The Artist Speaks

Many of you have expressed confusion as to what the illustration accompanying the latest Freakonomics column means, so I went ahead and posed the question to illustrator David M. Brinley. He replies:

“The couple is a metaphor for sexual desires and how his sexual identity has been influenced by the points made in the article. His ‘new’ identity and desire for women is demonstrated by him seeing through the layering of the dotted shielding arm (past identity and fear) — I also wanted the illo to have a back and forth effect… having the reader ponder this idea of choosing one’s identity/sexual relationships.”