tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7396437919069310850.post3505709677425889216..comments2023-05-30T08:29:42.770-04:00Comments on The Erotica Readers & Writers Association Blog: Spiritual Sex and the Celebrity VaginaCroco Designshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04417265522875605547noreply@blogger.comBlogger10125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7396437919069310850.post-66340267693062218952012-11-24T15:23:43.305-05:002012-11-24T15:23:43.305-05:00Thank you very much, Craig. I take that as THE hi...Thank you very much, Craig. I take that as THE highest compliment!Donnahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13615190390845433428noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7396437919069310850.post-80080046659635749752012-11-22T10:43:20.296-05:002012-11-22T10:43:20.296-05:00I enjoyed this review, Donna. I think you probabl...I enjoyed this review, Donna. I think you probably delved into the ideas that the book was supposed to, in a more thought provoking way. <br /><br />Note that I did not read the book, so I'm just basing that on what I heard. <br /><br />But if you wrote a book on the subject of sexuality, I would buy it.Craig Sorensenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08101869420537661374noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7396437919069310850.post-68749409885704755782012-11-19T13:57:46.524-05:002012-11-19T13:57:46.524-05:00As I read it, Wolf is claiming that our sexual org...As I read it, Wolf is claiming that our sexual organs play both physical and spiritual roles. When a woman is deprived of good sex, her spirit and creativity suffers. When sex is good, her mind flourishes. (It certainly doesn't hurt). Likewise if she's called demeaning names like "dumb cunt," her body registers the insult and shuts down along with the emotional effect. She's challenging the separation of body and mind for women, but not so much for men, although she doesn't really go too deeply into male sexuality.Donnahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13615190390845433428noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7396437919069310850.post-67414551488150398172012-11-19T02:43:00.634-05:002012-11-19T02:43:00.634-05:00Hello, Donna,
I haven't read the book and I a...Hello, Donna,<br /><br />I haven't read the book and I admit I'm not likely to, but I'm puzzled by your reports that she wants to focus on the spiritual aspect of femaleness and yet at the same time is so fixated on anatomy. Seems a bit of contradiction to me.<br /><br /><br /><br />Lisabet Saraihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05162514190572269660noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7396437919069310850.post-78667964094473516322012-11-18T22:00:32.164-05:002012-11-18T22:00:32.164-05:00Thank you, Ash!
Jo, I very much enjoyed Angier...Thank you, Ash!<br /><br />Jo, I very much enjoyed Angier's <i>Woman: An Intimate Geography</i>. It was much more thoughtful and less self-centered. I also agree there is lots of room for discussion of male and female sexuality in a nuanced, intelligent fashion. Wolf had her moments, but then again she gets the celebrity treatment, and unfortunately the weaknesses in her book get blamed on sex, I think.Donnahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13615190390845433428noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7396437919069310850.post-45829289553014840012012-11-18T18:10:41.897-05:002012-11-18T18:10:41.897-05:00Thank you, Donna, great to hear your level take on...Thank you, Donna, great to hear your level take on it. <br /><br />I read mention of Natalie Angier's book on female anatomy in one review, and I do remember that book with enormous respect and fondness. I like the point that it's not like there isn't room for more than ONE book on female sexuality, but Wolf's is perhaps not what we're looking for. <br /><br />It's a pity. I adored her 'Promiscuities' so much. Johttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08988685736635515808noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7396437919069310850.post-44755195610434779232012-11-18T15:06:05.806-05:002012-11-18T15:06:05.806-05:00Excellent review.
AshExcellent review.<br /><br />AshAshley Listerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11997769708965362938noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7396437919069310850.post-37430151163389666312012-11-18T13:56:56.149-05:002012-11-18T13:56:56.149-05:00Thank you, Bex--I'm not sure I'd recommend...Thank you, Bex--I'm not sure I'd recommend the book. At most, I'd say get it at the library and skim ;-).<br /><br />RG, thank you for adding those excellent points. I heartily agree that male sexuality suffers from the same damaging oppression, and we can't hope for a better situation until all the myths are debunked. Wolf herself contributes by asserting that male sexuality is simpler, more of an instinctive act. In essence this isolates a man's sexuality from his mind and emotions as well. I also didn't mention the sex-manual-style advice Wolf has for men to please their woman, as if it's solely his responsibility to "give" her pleasure.<br /><br />Wolf does discuss female circumcision as a terrible violation, but again I totally agree that there is something about the way she tells her story, her unexamined sense of specialness, that screams to be put in perspective.Donnahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13615190390845433428noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7396437919069310850.post-16994683366899334492012-11-18T13:25:43.605-05:002012-11-18T13:25:43.605-05:00This is by far the best review of the book I'v...This is by far the best review of the book I've read so far. I'm glad you took the time to deliver it because I think you were really able to touch on both the problems that so many others focused on and the merits of the book which so many have ignored.<br /><br />I'm not sure I'll read it myself, but it is good to know that there were a few bits worth all the effort.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09099605680291827813noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7396437919069310850.post-53437187112674059302012-11-18T13:13:09.980-05:002012-11-18T13:13:09.980-05:00I'm so glad you read this and saved me the eff...I'm so glad you read this and saved me the effort. <br /><br />From the blur, the reviews and some skimming, I got the sense that Wolf commits two sins that I see in a huge number of feminist writings.<br /><br />I find they almost all write with a sense of an impending Year Zero in which all the hegemonic sins of the past will be washed away in one sweeping wave of enlightenment and they are simply waiting for that to happen. Trying to keep their tempers until it does.<br /><br />But its not going to happen. And we're going to keep simplifying, objectifying and making jokes about our sex parts for the foreseeable future. Acting like it should all change tomorrow isn't productive and it doesn't get to the core of why we're doing it to begin with.<br /><br />Secondly,any feminist who doesn't notice that cocks are just as ridiculed, objectified or commoditized isn't seeing straight.<br /><br />Finally, all this focus on female specific genitalia as the downtrodden object of ridicule misses the point. There is a whole trans world out there who HAVE to get over their 'parts' to get to their real identities.<br /><br />A huge long diatribe on vaginas (even when you include all the things she thinks they stand for) is still reductive. The battle for respect is best fought over the real issues.<br /><br />Women are women in their heads.Form may follow function or not. But a trans woman or a female with a mastectomy is no less woman for missing a bit of flesh.<br /><br />And frankly, I will save my vagina-specific sympathy for women in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, who've had theirs destroyed by violent rape, or for those who've had their clitorises excised for the sake of tradition. <br /><br />Once we put a stop to those atrocities, I will consider feeling bad that Ms Wolf's vagina has been insulted at a dinner party.<br /><br />Remittance Girlhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07902713020074243375noreply@blogger.com