It’s the 12th century and you want to have sex …

… but you are afraid for your soul. What do you do? Here’s a handy flowchart!

From Brundage's Law, Sex, and Christian Society in Medieval Europe

(This went around on the blogosphere last year, but I wanted to tag it here for use in class next term.)

2008 World Tour, continued

I’ll be speaking as part of a panel at Dragon*Con this year. I don’t have a day or time yet, but the paper title is: “Hustler and Tijuana bibles: desire and objectification in the Watchmen”.

Abstract: When Sally Jupiter shares the Tijuana bible devoted to Silk Spectre with her daughter, Laurie Juspeczyk responds with disgust, rejecting it as sexual objectification. Similar concerns arise in the conflict between the lesbian couple which erupts into violence over the purchasing of Hustler. Vilification of traditional expressions of male sexuality is explicit in the Watchmen; Laurie is clear and forceful, her mother apologetic, telling Laurie only that she can’t understand what it is like to have most of life behind rather than ahead of her. Moralizing male characters also express Laurie’s sentiments, especially Rorschach with his general contempt toward any expression of sexuality. However the 1980s, when the Watchmen appeared, was a time of intense conflict between anti-porn and sex-positive feminists, with the latter arguing that free sexual expression has positive benefits for women. Rarely does the Watchmen present only one side of any issue. In this presentation I trace the appearances of the sex-positive position in the Watchman; finding it perhaps surprisingly in the depiction of Laurie’s own relationships as well as in Sally’s experiences, the interactions of the lesbian couple, and the relationship of Rorschach’s therapist with his wife.

Slides and text to be posted closer to d-day*.

*delivery-day. See how that works?

It turns me on that I turn you on, philosophy style.

This puts Romeo in a position to notice, and be aroused by, her arousal at being sensed by him. He senses that she senses that he senses her. This is still another level of arousal, for he becomes conscious of his sexuality through his awareness of its effect on her and her awareness that this effect is due to him. Once she takes the same step and senses that he senses her sensing him, it becomes difficult to state, let alone imagine, further iterations, though they may be logically distinct. If they are both alone, they will presumably turn to look at each other directly, and the proceedings will continue on another plane. Nagel, Sexual Perversions

And yes, he does later compare this to Gricean reflexive intentions in communication.