Family - Poly Web Series

While catching up on some of the blogs I've neglected reading the past few busy months I discovered that some amateur filmmakers from Seattle have started a web series called Family about a polyamorous triad. There are already twelve episodes, the first of which is above. This alternative lifestyle is verging on becoming trendy!

Episode #1: "Not What the Neighbors Think" (embedded above)
Episode #2: "Dewdrop In"
Episode #3: "The Famous Jim"
Episode #4: "Ten O'Clock News"
Episode #5: "Reality TV"
Episode #6: "Brian the Plumber"
Episode #7: "Meet the Parents, Part One"
Episode #8: "Meet the Parents, Part Two"
Episode #9: "Don't"
Episode #10: "Grant's Tomb"
Episode #11: "Guess Who's Coming to Dinner, Part One"
Episode #12: "Guess Who's Coming to Dinner, Part Two"

The Stacks - Secret Identity

Secret Identity
by Craig Yoe
Abrams ComicArts, 2009

In 1937, Joe Shuster and his boyhood friend Jerry Siegel created the first and arguably the greatest of all superheroes -- Superman, The Man of Steel! Fifteen years later, having lost the rights to his character to DC Comics in a bitter lawsuit, Shuster took a very different kind of job: illustrating the S&M pulp magazine Nights of Horror, sold under the counter in Times Square bookshops. This fact has only recently come to light when author Craig Yoe, a comics archivist, recognized Shuster's distinct artwork. It should have come to light much sooner because Shuster had a tendency to make his fetish drawings resemble the Man of Steel and his supporting cast.

The drawings themselves are simple pen and ink sketches which illustrate kinky pulp stories (included in this book only in summary form, alas). The pictures are still tintalating today although they don't hold a candle to modern BDSM porn in terms of graphicness. Still Shuster depicts a surprising variety of kinky activity: men and women in both the dominent and submissive role, manacle restraints, single-tail whips, canes, paddles, lesbianism, voyeurism, master/slave activities, rope bondage, electrostim and branding all make appearences (although male homosexuality is nowhere to be seen). Notably missing is the black leather fetish look that is so ubiquitous today -- in the mid-'50s this look hadn't yet migrated from gay biker fetishism to the straight imagination so here we see mostly lingerie or plain old nudity.

A 35-page essay at the beginning that gives the basic history -- that Shuster, hurting for cash after being blacklisted, illustrated the kinky stories and that, when Nights of Horror was connected to a group of Brooklyn teen thrill killers by anti-comics crusader Fredric Wertham, the State of New York banned the publication and had it destroyed. Shuster was never connected to the work which was fortunate for him. The publisher and writer went to jail.

When reading this book it's important to remember that it's written for comics enthusiasts, not for alternative lifestylers interested in a fascinating period of censorship for "deviant" sexual tastes. To his credit Yoe writes about kink in a relatively positive way with the only possibly offensive moments owing more to cluelessness than anything else: at one point, Yoe holds up the fact that Shuster was short and liked to date tall women as possible proof that he was a submissive. Yoe seems to feel the censorship of Nights of Horror was an overreaction of a more innocent time -- my only complaint is that he doesn't bother to mention that numerous studies have failed to find any link between BDSM and criminality (though I'm sure many have tried!).

This complaint against Yoe is mild compared to the bone I have to pick with Stan Lee's introduction. Lee writes, "Whereas everything about the stories and artwork of Superman was positive and morally uplifting, the pages of Nights of Horror that appear in Secret Identity cater to the basest of man's character and morals." Apparently the creator of Spider-Man and X-Men has never noticed in his long career that violence, rope bondage and busty, scantily-clad women occur with delicious frequency in superhero comics as well.

'Cause Teens Make Bad Decisions

The FDA has approved the sale of the Plan B emergency contraception pill to 17-year-olds. Plan B is available without a perscription.

No, Senator McKinley, I Will Not Co-Sponser a Leadership Bill With You

Should Mormon Polygamy Be Legalized?

I just watched this BBC report about the campaign in Utah to legalize Mormon polygamy. The video, which is an interview with what appears to be a very healthy polygamous Morman family.

I've always had some problems with the Mormon version of polygamy -- which should more accurately be called polygyny since in true polygamy a woman would be allowed to have multiple husbands but the Mormons don't allow it. But the children in this video certainly don't seem to be living under the threat of underage arranged marriage and everyone seems quite satisfied with their lifestyle.

I do support polyamory (which, let's face it, is a term we made up because the Mormons had given "polygamy" a funny aftertaste), so why am I so uncomfortable about Mormon polygamy? Mormon refusal to embrace polyandry (one woman, many men) is definitely party of it. The fact that it is religiously prescribed is also a part of it (though the daughters in the video certainly seem to have freedom of choice). And we've all heard to most egregious cases of arranged marriage and victimization of underaged girls. But wouldn't those excesses be easier to stop if polygamous marriage was legal?

So, while I have some reservations about the Mormon religion, I say group marriage should be legal -- for Mormons and for anybody else, polygynous, polyandrous or tribe, straight, gay, bisexual, trans or gender queer.

Although one cynical thought did enter my head -- wouldn't it be ironic if the entire campaign were sabotaged by gay people from California?

The Stacks - The Smart Girl's Guide to Porn

The Smart Girl's Guide to Porn
by Violet Blue
Cleis Press, 2006

It's a sign of the culture we live in that every informational sex book begins with a section where the author, like a skilled bomb squad engineer, slowly and painstakingly defuses the reader's secret shame and guilt about their sexual desires. The existence of this section -- the first fifty pages of your average sex book -- is doubly surprising when you consider the reader had to be interested and open-minded enough to go to go to an independent book store (because good luck finding a decent sex book at Barnes & Noble) and buy the book in the first place!

This fifty page section stands out even more than usual in The Smart Girl's Guide to Porn, which is only 120 pages long. Yes, it is okay for girls to look at porn. No, it's not just for men. Yes, there will be things that turn you off or offend you. No, you should hold that against porn in general.

In writing a book for women about porn Violet Blue knows how much prejudice she has to overcome. Until very recently, porn -- a film genre with endless variety, as Blue points out -- was all painted the same very black color by feminists. Generations of women have learned that porn exploits and disrespects their gender. Violet Blue cops to that. Some porn does, she admits. But other porn doesn't mistreat or exploit its female performers. Some is even produced by women, for women. Don't burn down the barn to get rid of the rats.

For those readers who don't need to be convinced porn isn't always bad, it's best to skip ahead in this book. Most of the information this book has to offer is in Chapter 6, which is about the mainstream porn industry, and Chapter 7, which is about Internet porn (at three years old, the book's web addresses are mostly out of date, but the general information's still good).

Beyond the occasional visit to a free site I've never been a big consumer of porn (I doubt I could name a famous porn star who's still in the business) so I found these chapters very interesting. And occasionally disillusioning -- who knew Paris Hilton had to sign a release before her sex tape could be "leaked"? And then there's the other reason to read books by Violet Blue: that, unlike many sex writers, she has a fresh and witty writing style that makes every subject more interesting.

Porn Star vs. Pervert

Porn star Stormy Daniel is running against Louisiana Senator David Vitter, aka Vitter the Shitter. In 2007 Vitter hired prostitutes so he could indulge his diaper fetish but apologized and saved his political career. Back in November he named him to my list of the Top 10 Sex Scandals of the Bush Era.

According to Daniels, she has been recruited by a grass root political action group that she hasn't even met but that claims not to affiliated with the Democratic Party.

It Must Be Spring...

...'cause even Joe the Plumber is horny!

This week in Christianity

We lost one of the good ones...

Bishop Melvin Wheatley, an outspoken Methodist minister and human rights advocate, died earlier this month in Mission Viejo, Calif. He was 93.

Wheatley was known for his sometimes unpopular stances on issues like gay rights and interfaith tolerance. In 1980, Wheatley publicly refused to support a statement by fellow Methodist bishops calling homosexuality "incompatible with Christian teaching," according to the Los Angeles Times.

...and the band ones are still on the march!

The Pope courted further controversy on his first trip to Africa today by declaring that condoms were not a solution to the Aids epidemic – but were instead part of the problem.

Black and White

Some things are black and white, devoid of all moral ambiguity.

A 9-year-old girl is sexually abused by her step-father. She becomes pregnant with twins. After three months of pregnancy her doctors decide that her life is in danger. With the permission of the girl's mother the doctors convince the government of Brazil that this situation is an exception to the country's abortion ban. With the government's permission the pregnancy is terminated.

The Catholic archdiocese of Brazil ex-communicates the doctors and the girl's mother. The Vatican reviews the decision and upholds it.

Some things are black and white, devoid of all moral ambiguity.