i yank it to goya ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Feel free to send in some art for me to review! I'll provide my insights into theroticism of it, and probably give some background if I can find it! Any form of art is accepted (music, photography, paintings), just please include the credits for it. Please do not send real life gore of any kind. That is all I ask. Thank you.

[the-goya-jerker]

You can block accounts from sideblogs!! If you go to https://www.tumblr.com/settings/blog/the-goya-jerker there'll be a "Blocked Tumblrs" section near the bottom specific to that sideblog.

Thank you! From the bottom of my heart, thank you! I had no idea they added this, and it is a balm to my frustration. 💕

[the-goya-jerker]

As a final way to greet all of you, I come bearing a poll.

What would you like to see reviewed next?

a song adaptation of Orpheus and Eurydice

a piece of nature photography

a marvel movie

a modern murder ballad

a lore olympus panel

a rudyard kipling poem

grass (from my backyard)

Voting ended onMay 10, 2025

[the-goya-jerker]

Are you still jerkin to Goya?

Always and forever 💕

This is also how I'm announcing my imminent return.

I'd also like to use this chance to put out a request to my followers: While paintings and static visual art are my roots, I'd be very interested in knowing if there's any art of other mediums you'd like to request reviews on. I've done some in the past, but I'd like to have some more variety in my askbox. I find that variety, as they say, is the spice of life.

This can include:

Movies

Music

Music videos

Comics

TV show episodes

Video games

Send me the sexual, the subtextually sexual, the bland and sexless. (For movie examples of these see: Eyes Wide Shut, Fight Club, and most MCU movies).

I might be slower about video games, of course. I can't promise to watch a whole show. But if you wish to make me watch a Supernatural episode, or want me to talk about something like Iron Lung I'll see what I can do.

[the-goya-jerker]

We do not use the phrase "degenerate" here to refer to art or artists.

I want to make this very clear.

If this isn't something self-evident to you, you may be wondering "why?".

The use of the word degenerate to refer to art is, plain and simple, nazi rhetoric. As in the national socialist party of Germany used this rhetoric. "Degenerate art" was something they frequently decried. I do not care what the artist has done, I do not care what the art is. I am not comfortable with this rhetoric appearing on my blog in any form. I do not care how much you profess yourself to be progressive or a leftist, this isn't acceptable here.

We are also not here to discuss the morality of sexuality. Sometimes there might be discussions worth having about the morality of the art itself, but I am utterly uninterested in discussing the ethics and morality of sexuality. This just isn't the venue for it. Take it elsewhere.

If this is something that is self-evident to you, you may be wondering why I feel the need to say this.

Well, someone decided to pull this word out in the replies of the Blowfly Girl. When I informed them this wasn't welcome they decided to be beligerant. I'll drop the replies below a readmore for your viewing displeasure and so you can see the issue yourself.

Unless Tumblr has changed something, I cannot block them from this blog since its a sideblog. I won't name and shame but I want to put it out there so everyone knows: this isn't acceptable. I will delete your replies and asks with glee if you decide to do this. There is now no excuse for this behavior.

The replies for anyone who was curious. Both are from the same person, but I've blocked out their username to avoid any harassment towards them.

[the-goya-jerker]

missing you goya jerker. i hope you're jerking it to the most insane art still.

I'm so sorry I've been gone. I promise I've been jerking it to the most insane of things. For those who are curious this includes, but is not limited to:

The Evil Dead

The Reverse Bear Trap from Saw

The concept of being reanimated

Hieronymus Bosch art but only ever zoomed in on one specific thing

The Angel Trap from Saw III

The scene in The First Omen that's just a reference to Possession

[the-goya-jerker]

hey i hope this isn't an unwelcome comment but wanted to tell you my partner and i just had sex after looking at this blog together so thank u for ur service to the trans community <3

This is the highest praise I could ever possibly receive, thank you so much. I can't overstate how happy I am that I can enrich the lives of others with this blog. I'm also always glad to be of service to my kin in the trans community!

[the-goya-jerker]

thoughts on witches’ sabbath by goya? i told my friend about your posts on here and she asked me to send that one in on her behalf. love your commentary btw!

Witches' Sabbath is one of my favorite Goya paintings, honestly. I had it as my phone wallpaper for a long time.

A fun fact; one of his black paintings was also titled (posthumously) Witches' Sabbath. It's also often called The Great He-Goat.

I think some amazing analysis could be done comparing the two and their use of the goat figure and the crowds (and comparing the original Witches' Sabbath and Witches' Flight). I'm sure said analysis already exists. But you're not here for that. You're here to talk about eroticism.

And eroticism we can find! Goya's work is rife with it, in my humble opinion. His simultaneous looseness with and attention to detail are stunning.

In this painting we see that attention to detail primarily in the goat and one of the witches. The goat itself is absolutely beautiful. The gentle curve of his snout, the soft detailing in his fur, the warmth of his eyes. I can just imagine sinking my fingers into that fur. His horns also contrast wonderfully against the wreath. The former powerful and sturdy, the latter delicate and elegant.

The goat in this is, of course, likely intended to be Satan. The common superstition of the region at the time was that witches are in league with Satan, gaining their powers from a pact with him. Depicting Satan as a black goat was also very common. This turns the goat into not just a central figure in the painting but a deeply powerful one.

The witches are painted loosely, with the exception of the elderly one offering up the starved child (we'll get to that soon). The lack of detail and the generally pale colors used for them just further draw your attention to the goat.

As we've established before, contrast is erotic. Dark and light, harsh and soft, detailed and vague. It creates focus, it creates a sort of tension within the work that's just exciting. Seeing extremes next to each other sharpens both, and seeing them opposed to one another creates a tense dynamic, a conflict. All things move towards equilibrium just by nature, after all. This contrast is a common theme in eroticism and sexuality too! Leather and lace, dom and sub, temperature play.

In this painting the contrast exists because of the colors, the detail, and the power displayed.

Now, one detail that does stand out is the use of children in the piece. Just personally that does detract some points. I'm sure this isn't a controversial statement, but starving children do not evoke eroticism. This piece is, notably, a criticism of superstitions and the church's encouragement of the fear of witches. There was an idea that witches were sacrificing children to Satan, and in this painting we see a baby and a severely malnourished child being sacrificed. We know it to be a sacrifice given the three dead children hanging in the background and the dead child on the ground. We're meant to notice this sacrifice and abuse of children too! The witch handing over the skeletal child is painted darker and with more detail than anyone besides Satan himself.

This idea of witches sacrificing babies to Satan is, of course, uncomfortably reminiscent of blood libel. This was an idea spread by the church that Jewish people were sacrificing Christian babies and drinking their blood. It was used to justify pogroms, and anti-semitism. The idea of evil Satanists sacrificing your babies also arose again in the 80's for the Satanic Panic which was just deeply unsexy.

Overall Witches' Sabbath would get an 8/10 for jerkability. But it gets me thinking too much about the imagery and what it was criticizing.

4/10

Smash or Pass?

👍

👎

Voting ended onJan 3, 2025

[the-goya-jerker]

I've been gone for a bit, and for that I apologize, but I watched a film tonight that sparked my inspiration.

David Bruckner's Hellraiser (2022) caught my eye. Most notably, the Hell Priest, or Pinhead.

Now, I must confess, I've never seen a Hellraiser movie in my life. I'm very much a horror fan, but I watched perhaps half of the first film before having to go grocery shopping once and it just failed to grab me.

Obviously, the cenobites as a concept are erotic. Earlier cenobites are clad in leather and latex, they seek to explore the outermost bounds of sensation. It's all very sadomasochistic. Very hot.

I'm not a leather or latex kinda gal though, so you must forgive me for a lack of enthusiasm for the franchise until this movie.

The Hell Priest in this movie reminds me a great deal of old (19th century) anatomical drawings. Many of the cenobites do. The way their skin is flayed away in places. For me, the stretching of the skin in other places creates a deep sense of discomfort and unease. When you linger on these designs they look viscerally torturous forms to exist in. Some of her fingers are flayed, there's almost corset-like lacing across her chest, it makes my skin crawl.

But of course, I'm sure we all know that the horrific and the erotic are twins by now. The power she exudes despite her painful appearance is contradictory and beautiful. The contrast of the golden gauges through her neck and the crimson of her exposed throat is gorgeous. The brutality of her appearance is also in contrast to the pearl-like ends of her pins. Something so delicate existing against something so brutal.

The design of the Hell Priest is a masterpiece of contrast.

I also absolutely love her voice. I'm not sure what this sort of effect on her voice is but if anyone knows please do share. It reminds me of the voice of God from Saint Maude or the voice of Guinevere speaking for the green knight in The Green Knight. I've included a clip below from the movie.

Warning for spoilers in the clip, of course.

At the end of the day, Pinhead in this movie is hot as hell. She's sexy, horrifying, powerful, erotic, and utterly otherworldly. She's acted wonderfully, and her design is beautiful.

10/10

But, what do you think?

Smash or Pass?

👍

👎

Voting ended onSep 29, 2024

[the-goya-jerker]

you reblogged the post about rothko so i must ask your thoughts on the song Rothko by Dessa!

I'll preface this with an admission that I haven't heard much of Dessa's work. I do really like Poor Atlas and have for awhile now, but that's about the extent of my knowledge.

On first listen what really jumped out to me was the instrumentation for the first part of the song. There's these sustained notes in the background that take on an almost droning quality, though definitely much lighter. Overlaid is a percussive rhythm. It gives a feeling to the song that reminds me of a few older goth songs I've had the delight of dancing to. There's one section of the instrumentation that invites the body to sway and another that invites sharper and smaller movements. It's a song that feels designed for a body to move to, and there's definitely a sensuality to that.

Her voice is lovely and pretty unique, which is fun. She switches between more staccato words that match the percussive portion and more legato sections that match that droning well. Her switching between words in those latter sections reminds me of when one droning note dies and and another has to start.

The song also focuses on a doomed relationship. The two are terrible for each other, together they're horrible, but they keep falling back together over and over. Speaking fictionally, that can be kind of hot. I'm sure some people love it in real life too. (Bless you and your mess). But, from a purely conceptual level, a couple that together are so horrible they are "cadmium red" (a pigment that is super toxic) is very sexy.

There are plenty of general art references in this song. Given that it references a chapel in Houston and is called Rothko though, I assume it's also a reference to the Rothko Chapel in Houston, Texas.

The Chapel is non-denominational, but it's also a gallery of sorts. It holds a number of Rothko paintings, and has Broken Obelisk by Barnett Newman displayed there as well. Dessa is hardly the first musician to take inspiration from or reference this chapel, but I think hers is very fun.

Overall the song is energetic but sweeping. It is a song with plenty of movement that invites you to move with it. There's a sensuality to it, particularly when paired with the toxicity of the relationship described.

8/10

Smash or Pass?

👍

👎

Voting ended onSep 1, 2024

[mercurys-in-retrograde]

I could jerk off to any Rothko dead sober

[incognitopolls]

Is it weird to be attracted (maybe sexually?) to an art style?

What?? Yes, that's weird

No, I've never felt that way, but I can understand it

I've experienced that, but not sexually

I've experienced that

Voting ended onJun 23, 2024

We ask your questions so you don’t have to! Submit your questions to have them posted anonymously as polls.

[the-goya-jerker]

As I get to my next reviews (soon, I promise) I figured I'd ask. Does anyone have questions about me they wanna throw my way? I'm not opposed to answering some. Figured I'd open the floor.

[the-goya-jerker]

How erotic is Judith Slaying Holofernes by Artemisia Gentileschi? I personally find it very much so.

I've actually already reviewed this one awhile ago! You can check out the review here!

Figured I'd post this saying so since I've had a few requests for Gentileschi (generally) and this is the second request I've had for her Judith Slaying Holofernes in a week.

[the-goya-jerker]

you have no idea how happy it makes me that you like bride of reanimator. everyone talks about reanimator the first but i am a bride defender until the day i die she is an icon to me ✊

Bride of Re-Animator is earnestly my favorite of the two Re-Animator movies I've seen. I wanna talk about the Bride herself for a minute.

There's something about the way those two piece together this bride, the longing for a lost love Dan puts into her, the longing for science that Herbert puts into her. Her creation is both grotesque and beautiful.

It's the love Dan felt for his patient that gets them the head they need, and yet she's violently dismembered. She's stripped of all of her identity despite this care because Dan wants so badly to have Meg back.

She's covered in a shimmering and beautiful cloth as she's made, which is turned into her dress, but she's also open in parts, covered in swathes of exposed muscle and skin.

Is it love or violation that we witness? Creation or destruction? Is she beautiful or horrifying? Yes! All of the above!

She is, ultimately, an object. She is given almost no chance for personhood. She is a composite of parts stolen from dead girls by two men who hacked them up in the name of science. She is a discovery, not a person.

And the part that really gets me when you look at her is that despite her nudity I don't think she's truly intended as an entirely sexual object for viewers either. She's a corpse with muscles exposed. And, now, we here at Goya Jerker Inc. think that's hot as hell, but do most people? Is your average Bride of Re-Animator watcher gonna get all horny about that? Probably not.

I think this photo really exemplifies it. She's covered in metal and made of exposed muscle and sinew. You can see so many veins. Sure, there's a nipple just out in the open, but she's also got a big ol' zipper on her crotch.

Overall, I think she's an object like an anatomical model or a ballerina in a music box is. She's useful, she's pretty, but for the average viewer she isn't really all that sexual.

To me though? HOO BOY! I think she's so hot.

Miss Bride of Re-Animator, I would have done coke with you and kept you alive forever.

9/10 cause I get a little melancholy thinking about her.

Smash or Pass

👍

👎

I could do coke with her and keep her alive forever

Voting ended onJun 14, 2024

[the-goya-jerker]

thoughts on anime/anime-adjacent style art?

If you wanna send in some specific stuff, feel free! I'd love if people asked about specific things. (I do have a question about Berserk in the inbox I'll get to eventually).

Overall it depends what anime style you mean! There's so many unique styles going on with works within the genre.

Jojo's Bizarre Adventure is a very different style from Tokyo Mew Mew. Akira is very different from My Hero Academia. Ghibli and Sailor Moon, despite their cute reputations, are pretty different stylistically!

I'm pretty picky with the shows I watch overall, and especially so with anime. Often I run into a very exaggerated style of voice acting that I'm not big on. Like, I could not get through even a season of MHA because of the voice acting in the English dub. (Subtitles alone are genuinely more difficult for me. I like to knit while I watch shows.)

If anyone is curious about my taste, I do genuinely like Fullmetal Alchemist, Dungeon Meshi. I remember really liking Heroic Age when I was younger. My taste is, sadly, pretty basic here. Mostly cause I get caught up in my books, video games, and other TV shows. It's just never been as much on my radar as other nerdy stuff.

Though, if anyone has recommendations, I would love to hear them in the replies! I'm always looking for new shit to watch.

[the-goya-jerker]

Untitled 2004 by Izumi Kato requested by @nintheyeblinder

I'm so sorry, this guy scares me so bad.

Kato's work contains a lot of baby-like creatures like this and they scare me so bad. I don't know what it is exactly, but they're so eerie to me. (I also find irl babies quite unsettling, so... no surprise there).

With the way the face looks it kind of looks like it's been skinned. The neck looks bloated as if with rot, the darkening at the buttocks, genitals, stomach, and cheeks feels like some odd sort of rot.

Overall vibes I get: dead baby. And that's kinda a 0/10 for me.

It doesn't help that this used to be the image attached to SCP-173. I didn't have an SCP phase or anything, but when I was a bit younger Weeping Angel type stuff scared me so bad.

While the artist eventually did give permission for the SCP site to use his art as long as he was credited, that didn't happen until 2014. The use of this image for SCP-173 predates that by seven years. (It's actually the first story attached to the concept of the SCP, apparently, isn't that neat!)

But, it leaves me to wonder... is this ethical? Is the use of art by others as the mascot for creepy stories ethical? What do we, as an internet base, owe artists when we use their art in creepy stories? Was it wrong to take an artists art and use it as a prop for a creepypasta?

What about cases like the original Jeff the Killer image? Last I heard the origins were still incredibly dubious, but there was a strong chance of it being tied to early-internet bullying. Is it wrong to potentially use an image used to mock someone as your creepypasta mascot?

Or, if we want to keep to SCP stories, what about their article The Young Man which uses a famous image of a WW1 soldier in the trenches? That was a real man, in a real war, and now his face is being used for ooooo creepy stories~

So, to spice up this 0/10 review, I want to ask a different question than usual.

Is it ethical to use art for online horror devoid of original context?

Yes

Yes, but not if it's photography (ie; the shellshocked soldier)

Photography is fine too as long as it's manipulated enough (ie; Jeff the Killer)

Only if the original artist is credited

Only if the original artist gives permission

No

Other

Voting ended onJun 13, 2024

[the-goya-jerker]

hiya!! just wanted to ask if we’re allowed to submit our own art or if it has to be well known works?? thanks!

This is honestly a good reminder that I need to finish and pin my intro post...

The short version is: submit whatever the fuck you want. Nothing has to be well known. Send me tiny artists off of bandcamp! Send me art by forgotten historical artists that you adore! Send me links to short films you don't think anyone but you gives a shit about!

I love to platform small artists when I can, and I love seeing new art. The best thing you can do for yourself as an artist or an art-enjoyer is take in as much art from different people as you can!

A quick reminder though, I don't like to review:

Art by kids

Art of kids

Real life photos of gore (liveleak style shit)

Dance (this one is dubious, more of a gray area. I just don't know shit about dance)

Feel free to get freaky with what you send too! Fanart, fashion, fiber crafts. You can send me pictures of food! Videos of people mixing paint! Send me a slime video idgaf! If we limit ourselves to sculpture and photos and paintings as our view of art the world will shrink down to that size and that sucks!