In a silent room two figures stand without talking to each other. One of them climbs into a black full bodysuit, while the other helps them. Despite the fact that they are not verbally communicating, the two of them are able to maneuver into the suit. There are ever so slight rustles, as both figures are already wearing a full body suit. The room itself is white and sparse, with no furniture being visible aside from a large chair that looks to be used for restraining someone, and the corner of what appears to be an office chair. There is a white tile floor and plain white walls, so the room is atypical of a ‘dungeon’ which many may assume is the standard setting for BDSM activities. Furthermore, the space does not seem to have any decoration in it at all and, because no other camera angles are used in the video aside from a wide angle static shot, it is unclear what else the space is used for. I would not go so far as to refer to the space as the overused term ‘liminal’, but it certainly seems to exist as a non-space, one without a clear purpose or clear boundaries aside from those that the camera brings.
The figure who is not in the black suit uses a machine to inflate the figure in the black suit. This video is entitled Heavy Rubber Latex Lesbian Inflation and I discovered it on the channel ‘HotFetLife’ on PornHub, though I have been unable to find the origins of the video. However, based on the video’s title we can assume that, despite the fact that the bodies are not obviously gendered, they are both lesbians. It is up to the viewer to place their preconceived notions of lesbianism onto the figures in order to get off, or simply enjoy the video.
As the figure begins to inflate, the room is filled with the sounds of a machine whirring, and the soft noise of the latex as it expands. The face of the black suited figure blows up to appear even more inhuman lacking even more clear human facial features. There are no bodies grinding together, no pale flesh and fluids, no one is even talking to each other. Instead, the second figure tenderly caresses the inflated body while the whirring continues. The camera slowly zooms in, and then zooms out, and all the while the noise of the machine seems overwhelming inside of the room. Here, the erotic nature of the images is not from the touching of flesh but from the sounds of machines and the touch of rubber to rubber, expansion to expansion.
Finally, the figure reaches peak inflation and is deflated. They are removed from the suit, and the whirring stops. The sequence is finished, and although no one has obviously climaxed a full form of the erotic has been reached. It is not about how you are, but how you wish to be seen.
Researching videos such as this has always lead me to question how certain sounds can be erotic, how one does not need to touch in a traditional way and how people can see themselves through sexual acts. Partly, the topic of my upcoming documentary Voice Pig is inspired by my desire to explore people’s deepest desires. Furthermore, I find the grainy aesthetic quality that this video has extremely alluring, and it has been an important aesthetic model for many of my projects.