Voice over

I wanted to say that I'm truly touched by the support and encouragement so many people have shown me in the last few days. You are all right - I'll be much better off in the long run. I shouldn't have been surprised (but I was), because last year was the first year I didn't get invited to the Voice holiday party, was never included in any of the meetings with Blum, even though I was encouraged to come to the big, pointless meeting with Erik Wemple, and did, and never got a thanks or apology or anything after that whole debacle unfolded. So that's fine.

I don't even mind that much, even though I loved writing that column, but I think I deserved the courtesy of writing an official last column, a proper good-bye. I mean, even Natalie Krinsky got to say good-bye and I'd like to think even my critics would agree that my worst column was better than her best blog post for the Voice. But that's neither here nor there. I'm still honored that I got the chance to write for a paper I've been reading since high school. I was honored the first time I got mentioned in it (my first lap dance immortalized by Tristan Taormino), and the first tiny piece I did, and my very favorite part of writing for them, the Best Of issues, so wonderfully edited by Chuck Eddy and later by Lynn Yaeger and Joy Press. I was edited truly skillfully by Elizabeth Zimmer, then Darren Reidy, then later Elizabeth again and finally by Adamma Ince.

I'm proud of the columns I wrote, and I never took a vacation, and feel like I did what I set out to do. I promised myself at the start I'd never do something sexual just for the sake of the column, and I didn't. You have to learn to set your own boundaries and really figure out who you are while navigating some of these topics, and that's not easy. I don't know that I've truly figured it all out and I will say that it's damn hard to write about your personal life when sex writing, especially, is so easily misunderstood. I'm so grateful for those of you who get it, cause I don't think it's that complicated, but there are still some people who just assume I want to fuck them because I wrote a sex column. In a word: no. But as aggravating as those assumptions could be and as much as I vowed to myself to limit the writing about me and focus on other people, I did notice that when I wrote about myself and especially my struggles iwth sex and relationships, I got the most interesting responses. I feel like we all struggle with and confront and enjoy so many of the same things, albeit often in different forms, and exploring those topics continues to interest me. I have much more up my sleeve, many topics in my various notebooks I've scribbled down that I do plan to tackle, not to worry. Who I'll be tackling them for remains to be seen, but I'm not going away. Stay tuned here for the moment.

To anyone who's asked what they plan to do, really, WHY on earth would I know? I haven't been privy to anything going on there since publicist Jessica Bellucci left. I found things out by reading Gawker and, as a freelancer, most of it didn't affect me. There were plenty of times I was worried about the future of my column, but now wasn't one of them, but at this point, I'm ready to move on. Better (and more lucrative, surely) things await. Yet another reminder that I need to focus on the serenity prayer and work to better myself and seek out new opportunities, and that nothing is ever stable. I think ultimately, as crappy as it may feel right now, because who likes rejection, after all, I really will look back on this, as everyone's been telling me, as a blessing.


Here's what a few wonderful folks have had to say about the demise of my column:

Violet Blue, "please don't take our lusty lady away"

As reported on Gawker and in my inbox, the spraycan huffing editors at the Village Voice have suddenly axed one of my favorite (and in my opinion, one of the best American) sex columns: Rachel Kramer Bussel's Lusty Lady. I've always been able to count on her column for the latest sex trends, excellent writing, fierce sex-positive and grrrl-positive opinion and -- might I say -- some damn good sex column competition from the east coast. But no longer, and we should all be very, very sad. The Voice clearly has its head past its prostate. I mean, just read Rachel's Fucking and Feminism: Blowjobs, Casual Sex and Rape Fantasies are Under Attack to see what a good thing they're losing.

Here's the thing: there are not all that many sex columns around the nation, and certainly few with, ahem, balls. To have a writer like Rachel on staff writing about sex is to have something enviable: who she is and what she brings as a writer and culture critic makes her a *valuable property* -- especially on the internet, a tool she seriously know how to mix, bake and frost into delicious viral marketing cupcakes that everyone always seems to want. And unlike many other sex column writers (print or web) she knows a fuck of a lot about sex and sex culture (up to the minute), and importantly, she knows how to *talk about it*.

She closed with my favorite line ever: "let them eat cupcakes." Ah, Violet, cupcakes are for US! Why let them have that much fun?

Fleshbot, "Lusty Lady's Last Hurrah in 'The Village Voice'"

If you haven't already heard, New York's Village Voice newspaper has axed the "Lusty Lady" column penned by official Friend O' Fleshbot and spanking enthusiast Rachel Kramer Bussel. This move deprives their audience of one of the few reasons left to actually read the Voice, so obviously we think they made the wrong call.

Gawker, "'Voice' Spanks Rachel Kramer Bussel to the Curb"

We wish her the best in her search for a new column-writing gig, but we're mostly curious about who those meritocrats at the famously Ivy-obsessed free paper will be hiring to fill Bussel's fetishy Fleuvogs.

Thomas Roche

Rachel Kramer Bussel just got unceremoniously booted from her column for the Village Voice. This makes me very sad. Granted I am not entirely objective, but Rachel is one of the best sex writers working, or ever to write. I bought a (fiction, or semi-fiction) story from her relatively early in her career and continued to read her stuff, and have seen her work go from that of a bright and promising newcomer to some of the most thoughtful, polished and insightful writing about sex I've ever read, often bravely tackling issues of feminism and politics that I can't or won't even begin to address in my work because it would make my head hurt. She's an original.

Babeland blog, "Voice Columnist Ousted"

Columnist Rachel Kramer Bussel has been let go from her position at the Village Voice. Her next column will be her last. Rachel has written about fancy sex toys, spanking, fetish video shoots, boy toys, and how to keep married sex hot. I've loved reading her columns and have occasionally mentioned them here. It will be sad not to read her anymore. I certainly hope that the Voice finds someone at least halfway decent to replace her.

Posters on Tristan Taormino's message board

Rachel just announced at her blog that the Village Voice has -- without any warning or explanation -- decided to pull her original "Lusty Lady" column. The final column is scheduled for the next issue.

To put it simply, this is horrific....not only because Rachel is, in my opinion, one of the best female sex-positive columnists ever; but it sends a message that any female who dares to directly project a genuine, straight-forward approach to sex and sexual pleasure will no longer be allowed a legitimate "mainstream" spotlight.

Rachel wasn't the problem, the new ownership (er censorship) at the Voice is the culprit in my opinion. A LOT of people internally have been fired, and now they are adding some of their core writers to the chopping block.
I don't know what they are hoping to become by all their firings...
What the Voice once symbolized is hardly recognizable in the new image of the Voice. I hope that someone smarter and hipper snatches Rachel up quick!

Viviane's Sex Carnival, "Another Reason Not to Read the Village Voice: the Lusty Lady column is no more!"

I don't know how many years Rachel has written the column, but she was always one of the first things I read in the Voice, way before I ever got into anything like blogging. Later when I met her, she said to me, 'my blog isn't as slutty as yours', which wasn't really the point. She's one of my blog heroes (and now part of the gang that calls itself the Perverts' Saloon) and writes about sex in a clear and thoughtful voice.