sex at long last
Or if you can convince your readers it’s written by such a woman? Or can you get away with just having your heroine a beautiful highly-sexed woman? For I don’t like to pretend, or to try to trick readers.
The Weekend Oz article was typical in its scepticism and willingness to put down writers on sex, even their own sex, and terms such as crass, dysfunctional and such naturally crop up. Of the writers and books mentioned, I know only of Belle de Jour, whose blog I occasionally read, though I never managed to get to any of the sexy bits. I found her an intelligent writer, but sometimes curt and dismissive of the world she apparently inhabited, assuming she really was a call-girl. The tough-exterior type, witty, independent and more than a little callous. Descriptions of group sex and anal sex etc are dismissed as crass by the reviewer, and maybe they are but surely not just because of the subject matter? Anal sex in particular is common practice these days, and threesomes are certainly not uncommon. Dead-tree journalists are, as usual, behindhand in these matters. If the reviewer had checked out a few naughty blogs she might’ve been brought sharply up to date.
A useful article though in alerting me to what’s coming up in the field, publishing-wise. Might whet my appetite for another try (at writing about sex, not sex itself – but then again…). I think I’m drawn to it because, having had so little sex in my own life, I have a tendency to rate the activity rather more highly than some. Though I doubt that I would’ve rated it lower if I had had more sex. I’m basically just a libidinous cuss.
The article also touched on prostitution and the idea that these works skate over the nasty, violent drug-fucked aspect of the game, generally dealing with middle-class types who emerge from it all unscathed, thus perpetuating the happy hooker myth and feeding male fantasies of the easy-going ever-available smiling sexual athlete who can be fucked and forgotten, or maintained as an ever-blissful memory. One Antonella Gambatto (I’ve heard that name before) claims that prostitutes aren’t sex experts but only experts on dysfunctional sex. This implies that all men who go to prostitutes for sex are dysfunctional sexually and that the sex worker client relationship is at heart a dysfunctional relationship or a relationship born out of dysfunctionality.
Now while it’s true that the prostitution industry is by and large sleazy, exploitative and often associated, in the woman’s case, with sexual abuse, drug use and other problems, the fact remains that it’s too widespread and has far too long a history to be dismissed as merely catering for dysfunctional males (by more or less dysfunctional females). It deserves a far more intelligent response than this.
The Weekend Oz article was typical in its scepticism and willingness to put down writers on sex, even their own sex, and terms such as crass, dysfunctional and such naturally crop up. Of the writers and books mentioned, I know only of Belle de Jour, whose blog I occasionally read, though I never managed to get to any of the sexy bits. I found her an intelligent writer, but sometimes curt and dismissive of the world she apparently inhabited, assuming she really was a call-girl. The tough-exterior type, witty, independent and more than a little callous. Descriptions of group sex and anal sex etc are dismissed as crass by the reviewer, and maybe they are but surely not just because of the subject matter? Anal sex in particular is common practice these days, and threesomes are certainly not uncommon. Dead-tree journalists are, as usual, behindhand in these matters. If the reviewer had checked out a few naughty blogs she might’ve been brought sharply up to date.
A useful article though in alerting me to what’s coming up in the field, publishing-wise. Might whet my appetite for another try (at writing about sex, not sex itself – but then again…). I think I’m drawn to it because, having had so little sex in my own life, I have a tendency to rate the activity rather more highly than some. Though I doubt that I would’ve rated it lower if I had had more sex. I’m basically just a libidinous cuss.
The article also touched on prostitution and the idea that these works skate over the nasty, violent drug-fucked aspect of the game, generally dealing with middle-class types who emerge from it all unscathed, thus perpetuating the happy hooker myth and feeding male fantasies of the easy-going ever-available smiling sexual athlete who can be fucked and forgotten, or maintained as an ever-blissful memory. One Antonella Gambatto (I’ve heard that name before) claims that prostitutes aren’t sex experts but only experts on dysfunctional sex. This implies that all men who go to prostitutes for sex are dysfunctional sexually and that the sex worker client relationship is at heart a dysfunctional relationship or a relationship born out of dysfunctionality.
Now while it’s true that the prostitution industry is by and large sleazy, exploitative and often associated, in the woman’s case, with sexual abuse, drug use and other problems, the fact remains that it’s too widespread and has far too long a history to be dismissed as merely catering for dysfunctional males (by more or less dysfunctional females). It deserves a far more intelligent response than this.
posted by Stewart at 9:38 am
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