The Home of Steven Barnes
Author, Teacher, Screenwriter


Friday, June 06, 2008

Sex in Florida

Listening to political talk radio these days is both gladdening and sad. Gladdening for obvious reasons. But listening to all of the middle-aged (and older) women pouring out their grief about Hillary Clinton breaks my heart. The fact that so many of them seem to factor his race VERY highly in their ire does not escape me, even a little. But that's beside the point. Everyone deals with their life on the level they are living it. These ladies are so hurt that they see sexism peeking out from every gesture, every word, every action...and makes it a little difficult to tease out the genuine concerns. The thing that saddens me is the number of them who (in my mind) lie to themselves about how long it will take to get another woman candidate. Generations? Bullshit. That sounds EXACTLY like black folks who claim that white people are so evil that "nothing will ever change." So sad not to rejoice in the victories of your own and previous generations, or to have so little faith in humanity that one believes an entire segment of society lays awake at night trying to figure out how to keep you down.

I don't know what to do about this. Do they really think that Clinton is so much smarter and stronger than other women? Really? Do they really think that men are such evil bastards? Do they really believe that the 40% or so women who voted against Clinton were brainwashed? Maybe. I don't know, but the rage and grief and sense that they were robbed...I can't help but think that this all relates to how they see their own lives, for the pain they had drowned in hopes for a female president...perhaps Hillary in direct reward for all she put up with from Bill? Clearly, to a number of them, the universe just tilted.

All I can think is that they underestimate their daughters and sons. This is all working out. I think that's pretty clear, unless one is believes the basic nature of humanity is evil, in which case I genuinely feel sorry for you.

##

We talked about "Sex And The City" yesterday. Here's a question: what do you think is the best movie made from a television show, with or without the original cast? The worst?

##

Wow. A teacher in Polk County Florida just got hauled away for having sex with multiple teenaged boys at a party. One might well ask what the hell's going on here: are more teachers really having sex with their students, or are we just hearing about it?

There was a teacher at my old high school, quite attractive, who I learned after graduation had had sex with several students. All of the students were for all practical purposes, grown assed men. And I spoke to at least one of the guys, and he laughed about it. I've spoken to other men (and women) who had sex with teachers. Some of them thought it was great, others that it was exploitative. But every single one of them has had, by their own reckoning, real problems establishing a mature, lasting, intimate relationship. Could be coincidence.

In the new Tennyson book "In the Night of the Heat" we deal with this a bit. Now, personally, I think it's worse for a male teacher to have sex with a female student than for a female teacher to have sex with a male student. If girls didn't get pregnant I wouldn't say that, but I do believe the wiring is different there. However, it can't be really good either way.

Does anyone out there know of a case where someone was having inappropriate sex like this in grade school, but went on to have a perfectly healthy love life?

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

No contest. Serenity/Firefly.

Probably by necessity.

Nancy Lebovitz said...

I think of grade school as meaning elementary school (grades 1 through 6). Do you mean it to include grades 1 through 12?

Unknown said...

Serenity/Firefly.

Actually, no one I know IRL has ever told me about any sexual encounters with teachers (as opposed to unrequited crushes in the one direction or rejected advances in the other).

Anonymous said...

Dewey married a 14-year old student when he was a teacher- Robert Heinlein used this as an argument against Mrs Grundy.

duke.glosgow said...

I won't support such illigal matters. Actually i dont know whether these are happening or not. But i have learnt a lot of articles about Sex in Florida. It would be an eye opener for a lot of Americans and will know whom to vote for.

_____________________
Duke Glasgow
Florida Drug Rehab
Florida Drug Rehab