I do not know whether this is true or verifiable, but I recall reading that Colin Powell had considered running in the Republican primary against W. but that his wife, Alma, was concerned that her depression might become an issue in a presidential election. Therefore, ultimately, he declined.

Outside of Cruz having a horrible personality and platform, I can’t respect him precisely because his wife had a breakdown and he has just persisted in campaigning anyway.

Ted Cruz, your mother doesn’t want to be there. Let the poor woman go.

Is he capable of speaking without it sounding like he’s acting? I’ve seen more convincingly natural performances in high school theater. I know that all candidates are putting on a show to a degree, but his constantly cloying delivery is really troubling. I genuinely suspect that he’s a psychopath, in the technical…

So much this.

For a lot of people, kink is a way of dealing the very things that make them feel afraid or uncomfortable. There can be value in exploring the scary stuff in a controlled setting with other consenting adults — it sort of defangs the fear. It makes total sense to me, given how many women have experienced…

I have a feeling some willful ignorance was involved. I’ve read too many stories that were not explicitly about Kink.com but were about safety/consent issues at an unnamed major kinky porn studio in L.A. (and they are THE major kinky porn studio in the US, period) to seriously believe no one noticed this behavior.…

Right? I am always mystified by this idea that kinksters are just totally ignorant of why they get off on what they do, or haven’t bothered to think about it. If what you want is to be dangled from the ceiling while someone hits you and calls you names, it’s unlikely you are just going to shrug that off like, “Meh,…

uhhh...

I did not say that porn is the only determining factor in everyone’s kinks. It’s very obviously not. But I think a woman who is sexually abused (or just abused) and finds that that affects her kinks could absolutely “blame” the patriarchy.

The appropriateness of it is entirely beside the point. As women, in this culture, we learn about sexual violence young. She did. I did. It’s unavoidable. It’s on the nightly news. It’s in the media that our parents consume. I don’t blame my friend for that because she was fucking 7 and you don’t blame 7-year-olds for…

They’ve been putting that tour on for tourists for years and years. Do you honestly think they’d actually let their tour guides allow random folks walking through see evidence of their fuckups?

As a straight woman it isn’t my place to judge GLBT sexuality, but I have had some gay friends who did not believe their sexuality was inborn, but rather that it was partially shaped by childhood influences, culture, etc. Others, of course, “always knew.” I also have a trans friend who does not believe he was “always”…

Wow, thanks for your very useful and not at all condescending or oversimplified explanation. I guess as a feminist I had just never thought about “consent” before. Woopsydoodle!

You’re the only one saying “brainwashed.”

... right. Culture didn’t influence my friend. Just as I’m sure it doesn’t influence you at all, and you don’t influence it. Who do you think participates in and promulgates culture, anyway?

There’s a difference in degree between the assertion that I’m making and what you’re reading into it. “There’s no way our kinks are free of patriarchal influence” =/= “our sex lives are ALWAYS and ONLY patriarchal revictimization”

As a domme, I can tell you that many male subs still have patriarchal BS simmering in their brains. It might take a different form but it’s there. Like the numerous male subs I’ve known who think fucking a woman is defiling or disrespecting her and that a powerful woman will mock/reject their cocks. And don’t get me…

I fully understand your perspective. However, I don’t think anyone said rape fantasies are completely created from patriarchy, just that patriarchy INFLUENCES them. To say that patriarchy has a role in creating and maintaining the fetishes which a person has is fundamentally distinct from saying that patriarchy is…

I haven’t read all of your replies, but I’ve read enough to see a couple of big flaws in your logic.

Officially, maybe, but really Teena is right, at least for some places. Do you know how common the sexual abuse of teenage boys by adult men is in Afghanistan?Apparently, pretty much every Afghani army base and police station has “tea boys”.American soldiers are told to look the other way about it, because it’s so…