This is a brief detour away from the mainstream field of sex with enormous fish. Whilst researching in this field, I am continually coming up with yet more evidence of the sexual desire of woman for octopus.
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The sex aid as cephalopod tentacle is surprisingly common. The soft and rubbery consistency of the octopus would appear to render its representation as antithetical to the concept of erection and hence the act of penetrative sex. However, the shape combined with the colour and feel of modern materials seem to have united to lead to the genesis of a new genre of substitute phallus. Here, for example, is the squildo.
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However, what appears as an isolated oddity in the world of fetish, has its parallel in art, particularly in Japanese painting. Here we see a contemporary manga painting by Camilla d’Errico. A partially naked girl kisses one of many in a flock of flesh-pink octopus. Others appear to be approaching her for their turn. The octopus in her hands has ejaculated ink whilst nearby molluscs also appear to be in a state of excitement that leads to smaller discharges. The significance of the helmet on the girl’s head is unknown.
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I realise that this isn’t strictly manga. However, you may wish to know that there is a distinct genre of pornography in both manga and hentai called tentacle erotica [4]. Apparently it arose because Japanese censorship laws prohibit showing penises, but it’s open slather on tentacles.
Of course, no consideration of the artistic representation of physical love of woman for octopus would be complete without Hokusai’s The Dream of the Fisherman’s Wife.Two earnest cephalopods set about satisfying the fantasies of the eponymous wife. She appears to be in the throes of ecstasy, the larger creature enveloping her in slithering, tactile tentacles whilst engaged in horny-beaked cunnilingus, whilst the smaller one occupies her mouth and nipple. The enormous eyes of the octopodes add a voyeuristic aspect to the whole air of transgressive pleasure. Like all outrageous fantasy, there is an overriding atmosphere of impossible but what if?
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Much Japanese art appears to run along restrictive rails of convention. These conduits lead directly from the 18th and 19th century masters of woodcut to the digital exponents of online hentai along the line of sex with, of all things, the octopus. Even the purely commercial sex toy industry is forced by economic demand to offer lines of anatomically correct phallic molluscs.
This picture serves to unite all of the themes discussed above.
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…and finally, the crowning glory from the incomparable Felicien Rops:
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