Sex complicates everything. The line between classy and trashy or sexy and sexist is very thin, as many of us have discovered upon getting a glare after an especially dirty joke. Specifically in the art world, every word counts. It's often tempting to shatter artistic and social clichÃs by treading as close to that line as possible, or even by blurring it.

In Levi Goldman's art exhibition, "The Autoerotic Man," the themes conveyed are supposed to celebrate the male body and highlight the difficulty of living up to socialized male gender roles, which can be "stifling, perhaps even oppressing to the integrity of an individual's unique sense of sensuality," according to Goldman's synopsis of the show. Unfortunately, due to carelessly edited art pieces and a slew of misinformed and disorganized comments, Goldman's show reinforces the very gender stereotypes it means to challenge.

The show is composed of eight hand-selected artists' interpretations of the phrase, "The Autoerotic Man." Says Goldman, "Men must always be strong and always perform." Most pieces display strength and performance, all right, but convey practically no negative imagery that might express man's distaste for his role.

In fact, the first piece by male artist Satadru Sovan Banduri, entitled "Breakfast," shows a man leaning back and watching the torso and pierced bellybutton of a lithe female figure while eating something with a fork. Banduri explains that the fork symbolizes male lust and that the male wants her bellybutton to be his breakfast. Not only is this violent imagery—does he want to spear her?—the male figure is also reclining, expectant, waiting for the woman to serve him. Though visually appealing, the male represented here certainly isn't "The Autoerotic Man." Even without sexual commentary, the lack of correlation between the artwork and the theme is evidence for serious criticism.

Other pieces may not necessarily attempt to celebrate male dominance, but they wind up appearing to encourage it. These include a giant wooden phallus; a picture of a large, erect fountain entitled, "Splooge"; and a TV, playing heroic scenes from "Gladiator," "The Patriot," "Paths of Glory," and "Star Wars"—complete with excessive violence and fawning women. On the accompanying placard is artist David Castro's self-analysis, which concludes with, "I want to be the embodiment of a strong, sexy and powerful leader of men." He notes that the media has conditioned him to think this way, but neither the piece nor Castro himself seem to be especially disturbed by this fact.

Even the smattering of strong pieces, like Adam Harms' self-portraits as a gorgeous femme fatale or Goldman's erotic self-portrait, become symbols of chauvinism under the pretense of Goldman's sexually ignorant analysis.

First of all, Goldman states that his show speaks for an underrepresented audience: "This is a response to feminists: there is no space for the typical man to speak out. The marginalized are what's hot right now, and average man is laid to the wayside. There is no place for men to express themselves." He went on to cite lesbian Asian-American artist Tina Takamoto and African-American Hank Willis Thomas as specimens of "marginalized" populations who are allowed to dominate the art world.

For his next show, Goldman should certainly prepare a more coherent argument to prevent miscontextualizing other artists and to more accurately portray the thoughtful themes that remain buried in the exhibition. The struggle against the push for masculinity in our society is a valid topic that I would still appreciate seeing done well. Though Goldman is a talented sculptor in his own right, I'd like to see some brains alongside his art.

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