So where's the article?

The teaser is so titillating. Wish the link linked to an article.

http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/SavageLove?oid=153164

If I were a writer and found out that Debra Dickerson wasn't reading me any more, I'd paint my ass red and dance in the street out of sheer joy. To quote Eddie Murphy in the old "Mister Robinson's Neighborhood" sketch, "I'm so glad the bitch is gone!"

...won't someone please think of the furries?!

Some guy likes infantilism a bit too much and you've retreated? Presumably his wife knew about his proclivities before she married him... I see nothing in her letter to justify a fear that you're going to fall for a man on the fetish down-low.

And just cos Mr. Savage has seen (or at least read) it all, why assume he's done it all? As a long-time reader, it's obvious to me he treats all sexual expression seriously, but not necessarily equally. If Dan and his partner regularly enjoyed half the experiences he tackles in his column, I'd be impressed.

So you realize you have a boundary. How amazing! Some people (myself included, from time to time) feel like there's something wrong with themselves if they can't totally understand/enjoy everyone else's kinks. But that's idiotic. Just because I don't get birdwatching doesn't mean I can't train for marathons. Everybody's got their something, Ms. Dickerson, and if it ain't yours, just smile and wish them luck.

Anyway, I thought that was half the point of Savage Love... proving that rather than a system of "repressed"/"open," the range of sexual expression exists on a spectrum. This article goes for wry humor but comes off a bit asinine.

Those of us who live in Seattle fell out of love with Dan a long time ago. For some it was his defense of the shooters at Columbine (serves those bullies right!), for others it was his declaration that all bi-sexuals were just confused homosexuals. But nearly everyone who may have had a little soft spot in our hearts for Dan had an icky feeling when he came out FOR the war in Iraq.

Because, near as we can figure it, he believed that since Islam doesn't like gays, gay marriage, or gay adoption, all Muslims are opposed to him, and by extension everything good. Therefore, bomb the hell out of the Iraqis. That'll bring them around to our Western values!

Which means that he's as insipid and uninformed a single-issue voter as your most virulent pro-Lifer.

Oh Dan. Go back to being cute and saucy. Superficiality serves you well. Profundity doesn't.

It turns out that Debra Dickerson is Salon's year long April Fools joke on all of us.

What a waste.

When I discovered you, Dan Savage -- wonderful sexpert, faggot you -

Is there any reason why this is acceptable from liberal Salon, but not Ann Coulter?

I just can't believe that such a terrible writer could get paid for writing this. This isn't journalism, it's just narcissistic navelgazing. I don't give a flying fuck if you, Debra Dickerson, don't care for Dan Savage's work. Nor do I care that Rebecca Traister got acne and cramps from smoking cessation. This isn't journalism. Get a fucking blog!

One the one hand gay men and straight women have a common "enemy" i.e straight men, which causes women to assume that gay men will always or should always be on their "side". On the other hand gay men and straight men share an attitude towards sex that women generally don't, and which women love to pretend was invented by men to oppress women; when gay men have all the same attitudes it makes it hard to say it's all about women, though amazingly many do still try. There's a male equivalent: gay men, or in this case A gay man, are "allowed" to tell women things which straight men are not and it's good for the truth to get out, on the other hand it's kind of humiliating to have to rely on a fag to defend you from/explain you to women.

Daniel, Dan Savage uses the word "faggot" all the time. He used to start every column with "Hey Faggot" and asked all his readers to address him that way (although he stopped doing that a while back, probably when his column became more popular). So I think Debra Dickerson's use of the term was in reference to Dan Savage's use of it.

I love reading Dan's column (and listening to his podcast) even though I'm the furthest thing from a wild child. (I was a virgin into my 30's, which makes me someone Dan has called an "abnormal deviant".) I'd like to think Dan has helped me become more open minded, even if I didn't put it into practice (actually I was open before, just uninformed about the great variety of sexual desires!) But I think everyone has a "kink too far", and even Dan acknowledges that. I wouldn't have a problem with the diaper guy, but I couldn't deal with someone into domination or masochism.

Another good reason to discuss your sexual desires before you commit to someone!

If you talk the talk, you better walk the walk. This sounds to me like, "I love fetishists, as long as I don't have to interact with them," and threatened with the prospect of having to interact with them, Dickerson covers her ears, and says "lalala."

The best part is -- whether you like it or not, fetishists are out there.

Black people address each other as the n-word all the time. It doesn't mean I have the right to use that term. White people lost their n-word privileges. And especially given the black community's hostility to homosexuality, I would say straights, especially black straights, have lost their f-word privileges.

What Savage does with the f-word is no different than what the black community does with the n-word. He's simply trying to reclaim it as something ironic and benign. If a straight called him that, I'm sure he'd understand the malicious intent behind using the term.