Inside Deep Throat

I've always loved Philip Roth, most famously known for the truly dirty Portnoy's Complaint. I read Portnoy in high school and learned of the practice made infamous by the American Pie movies, only years earlier with a liver. It made me glad not to have brothers and it also made me a lifetime fan of Mr. Roth. A lot of women don't like his portrayal of us -- as sexualized hysterics, as evil mommy figures, as problems that will never be solved. The equation is simple -- woman = devil. And I like this. At least he gives us our due. And never shies away from the dark complications of sex.

I watched Inside Deep Throat, a documentary about the making of the first mainstream porn movie, Deep Throat. It made me even more confused about the issue. I don't take the hard line against it, purported by some evangelicals/feminists (unlikely bedfellows), nor do I approve of the whole Girls Gone Wild culture. But I do approve of the frank discussion. There's no defanging sex, despite how much we try to demystify it. Sex is love, it's inherently scary and violent, it's casual, it's serious -- the ultimate paradox. Linda Lovelace herself never understood her role despite a book, Ordeal, an account of her marriage to Chuck Trainor, the man who took full advantage of her unique ability to suppress her gag reflex. But she never could suppress the reflex in life -- she kept choking on meaning and sadness, just as we do.

Michelle's Spell of the Day
"That some serious foreshattering." my sister Beth, making the word foreshadowing even better

Cocktail Hour
going to check out Catfish -- will report back!

Benedictions and Maledictions
Happy Sunday!