A Sex Positive Culture According to Poet and Filmmaker James Broughton

James Broughton wasn’t shy of sexuality, at all.  He wasn’t afraid to show naked people in his films or talk about them in his poetry.  It was a part of who he was, an active and out loud part.  He was openly in love with the naked body and the sensuous experience of being human.  He celebrated it.  He elevated it.  He saw it as divine.

We think that’s unusual.  We think it’s beautiful.  (If you’re still wondering, here is more of why we at the Big Joy Project are talking about healthy sexuality.) 

We were curious, what would a world of Broughtonian sexuality look like?  Here are eight axioms that we find in Broughton’s life, film, writing, and poetry that paint a  picture on that subject.

See for yourself what you think of this perspective.  What do you like or not like about it?

1. Nude bodies are not dirty.  James Broughton’s films are rife with them.  And not in a pornographic way.  There are people romping around nude, playing golf, hammering nails, basking in the sun, standing, sitting, running, jumping, this list could go on and on.  He’s got 23 films, many of which feature nudity.  And countless poems that reference it.  Like this:

2. Sex is talked about or referenced openly.  James has many love poems that reference the sexual acts.  He’s not shy about referring to semen or other body parts that are most often seen and used behind closed doors.  His poem “Wondrous the Merge“ written about his soulmate Joel Singer is a favorite.  Here is an excerpt:

3. Human bodies are seen as Godly or something to be revered. 

4. Sensuality is encouraged, highlighted and expected. James’ whole five-minute film Erogeny is highly sensual.  (As are many others.) In fact the whole film is the sensuous landscape of the human body.  “Reach, touch, discover…” James encourages.

5. Sex is poetic. Probably it is enough said to say that James writes poems that reference sex.  Like this excerpt:

James Broughton poem.
pic credit: Geraint Rowland

But more than the way he depicts it in his poetry, his films are also poetically sexual.  His film, The Golden Positions, ends with a series of erotic positions which almost seem to dance on the screen and together. It’s poetry, not darkness or dirtiness, that shines in James’ depiction of eroticism.  It’s human and it’s beautiful, he shows it in both words and image.

6. Sexuality is spiritual.

7. Sex is aligned with nature.  It’s natural.  He also writes of nature sensually. From his book The Androgyne Journal: “O shy dark one, allow me to enter your valleys, your rivulets and lakes, and thus to flow forth like the Rhine itself, like all rivers of time.  Within your veiled portal deep wonders dwell, mysterious spaces, liquid rhythms, luscious warmth.”
8. All sex is sacred, including gay sex.   James doesn’t shy away from describing this.  It’s imbibed in all of his poetry especially since he was a man talking about men.  He has a whole film called Devotions which celebrates the sacredness of men together.  IMDB describes it in this way:

What do you think of James’ view?  Does this coincide with your own in any ways?  Or might you adopt some of these axioms as your own?

For further pondering, James Broughton also said this: