The Smithian

“Isn’t eating an artichoke just like sex?”

…a rewarding wonderland of the forbidden, and of society’s attempts to keep it so, despite their inevitable failure. It is a mural sometimes done as miniature, sometimes as epic, but always with a craftsman’s hand—a sprawling story told with uncommon precision and purity of expression.

more.

…a close look at the sexual lives of men and women in the Middle East. Combining original research with first-person stories from housewives, young virgins, activists and sex therapists…a detailed account of a veiled and sensitive aspect of Arab society.

an interview with the author, here.

…what’s sure to be the best sex comedy of the year about nuclear war between India and Pakistan…Even amid the wondrous variety of contemporary Indian fiction, Suri’s work stands apart, mingling comedy and death, eroticism and politics, godhood and Bollywood like no one else.

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Iqbal Hussain, 62, is a controversial figure in Pakistan, not only for his paintings of sex workers but also because of works that proffer scathing commentary on Pakistan’s inclination toward a more and more religiously strict and intolerant society. And while the more liberal-minded art aficionados might appreciate his paintings on an intellectual or aesthetic level, they rarely purchase them.

more.

…I remember feeling, and understanding, the fear that drove some parents in the schools to wish to ban The Color Purple. I realized, given the sexism in our culture, that some of the complainers were probably people who had at some time sexually abused children.  Or, they had been sexually abused themselves and could not bear thinking about it, as adults. There were also those who felt the language, or way of speaking, of their parents and grandparents would best be forgotten, since it was not “correct” standard English speech. I actually felt a lot of compassion for everyone. Black men had a fear they were being trashed in the character of Mister and had no faith that he could redeem himself.  Which he does, by novel’s end. The lesbian nature of Shug and Celie’s relationship was especially hard to bear for people who believe sex, like marriage, should only occur between a woman and a man. It was a lot. And yet, for me, those considerations were all secondary to the overarching expression in the book of spirituality and the assurance found by many of the characters that the divine is all around us in Nature.

more, from Alice Walker in a new interview at Guernica.

This is…the story of the invention of the personal vibrator in Victorian England. And, yes, it is fact based…And like all the best romantic comedies…there’s more going on here than meets the eye. It’s also about women’s rights, personal realization, and the difficulties of overcoming hidebound, entrenched ideas.

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FX is beefing up its late-night programming, adding a weekly show starring comedian W. Kamau Bell to the roster this summer. Chris Rock will serve as executive producer for the show, which…will “dissect politics, pop culture, race, religion, the media and sex.”

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…utterly arbitrary things can now be pleasurable. Mere ideas can be pleasurable.