Decent
Harem fantasy
It’s more entertaining to read a negative review than one that is lukewarm or even positive. Except of course if the reader of the review if also the author of the book under review.
I’m not sure why this is exactly; probably it has to do with Schadenfreude but I guess it is also a relief for some that there are books you can skip without a sense of guilt.
I’m aware that most people skip books happily, anti-intellectualism has been cool for a long time.
“The second plane” by Martin Amis was trashed in the daily New York Times. In yesterday’s book review Leon Wieseltier does a good job of convincing the reader that “The second plane” was a mistake.
Wieseltier writes: “Surely we must be able to imagine, not only for the sake of our literature but also for the sake of our security, that there are sexually satisfied enemies of decency and modernity. And enough about those patient virgins in the sky: the threat from suicide bombing, and from the political cultures that prize it, is founded on deformations more worldly and more substantial than a harem fantasy.”
Mr. Wieseltier has a point, although I do think that sexual frustration in certain societies is more than an imaginary problem. But while reading this paragraph I wondered how many people actually are sexually satisfied.
Think of a period in your life that you were sexually satisfied. Did this satisfaction make you a more decent person? Or was the satisfaction merely a distraction?
talking
I'd like to talk to you about this. Can you email me? Thanks E BenedictMore seriously now, to know I can have decent sex & affection makes me … indeed more decent, I think.
(decent sex = sex without brutal violence nor too much guilt & shame, I mean)
Excite the mind and relax the body.
Totally satisfied
After being bashed & smashed for writing about the unspeakable on this here very blog I felt totally satisfied, in whatever meaning you want, to know some teacher got a mere180 hour punishment (doing silly sociable tasks) for having 0.8 million sexuallly explicit pictures of minors on his harddisk.How bizar the inner works of justice operate. They ought to be shot, those judhges I mean.
Sheers ;(
Margot
Sexual satisfaction exists, but it is very short-lived.Oscar
Yes, those few minutes "after" are the only five minutes in life where one get's to see the real character of a man, as he isn't driven by sex.Margot
Does that mean that all women telling me they like my character just want to have more sex?Margot
It is during those minutes that his desire to leave you is the greatest.Sander
You are so much nicer than I imagined you to be.Rutger
Put your coat on, we'll go look for your sense of humour.I don't believe sexual satisfaction as it contradicts with the orgasm which still is "le petit mort"
I think every product or act is overrated in our society nowadays, positively or negatively. A society of pushers and morality knights.
Arnon
I enjoy your columns more when you give someone a good thrashing , like AFTh Vanderheyden (is that his name?) . It even inspired me to actually read his diary.Pure Schadenfreude, I'm afraid, not really something to be proud of.
Margot
Are you not more interested in my "real" character? You can put your black bikini on.Margot
Maybe it has something to do with me masturbating just minutes before posting my comment.Sander
That's funny. I masturbate while reading my comments.@ Rutger
That's what I call narcissist.Arnon
At any rate, I think the question should not be whether or not sexual satisfaction makes one more decent, but, rather, whether decent behavior adds to one's sexual satisfaction.Mieke
Obviously. Unless, however, one regards writing and language as the realm of the Other. One can never coincide with oneself.Rutger
I'm coming.I enjoyed your essay “What I Learned About Sex on the Internet”. Never heard of that kind of Tantric Biblical sex, you describe. Thanks.
@Jan Thys
To take periods of abstinence also adds tot the satisfaction. It's the most decent thing to do.Indeed, as the Dutch say “Honger is de beste spijs” (hunger is the best food?), although too much hunger does not work. (I know, by the way, because I was starved sexually for many years)
And do not forget: ‘A decent man is not only descent in victory but also in defeat’.
Decency, straight ahead!
Going through such a phase can be hard, but it ain't a bad sauce in life. Those who have known deprivation tend to appreciate the food more. It must be difficult for people who have had nothing but instant gratification to relate to others and be decent.
Dens
Please keep in mind that women have hands too.No, you're right. I once had a girl who did me like my own hand. That was odd.
There is wisdom in your words. My respect.
