all thanks to Naked City blogger Audacia Ray. She has a regular blog feature called Four Questions and interviewed me recently about a variety of topics, some of which sprain from a discussion we shared at Tristan, Michael’s and Patricia’s book party.
I’m keenly interested in the generational differences and discoveries when it comes to human (and personal) sexuality and not just because I’m an older, long-time blogger watching a younger generation of colleagues taking the stage. I’m also interested in it because of my own kids, now in their late teens/ early twenties. And, by sheer coincidence, the very day Audacia posted the interview, my son babbled, “I wanna borrow that top.”
Even though my son has Tourette’s, I knew I was hearing a cultural reference to something and not a tic. I knew to ask “what’s that from?”
“You have to see the video.”
When we arrived home, he and his sister sat me down and introduced me to Kelly, the entertaining alter-ego of performer Liam Kyle Sullivan. (Eight million views? Where have I been?) The video in question — language NSFW — had me laughing. If the B-52s Fred Schneider had a female alter ego, it might go a little like this, I thought.
But more than its entertainment value, it gave me strong clues about my offspring’s comfort zones and awarenesses. The video told me they were comfortable with and accepting of queer culture, that they have at least heard the word clitoris more than once (because they’ve watched all of Kelly’s videos), that they know and reject uptight social conservatism. Their Spanish is pretty good too.
Most of all, it told me they were comfortable introducing me to their tastes and enjoyments. And, fortunately, unlike Kelly, they don’t think their mother’s a whore. LOL!
