[lit-ideas] Re: Not Imagining Sex, or The Whipple Spot
- From: John McCreery <john.mccreery@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Thu, 10 Sep 2009 22:53:47 -0400
A few years back, my daughter recommended "Stiff" to her parents. A book
about corpses and how they are treated in medical and other contexts, it has
many of the virtues David attributes to "Bonk." And, in any case, from
"Stiff" to "Bonk" is simply irresistible.
Sweet dreams,
John
On Thu, Sep 10, 2009 at 9:31 PM, David Ritchie <ritchierd@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>wrote:
> I have a book to recommend, "Bonk." "Bonking" is English slang for having
> sex. I found said vol. in our library, on the new non-fiction shelf. I
> wondered what the book might be about. Subtitle, "The Curious Coupling of
> Science and Sex." It's a history of scientific investigations of sex,
> written by one Mary Roach, "bestselling author of 'Stiff,'" which is about
> death and corpses.
>
> This woman is funny. She notes that the Center for Sexual Therapy in Haifa
> is located at the Rambam Medical Center. She writes that the G-spot was
> named by Beverly Whipple, who contemplated calling it the "Whipple Spot."
> And she has this to say about Marie Bonaparte's husband, Prince George of
> Greece, "Marie was unaware of her prince's proclivities when they married.
> Her suspicions were roused by the drawings of Greek athletes that George
> hung on his dressing room walls and, later, by his decision to serve as the
> gymnastics examiner at the Panhellenic Games."
>
> Not only is she funny, she is sensitive and sensible. "There are times
> when the only way to gain entree into the world of laboratory sex is to be
> the queasy one yourself: to volunteer. These passages make up a tiny sliver
> of the book, but writing them was a challenge. All the more so for having
> dragged my husband into it. My solution was to apply the stepdaughter test.
> I imagined Lily and Phoebe reading these passages, and I tried to write in
> a way that wouldn't mortify them. Though I've surely failed that test, I
> remain hopeful that the rest of you won't have reason to cringe."
>
> One example: Marie Bonaparte had a theory that the distance between the
> urethra and the clitoris varies and that there is a relationship between the
> size of this gap and the forms and ease of female orgasm. A contemporary
> study asks participants to make this exact measurement, which is difficult
> for one person to do. "If you try this yourself, I recommend doing so when
> no one is home. Otherwise, you will run the risk of someone walking in on
> you and having to witness a scene that includes a mirror, the husband's
> Stanley Powerlock tape measure, and the half-undressed self, squatting. No
> one should have to see that. It's bad enough you just had to read it.
> Also, put the tape measure away when you're done. My husband saw it on the
> bedside table and said, 'What were you measuring?'"
>
> And the tentative conclusion that has resulted from all this measuring?
> "The stereotypical ideal female--Barbie tall with Barbie big breasts--is
> the one least likely to respond to a manly hammering."
>
> Find somewhere quiet, read the book. You may be amused.
>
> BTW. a guy who died in a small town out on the coast, our obits column
> says, was named W.A.Ter Har. He is described as a "Seaside businessman."
> Seaside can be a pretty wet place. His daughters-in-law are D'Lorah Ter
> Har and Paivi Ter Har. His sons, their husbands, are plain Peter and Jeff.
> He was in the Marines, and went by "Bud."
>
> Carry on.
>
> David Ritchie,
> not dead yet, in
> Portland, Oregon
>
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--
John McCreery
The Word Works, Ltd., Yokohama, JAPAN
Tel. +81-45-314-9324
jlm@xxxxxxxxxxxx
http://www.wordworks.jp/
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