Are Creative Minds Generally Perverted?

[DaFool]

Inspired by yet another thread.

People below 18 please use discretion regarding this topic. People over please try to be roundabout so no 'unwarranted mental images' come to mind.

Basically reading biographies of innovators and writers, its rare that one isn't messed up in one way or another.

I think being weird is one element of creativity, so one can easily make correlations which no one else makes.

Also, it's only recently that homosexuality isn't considered a deviation anymore. Throughout history homosexuality or bisexuality was associated with creative people, thus they were 'deviant'. I would guess that some people who are creative but not bi/gay would probably have 'unconventional' sexual cravings as well. Just using myself as an example (am I classified as creative? I hope so.) I realized some things I like fall under the 'hardcore' realm so I pretty much gave up and said 'Well, I am a wicked man, but I will still try to make this world a better place by creating beautiful things, so there.'

Of course I can't quote references since these things I learned years ago and am only pooling together just now to make a point. But I'm pretty sure you can pull up lots of historical examples.

[monele]

Well... also assuming I'm "artsy", I'm also quite twisted XD...
I do think it is somehow linked. I don't know if it's about being curious.. or open minded... or simply "not right in the head", but there's clearly a similar aspect with being "weird" and artistic.

[magi]

I thought perversion is just sour grape people use to describe others who knows how to think "outside of box".

[DaFool]

What's very surprising (as well as very reassuring) is that there really isn't that big of a gap between creativity in the technical fields versus creativity in the artistic fields.

For example, mathematicians tend to make good computer scientists who in turn make good philosophers (especially if they work in the field of A.I.)

My father also remarked that people good in mathematics can be good musicians as well, since they can identify patterns easily. (Probably how I can explain to myself how I went from zero to adequate music composing ability in about 6 months).

Just look at how much anime art is made by software engineers, of all people!

[mikey]

Well, Freud did state that the only truly perverted/unnatural thing is not to have sex/fantasies.

Though it's hard for me to say whether creative types are also more creative in their sexuality - I've read this article about why geeky types are in fact better lovers because they've seen all the hentai and such and have more imagination and so - but I didn't really buy it, as I think too many people are already claiming to be weird these days.

It may just be the hardest thing to admit you're normal, and accept that other people's imaginations are just as strong as your own - read: you're not really more, or special. Artists make it to their hobby to (learn to) express that imagination in their preferred form, but it doesn't mean that artists automatically have stronger or more intensive imagination.

[Blue Lemma]

Also, it's only recently that homosexuality isn't considered a deviation anymore.

I dunno, there are a lot of places it still is. "Those immoral deviants are gonna burn in hell blah blah blah" But anyway, I doubt there's a big correlation between sexual deviancy and creativity. Maybe it seems that way because a lot of creative works in the VN community are hentai but creative Or maybe one could argue that people whose desires are outside the norm have to find some way to express themselves so they become more creative.

Basically, beats me

I agree with mikey and Freud though. Sexual desire is natural. No sexual desire is not natural. It's not rocket science I think the least "perverse" people are often the most in reality because they've repressed it so much it comes exploding out. Like that Mark Foley or those famous Catholic priests that make the news. Things are probably a large matter of how honest with themselves people are about their desires as to how they will end up!

[Ignosco]

Sort of off topic, but the homosexuality/creativity thing reminded me of something Paul Griffiths wrote in Modern Music and After (this is in regards to the classical music tradition, I'm not sure how well it crosses over to other musical streams).

'.... Since male homosexuals have, in all probability, contributed more than proportionately as composers during the last century and a half, music is perhaps subcutaneously gay already, for all the straight male character it projected until quite recently ' (Pg 250).

Maybe creative minds are a bit more perverse, I think it's probably more a willingness to express that perversion in some form - Shakespeare is full of sexual innuendo etc. Amongst composers, Mozart in particular was rather perverted.

Probably everyone is perverse to at least a small extent, if we weren't, maybe the human race wouldn't reproduce at all .

[Sethaniel]

Scientifically speaking- I'm pretty sure that I learned in psychology class that it isn't "really" a perversion unless it's the one-and-only means of stimulation.

I don't know, personally. I do know that for myself, I have to have a "real" storyline with my sex, or it doesn't do anything for me.

[Raikiri]

Well... also assuming I'm "artsy", I'm also quite twisted XD...
I do think it is somehow linked. I don't know if it's about being curious.. or open minded... or simply "not right in the head", but there's clearly a similar aspect with being "weird" and artistic.

Agreed. Me and my fellow "Aesthetic" classmates (those in the Fine Arts, Music, Drama or Dance programs) are most of the time regarded as the "weird ones" at my gymnasium, and not always without good reason.

For me it's almost a given that an artistic mind comes with an unusual, deviant or perverted way of thinking, and I can't say that I've ever met an artist (not a serious one, at least) who've been a prude, or a "conformist."

[Jake]

For me it's almost a given that an artistic mind comes with an unusual, deviant or perverted way of thinking, and I can't say that I've ever met an artist (not a serious one, at least) who've been a prude, or a "conformist."

I don't think I have myself... but I wonder, sometimes, whether artists are rather a self-selecting group in that regard. The current 'art establishment' is definitely not prudish, and the stereotype of artists is 'non-conformant' and a lot of them seem to try and fit such stereotypes in order to fit in - I wonder to what extent people who are good at some art but also prudes are put off pursuing it as a career because they don't want to hang around with a bunch of weirdo beret-wearers rather than because they don't want to pursue a career as an artist?

[Sapphire Dragon]

Coming from art collage we were always considered the weirdest bunch, and our fashion was err visually striking compared to everyone else doing other subjects but I didn't see any more perversion than I did from anybody else.
The art group was just more open about it.

Seems to change a lot though, Now i'm doing computer games art we are just considered geeks to the general public, not weird, yet strangely a lot more perverted too.

[Raikiri]

I don't think I have myself... but I wonder, sometimes, whether artists are rather a self-selecting group in that regard. The current 'art establishment' is definitely not prudish, and the stereotype of artists is 'non-conformant' and a lot of them seem to try and fit such stereotypes in order to fit in - I wonder to what extent people who are good at some art but also prudes are put off pursuing it as a career because they don't want to hang around with a bunch of weirdo beret-wearers rather than because they don't want to pursue a career as an artist?

Good points, and two I haven't thought much about myself.

I can't say that I strive to be non-conformist; I simply do what I like and I'm comfortable with, and as a result my opinions, fashions, taste in music etc. tends to be different from the mainstream. I guess that there are people that actively try to be different from the norm to fit in with the "outsiders", which is pretty ironic since it's still conforming.

As for the prudish would-be artists, I haven't really met one so far, so I wouldn't know. I've met some prudish art "critics", but none who've stated that they'd like to make art, rather than just look at it and/or talk about it.