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| Available from Cleis Press |
As a sex writer I am delighted to be a part of the Best Sex Writing 2012 Virtual Book Tour. Every time I picked up this latest collection in the series by Rachel Kramer Bussel I was ready to learn something new, something different, something challenging.
Being constantly on the go, I found myself reading the wonderful array of essays in the number of different locations: home, subway, desk at work, kid’s swim practice, waiting room, coffee shops and more. Having this book in my hands, one that covers so many different topics, I felt it appropriate that I engage sexual thought in so many different spaces. The book and my reading of it further affirmed my belief sex is everywhere and everywhere is sex.
While I took great joy in reading, I couldn’t help but want to talk about the book. Talk about specific topics addressed. Talk about the ideas I found difficult, the ideas I wanted to praise, the ideas I still think about on a daily basis. That’s the radio sex journalist in me. Despite being a self-professed introvert, I do talk about sex a lot on Sex City and in my personal life.
My ideal situation would be to get all of the writers included in Best Sex Writing 2012 into a room. Get them all talking, but still have time to listen to each and every one of them.
This is my attempt to gather them. Below are questions I have—1 each—for all of the writers included in the anthology. The questions represent my immediate reaction to their work. Some are more personal, some are about research.
1. Amanda Marcotte: Sluts, Walking—Will SlutWalk and Feminism ever co-exist?
2. Marty Klein: Criminalizing Circumcision: Self-Hatred as Public Policy—If circumcision were ever banned, do you think back-alley procedures would arise?
3. Tracy Clark-Flory: The Worship of Female Pleasure—While it is already widely celebrated in a certain sense, do you think male orgasm will every reach this ‘spiritual’ level of acclaim?
4. Katherine Spillar: Sex, Lies, and Hush Money—What one, specific legal action needs to happen in this case?
5. Chris Sweeney: The Dynamics of Sexual Acceleration—Will there ever be as much pharma-attention paid to female sexual dysfunction?
6. Greta Christina: Atheists Do It Better: Why Leaving Religion Leads to Better Sex—Is sex even BETTER if neither active religion nor active non-religion are a part of your life? Like, I never think of religion or my lack of religion, so my sex must be astonishing, right?
7. Amber Dawn: To All the Butches I Loved between 1995 and 2005: An Open Letter about Selling Sex, Selling Out, and Soldiering On—Would you be who you are today without all of the Butches in your life?
8. Hugo Schwyzer: I Want You to Want Me—Do you think most men realize they are allowed to feel the need to be desired?
9. Joan Price: Grief, Resilience and My 66th Birthday Gift—Have you found a new lover yet?
10. Rachel Rabbit White: Latina Glitter—You have to come and visit El Convento Rico in Toronto someday.
11. Lynn Harris: Dating with an STD—Here’s a great new resource out of Ottawa, ON: Pass The Herpes
12. Radley Balko: You Can Have Sex with Them; Just Don’t Photograph Them—While I see there is a ridiculous situation here, can we use this as a cautionary tale as well to be very careful who you take naked photos of?
13: Tim Elhajj: An Unfortunate Discharge Early in My Naval Career—Tim, I can’t get your story out of my head. Will you be writing more?
14. Camille Dodero: Guys Who Like Fat Chicks—Is the idea of what is fat’ changing with the newer vogue of ‘curvy’?
15. Roxane Gay: The Careless Language of Sexual Violence—This is, perhaps, the most best piece of writing in the collection and on sexual violence in general.
16. Thomas Roche: Men Who “Buy Sex” Commit More Crimes: Newsweek, Trafficking, and the Lie of Fabricated Sex Studies—“Sex is not a thing.” My new favourite thought to remember in my own writing and work.
17. Tracy Quan: Taking Liberties—Thank you for the demystified portrayal of your work.
18. Susie Bright: Why Lying About Monogamy Matters—Is it wrong that I wish your sentence “Douthat teaches us that sexual restraint leads to “emotional well-being.” were actually “Douthat teaches us that sexual restraintS lead to “emotional well-being.”
19. Abby Tallmer: Losing the Meatpacking District: A Queer History of Leather Culture—A fascinating trip through a history I’ve only heard of. Do you know of any cities where this kind of experience is happening now for the queer community? It could be argued that we in Toronto had ours in the 90s.
20. Rachel Kramer Bussel: Penis Gagging, BDSM, and Rape Fantasy: The Truth about Kinky Sexting—Have you ever sent a sext to the wrong person by mistake?
21. Adrian Colesberry: Adrian’s Penis: Care and Handling—Thank you for bringing a great humour element to the anthology!
22. Ellen Friedrichs: The Continuing Criminalization of Teen Sex—What is more in need of revamping: the label of sex offender (the requirements for it and the implications of the label) or the age of consent laws?
23. Lidia Yuknavitch: Love Grenade—YOU should write the Great American Novel, and it should be about women’s sexuality.
24. Kevin Sampsell: Pottymouth—And what do you do with a woman who doesn’t dirty talk at all?
