Kinky Cupids

On finding kinkiness everywhere

This statue got my attention. Called ‘creepy’ by others who saw it too, my first reaction was to take a picture. This is my kinda art!

An old statue of a tied-up Cupid — all photos by author

Sometimes I think that having discovered kink means I’ll never look at the world the same way again. Everything seems to be kink-adjacent…even the most innocent thing seems, in the end, to be secretly also doubling as some kind of sex toy, whip, torturous instrument, anything resembling latex or leather I imagine as material for an outfit, or power play. Well, power plays really are everywhere in our culture. Maybe that one needs a different article dedicated to its examination.

Remember that cultural phenomenon whereby Americans, when eating their fortune cookie after ordering Chinese takeout and reading their fortune would add the line, “…. in bed,” to every one?

Or when you were in college, hormones surging through your blood—and everything in life revolved around what happened in bed. Or what might. Or what could. Or what did happen between the sheets. We all still have that part of ourselves stuck in the Beevis and Butthead stage of development when we snicker at any mention of bodily functions. Once the world of kink opened up to me, I began to snicker at the pervasiveness of in the world. Or was it just my inner kinky Beavis?

This is why I was surprised to see this old statue displayed prominently in the gardens of a writing residency I attended in a southern US state. This cupid figure is clearly smiling and enjoying being tied up. From the lichen covering the statue, it is likely very old. If it wasn’t so clearly from another era, I’d say it represents many a scene I’ve witnessed or experienced myself when tied up in a bondage situation.

I don’t know the story of this statue, but I bet it’s a good one!