Pursed Lips

Yeah, that’s what I did while suffering in the Florida sun — I watched the heat that melted Jack Ryan’s political bid. And, yes, I have a complicated and semi-unresolved view of the whole thing. On the face of it, I agree with the NCFS statement that individuals are entitled to the privacy to seek mutual, consensual sexual pleasure as they see fit. And I understand the premise of Lily Burana’s fine article and would wholly like to agree with it. I agree both sets of arguments need to be exercised every time an incident such as this rises to public scrutiny, and I dearly want to see our outlook on sexual mores throughout the various strata of our society change to something far more open-minded than the schism we have now.

But it’s difficult. As long as we have a powerful branch of religious/political thinking (that basically boils down to the Comstock view of all things sex) touting its anti-sex message, we’re going to have recurring sex scandals. And it won’t matter whether it happens on the right or left because an anti-sex expectation has become the baseline for everyone who toes the political waters. Party doesn’t matter. Only purity does.

Granted, this where the counterargument come in and they are necessary. Despite my personal fatigue, I respect those who continue to counter the scandal, so please don’t think I find the NCSF and Burana’s efforts futile.

But there’s another element in the Jack Ryan scandal that limits my sympathy for the man, and it shouldn’t surprise you that it’s his party-line goose stepping when it comes to “family values.” While I would prefer to respect the man’s privacy and sexual practices, it’s difficult for me to do so because of his homophobic “marriage is for hets only” grandstanding.* His interest in S/M and swinging makes him a sexual minority and my baseline expectation is that anyone who embraces a minority sexual practice ought to have empathy for others who do so as well. That Ryan doesn’t makes him a hypocrite in my book.

Frankly, when you engage in alternative sexual practices, you’re just as much a sodomite as any leatherfag and are subject to the same public prejudices that they are. If in doubt, just as the Concerned Women for America.

Hence, my distaste for the man’s hypocrisy runs smack-dab into my hope for protected privacy and respect for minority sexual practices. But at least I’m honest about it.

* Appreciated: Laura’s bold fisking.

Feeling a thaw, anyone? COPA suffers a setback — “harmful to minors” doesn’t mean restricting adults.