i'm back// review of RKB's he's on top



Friends, bloggers, countrymen: lend me your eyes.

For after writing over forty pages worth of material this week, I’ve renounced my junior year and am now free as a jaybird to blog away! I’m finished like Britney Spears’ career, Don Imus’ reputation, and Katie Holmes’ sanity. It’s good to be back to blogs.

But first, some unfinished business. You see, in the midst of paper writing and hand wringing, I had scheduled myself a stop on the fabulous Rachel Kramer Bussel’s kinky book tour for her new releases, the erotica story compilations He’s On Top: Erotic Stories of Male Dominance and Female Submission. (This coincides with the release of She’s On Top: Erotic Stories of Female Dominance and Male Submission).

Um, oops.

April is far behind us, it’s true, but I think this He’s On Top review will serve as a deliciously erotic mea culpa.

“Dominant men get a bad rap in our society,” begins RKB in He’s On Top, and boy, is Kramer Bussel ever spot on! Although hot sex abounds between male tops and female bottoms, there is nary a good story out there that doesn’t equate male dominance with some antiquated spaghetti Western version of masculinity, or female submission with the Stepford-esque compliance of a brainless bimbo.

Thankfully, the artful stories in this compilation dispel any fears that He’s On Top will be some sort of misogyny fest before you can say “nipple clamps.” Consider this passage from “On The Twelfth Day,” a story in the compilation from Andrea Dale:


“For twelve days, I promised you gifts,” he said. “And for twelve days, you promised to accept them.”

She put her hand to her throat. “Have I not…?”

“No,” he said quickly, taking both her hands in his. “You’ve been amazing. Perfect.”

He took a deep breath. “Our agreement was twelve days. On this, the twelfth day, this is the gift I give you: me. Everything I’ve shown you, everywhere I’ve tried to take you. Understand this—I will always love you, always be with you, no matter what you decide, no matter if you decide that what we’ve explored isn’t how you want to be.” ...

“Her answer was simple. A sweet dazzling smile, before she bowed her head and held out her collar to him.”



Awww. Ain’t that sweet? Nora Ephron herself probably couldn’t make it sweeter.

Yet lest you think that Bussel’s put together some kind of Harlequin cheese fest, the depictions of loving, tender sex between considerate male tops and their female submissive is deeply intertwined with good ol’ raw sadomasochistic fucking. I particularly reveled at this cocksucking scene, which throws PC and propriety out the window:

“Your chest swells with the possibility of it, because you can do anything together. You can push her over the edge and catch her at the bottom, soft and safe in your arms. You can watch her dance and be inside her all at the same time, because you are the music she’s dancing to now, faster, and faster.

She cries out a response, but you know it’s the answer to another question, the one that matters more than anything. Because it’s the sweetest sound a man can hear, a woman you love coming around your cock, moaning, sobbing, sighing, and whispering that one magic word.

Yes.”



In a societal landscape which fears making too much out of the male top, this literary foray into his mind is an all-too-sparse treat in the world of erotica. With her thoughtful selections and clear enthusiasm for the subject matter, Bussel’s paean to the man on the “D” side of the D/s divide delivers.

Comment - posted May 4, 16:17 in sex-sex-sex porn

here's looking at you, Mr. Clean



12372823

Above: The Cambridge Women’s Pornography Cooperative’s new book, “Porn for Women.”

The premise is simple enough—dress men up in domestic drag, and the women will drool. (I’ll admit, I laughed). All joking aside, though, the joke is based on a painful ideal of wish-fulfillment: women still work the legendary double day, and albeit a few exceptions, many men still act as though the dishwasher had an invisible sign that said “Estrogen Required.”

But this ain’t my main beef with the Pornography Cooperative. Don’t get me wrong, I find the occasional Sensitive Male as hot as the next gal, and as a gimmick, this book is pretty cute. A guy who’s intelligent, hot, and domestic? Count me in! But where’s my highly objectifiable imagery of fucking and sucking told from a female perspective? Is this really what the Cooperative thinks gets women off?

I realize I’m nitpicking, but that whole “women aren’t really sexual creatures, except when hubby finishes chores” meme is kinda annoying. Must we always be portrayed as conditionally desirous? Can’t we have our eye candy too? (And no, the primarily gay audience that devours Playgirl doesn’t count. That rag isn’t staying afloat from het female subscriptions, that’s for sure.)

I’m sure evidence will be thrown at me that women just “aren’t visual creatures”, but I’m not sure that isn’t just cultural wishful thinking. The chicks I know talk about hot guys all the time! So could it be that the porn industry just hasn’t found our market yet? Or is porn a phenomenon that will always belong to one side of the gender gap?

(This message brought to you from the Department of Cheekily Overanalyzing Cheesy Coffee Table Books.)

Comment [1] - posted Apr 10, 17:58 in porn news-commentary

sanctify me baby

For those of you who miss the transgressive sexual art of Robert Mapplethorpe and the like, Japanese artist Japi Honoo could be your (shit smeared on a crucifix) saviour – he’s the man behind Porn Saints, a project which features holy renditions of your favorite up-’n-cummers.

Says the Porn Saints homepage: ”[Porn Saints] is an artistic approach to porn, a pornographic approach to art and a pornographic & artistic approach to religion. Here’s a pic of sex blogger/editrix friend of mine, Audacia Ray, as Her Holiness:





Perfect for those of you out there who like your wank with a side of sacrilege—or at least, a visceral challenge to that pesky little madonna/whore complex, courtesy of Sunday School.





ETA: Audacia and PornSaints corrected me: PornSaints is a multi-artist project. Thanks for the feedback, guys!

Comment [5] - posted Jan 30, 03:20 in porn news-commentary

yo, sex in the news: really weird edition



Holy random-ness, Batman! We’ve got hijabs, prophylactics, and Lone Star lovin’ on the sex news menu this weekend: