On Mystic Medusa's blog, there has recently been quite a funny conversation about whether or not one should hide one's more sexually explicit and or self help and or slightly wacko sounding books in the interests of getting a shag. All inspired by MM's experience of reading a profile on a dating site that said something lie “if you are a woman sitting alone in a house with three cats and a pile of self-development books move right along, I am not for you.”
I find the whole thing amusing for several reasons - firstly, I assumed every heterosexual non-wiccan non-RSPCA volunteering non-alternative therapy trained man probably thought something along those lines. I assumed that saying you were reading books on chakra cleansing was the dating equivalent of saying that you live with your elderly parents and sleep in a single bed with fairy print bed linen with your china doll collection, prefer wear elastic waisted skirts pulled up high and like to cut out kitten pictures from women's magazines (no offense to anyone who does those things). Ie slightly batty and very very unsexy. But what would I know. (Note - I do read books on chakra cleansing so I'm not actually passing judgement).
Secondly I think it's funny that there must be heaps of people out there censoring their book collections and trying to figure out what is 'public viewing' material and what gets snuck away in the bedside table. And who says what is embarrassing enough to be hidden away anyway?
On the topic of steamy books - I once had someone comment on the raunchier tomes on my bookshelves at the end of the night as a clunky kind of 'how 'bout it love?', which I thought was disingenuous.
Books as foreplay?
Books as signals of sexual preference and proclivities?
Books as social repellent?
Books as beacons of incompatibility for the internet dater?
Showing posts with label sex. Show all posts
Showing posts with label sex. Show all posts
Sunday, February 15, 2009
Saturday, January 31, 2009
Fear of Flying – Erica Jong
Vintage 2004, First Published 1973
I read this, about a year ago, and really quite enjoyed it. I know it’s old, it’s probably on feminism 101 reading lists, but I liked the tone- Isadora the main character is smart and reflective and wry and horny and wondering. She makes mistakes, she has phobias, and she has a patchy history in love, but I liked her heaps. Nice to read a female lead who is neither simpering nor brittle nor simple nor ‘sweet’ nor completely 2 dimensional. Isadora is a proper gutsy likeable flawed story hero. Even though I’m too lazy to write a review right now, I thought these quotes were interesting. AQsthe main character is a writer (poet) quite a bit of the book relates to this. The first quote is a character in the book speaking to Isadora Wing, the last two quotes are Isadora herself.
The writer being accused as using lovers as material:“You go through life looking for a teacher and then when you find him, you become so dependant on him that you grow to hate him. Or else you wait for him to show his weaknesses and then you despise him for being human. You sit there the whole time keeping tabs, making mental notes, imagining people as books or case histories – I know that game. You tell yourself you’re collecting material. You tell yourself you’re studying human nature. Art above life at all times. Another version of that puritanical bullshit. Only you have a new twist to it. You think you’re a hedonist because you take off and run around with me. But it’s the bloody old work ethic all the same because you’re only thinking you’ll write about me. So it’s actually work, c’est-ce pas? You can fuck me and call it poetry. Pretty clever. You deceive yourself beautifully that way.”
The voracious and open minded reader:“I had always worshipped authors. I used to kiss their pictures on the back of books when I finished reading. I regarded anything printed as a holy relic and authors as creatures of superhuman knowledge and wit. Pearl Buck, Tolstoy, or Carolyn Keene, the author of Nancy Drew. I made none of the snotty divisions you learn to make later. I could happily go from Great Expectations or the Secret Garden to Mad Magazine.”
Books as refuge:“Growing up in my chaotic household, I quickly learnt that a book carefully arranged in front of your face was a bulletproof shield, an asbestos wall, a cloak of invisibility. I learned to take refuge behind books, to become, as my mother and father called me, “the absent-minded professor.” They screamed at me, but I couldn’t hear. I was reading. I was writing. I was safe.”
I read this, about a year ago, and really quite enjoyed it. I know it’s old, it’s probably on feminism 101 reading lists, but I liked the tone- Isadora the main character is smart and reflective and wry and horny and wondering. She makes mistakes, she has phobias, and she has a patchy history in love, but I liked her heaps. Nice to read a female lead who is neither simpering nor brittle nor simple nor ‘sweet’ nor completely 2 dimensional. Isadora is a proper gutsy likeable flawed story hero. Even though I’m too lazy to write a review right now, I thought these quotes were interesting. AQsthe main character is a writer (poet) quite a bit of the book relates to this. The first quote is a character in the book speaking to Isadora Wing, the last two quotes are Isadora herself.
The writer being accused as using lovers as material:“You go through life looking for a teacher and then when you find him, you become so dependant on him that you grow to hate him. Or else you wait for him to show his weaknesses and then you despise him for being human. You sit there the whole time keeping tabs, making mental notes, imagining people as books or case histories – I know that game. You tell yourself you’re collecting material. You tell yourself you’re studying human nature. Art above life at all times. Another version of that puritanical bullshit. Only you have a new twist to it. You think you’re a hedonist because you take off and run around with me. But it’s the bloody old work ethic all the same because you’re only thinking you’ll write about me. So it’s actually work, c’est-ce pas? You can fuck me and call it poetry. Pretty clever. You deceive yourself beautifully that way.”
The voracious and open minded reader:“I had always worshipped authors. I used to kiss their pictures on the back of books when I finished reading. I regarded anything printed as a holy relic and authors as creatures of superhuman knowledge and wit. Pearl Buck, Tolstoy, or Carolyn Keene, the author of Nancy Drew. I made none of the snotty divisions you learn to make later. I could happily go from Great Expectations or the Secret Garden to Mad Magazine.”
Books as refuge:“Growing up in my chaotic household, I quickly learnt that a book carefully arranged in front of your face was a bulletproof shield, an asbestos wall, a cloak of invisibility. I learned to take refuge behind books, to become, as my mother and father called me, “the absent-minded professor.” They screamed at me, but I couldn’t hear. I was reading. I was writing. I was safe.”
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)