by William S. Dean
(07/05/06)
If you surf around the various erotica and sex blogs, you've probably heard about British novelist Geoff Nicholson's new non-fiction book, Sex Collectors: The Secret World of Consumers, Connoisseurs, Curators, Creators, Dealers, Bibliographers, and Accumulators of "Erotica." The general consensus -- from critics -- seemed to polarize between "not sexy enough" and "too sexy." That's an interesting take on such an interesting topic, revealing as much about the critics as it does about sex collecting in general.
Nicholson traveled around -- mostly Europe and the United States -- probing and prying into the accumulations of various folks who collect the salacious, salubrious, lubricious, and salty memorabilia associated with erotic activities. While the book leaves some people wanting more in-depth reporting, and makes others turn away with a haughty, perhaps self-righteous, sniff, readers may find fractions of themselves among the collectors. I suspect many people have a collection of one degree or another. It may be that you just can't bear to part with those worn-out sex toys of yesteryear or garage-sale off granddad's old cardboard box of Esquires or Playboys. I've known a number of sex collectors. I'm probably one myself. But, as the writers say, more of that anon...
Geoff was on the road when I contacted him for an interview, but was gracious enough to stop in at some Internet cafes along the way to answer my questions.
Clean Sheets (CS): Curiously, for such an erotic subject, the reviews seem to be polarized between "should be hotter" and "titillating." Given that many reviewers are either "sensationalist" or academics, what's your real take on how readers should react to your book?
Geoff Nicholson (GN): Well, naturally people are free to react however they want, and I've certainly got past being surprised by what does and doesn't titillate people. From my experience of writing novels, it's always amazing what turns people on.
I guess I never thought I was writing a hot book with Sex Collectors. I thought I was writing a cool book on a hot subject. I think this is just good technique. Having the writing quite detached, and quite decorous, while describing unutterable filth, just seemed the sensible way to go.
I think you could write an interesting dirty book about a man who goes around meeting sex collectors, but it'd have to be fiction.
CS: Research for the book must have been "eye-opening" to say the least. In the course of research, were there things that were simply "too mundane, bland, or salubrious" to be included?
GN: In one way I'm as interested in the feelings people have towards their collections as I am interested in the collections themselves. Someone may feel truly, profoundly attached to something that strikes you or me as completely dull. Who am I to dictate other people's enthusiasms?
On the other hand, I was trying to write a book that might interest other people. Somebody whose "collection" consisted of a few packs of nudie playing cards just didn't make the cut. I also met one or two people whose collection consisted of smut downloaded from the Internet. I didn't think that was good enough either.
CS: Certainly, the world of erotica and its collectors spans an enormous variety of smaller subjects, such as fetishes, burlesque, etc. How did you personally define "sex" for the purpose of the book and what criteria did you use to set parameters of what to look for in the first place?
GN: We get involved with Freud here. He reckoned that all collecting was sexual, even if it was thimbles or cigarette lighters.
I think this is unsatisfactory in all sorts of ways; if all collections are sexual then why does anyone make a specifically sexual collection at all? I really didn't start with a definition. I followed my nose. I found a few collectors, talked to them; they passed me on to others, who passed me on to others. This might have gone on forever, I suppose. And there's nothing very scientific about my sample. In some ways I wish my selection was a bit more inclusive; if I'd had the budget I'd have gone to Japan for instance and talked to collectors there; but I did the best I could with the resources I had. Just like any collector.
CS: We generally tend to think in stereotypical terms, such as the U.S. equals commercialism, while Europe and Asia have a longer, perhaps different tradition about sex and eroticism. Was this borne out by what you saw among collectors?
GN: Well up to a point. For example the European collectors seemed more into books and literature, whereas the American collectors were more into magazines or images. The female collectors I met tended to be more anthropological, interested in many aspects of sexuality as a sort of research topic, whereas the men seemed to be satisfying their personal sexual preferences. But there were exceptions to these rules.
CS: Historically, the traditional POV is that erotica collectors are dirty old men who invite people up to see "their etchings." What was personally, the most startling example you ran across that belied this old-school concept?
GN: Naomi Wilzig, a Miami based collector, a Jewish widow, aged about seventy, with two houses full of sexual collectibles. She was a surprise and a delight. Her collection is now in her own museum in Miami.
I don't know that collectors are "dirtier" than anyone else, but admitting that you have a sex collection does tell the world that you're very interested in sex and you don't care who knows it.
Of course there are secretive collectors who completely hide the fact from the world; inevitably I didn't meet them
CS: Presumably a "sex collector" might range from a very wealthy and "culturally tasteful" connoisseur to someone who has a stash of used panties. Do you think there are a lot of "sex collectors" comparatively speaking (say, contrasted to toy train collectors or stamp collectors)? What prompts someone to start amassing sex-related objects?
GN: None of the collectors I met collected only sexual materials. Cynthia Plaster Caster, for example, collected toy poodles as well as casts of penises. Eric Gotland in San Francisco has a massive archive of men's magazines, but you should see his collection of Mambo records. An amazing number of them did start out collecting stamps when they were kids.
In most cases I don't think they woke up one day and decided to become sex collectors. I think they just lived their lives and one day realized that's what they were. Of course getting older and being successful and having some serious disposable income to throw around is a great help.
CS: There are several museums around the world that host sex collections. Do you think it's important -- culturally, historically -- to maintain such collections for the general public to see? Are they in a comparable category to natural history museums or more in the line of kitsch?
GN: I did visit a few of these, and as I say in the book, I'm not a huge fan. The main problem I think is that whereas an automobile museum contains actual automobiles, or a sculpture museum contains actual sculpture, a sex museum inevitably doesn't really contain sex; it contains souvenirs, traces, memorabilia: fascinating though this stuff may be.
I actually think it gets even more complicated when it comes to museums of so-called erotic art. I mean that if it's art, it's art, and it doesn't need special pleading. Picasso or Bataille or Allen Jones are artists who deal with sexuality, but to call them erotic artists, to make a special category seems to miss the point.
CS: Is it pretentious, do you think, for someone who has a small pile of old Playboys in a box in the garage to call themselves a "sex collector"?
GN: I don't think it's pretentious, but it's a bit feeble. I'd say to the Playboy collector: "You should get out more. There are so many erotic things in the world that are so much more interesting and erotic than Playboy."
CS: If you could add one special item to your own collection, what might it be?
GN: Within the realm of the just about possible, I'd choose a first edition of My Secret Life -- the eleven volume Victorian pornographic masterpiece. I mean possible in the sense that it exists, but I'd have to sell my house to be able to afford it.
In the realm of fantasy: according to a recent biography of Robert Mitchum, when he was having an affair with Ava Gardner she introduced him to golden showers. I don't know that any photographs were taken during the act, but if they were, oh boy...I'd sure like to have them in my collection.
