Pursed Lips

And of course, it’s now been corrected: Justice Antonin Scalia’s supposed claim that orgies are good for the social fabric of existence. It was, of course, funny while it lasted. When I first heard it, I thought, “Well, that’s one way to get the swing vote!” And then I thought about duck hunting and its post-hunting consequences. Let’s just say that there’s something worse out there than the image of your parents having sex — the thought of a Scalia/Cheney-organized orgy! Yeuuw! Gross!

Besides, I think we should be far more worried that Scalia thinks the 17th amendment was a bad idea than the possibility that he’s done a full swap.

Damn, I hate when that happens! I was going to nit-pick over a single comment in the recent NYC profile of T.C. Boyle but the article’s already gone to archive. In it, there was a line that more or less said that despite his achievements “too bad Kinsey was a homosexual, masochist, etc., etc. No wonder he demanded of his assistants the facade of respectable marriage to put their research above reproach.” Yeesh. Sure, Kinsey felt the respectibility of marriage kept their research from appearing too hedonistic, but those were the times. What really urks me is that how far have we come if we’re still denigrating a man’s work with labels like homosexual and masochist?

I know I’m harping on these points, but why can’t more writers see Kinsey as bisexual? His marriage was enduring, hardly the hallmark of a closeted gay man. And why is sexual masochist portrayed badly? Cripes, lots of people enjoy the intensity of sexual pain and, to be honest, sexual masochism is tame compared to today’s body modification practices. Plus, I’m sure — Justice Scalia aside — that swingers everywhere are quite satisfied that Kinsey opened a door to sexual legitimacy for them. If being a queer, masochistic swinger somehow flaws your achievements, then prudery is alive and well in America.

By contrast, I like the NYT’s movie article, namely when it recasts the Jones biographical treatment of Kinsey:

Mr. Jones’s book revealed that Kinsey had had affairs with men, encouraged open marriages among his staff, stimulated himself with urethral insertion and ropes, and filmed sex in his attic. But Mr. Jones did not feel he was debunking Kinsey. “What I told myself, and I still think this, was that I was writing a biography of a tragic hero,” he says. “It shouldn’t surprise us that pleas for sexual tolerance would come from a person who couldn’t be himself in public.” He speculated that Kinsey’s personal preferences might have affected his findings, especially about the pervasiveness of homosexual activity. But today he says that though Kinsey’s reformist impulse probably did have an effect, any distortion was “unconscious and heartfelt.”

A much better stance, sensitive and reasonably sex positive.

OK, enough ranting. I only just learned that queer performer s. bear bergman will bring hir Clearly Marked piece to the University of Connecticut tomorrow evening, October 6th, 8:00 p.m., at the Student Union theater. If you’re in the area and have last-minute free time, I highly recommend it. And if you’re active in queer campus life, you ought to look into booking bear.

Last, as you can see, the postcards are in! Email me a snail mail address if you’d like to receive one.