Sunday, July 15, 2012

As a man I am not sure if I should find this humorous or threatening?

One of the more eye opening things that I have learned while working predominantly with women over the years is that they re not even remotely as prudish or innocent about sex as they like to project.

Even in environments that you would think would be fairly asexual I have hard women talk about things that have made even somebody as jaded as myself blush a deep crimson.

In fact women may turn their nose up the very idea of porn as "degrading to women" and "disgusting," but if men ever took the opportunity to read some of the "romance novels" sold over the counter at Barnes and Noble, or even Wal-Mart stores, they would very likely be surprised by the inclusion of bondage, submission, and the flirtation with rape that is often a part of the storyline before the heroine is rescued by the bare chested, gainfully employed, and monogamy minded hero.

And just as women can feel threatened by their mate's sexual arousal at the sight of the gymnastic qualities of the silicone enhanced, overly peroxided bimbo making obviously exaggerated vocal responses to coitus, so too can men feel emasculated by the image of the always unbuttoned shirt of the pirate with the heart of gold just waiting for the right woman to tame his wicked ways and turn him into a 9 to 5 businessman forever in lust with his soul mate, and whose burly bronze chest will never grow moobs, and whose cheese grater like abdominals will never soften.

Hey whatever floats your boat I always say.

37 comments:

  1. Anonymous10:24 AM

    As an environmentally-conscious woman, I don't go for battery-operated toys. The hand-blown glass toy I have is beautiful, artistic, earth friendly and VERY effective. Very. EFFECTIVE.

    *grins*

    O hai, Gryph. ;-)

    ReplyDelete
  2. Anonymous10:39 AM

    If you are not sure,there must be a reason.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Glass? We have to compete with glass now?

    Glass is highly malleable. That hardly seems fair.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous11:20 AM

      Glass is where it's at.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous11:22 AM

      Great marketing ploy? Sure!
      But... Naw... Gryph:
      If my elephant memory serves me correctly, that element of surprise is more exciting than whatever... but then again, it has been over two decades now, and the new generation may think differently.
      Ask someone who is not an ancient, and I am sure you will get many answers... :)

      fromthediagonal

      Delete
    3. Glass is so much more sanitary because it's easier to scrupulously clean.

      It'll even go in the dishwasher :)

      Delete
    4. Anonymous4:14 PM

      Truth.

      It had me at 'dishwasher safe'... ;-)

      Delete
    5. Anonymous9:28 PM

      The learnin' never ends on this blog. Thanks for the info 10:24!

      Delete
  4. Anonymous10:46 AM

    Gryphen,

    Okay, maybe I'm just one of your more thick, slow-witted (but loyal) readers, but I don't understand the connection between the photo and the text. I gather that it's some type of aisle display, likely in the media area of a store in the UK, with batteries on top and what appears to be three in a series of discounted paperback novels.

    I'm familiar with the title from the best-seller lists but as a non-fiction reader, I usually totally ignore fiction stuff. Is it the content of the book that makes its placement within the shoppe inappropriate or is your post a critique of a goofy retail strategy of "just puttin' the shit out on the floor wherever you can fit it"? Or do I need to get my head out of my ass and read this novel, which appears to be a trilogy of books?

    Sorry to be obtuse, but if it's obvious to everyone but me, I'll just take a nap and then have a cup of coffee to re-boot my brain for the afternoon. It wouldn't be the first time something went completely over my head. Thanks.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Leland10:58 AM

    10:46, the book(s) in question are the three books of the Fifty Shades of Gray series currently driving people absolutely bonkers. It is one of the most talked about series in a long time! It is called filth, porn, erotic, insulting and any number of other descriptions. It has been banned in some libraries as being ...well, we won't get into that.

    Needless to say, the display DEFINITELY is connected to the story he wrote!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous11:50 AM

      Thanks, Leland.

      I'll have to download one now to at least skim. Apparently I need to get my head out of the business and national news a little more often and use the other side of my brain. Or something.

      Delete
  6. Sharon11:01 AM

    This is marketing at it's best.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Leland11:10 AM

    I agree with Sharon. Whoever added the battery display was brilliant! And has a wonderful droll humor!

    ReplyDelete
  8. WakeUpAmerica11:12 AM

    No clue what the picture is about. I'm guessing something sexual, but the picture isn't very helpful as you can't see what is on the books even if it is enlarged.

    ReplyDelete
  9. mal·le·a·ble (ml--bl)
    adj.
    1. Capable of being shaped or formed
    2. Easily controlled or influenced
    3. Able to adjust to changing circumstances; adaptable

    Doesn't sound half bad, Jesse.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Actually, turning that pirate into a 9 to 5 guy sounds pretty boring. I think I'd rather join him in the pirate life. Yo ho ho!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. You took the words right out of my mouth...I never get why any woman wants to get some sexy,mysterious pirate/bad boy only to turn him into a drab poot with a crewcut,standing around the office water cooler discussing baseball.

      Delete
  11. If you're curious, Anne Rice wrote a trilogy of female erotic novels.


    The Sleeping Beauty novels as A. N. Roquelaure.

    www.amazon.com/Sleeping-Beauty-Novels-Claiming-Punishment/dp/0452156610/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1342378820&sr=1-2&keywords=beauty%27s+punishment

    I mean, just for your personal education in further understanding of female sexuality.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous11:46 AM

      Jean Auel's Earth Children series. No pirates, just Jondalar the Cavehunk. Double trilogy.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous11:47 AM

      Over to amazon to order.

      Delete
  12. Anonymous11:28 AM

    I LIKED 50 Shades of Grey, once I got past the sophomoric writing style. But I only made it through two books...got a little boring after that. As someone who has been in a monogamous marriage for 35 years, married to a guy who never really got very inventive, I found the stories arousing. In fact, very arousing. I would have enjoyed some bondage I think, with him. Women need to trust the man... many guys would do it with anyone they found attractive.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous12:06 PM

      Damn straight.

      Delete
  13. Anonymous11:49 AM

    Gryphen, you should find it neither humorous nor threatening - your response should be appreciative.
    Spouse (of decades)usually gets a "very good time" when I've had time with such a good book - and he hasn't had to do ANY of the wine me, dine me work - at least not those particular times.

    ReplyDelete
  14. Anonymous12:14 PM

    Only amoeba and their ilk don't have an interest in sex. It still is a shock when 90-year old Great Aunt Agnes cracks a salty remark. But otherwise us 70-somethings are pretty accustomed to such talk (and reading habits) from both sexes.

    HOWEVER, the appalling sequence of super bowl ads featuring mindless looking scantily-clad females with absurdly inflated breasts, DID cause at least one male of my acquaintance to get damn little in bed for a while.

    Porn turns some people on, objectifying females turns me OFF.

    ReplyDelete
  15. Anonymous12:19 PM

    I liked 50 Shades of Grey, and read the other 2 in 2 days. I admit, I got a little bored during the 2nd book, but the 3rd was my favorite. The sex, bondage, etc.. seems to be what everyone talks about, but the story is much deeper than sex. The story was much more about psychological trauma to a young teenage boy who finds the right person to care about him.

    ReplyDelete
  16. Anonymous12:23 PM

    I've always found a clear defined line between pornography and romance novels.

    Porn usually always based around sex with sex, more sex and ending in sex, no emotional involvement or no story line other then sex.

    Romance novels are based on growing emotions culminating in love between two people (usually a man and woman) or three people (two men/one woman) or which ever partnership works. However, when the two main characters meet, they are together throughout the turmoil of the storyline of fantasy, mystery, murder, suspense, historical or .... and any secondary characters that are included in their sexual togetherness adds to the story, not detracts, and it they all end in a happily ever after.

    A lot of the romance stories also have a 'futuristic' look twenty or forty years down the road where they look at their children, grandchildren and how age put lines on their faces, they might have gained some pounds but overall, they are still in love AND that is romance.

    Do the main characters meet, fall in love and everything is perfect emotionally everytime in the first few pages? Nope. The romance books are full of hard headed men and women walking through amazing storylines full of action, guns, swords, spaceships, normal day crimes and so forth until they are a team.

    There is no comparison between pornography and romance novels, romance novels kicks pornography ass every time.

    ReplyDelete
  17. This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
  18. These were badly written, but weren't ever really meant to go mainstream. They were written as fan-fiction.
    Things got pretty steamy here too, which isn't too bad after all these years. I'm in my late 50s too.
    As my better half said, "every time I think I have you figured out, you throw something new at me"
    And that ain't all bad.
    I read something in a review on the 50 Shades series, in response to some male reviewer going off on it.
    A woman responded, reading these make wives want to have sex with their husbands, a LOT. So, well, if you're a guy and you don't like reading this sort of thing, then don't. I don't usually read them either. But..... at my 35 year old daughter's recommendation, read these I did!!
    **smile**
    For those disturbed by the bondage, this is bondage very very light.

    ReplyDelete
  19. Anonymous2:24 PM

    I highly recommend rechargeable batteries.

    ReplyDelete
  20. Well said treblekleff. I couldn't agree more. Things got a little steamy around here also, too. And I am 66!

    ReplyDelete
  21. Athena3:39 PM

    So ... women are "not even remotely as prudish or innocent about sex as they like to project" ?

    Maybe women have discovered that if they express their views about sex, any men within earshot automatically assume it means "come and get it" ?

    Why assume they're pretending to be either "prudish" or "innocent" about sex when they might be simply trying to avoid any possibility of sexual assault ?

    And I KNOW proof-reading's a pain, but :

    "I have hard women talk about things that have made even somebody as jaded as myself blush a deep crimson."

    ... THAT verges on being a Freudian slip.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Or simply avoiding having to deal with the still alive and well double standard.

      Delete
  22. Caroline Jumper in San Jose, CA4:17 PM

    What the heck do you mean "as they like to project"?

    And if you think we women do, maybe you should take it personally.

    I don't project anything I don't mean. And I pursue what I want.

    Gryff, you missed on this one.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous7:59 PM

      Gryph, not Gryff.

      Delete
  23. Hmmm...as a woman I'm not sure how to interpret this one.

    I've never projected to be "prudish" or innocent,I pretty much shoot from the hip,HOWEVER...as any woman can tell you,one tiny little remark even vaguely alluding to ESS EE EX and too many men think it means you want to "do it" right then and there,if not sooner.So no,women are not as prudish as some think we "like to project",but we have to be discreet about ESS EE EX in some environments,*especially* in the workplace,and if I have to explain why,well.....

    As someone who just narrowly escaped being sexually assaulted in my early teens,I personally have never had a "flirtation with rape".I don't know any other women who have,either.You seem to be confusing rape with fantasies of seduction.NOT the same thing.

    And I'm not so threatened if my boyfriend gets aroused at some image on TV or the web,because in the first place it's just a biological reaction,and I'm still the one he's actually with.Nor is he "emasculated" by the pirate with the bronze chest,since the pirate isn't the one I'm actually making love with.

    I haven't read 50 Shades,btw.Not much into romance novels.I prefer horror:-D

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous6:51 AM

      In that case, you should read the Laurell K. Hamilton books about Anita Blake, Vampire Executioner.

      Delete
  24. Anita Winecooler9:29 PM

    Targeted Merchandising at it's best!

    ReplyDelete

Don't feed the trolls!
It just goes directly to their thighs.