sexuality
I am currently reading Christopher Hitchens' "Hitch 22", his autobiography (or memoirs...not sure what the difference is).
One of the things that hit me around chapter three was his frank and unabashed discussion of sexual relations when he was in boarding school. It was the type of discussion that was so rare in its candor and unembarrassed admission of homosexual relations (for lack of a better term), that my very shock at the subject matter made me question my previously held notions of open-mindedness on my own part.
In the book, he talks about how, being at a school with all boys, where they were also not allowed to talk to girls, their budding sexual desires were directed toward one another in a non-homosexual way. You'd have to read his book to understand it as he explains it better than I, but the very admission seemed, well, un-American. For some reason, we in America still have some rather Puritanical views of sexuality. The idea that "You can build a thousand bridges, but if you lay one pipe you're not a bridge-builder, you're..."
Anyway, as I was thinking about this, I stumbled upon a blog post in Towleroad in which an actor from Inception (which I've still not yet seen), said the following:
For some reason, I can't imagine an American actor making a similar admission. Moreover, it's rare to hear someone who's straight (in the broadest sense of the word) admit to being sexually pliable. What I mean to say is, it's nice to see that it's becoming more acceptable for people to question the status quo, even when it comes to something like sexuality. It's time that we, as a society, either stopped caring altogether who people sleep with (which, for me, seems a far more preferable option), or at least were more open and honest about these things. Hitchens' book and this actors comments are, in my opinion, a step in the right direction.
One of the things that hit me around chapter three was his frank and unabashed discussion of sexual relations when he was in boarding school. It was the type of discussion that was so rare in its candor and unembarrassed admission of homosexual relations (for lack of a better term), that my very shock at the subject matter made me question my previously held notions of open-mindedness on my own part.
In the book, he talks about how, being at a school with all boys, where they were also not allowed to talk to girls, their budding sexual desires were directed toward one another in a non-homosexual way. You'd have to read his book to understand it as he explains it better than I, but the very admission seemed, well, un-American. For some reason, we in America still have some rather Puritanical views of sexuality. The idea that "You can build a thousand bridges, but if you lay one pipe you're not a bridge-builder, you're..."
Anyway, as I was thinking about this, I stumbled upon a blog post in Towleroad in which an actor from Inception (which I've still not yet seen), said the following:
"The 32-year-old Inception star, who is engaged to British actress Charlotte Riley, 28, and also has a two-year-old son with a former girlfriend. But asked if he'd ever had any sexual relations with other men, the broody actor said: 'As a boy? Of course I have. I'm an actor for ****'s sake. 'I've played with everything and everyone. I love the form and the physicality, but now that I'm in my thirties, it doesn't do it for me. I'm done experimenting but there's plenty of stuff in a relationship with another man, especially gay men, that I need in my life. A lot of gay men get my thing for shoes. I have definite feminine qualities and a lot of gay men are incredibly masculine.'
The paper adds: "In an interview with Now magazine, the former party-boy who has battled drink, drugs and crime to turn his life around, added: 'A lot of people say I seem masculine, but I don't feel it. I feel intrinsically feminine. I'd love to be one of the boys but I always felt a bit on the outside. Maybe my masculine qualities come from overcompensating because I'm not one of the boys.'"
For some reason, I can't imagine an American actor making a similar admission. Moreover, it's rare to hear someone who's straight (in the broadest sense of the word) admit to being sexually pliable. What I mean to say is, it's nice to see that it's becoming more acceptable for people to question the status quo, even when it comes to something like sexuality. It's time that we, as a society, either stopped caring altogether who people sleep with (which, for me, seems a far more preferable option), or at least were more open and honest about these things. Hitchens' book and this actors comments are, in my opinion, a step in the right direction.
posted by Adam at 5:10 PM
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