Reaction since it was announced that student and artist Clayton Pettet would be losing his virginity as a piece of conceptual visual art in a public forum in front of hundreds of individuals has been unquestionably divisive. From narrow minded tabloid newspapers comments to genuine introspective interviews with Dazed and VICE stimulating a commentary on the value of ‘virginity’,
I personally wanted to speak out (albeit briefly) as someone whose views on sex as art are extremely liberal to say that I believe that the boundaries that Pettet is pushing with this movement and the press that goes around it, is genius. The public stigma around sexual liberation that has existed for eons, boxing ideas, sexuality, acceptability into confined silos needs something like this to shift and broaden those perceptions.
Pettet states on his tumblr that “the idea…came around when I was Sixteen, when all my peers at school were losing their virginity it was incredibly hard for me to ask why I was still a virgin and why it meant so much to the people all around me. My piece isnt a statement as much as it is a question. I feel like now is the time for the new scene. To lose my Virginity with the new age is the avant garde that London has been unintentionally waiting for.”
This is evidently not going to be some Jenna Jameson public gang bang, I have no doubt that the artistic integrity that comes with his vision will be brought to life to do the movement justice. Those of you reading this are mostly smart and creative individuals who will likely agree with my stance so I might be preaching to the converted, but when you discuss this with your friends and peers, don’t sensationalise it or pigeon hole it for the gender balance, instead embrace it as a genuinely genius artistic movement that you wish you thought to do yourself.