10/23/2010

Blogging Rocks!


The sex education blogger community--one which I count myself lucky to be so involved in--is not, whatever people think, all about sex and weirdo fetishes. It's about researching a topic, interviewing experts in that field, and sharing your new knowledge with your readers.


Why did I start blogging about sex, kinky lifestyles, and BDSM? Because I think it's a fascinating area to research. It's certainly never boring! I've been very lucky to have been so accepted in the online sex community, and you can find me as a contributing author on Kinky Sex Link, Fascinations, FetLife, Adult Blog Hub, Formspring, in Babeland and Good Vibrations as a reviewer, and many other sites! I love blogging about sex-positive education.


Why?


I think it's important for people to be safe, healthy, and positive about every aspect of our lives. I also write a personal blog, a private blog for my husband, blog entries on Fetlife and Kinky Sex Link, a public activism blog, and a relationship advice blog. Why? Because I think all these topics are important enough to write about.


Sure, I'm prolific. I adore writing, so it's a great hobby for me. I also adore meeting new people and finding out all I can about their lives. Blogging is one way to do that.


So thanks, all you readers. To all of you who follow me on Twitter, leave comments, and generally haunt this site, thank you. I hope we have many more times together!

Do Our Adolescent Fantasies Tell Us Who We Are?

Of course, most of us discovered our burgeoning sexuality when we were teenagers. Aside from a minority of people who were very aware of sexuality at an early age, or who were the victims of tragedy such as sexual abuse, most people start thinking a lot about sex, sexuality, the opposite (or same) sex, kissing, and fantasies when they hit puberty.

Yesterday, I was ruminating... do our adolescent fantasies predict that kinksters we will become?

Sometimes, the answer is yes. I've heard stories from kinksters who report being strangely fascinated by spanking or bondage at a young age. My own first fantasies at the age of 15 or 16 were probably "kinky," although at the time I had no idea what was normal or even what the word "kinky" meant.

I'll give some examples. When I was 15, I fantasized about being raped. I would wonder to myself what that meant about me. Did that mean I really wanted to be raped? I thought I probably wouldn't, but I wasn't sure. Did fantasizing about it make me wrong? But after thought, I decided it was probably my fantasy, not actual rape, that turned me on. Still, I would often soothe myself to sleep with thoughts of being roughly savaged by an older, strangely sexual man. He wanted me so much that he took me, and that was what made it sexy. Still, I can vouch that in this case, the fantasy is nicer than the reality, because if my husband tries to force himself on me, I get annoyed and snarly rather than submissive and turned on.

Another of my favorite fantasies was an older, evil/sexy man who would force-feed me a magic pill that would make me shamefully, intensely turned on against my own will. He would then proceed to finger me, while I remained silent and unwilling yet undeniably burning "down there." Of course, at the end, proud and resistant to the last, I would have an earth-shattering orgasm against my will. Was it the shame of the orgasm, or the orgasm itself, that turned me on so much?

I also liked the idea of being kidnapped by an older man, together with my terribly cute (imaginary) boyfriend. Oh, I had boyfriends in real life, but none of them were as innocent and completely hot as the boyfriend in my fantasies. The man would force us to have sex. It didn't matter if he watched us or not; the point was that it was forced upon us.

I think these fantasies said something about me at that age. They all included much older men, men who were attracted by my innocence and who wanted me for themselves. In all of them, I was forced to enjoy some sexual activity. Perhaps, to my young mind, this "being forced" was what was so sexy. I could enjoy sex without loosing my innocence; it was all taking place against my will. The fact that I enjoyed it only made it sexier.

Now that I'm a married adult, sex is no longer taboo, and therefore the rape fantasies have lost their appeal. I don't really want to be raped or forced to do something that I can already do anytime of my own free will. But in my fantasies, I got to have both: maintain my innocence and experience illicit pleasure. It was the tantalizing idea of an older, sexual man forcing me to enjoy pleasure against my will that I loved.

Did I know I would be kinky when I was 15 or 16? No.

But looking back at what I liked then, it sure doesn't surprise me now.

10/13/2010

On Vacation!


My apologies for the lack of posts recently. All is well in our household--we are trying to sell the house, working full-time, I'm doing musicals in my free time, and we're praying about when to start our family--but we've just been swamped!


Today we are off on vacation to the Bahamas so wish us a safe journey! I will be back to the world of S&M, kink, and BDSM blogging next week!

10/09/2010

Why Can't He Be In Charge?


Why, according to most strangers I meet, is my husband obviously the "man" and therefore the obedient servant in our marriage?


Please don't misunderstand me. I'm quite grateful for women's rights in this country, and I think my husband is, too. But in recent years, it has become the norm to assume that in most married partnerships, the woman is the one who wears the pants in the family. She makes the decisions, she makes the schedules, she doles out the responsibilities, and the man just obeys. Probably the man works longer hours and makes more money, but home is "her domain" and he is probably little more than a helper there.


Where do people get these ideas?


Once, my husband and I were out at the grocery store with a mutual friend. I saw some frozen waffles I wanted and asked if we could get them. My Dom said sure and grabbed the box. Our friend laughed and said, "He probably had no choice, did he?"


Well, first off, my Dom would probably never tell me no on something as silly and small as frozen blueberry waffles, but still. Why did our friend automatically assume that anything I want, I get? Because I am the woman. I am the wife. The better half, the one who is assumed to be in charge. Like my husband couldn't veto me on buying some waffles?


It bugs me when people assume I'm the woman so I must have the emotional and financial control in the relationship, and that my husband's one goal in life is to make me happy. (Lucky for me, it probably is, but it's because he wants it that way for our relationship and because he loves me, not because he's a wuss who has nothing better to do than wait on me hand and foot.)


Yesterday, I was at a rehearsal for a play I'm in. An actor was missing for the night, and it was causing some problems as everyone tried to figure out where exactly we needed to go. Since my husband was there early to pick me up, I asked him to come stand in for the missing actor. Of course, this is an easy request and he came over without hesitation. Another actor, one who had never met my husband before, looked at me admiringly and said, "He's very obedient."


Really??!?!


In our society, unequal treatment of women continues, but now I think it's getting out of balance the other way. If a woman is in charge of her husband, bosses him around, and has him run errands for her, that is considered normal. On the other hand, if any man tried to get away treating his wife that way in this day and age, oh boy would that be looked down upon! Strangers automatically assume that if we're married, I'm in charge of most things and his job is to make me happy.


My own mother, a very strong feminist who has been living in completely female-dominated relationships for the last 25 years, even subscribes to this kind of thought. She bosses her new husband around without a thought, but I've never once seen her get up to do him a favor or to get him something from the kitchen. She takes it for granted that my marriage is the same. "Call [my husband's name] and tell him to come let me in the house," she told me once. Since was the one who wanted into our home, and she has his phone number in her phone, I asked why she didn't just call him and ask herself. "Because," she said simply, "he'll take it better if you boss him around than if I do."


Wow.


"Mom," I told her steadily, my voice very low and quiet, "I'm not going to boss him around. I'm going to call him and ask him to come let you in. And he will either say yes or no."


My mother didn't answer, but I'm sure she thought that was ridiculous. To her, and to many women these days, a "husband" is someone who serves as bread-winner, lover, protector, friend, and servant.


Of course, my husband does nice things for me all the time. He gets up to get me a blanket or turn up the heat when I'm cold. He cooks and cleans when it needs done. But he's not my servant, my slave, or my inferior. He's a nice man who does what he can to make our lives more comfortable for both of us. He loves me, and therefore he treats me with the same caution and tender care that I imagine Jesus would if He were still on earth. But, like Jesus, my husband doesn't confuse servant leadership with servanthood. If the day came that I started to expect those things, or failed to be grateful and submissive to him, I'm sure he'd stop.


So why, in a society where we've worked so hard to make women and men equal partners in marriages and parenthood, is it considered normal for the woman to be The Boss? We complain that men act like teenage boys, all sex and games and hanging out with their buddies, all boob-watching and joke-making, but we treat them like the lesser half of an unequal partnership. If we want men to act like men, we have to start treating them like men.