Oh, indeed Word.

[bellatrys]

Neva Chonin says in few words what some of us have struggled to articulate in many:

In last week's column, I suggested that, in today's cult of the leer, "girls have actually grown tamer rather than wilder. Sure, they flash their breasts more readily, just like monkeys perform tricks for peanuts at the San Francisco Zoo. But neither act symbolizes

Comments

[the_leewit]

Eh. Remember in the Darkover novels, where one woman is outraged about the tight pants and tunic of the Earther's uniform, and another laughs and says, essentially, "In your town, they must have dressed women to sexualize them; in mine, it was to hobble them, and the first time I saw the Earthers, I thought, 'How wonderful, to be forced to dress in clothes that you can run and work in

That's the whole point

[bellatrys]

They're *not* doing it to be liberated. They're doing it to cadge favors from their masters. There is none of the cold, conscious, "I am going to wear a tank top and shorts - even tho' it makes me feel like a wanton slattern due to my modesty conditioning - because it is hot, and I can damn well wear what my brothers wear" *choice* that I went through at age-oh-27-I-think, "and if men lust after me that's THEIR problem, not my sin" deciding of the head and will that was mine.

And no, I never got a juvenile turn-on from defying my elders - unless you call this blog that, at the age of thirty-and-some. I *was* the mature, responsible adult in the family, at age 7, 10, 15, 17, 20, 25 - and my darkside temptation was always to be a *warlord*, not a courtesan--

[evilstorm]

Mmmm. I was just thinking something like this wrt porn. (Just...don't ask.) A lot of the scenes are of the girls supposedly enjoying themselves, as compared the guys doing so, and I was wondering why that would be a turn-on for straight guys (because I know that many guys are very damn selfish concerning their own pleasure and ignoring their partners). Then it clicked--it's all about masculinity and power. (Second verse, same as the first...) Being able to make a girl lose control isn't about her pleasure, it's about you being a stud. In a similar sense, I s'pose, the girls mentioned above might be happy to bare their breasts, but in both cases it's not their desires that counts, it's about making the guy feel good.

This is another thing that pisses me off about my inappropriately-dressed peers. I mean, for fuck's sake, you're being made into a pet and you don't realize it. Whatthehell.

Yeah. Word.

It's an intermitant topic of discussion...

[julifolo]

...for me with Folo. Folump has two popular series of chapbooks that Folo writes that help support the low-sellers and less predictable titles. Both are fiction (SCA stories), one is erotica (in SCA or medieval settings). I read all the short stories, humor, and non-fiction writing ... but only some of the erotica (only the stories that are plot-heavy).

Anyway, in one of our conversations on the drive home from Pennsic, I got a bit of an "oh" reaction from him when I came to the conclusion, "I'm not a geek about sex." I realize it's possible to be a geek about sex, but the current political environment is rather a turnoff.

Re: It's an intermitant topic of discussion...

[evilstorm]

I...am just like most other teenagers, i.e. I just watch porn. *sheepish* Unlike most other teenagers, though, I can't shut off my brain during the process, which means stray thoughts like "Ooh look the ball-and-socket of the hip joint" and "OH THAT'S what Gray's Anatomy meant" and "Is that gamelan music I hear?" keep filtering in somehow.

(Seriously. I swear to god there was gamelan in one of'em. I don't know either.)

No, that's normal (for round here, anyways)

[deiseach]

I too have a brain that likes to make little comments now and again when it should be shutting up and sitting back.

I swear, I must be one of the few people who ever watched a (admittedly soft-core) porn film for the plot. Yes, feel free to point and mock.

In my defence, it was a private-eye plot, and I love private-eye movies (although the story was really only an excuse for the 'private dick' to 'interrogate' the suspects by, er, sleeping with them) and it wasn't erotic - not erotic to me, I mean. Possibly because it was a cheap 'n' nasty production. But I got interested in whodunnit and, all through the moaning and groaning and heaving and tossing, I was going "Yeah, yeah: get done and get yer clothes on so we can continue the investigation. I bet it was the chauffeur who did it, in collusion with the maid; hurry up and find out, willya? I'm dying to know!"

So noticing the background music (and yep, gamelan would certainly be an unusual choice in this context) is nothing weird. Not for us, anyway.