To: pml1@yahoogroups.com
From: Mark Tomlonson
Date: Wed, 26 Nov 2003 11:17:01 -0500
Subject: [PML1] Classic Centerfold: Monique St. Pierre

A lot of things in this world are harder to do than they look. As an 
amateur musician, I've found that the hardest kinds of music to play 
well are both Heavy Metal rock and Mozart chamber music. It's incredibly 
easy to miss the mark in either style and end up with a sound that can 
be truly painful. Erotic photography is harder than it looks, especially 
when you set a standard for yourself as high as the one Playboy has set. 
It's incredibly easy to slip from erotica into pornography. Richard 
Fegley skates so close to the edge in Monique St. Pierre's Classic 
November 1978 that it leaves me breathless.

(For this little essay, I'm defining "Erotica" as well-crafted sexual 
material that you enjoy, "Pornography" as poorly crafted sexual material 
that you don't. I realize that in other contexts these words can have 
different meanings and their exact meanings are often a subject of great 
debate. Work with me on this!)

A brief description of Monique's centerfold defines the edge that 
Richard Fegley is skating along. It's a full frontal female nude, legs 
spread as wide as they go, with the model toying with her hair and 
breast. How many pornographic shots fit that description? Does the 
phrase "all the tea in China" come to mind? But this picture is one that 
I could hold up and say; "This is what I mean by 'Erotica'". So what 
makes the difference?

Monique is posed in a living room, not a bedroom. True, it may seem a 
little dated and Montgomery Wards-ish in style, but it is clearly meant 
to represent an elegant place and further, a home, not a "house". There 
are only two color groups in the centerfold - the blue/grays of the 
furniture, wallcoverings and Monique's jacket, and the browns of 
Monique's skin, her boots and her hair.

So what? No heterosexual male looks at this picture and says first thing 
"Wow, look at that color balance!" At least not one let loose in public. 
Porno-graphers know this, and use it as an excuse to ignore things like 
colors and settings. As long as nothing is too jarring it gets by. But 
an Erotica-grapher (all right, you come up with a better word) realizes 
that although men don't often vocalize it, they do notice color and 
setting and composition. When they're done right and done well, it 
enhances and adds to the impact of the erotic photograph or video.

What hetero males do notice immediately are three areas: Monique's face, 
her breasts, and her genitals. And if you'd ask a hetero male about it, 
he probably wouldn't mention the first because he may be unaware of how 
important that is, and he may not mention the third because there are 
few ways to discuss it in polite or even semi-polite society.

Richard Fegley has arranged this photo so that the viewer's eye is drawn 
to all three areas. Monique's left hand and fingernails are just 
depressing the skin of her breast. In porno this would mean an attempt, 
usually a poor one, to portray self-stimulation. But Fegley has posed 
Monique so that the fingers are used to define the shape and texture of 
her breast, and perhaps to invite the viewer to participate too.

Monique's thighs are arranged to form a large arrow pointing at her 
crotch. Eleven years before this, Gwen Wong's thighs were arranged in 
the same form, but a short skirt played the role of a fig leaf. With a 
fig leaf, it's a lot easier to stay far from the porno edge. But Fegley 
has removed the fig leaf. The edge is avoided by exposing only what is 
naturally exposed - there's no tugging or pulling going on here, no 
attempt at a false sense of arousal.

A more typical porno shot would have Monique's face turned away, or 
twisted into some ersatz representation of ecstasy. Richard Fegley has 
turned Monique's face toward the camera, and raised her right arm to 
frame her face. This is erotica, not porno, and looks count, both in 
appearance and in emotions. Monique's beauty (as if I need to say it) is 
not a question. What's more interesting is the emotion Richard Fegley 
has captured - directly sexual, but not one of slavish devotion to 
pleasing her partner. And further, there still remains an element of 
doubt as to the exact outcome of this encounter between Monique and the 
viewer.

Playing with her nipple or highlighting her breast? Celebrating female 
sexuality or gynecology? Programmed for sex like an automaton or an 
independent woman free, willing and able to say no? Richard Fegley takes 
us to the edge with each one of these questions, but gives us an answer 
each time that makes for an amazingly attractive and erotic Classic 
Centerfold for November 1978.

Mark Tomlonson
Kalamazoo MI