Chicago Tribune
--------------------------------------
Sex in the spotlight--literally
--------------------------------------
February 11, 2004
By Leslie Goldman
Special to the Tribune, Chicago Ill

Though she was nervous at first, by the end Amy found herself loving making love to the camera. "Women get really self-conscious, a lot of us want to do it with the lights off," she said. "But the fact is, guys just want to look at us."

"Men are extremely aroused, perhaps even more so than women, by visual stimuli. Having a record of a forbidden visual image is extremely arousing," for them.

Such an act can be mutually satisfying, Berman added. "There's a sense of sexual power, that she's the object of someone's sexual desire. Every woman likes the idea of being desirable."

Maybe that's why a pre-breakup Jennifer Lopez hired celebrity photographer Herb Ritts to take sexy photos of her for Ben Affleck. Hotel heiress Paris Hilton carried the image-as-power theory a few steps further when she allowed her then-beau to videotape their sexual escapades.

Some factors make it embarrassing for many women to 'fess up, Berman said. But that doesn't mean they're not doing it--on camera or on film. Elizabeth Adamo, owner of Artistic Images Photography in Huntington Beach, Calif., was booked solid the first weekend of February, photographing women for her Valentine's day Ocean View Boudoir Photo Shoot.

Adamo said women had come at a partner's request, to surprise him, or, in one case, to try to win him back. But mostly, she said, "they want to show their boyfriend how sexy they are."

Flor Bermudez, 20, a model in Whittier, Calif., gave her boyfriend just such a jolt when she brought him along for her shoot with Adamo. Not surprisingly, he loved it.

"He sees me every day but when he sees me in photos, it's like I'm a different person," Bermudez said.

Raskin confirmed that for many women, the first thought when faced with a camera is, "What if I look fat?" regardless of actual weight. But that's no reason to shutter the camera, she said. Try a sexy nightgown or a strategically placed bed covering. "It doesn't have to be the Paris Hilton version."