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Letters
Friday, April 4, 2008 12:00 AM

Less sex, more intellectual intimacy?

Tracy Clark-Flory on whether waiting till marriage leads to better conversations with your spouse.

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Friday, April 4, 2008 08:06 AM

Intellectual Intimacy

Bah humbug

Friday, April 4, 2008 08:40 AM

Tracy

Is good looking though. I think I could feign a little conversational intimacy.

Friday, April 4, 2008 08:50 AM

Sophomoric

"... not only anti-feminist, but also anti-male."

... not to mention anti-intellectual!

Only someone who is sexually naive would believe that intellectualism and eroticism have no place together, especially on a college campus.

Back when I went to such a school, public life on campus was plagued by wanna-be Republican talking point echo-bunnies writing columns for the official school rag. A topic of particular interest was the irresponsibility and promiscuity of unwed parents. To the endless amusement of the rest of us, two such budding right-wing script enthusiasts themselves became expectant parents out of wedlock, thereby providing a superb education in the entire cycle of conservative hypocrisy.

It's not that you have to have sex in order to be smart. But the all-knowing condescension about sex by those who professed to never having experienced it was as pervasive on campus back then as it appears to be today — and as sophomoric.

Friday, April 4, 2008 09:05 AM

On Current and video journalism

The format is still frustrating, though seeing the clip on Video Dog did lead me to the original Broadsheet post that I had missed, so that was good.

It's not that Tracy Clark-Flory is bad in front of the camera. She's fine, and as always it's nice to see people whose primary qualification for being on screen isn't simply being glib and flashing a lot of pearly white.

It's just that it's slow and distracting to have to hear her thoughts instead of read them. It takes roughly the same amount of time to get through the clip as it does to read the Broadsheet post — and the latter has ten times the nuance.

So, okay, the video clip is an extension, rather than a reiteration, of the original argument. And blurring the lines of professional journalistic caste — video versus print — is good. But is more really added to the discussion this way?

And above all else, if Salon is linking to Current, why doesn't the Current post link back to Broadsheet? Fair is fair. Salon should be getting its props.

Friday, April 4, 2008 09:47 AM

?

What's wrong with pushing your religious views on others? That's like saying, why push your anti-racist, anti-patriarchal views on others? Why can't you just let people be bigots? If you believe that there's an ethical way to lead your life, it seems only natural that you'd want to encourage others to live ethically.

Friday, April 4, 2008 12:16 PM

there is a limit on the amount of emotional intimacy that a straight male can develop and sustain

with a woman who isn't sexually attracted enough to him to want to sleep with him and in fact it will always be suspected (given that we don't live in Afghanistan and therefore that women can choose sex if they want to), when the strategy that you describe is employed, that she harbors an active aversion.

Friday, April 4, 2008 12:25 PM

hate to bring this up but sociobiology sheds real light on the gender issues here

females need female help to successfully reproduce (raise their children to adulthood) almost as much as they need sex (and real help may be harder to get than sex). For this reason females have an instinctive need for non-sexual friends that is almost the equivalent of their need for romantic relationships and sex(or maybe greater). Men don't have this direct instinctive need. Straight men are in little doubt that romance and sex take precedence over other social needs and interactions (the case where men neglect women in order to pursue status enhancing activities is the exception that proves the rule because the ultimate instinctive goal of these activities is more and better relationships with women). Women are "confused" on these points. Not anymore though, you can thank me later.

Friday, April 4, 2008 02:49 PM

Awful camera zoom

For Pete's sake, respect us enough to just let us see and hear the person making the comments. Our attention span is not so short that we need rapid camera zooms and unzooms or other jiggles or doodads in order to jar us into paying into addition. It's very distracting.

Friday, April 4, 2008 03:09 PM

More intellectualism DURING sex!

Why do people think sex has to be silent or full of grunting noises? I say, read the great literature before, during, and after sex. Ever see a beautiful naked woman read the works of William Blake? Trust me, you'll really gain an appreciation for Blake. Try it!

Sunday, April 6, 2008 07:13 AM

Now, that is an honest approach..

Or maybe not. I always flinch when I read about the manipulations people will use in the guise of "improving" their relationship. This smacks of the fifties and that morality. Sadly, I have married men friends who are in those type of relationships now. They are unhappy, their wives are unhappy. I wonder if it has anything to do with no one being honest about their needs? Naaaaaah, probably not..

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