to say yes my mountain flower and first I put my arms around him yes and drew him down to me so he could feel my breasts all perfume yes and his heart was going like mad and yes I said yes I will Yes.”
If you know this quote, then you know what today is. Read on and on, and, oh yes, for the Joyce geek.
It’s for real. Months after speculation among ebay sellers and buyers of adult materials, Wired finally catches onto the whole smut credit crunch. The problem is, this isn’t new news. Small erotic purveyors have been suffering from the credit crunch for some time. Heather Corinna, whose work wouldn’t strike you as full-blown porn, has had to go overseas to find an affordable credit card processor. (And, yes, it works. Subscriber testiment.) What I want Wired to do is find out exactly why this crunch is occurring. Is it a business response to the fed porn scam/racketeering convictions of three or four years ago? Or is the federal government applying pressure behind the scenes? If so, how?
As a consumer, I’m annoyed. But even more so, when I subscribed to Heather’s site, that appeared to be the trigger that prompted a call from my credit card company wherein they performed a checklist of recent online purchases. Granted, it’s nice to know they’re watching my card so closely, what with fraud being such a common problem these days. And I didn’t mind alerting them to the fact that I have teenagers and, as I told them “teenagers shop online almost as much as they do in malls.” But I’m a tad miffed that something that could be construed as porn purchased via an international channel was the trigger and I took my figurative balls in hand and brazenly told the customer service rep “Oh yeah. That’s legit. It’s a subscription to a friend’s website.”
Point of the story? You better have balls if you’re subscribing to online porn and maybe you should fight for your right to party, eh? Maybe credit card companies will think twice if they see ballsy consumers all too willing to send their money abroad to get their porn.
Right after opening weekend, I =was= going to tell you three words: “It’s a thong!” But other things got in the way and I forgot. Laura and the Good General didn’t, especially when the fundies gasped over all the cross-dressing and gender constructs in Shrek 2 (i.e., the wolf, the Ugly Stepsister, and Pinocchio). Me, I’m throwing as much merchandising money Shrek’s way as I can and I’m watching Larry King more. How can I not, after that Pinnochio’s women’s panties/humiliation scene, so true to real life S/M right down to his, um, erection?
Couple of other quickies: Another Candy Men review. And did I run these articles about David Reimer from Reason, The Guardian, and Slate? The last, written by John Colapinto, is particularly moving and revealing, and I’m glad for it.
More tomorrow.
