Support AlterNet
Do you value the information you're getting from AlterNet? Please show your support with a tax-deductible donation.
Feedback
Tell us how we're doing.
In the Mood For MoSex
Corporate Accountability and WorkPlace:
Today's Economic Crisis in Historical Perspective
Democracy and Elections:
More Unfinished 2008 Election Business: Verifiable Vote Counts
Steven Rosenfeld
DrugReporter:
A New Approach to Drugs Would Save New York Hundreds of Millions of Dollars
Gabriel Sayegh
Election 2008:
Franken Lawyer: "We Are Going To Win"
Sam Stein
Environment:
Forget the Polar Bears -- The Climate Crisis Is About All of Us
George Monbiot
ForeignPolicy:
What Venezuela's Regional Elections Really Mean
Olivia Burlingame Goumbri
Health and Wellness:
Obama's Health Care Reform Plan Is Based on the Clintons' Failed 1990s Model
Marie Cocco
Hurricane Katrina:
From the Bayou to Baghdad: Mission Not Accomplished
Amy Goodman
Immigration:
Immigration Reform After Bush: Let's Put an End to Punitive Policies
Roberto Lovato
Media and Technology:
Born Digital: Understanding the First Generation of Digital Natives
Doron Taussig
Movie Mix:
Love Bites: What Sexy Vampires Tell Us About Our Culture
Sarah Seltzer
Reproductive Justice and Gender:
The Hymen Mystique
Carole Roye
Rights and Liberties:
Ban the Cluster Bomb
Brian Cook
Sex and Relationships:
Sex Ed for Seniors
Sue Katz
War on Iraq:
The Dilemma of Foreign Prisoners in Iraq
Ma'ad Fayad
Water:
Corporate Water Abusers Should Not Be Trusted As Stewards of the World's Water
Wenonah Hauter
People don't discuss porn much. They certainly don't watch it in public, in groups of up to 15, with their clothes on. Yet I'm watching a group do just that, view a film of a man bonking a young woman he's just picked up on the road. His white heinie bobs up and down like a volleyball on a small but turbulent sea. Due to bad lighting you can't see much of her except her stockinged legs. Her girlfriend spies from the bushes, eagerly rubbing the crotch of her dress. The viewers are all smiling indulgently, the way you would if you were watching the cat try to open the door. They're charmed. This is the cutest goshdarn fuck flick any of them ever saw.
That's because this movie was made in 1915. It's silent: there's no groaning or squishing, just panels that keep you abreast of the plot (porn plots through history being as extraneous as the Braille on the drive-through bank machine). The film is being broadcast in the Museum of Sex, or MoSex as it's known, one of Manhattan's newer sources of culture and a fun one at that. (No offense, but would it kill you other museums to have some nudes that get greased up and move around?)
My initial experience with MoSex mirrored a lot of people's initial experience with actual sex: a) "Cherry Pie" by Warrant was playing; b) the people who took my money were very accommodating, and; c) five minutes in I was really confused.
I had a self-guided audio tour, explanatory signs, ambient sounds and the exhibits themselves to absorb. The net result was overstimulation, which can ruin a sexual escapade faster than a bucket of well-aimed ice water. Plus they could have introduced me to the new idea of a sex museum with something inviting -- something sleek or cuddly or velvety -- instead of starting out with a dead prostitute. I've had boyfriends who have made some klutzy segues into sex (including one who clicked his tongue like he was calling a horse), but none ever tried to seduce me with tales of a dead hooker, a subject that will dry up your juices quicker than a roll of Bounty.
This hooker, Ellen Jewett, was murdered in New York in the early 19th century. You get the idea from this exhibit, titled "NYC Sex: How New York City Transformed Sex in America" (running through July 3, 2003) that hookers played a pretty big part in 19th century NY sex. They were popular enough to have their own guidebooks, such as "Guide to the Harem or Directory to the Ladies of Fashion in NY and various other cities, 1855."
The museum also features the wet blanket antics of active prudes, like Anthony Comstock, the "professional meddler" who succeeded in getting contraceptive ads and sales, abortion instruments and blue photos banned. So every era has its Falwellian fruitcakes as well as its hunks, pop stars and sexual pioneers, who tend to be more fondly remembered than the meddlers. Margaret Sanger is not forgotten, nor is Julius Schmid, a sausage maker who sold leftover casings as condoms, or "skins" as they were then known. Schmid eventually founded the Sheik and Ramses brands, but not before moving up from sausage casings and making his rubbers out of latex.
Liked this story? Get top stories in your inbox each week from AlterNet! Sign up now »
| More News and Analysis: | ||
|
Ban the Cluster Bomb Rights and Liberties: More than 100 countries have agreed to stop using them. Guess which one hasn't. By Brian Cook, In These Times. December 4, 2008. |
The Dilemma of Foreign Prisoners in Iraq War on Iraq: U.S. troops routinely confiscate the passports of non-Iraqis they arrest, making it impossible to prove they are in the country legally. By Ma'ad Fayad, Asharq Al-Awsat. December 4, 2008. |
Untold Story of Election 2008: The Death of the NRA Rights and Liberties: Among the big losers in November were the NRA and the myth of the once-feared "NRA Voter." Reform of our gun laws is on the way. By Alexander Zaitchik, AlterNet. December 4, 2008. |