Simulating Sex: Aesthetic Representation of Erotic Activity

Simulating Sex: Aesthetic Representation of Erotic Activity
Steve Bachmann
Lulu Press
ISBN: 1-56632-063-4
Non-Fiction, Erotic
Reviewed by Emily Veinglory

Despite a promising title and blurb ‘Simulating Sex’ is simply a collection of book reviews (with a few visual painting or music reviews thrown in). The reviews are by Steve Bachmann and appeared over a twenty year period in New Orleans Art Review.
Reading this collection left me a lingering respect for the author but surprisingly little for this particular collection of his work. When I was familiar with the work or artist being examined Mr. Bachmann provided a clearly lineated point of view to compare with my own. Steve Bachmann’s depth of expertise and clarity of thought is certainly admirable. However what he has to say is only occasionally interesting, enlightening or novel—it never really challenged or adds substantially to my own notions.
I am left with a somewhat fussily written collection of essays that have already become startlingly dated in that unfashionable way characteristic of anything from the 80’s and 90’s have. Many of the recurring themes (Madonna’s ‘Sex’ book, Nirvana, the photography of Mapplethorpe) are matters most people have either pondered as much as they ever intend to, or forgotten all about. The appended ‘recommended reading list’ rubs in the feeling that one is being lectured by a well meaning but rather patronizing professor.
This collection is worth a read through but left me, as a reader and writer of erotica, with very little in the way of new thoughts or perspectives. I would recommend it as a nostalgic reprise of the sexual milieu of the decades immediate before the turn of the century, but also an example of how writing that works in the rapid response context of a magazine is likely to feel stale and repetitive when forced into book format.