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The Best in Sex with Rachel Kramer Bussel
Rachel Kramer Bussel is a prolific erotica writer, editor,
journalist, and blogger. She serves as senior editor at Penthouse Variations, hosts the In the Flesh Erotic Reading Series, and wrote the popular "Lusty Lady" column for The Village Voice. Her books include Crossdressing, Hide and Seek, She's on Top and He's on Top. She spoke with us about her newest anthology, Best Sex Writing 2008,
a collection that opens the bedroom door and explores the complexity of
modern sexuality with thought-provoking, cutting-edge essays and
articles.
Kara Wuest: What do you think makes good sex journalism?
Rachel Kramer Bussel:
I think first and foremost an ability to think outside the box, to
cover sex in new ways. Sex will always be in the news but finding ways
that sex intersects with politics and speaks to people beyond "have
more orgasms" is essential. I think the biggest thing anyone, reporter
or reader, can do is expand their minds when it comes to sex; no matter
how much sex you've had or experienced, there are plenty of people who
view sex entirely differently from you. I was looking for those
different types of experiences for this book - to make people think and
squirm and even disagree with what's there, but most of all, to truly
expand what we think of as "sex."
KW: What trends or themes do you see in Best Sex Writing 2008?
RKB:
I think there's a real yearning for a sense of identity through sex,
and there are a lot of people in the book who do wild, outrageous
things to get the sex life they want. It's also largely about
challenging the status quo and saying, "This is who I am, deal with
it," whether that's coming from black porn star Lexington Steele or
people like me working in the "pink ghetto." There's a sense of
exploration, such as Kelly Rouba's "Tough Love," about people with
disabilities and sex. Also challenging what's seen as "given," whether
that relates to gender identity, in the case of the eunuchs in Ashlea
Halpern's piece or Paul Festa questioning whether circumcision makes
men's penises less sensitive. A lot of these are hot button topics that
are ongoing and will continue to be, because there are no easy answers,
but writers like Ariel Levy, exploring older women sleeping with
teenage boys, or Michael Musto, questioning the entire system of "the
closet," are asking some very vital questions about desire and honesty
and sexuality that should give us all food for thought. Scott
Poulson-Bryant and Rachel Shukert look at sexual stereotypes,
specifically, African-American men being "hung" and Jewish women being
alternately prudes and oral sex goddesses, and don't just give
knee-jerk reactions, but look at some of the truths behind the
stereotypes.
KW: The intersection of sex
and the law was a recurring topic in many of these pieces. Is it
impossible to talk about modern sexuality without acknowledging how
much trouble you can get into?
RKB: Well, I think sex and the law will always be intricately tied together. We tend not to think about the ways our sexuality is shaped
by the law until it's infringed upon. I love that Ariel Levy's excellent article "Dirty Old Women" is also included in Best Crime Writing 2007, and in many ways she looks at why and whether and how statutory rape works when it's female on male, and some of the assumptions, legal and cultural, around it. Trixie Fontaine's look at not just the legal implications of menstruation porn, but the financial ones, was fascinating, and showed that money doesn't trump
all. It's hard to say who the villain(s) are in Ashlea Halpern's piece
and she does a great job showing that this doctor who acted outside the
law by performing sex change surgery may have seen himself as doing
something positive (or else just didn't care and wanted to make money).
I found Kelly Kyrik's piece about those who go after child sex
predators fascinating as well, because those working on the side of the
law have to try to get into the heads of pedophiles. And all of these
are in stark contrast to "Sex in Iran," where there's a huge
discrepancy between the letter of the law and what's actually happening.
KW: Which contributions were the most surprising to you?
JL:
Jill Eisenstadt's "To Have of Have Not: Sex on the Wedding Night"
surprised me because I wasn't looking for it. It wasn't a formal submission to the book or something I'd bookmarked along the way. I
happened to be reading an anthology called Altared,
about women's takes on modern weddings, and found her insightful essay
questioning whether anyone gets busy on their wedding night anymore.
And Ashlea Halpern's "Battle of the Sexless" gave me chills. I'd never
really thought about eunuchs before, and her piece is both
heartbreaking and fascinating and touches on the law, medicine, gender
identity, and so much more. I know many people won't be able to get
through it, and it's a very visceral, tough piece, but all the more
provocative and powerful for it.
KW: You write and edit both fiction and non-fiction. Do you have different approaches to the material depending on the genre?
RKB: I definitely wanted the pieces in Best Sex Writing 2008
to be more varied than what you might find in an erotica collection.
WIth fiction, I think it's okay if there's some overlap as long as the
tone of the stories differ, but here I wanted topics that were distinct
from each other so each piece could truly stand out. I think this one
is definitely a case of the whole being greater than the sum of its
parts. I wanted to include personal accounts, such as Greta Christina's
"Buying Obedience" and the excerpt from Gael Greene's memoir Insatiable, as well as journalism that went far beyond the status quo.
Nonfiction is really my first love and I discovered so many great
publications and authors and articles while researching this book, but
I like that I get to do both; fiction is very freeing because you can
literally make up whatever you want, but sometimes I enjoy having the
grounding of facts that I do with non-fiction.
KW: Were there any topics that did not make it into Best Sex Writing 2008 that you were hoping for?
RKB:
Yes, I'd been hoping to include something on abstinence only education,
as well as something on the many recent sex scandals we've seen. There
were also a few good pieces about sex offenders that came out last
year, notably one in the New York Times, and for various reasons, these topics didn't make it in. Part of what I hope to do with the Best Sex Writing 2008 blog
is post updates about both the pieces and topics in the book as well as
other sex-related issues in the news, of which there are many. I also
liked some books that presented a different view of sex, such as Joan
Sewell's I'd Rather Eat Chocolate: Learning to Love My Low Libido, and could see her voice in a book like this as well.
KW: What does the future of sex hold?
RKB:
This is a huge question! I think people are really still discovering so
much about what turns them on and also now have access to so much more
information about sex that gives them free reign for being voyeurs. I
feel like I am seeing "Sex and the City" referenced everywhere, as if
sex didn't exist before the show, and while I think it opened up a lot
of conversations, there's so much more to sex than the world contained
in that show.
KW: What's next for you?
RKB: I'm starting to get into teaching erotic writing, and am doing so in March at Dark Odyssey: Winter and in April at the "unconference" Sex 2.0, and am hoping to do more of that.
I'm still running my monthly erotic reading series In the Flesh
and have Zane, Stephen Elliott and Nick Flynn coming on February 21st,
and lots of great authors lined up in future months. I plan to start
podcasting and maybe even vlogging some of my stories this year as well
because I think people really value hearing erotica read to them, as
opposed to just reading on the page (though personally I'm such a
reader, I actually don't love being read to).
I've got lots of books coming out, pretty much one every other month- next up are the companion volumes Yes, Sir and Yes, Ma'am, which have the hottest covers I've seen - next to Best Sex Writing 2008. I was thrilled with the response to He's on Top and She's on Top and think these will be even better. I also have Spanked: Red-Cheeked Erotica
coming out in July, and since that's one of my favorite erotic
activities, I couldn't be more pleased. I'm wrapping up my first novel,
Everything But..., which won't be out for another year or so,
but I'm very excited about that, and doing some stories for national
magazines. And blogging! In addition to the Best Sex Writing 2008 blog,
I've started some other ones related to specific anthology topics and
am finding it so fascinating to really dig into a given topic, so you
can check these out:
Crossdressing blog
Yes, Ma'am blog
Yes, Sir blog
And of course my main blog, Lusty Lady. After that, who knows?
Also by Rachel Kramer Bussel
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