, a town in Madhya Pradesh known for its intricately carved Hindu temples. Constructed by the Chandela dynasty between 950 and 1050 CE, these temples contain highly explicit carvings showing a wide range of sexual imagery, including group scenes and human-animal interactions. Scholars have proposed several interpretations of these erotic motifs. 22 of which survive today out of an original 85. One theory suggests that the Chandela rulers, who followed Tantric traditions emphasizing the harmony of male and female energies, incorporated these beliefs into their temple designs. Another view considers temples as centers of both spiritual practice and education in the arts, including the art of love. Some also interpret the sexual imagery as symbolic of fertility, new beginnings, and auspiciousness. Notably, the erotic scenes are placed alongside depictions of prayer, music, and battle, reinforcing the idea that sexuality was seen as a natural and integral part of life. Their prominent placement on temple walls indicates that these artworks were meant to be seen and openly acknowledged by the public.

The Nude

The Nude has been represented for thousands of years, and there is a long and illustrious history. 30,000 years ago, statues and art depicted the Gods and Goddesses. 2,500 years ago, in western Europe the nude was the emblematic of western culture, especially in Western Greece. Artists idealised the body and the art illustrated beauty, sexuality and the male gaze. By the Middle Ages, Christianity had spread widely across Europe. The story of Adam and Eve’s fall from grace and their realization of their nakedness became a foundational narrative tied to shame and sin. Aware of the power and implications of the nude body, the Church took steps to regulate how it was represented. In the Christian worldview that followed classical antiquity, nudity was no longer associated with purity or virtue, but with moral failing and temptation.

With the loss of Eden came an association between the unclothed body and sinfulness. During this period, depictions of nudity were rare, often limited to the damned in hell, shown with visible discomfort or disgrace. Artists even began to lose the skill of accurately portraying the nude form. In Western art, Christianity introduced a moral ambiguity to nudity that has endured focusing on the moment of shame, with Adam and Eve covering themselves, not just from each other, but from the viewer. The sense of being watched and exposured became central to the portrayal of the nude.

Even as art shifted toward secular subjects, especially in later periods, the European nude remained marked by this sense of being seen. The figures are simply not unclothed. They are consciously naked in the eyes of the viewer.

However, in the early 14th century, a major cultural shift began in Italy. The rediscovery of classical antiquity sparked the Renaissance, a transformative era that revolutionised art, science, and philosophy. Artists are no longer confined to nudes to religious shame or moral lessons. They became a celebration of human beauty, strength, and potential. Michelangelo’s 17-foot sculpture of the Biblical David stands as a powerful example of this shift. It is a bold, idealised nude that reclaims the body as a symbol of human greatness rather than guilt.

Has religion become erotic and fetishised?

Michelangelo’s Risen Christ is a renowned and influential artwork, recognized for its daring portrayal of a nude, resurrected Jesus. It is a depiction that was radical in its time and continues to provoke strong reactions today.

Michelangelo completed The Risen Christ in 1521, presenting Christ entirely unclothed to emphasize his humanity and the physical reality of his resurrection. However, after Michelangelo's death, a metal covering was added to the statue to conceal Christ's genitals, reflecting the Church's discomfort with such explicit nudity. This addition illustrates the tension between artistic expression and religious modesty. However, this artwork invites viewers to reconsider the boundaries of religious art and the ways in which artists like Michelangelo navigated the complexities of faith, representation, and human form. Some viewers and believers belive this is inapropriate and fetishised due to society labelling the nude as shameful.

Katie Edwards (2012) explores how the image of Eve is frequently used in advertising to promote products, often in a highly sexualised manner. This version of Eve is typically identified through familiar symbols such as the apple or the serpent, despite the fact that the original Genesis text never specifies the type of fruit. Edwards argues that:

“Consumerism is the foundation of post-feminist advertising ideology, which links female power and resistance to traditional patriarchal values by means of self-objectification” (Edwards, 2012: 81).

She demonstrates how portrayals of Eve (and occasionally Adam, who often plays a secondary role) both influence and are influenced by the values of contemporary consumer culture. This reciprocal relationship reinforces gendered and stereotypical narratives. As a central biblical figure associated with temptation and the fall of humanity, Eve is transformed in modern media into a sexualised icon symbolising desire, allure, and rebellion. This transformation reflects a broader pattern in both art and advertising, where religious symbols are removed from their sacred context and reimagined with erotic or sensual overtones. By presenting Eve in a hypersexualised way, advertisers and artists draw on familiar religious imagery while simultaneously subverting it to provoke, captivate, and sell. Similarly, Collette (2015) notes that the hypersexualised female archetype remains a powerful and irresistible tool for advertisers.

Therefore, art is no longer just used to convey spiritual meaning but now, in postmodern contexts, it often shifts towards using religious figures to explore or exploit themes of sexuality, temptation, and gender politics. Blurring the lines between sexual and sacred.

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