Seems the sex memoir is coming into its own. I’m not talking Jenna or Meliss P, the Euro wondergirl, but more mainstream individuals like Glora Vanderbilt and fomer ballerina Toni Bentley. From a NY Observer review which is no longer on-line,* it would appear that Vanderbilt’s book looks tad vapid, big on breathless wonder and small on detail. Bentley’s book, however is getting big notice, thanks to a big publicity machine. I say that not because Salon and the NYT Book section covered it, but because I even got the press release.
Which reminds me: I need to set up a blog listing mechanism where I can drop people’s press releases and announcements. I get a number of them, many from friends and colleagues, and I need to set up a vehicle for quick and easy display.
Oh and the NY Observer article was entitled “Smacking Foreheads in the Night” A Sexual Narcissist Remembers”? A passing nod to the new John Waters movie? It got me wondering.
* And I can’t find their archives. Can you?
I know I’ve been diverted with my short film (Or would that be video? What’s the difference, film folks?), a spate of family birthdays, writing my novel, etc., but I’m still surprised that I almost missed this sex flap. Leave it to the NYT to point it out, eh? At first, I thought it was one of those “west of the river” incidents which don’t always make the east-of-the-river editions, but a little investigating showed that it was indeed in the entertainment section of my paper. What started as a high profile exhibit became a copyright vs. public domain via appropriation battle, complete with our local outre art machine weighing in on the matter. It’s one hell of a coincidence — art meets familial privilege and power. At least it wasn’t over the sexual content, just over the inclusion of real, identifiable people.
Oh, and this little ditty? Can you say sex scare? Sure, some kids are hooking up and, just like a lot of their curriculum, certain sexual behaviors have been “pushed down” to younger ages. So teens aren’t waiting for college or the local working class bar to engage in casual sex. Maybe our abstinence programs have scared them off relationships rather than sex. You think? Really, it’s little more than a flap, given the numbers cited.
