Tracy's defense of casual sex should come with the caveat that it has been filtered through the lens of a privileged, well-educated, well-adjusted young woman. Even though I abhor the purity movement and everything patriarchal and disgusting it represents, I also think that casual sex has been immeasurably damaging to some of us who are 1.) poor, 2.) have problems with alcohol, and 3.) don't tend to fall in bed with these artist/trial lawyer types who are maybe, at least on some level, kind and smart and empathetic partners.

I say this as a white woman from a lower-middle class background who spent her early to late teens in the early 90s having not-so-precocious sex (you mean there are more positions than missionary and doggie-style?) with lower-middle class black boys who were sometimes cruel and fiercely possessive and forceful and disloyal, but oh so tantalizing to the group of white girls I used to run with. One close friend and I are the only people I know of from back then who somehow managed to escape this shitty life. And why didn't the other girls get out? Babies. They're what happens sometimes when people not as resourceful as Tracy have sex.

Then, through my early to mid-twenties, I spent a good deal of time going home from bars with mostly white men who I sometimes knew but sometimes didn't, the vast majority of these encounters fueled by alcohol. Though I won't go into detail, they were not always completely mutual either. I used to feel AWFUL the next morning-- not just from the hangovers-- but from the pervasive feeling that I had somehow wronged myself. And this is where the purity movement AND the privileged girl casual sex apologias have just absolutely no clue. I wasn't regretful of my virginity (how ridiculous), and I wasn't empowered by my sexuality; I was more of a hostage to it. And, as pathetic and small and cliché as this sounds, I really just wanted to find someone I could love.

Like Tracy, my casual sex days ended when I slept with my (now) husband on our first date. I like to think that I would have gotten my shit together and stopped sleeping with every guy who paid the least bit of attention to me even if I hadn't met him, but I'll never know. And though I appreciate that my life experiences, good and bad, have informed the person I've become, you would never catch me writing a cute article defending casual sex, either.

It may be fine for gals like Tracy and others like her who have been lucky and have had safe experiences, but it wasn't for me.

This is beautifully written and insightful. I hope you're not reading these dumb ass letters.

I love your letter- it is a perfect rebuttal to these horrendous anti-art/woman/poor/human letters.

It sometimes stuns me that I read the same Web site as people filled with such judgment and hate. They truly deserve a world without art.

Oh, and as another pointless MFA'er (who has parlayed that into a professional writing career), I'd like to say that Heather's writing is actually quite lovely-- unlike many of the creative nonfiction pieces Salon runs. Even the title sings like poetry.

What a vile human being, Sarah Palin is. My co-worker told me about this the other day, and I'm glad that Salon is spreading the word about this inhumane practice. As an animal lover, I'm uncomfortable with hunting in general (and yes, I realize the Michael Pollan-types of arguments that by not hunting, we are disconnected from the food chain)-- but this is just straight up disgusting.

I guess she only values human life.

It's great to see this article in Salon the evening before I head downtown to Veterans Memorial to vote early in Columbus. Though I'd hesitated to vote early for purely selfish reasons (I love waiting in line with folks from my overwhelmingly Democratic neighborhood, talking with them and generally feeling optimistic together), I cannot help but remember 2004 when I witnessed several people having to get out of the long line to vote because they were going to be late for work.

I cannot in good conscience, with my fairly flexible job, take up a spot in line that could allow someone who works at, say, Wendy's, to have their chance to vote. I'm glad to hear there is a similar camaraderie at the early voting site. And though I recognize my area of the state differs from most (like the letter writer from a Cleveland suburb who sees many McCain signs), I should note for those in Park Slope and the Castro, that we have an overwhelmingly positive Obama vibe going on here in central Columbus. It is beautiful.

I only hope that what I see is not a mirage come election day. I don't think I can take it.