Congratulations, Jessica Cutler!

I'm so happy for my friend Jessica Cutler, perhaps better known as The Washingtonienne, who even though I never see her these days, is one of my favorite people ever. Seriously, she is fun and wild and sweet and I always have fun with her. So instead of dragging my ass to San Francisco this weekend and being cranky from flying two weekends in a row, the lovely folks at Virgin America (who rock, by the way) are gonna let me push my flight back to January for free, and I get to go to Jessica's wedding!

She and I have both come a long, long way since things like this and this.

Now to figure out what to wear...


Gawker used this photo of her by Bill Wadman, which I adore

She is still pretty much my favorite reader ever at In The Flesh, from back in April 2006 before I wised up and hired someone to videotape everything.


photo by Viviane

Heads up: August 15, September 1920 In The Fleshes, and Juicy Mangos

I'm very excited for the sexy, summery lineup on August 15th. And, Michelle Mulligan's hot new erotica anthology, Juicy Mangos, which you'll be hearing from then, is out now! Scroll down to read a little more about it, or visit the Juicy Mangos blog to read some excerpts. Yummy!



IN THE FLESH EROTIC READING SERIES
WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 15th at 8 PM
AT HAPPY ENDING LOUNGE, 302 BROOME STREET, NYC
(B/D to Grand, J/M/Z to Bowery, F to Delancey, http://www.happyendinglounge.com)
Admission: Free
Happy Ending Lounge: 212-334-9676

From some very juicy mangos to sex on Fire Island and more, August's In The Flesh dives into the bedroom and beyond with steamy stories from some of New York's naughtiest (plus a visiting guest from Minneapolis). Featuring John Blesso (Sharehouse Confidential), Perry Brass (Carnal Sacraments), Catherine Lundoff (Crave), Elisha Miranda (The Sista Hood), and Michelle Herrera Mulligan (Juicy Mangos). Hosted by erotic writer and editor Rachel Kramer Bussel (He's on Top, She's on Top, Caught Looking). Free candy and cupcakes will be served and authors books will be available for sale.

In the Flesh is a monthly reading series hosted at the appropriately named Happy Ending Lounge, and features the city's best erotic writers sharing stories to get you hot and bothered, hosted and curated by acclaimed erotic writer and editor Rachel Kramer Bussel. From erotic poetry to down and dirty smut, these authors get naked on the page and will make you lust after them and their words. Since its debut in October 2005, In the Flesh has featured such authors as Laura Antoniou, Andy Mo Beasley, Lily Burana, Jessica Cutler, Stephen Elliott, Valerie Frankel, Polly Frost, Gael Greene, Andy Horwitz, Debra Hyde, Maxim Jakubowski, Emily Scarlet Kramer of CAKE, Josh Kilmer-Purcell, Edith Layton, Logan Levkoff, Suzanne Portnoy, Sofia Quintero, M.J. Rose, Lauren Sanders, Danyel Smith, Grant Stoddard, Cecilia Tan, Carol Taylor, Dana Vachon, Veronica Vera, Susan Wright, and many others. The series has gotten press attention from Escape (Hong Kong), Flavorpill, The L Magazine, New York magazine, Philadelphia City Paper, Gothamist, Nerve.com and Wonkette, and has been praised by Dr. Ruth. This is not Amanda Stern's Happy Ending Reading Series.

Rachel Kramer Bussel is Senior Editor at Penthouse Variations, conducts interviews for Gothamist.com and Mediabistro.com, and wrote the popular Lusty Lady column for The Village Voice. Her erotic stories have been published in over 100 anthologies, including Best American Erotica 2004 and 2006, and she's edited numerous erotica anthologies, most recently He's on Top: Erotic Stories of Male dominance and Female Submission, She's on Top: Erotic Stories of Female Dominance and Male Submission, Caught Looking: Erotic Tales of Voyeurs and Exhibitionists and Naughty Spanking Stories from A to Z 2. Rachel has also written for AVN, Bust, Cosmo UK, Gothamist, Huffington Post, Mediabistro, Metro, New York Post, Punk Planet, San Francisco Chronicle, Time Out New York and Velvetpark.
www.rachelkramerbussel.com

John Blesso's latest book is Sharehouse Confidential: Sex, Drugs and the Single Life Inside an Epicurean Beach House, his comedic memoir of buying and renovating a seven-bedroom beach house to distract him from post-9/11 America. This behind-the-scenes tell-all takes readers on a wild tour of his epicurean playground where a pool of New York City singles dine extravagantly and commingle beneath his communal roof. In 2006, John Blesso was not awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature.
www.johnblesso.com

Poet/novelist Perry Brass has published 14 books and been a finalist six times in three categories for Lambda Literary Awards. His work has been included in 25 anthologies, including The Penguin Book of Homosexual Verse and The Columbia University Book of Gay Literature. His novel Warlock: A Novel of Possession, won an "Ippy" Award from Independent Publisher Magazine. His novel, The Substance of God: A Spiritual Thriller, a Lammy finalist, asked the question: is our often censored urge toward sex the same urge as our urge toward a higher presence, known as God. His newest novel is Carnal Sacraments: A Historical Novel of the Future, set in 2075, when your lifespan will be determined by your job, privacy will be antiquated, and homosexuality will be permitted but only in its most sanitized and corporatized form. He teaches writing privately.
www.perrybrass.com

Catherine Lundoff is the author of two collections of lesbian erotica: Night's Kiss (Torquere Press, 2005) and Crave: Tales of Love, Lust and Longing (Lethe Press, 2007). Her short fiction has appeared in such collections as Periphery: Erotic Lesbian Futures, Lust for Life, Garden of the Perverse, Amazons, Caught Looking, Best Fantastic Erotica Vol. 1, Stirring Up a Storm and Naughty Spanking Stories from A to Z.

Under her pen name E-Fierce, Elisha Miranda wrote her debut novel, The Sista Hood: On the Mic. She received her MFA in film from Columbia University. Also an activist, film director, entrepreneur, and writer of television and film, she is the co-founder of Chica Luna Productions, a nonprofit arts company for young women of color, to create quality urban media. In 2006, she launched her multi-media production company, Sister Outsider Entertainment with creative partner, Sofia Quintero where they are developing an edgy Latina Sex and the City sitcom for television.
www.elishamiranda.com

Michelle Herrera Mulligan is the editor of Juicy Mangos: The Best Latina Erotica, the first-ever literary collection of Latina erotica in English. The collection of seven novellas was released by Atria Books this July. In 2004, she co-edited Border-Line Personalities: A New Generation of Latinas Dish on Sex, Sass, and Cultural Shifting, an anthology of essays on the contemporary American Latina experience. Michelle is a freelance writer based in Fort Greene, Brooklyn, and her articles have appeared in Time, Woman's Day, and Publisher's Weekly. She is currently working on her first novel.
www.myspace.com/juicymangosbook

And Juicy Mangos is out now! Here's some more about it, and Elisha and Michelle will be reading from it:

"Do not read this in bed or your sheets just might catch on fire. It is that hot!"

-- Zane

"Juicy Mangos is an amazingly well done collection of stories...not only a tantalizing read, but a deeply rewarding one as well."

-- Oscar Hijuelos, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Mambo Kings

Play Songs of Love

"Hurray to the writers of these clever (and revealing) stories."

-- Lisa Wixon, author of Dirty Blonde and Half-Cuban

"These stories aren't just juicy; they're spicy, sweet, seductive, tender, haunting, and hunger-inducing."

-- Rachel Kramer Bussel, editor of He's on Top and She's on Top

Book Description

Juicy Mangos will shatter your ideas of female innocence forever.

Here, the smartest, sexiest literary writers are gathered to tell stories of women at their rawest and most intimate. Each of the seven stories centers around a holiday -- from Valentine's Day to Christmas -- when these enticing characters slip out of their daily roles and take on new, daring personas: A married woman finds a back door to Eden where fantastical orgies force her to confront her true and dangerous sexual desires, a historiographer experiences a lustful affair while wearing an enchanting antique dress as an erotic disguise, a sex-toy saleswoman takes on a business partner with benefits to boost her sales.

With exotic backdrops around the world and beautiful, complex characters, Juicy Mangos is sexy enough to keep you glued to the page. But like its diverse protagonists, the stories are smart and provocative and will leave you hot long after your touch on the page has cooled.

Some heads up so you can get there EARLY. And we'll be taping it for posterity! Last time Jessica Cutler read (at True Sex Confessions, April 2006), it was a mob scene. I promise you don't want to miss this!

BEST OF IN THE FLESH EROTIC READING SERIES
WEDNESDAY, SEPTMEBER 19thNOW THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 20th at 8 PM
AT HAPPY ENDING LOUNGE, 302 BROOME STREET, NYC
(B/D to Grand, J/M/Z to Bowery, F to Delancey, http://www.happyendinglounge.com)
Admission: Free
Happy Ending Lounge: 212-334-9676

You've heard them read at In The Flesh before, now come back for round two! Audience favorites are welcomed back to the stage to read new material, so whether you caught them the first time around or not, you won't want to miss this spectacular lineup of people sure to make you laugh, squirm, and get turned on (perhaps all at once!). With Marie Lyn Bernard (This Girl Called Automatic Win), Andrew Boyd (Daily Afflictions), Jessica Cutler (The Washingtonienne), Polly Frost (Deep Inside), Todd Levin (Mo Pitkin's, The Morning News), Samara O'Shea (For the Love of Letters), hosted by Rachel Kramer Bussel (He's on Top, She's on Top, Hide & Seek). Free candy and cupcakes will be served.

In the Flesh is a monthly reading series hosted at the appropriately named Happy Ending Lounge, and features the city's best erotic writers sharing stories to get you hot and bothered, hosted and curated by acclaimed erotic writer and editor Rachel Kramer Bussel. From erotic poetry to down and dirty smut, these authors get naked on the page and will make you lust after them and their words. Since its debut in October 2005, In the Flesh has featured such authors as Laura Antoniou, Andy Mo Beasley, Lily Burana, Jessica Cutler, Stephen Elliott, Valerie Frankel, Polly Frost, Gael Greene, Andy Horwitz, Debra Hyde, Maxim Jakubowski, Emily Scarlet Kramer of CAKE, Josh Kilmer-Purcell, Edith Layton, Logan Levkoff, Suzanne Portnoy, Sofia Quintero, M.J. Rose, Lauren Sanders, Danyel Smith, Grant Stoddard, Cecilia Tan, Carol Taylor, Dana Vachon, Veronica Vera, Susan Wright, and many others. The series has gotten press attention from Escape (Hong Kong), Flavorpill, The L Magazine, New York magazine, Philadelphia City Paper, Gothamist, Nerve.com and Wonkette, and has been praised by Dr. Ruth. This is not Amanda Stern's Happy Ending Reading Series.

Rachel Kramer Bussel is Senior Editor at Penthouse Variations, conducts interviews for Gothamist.com and Mediabistro.com, and wrote the popular Lusty Lady column for The Village Voice. Her erotic stories have been published in over 100 anthologies, including Best American Erotica 2004 and 2006, and she's edited numerous erotica anthologies, most recently He's on Top: Erotic Stories of Male Dominance and Female Submission, She's on Top: Erotic Stories of Female Dominance and Male Submission, Crossdressing: Erotic Stories, Hide & Seek: 21 Tales of Exhibitionism and Voyeurism and Naughty Spanking Stories from A to Z 2. Rachel has also written for AVN, Bust, Cosmo UK, Gothamist, Mediabistro, Metro, New York Post, Punk Planet, San Francisco Chronicle, Time Out New York and Velvetpark.
www.rachelkramerbussel.com

Marie "Riese" Lyn Bernard is a half-Jewish, half-Midwestern Farmer's-Daughter freelance aspirant. She blogs at "The L Word Online" and is a Guestbian columnist on OurChart.com. Her work has appeared in The Bigger the Better, the Tighter the Sweater: 21 Funny Women On Beauty, Body Image, and Other Hazards of Being Female, Best Women's Erotica 2005, Best American Erotica 2007, the Lambda Literary Award-winning Erotic Interludes 2: Stolen Moments, Marie Claire magazine, Suspect Thoughts, nerve.com, Clean Sheets, Fresh Off the Vine, Conversely, Desdmona.com, and The Sarah Lawrence Review. She's currently looking to change the world with a gay television show called Living it Out. She's at her best on her blog, This Girl Called Automatic Win, at marielynbernard.blogspot.com. www.marielynbernard.com

Andrew Boyd is the co-founder of the satirical political campaign Billionaires for Bush and author of several ironically serious (or is it seriously ironic?) books: Daily Afflictions: The Agony of Being Connected to Everything in the Universe and Life's Little Deconstruction Book: Self-Help for the Post-Hip, both from W.W.Norton. He's at work on two others, from which he will read tonight.
www.andrewboyd.com

Jessica Cutler is best-known as the author of The Washingtonienne, both the blog and novel of the same name, which was published by Hyperion in 2005 and optioned by Sarah Jessica Parker for a television series for HBO.
http://www.jessicacutleronline.com

Polly Frost's book Deep Inside: Extreme Erotic Fantasies, was published by Tor in June. She just completely a tour of 10 cities across the country with "Sex Scenes: Erotic and Comic Tales of Hollywood," casting local actors in each city. "Sex Scenes" was co-written with her husband, Ray Sawhill. Together they also co-wrote and produced the erotic sci fi comedy The Fold this year, with director, Matt Lambert.
http://pollyfrost.com

Todd Levin is a stand-up comedian, a writer, and a severe disappointment to his parents. He performs all over NYC, at venues including The Upright Citizens Brigade Theater, Rififi, Mo Pitkin's, KGB, and Joe's Pub, and has appeared on Comedy Central's Premium Blend and at the 2006 US Comedy Arts Festival in Aspen. His writing has been published in Salon, Time Out, Esquire, McSweeney's, The Morning News, RADAR, and The Onion, and he is one of the contributing writers for the upcoming book, Gawker's Guide to Conquering All Media. He is also the proud father of a nine year-old personal web site, tremble.com.

Samara O'Shea has been writing letters since the restless age of seven. She launched LetterLover.net in April 2005 to save the art from extinction. The website led to her first book For the Love of Letters: A 21st-Century Guide to the Art of Letter Writing from the Elegant to the Erotic (HarperCollins, May 2007). Her work has also appeared in Woman's Day, Country Living, All You, and Pittsburgh magazine as well as the online magazines HappenMag.com and Hackwriters.com. She has appeared on Today in New York and on National Public Radio's the Kojo Nnambi Show.
www.letterlover.net

Media catchup (cliff notes: I'm "reliably ho-y")

More catching up this weekend but for now:

Check Phillyist later today for a link-happy interview with me about the future of my writing, sexual community, exhibitionism, and cupcakes, by the fabulous Jessica Gold Haralson.

Proper In The Flesh recap TK this weekend and February/March/April lineup announcements coming soon. I think there were 80 people or so, it was packed but fabulous and I crammed 10 readers, including myself, in and they all rose ably to their jobs. Especially Gael Greene, whose book Insatiable sold out from Mobile Libris. A magical night and I thank everyone who came (even Lena Chen of Sex and the Ivy who couldn't get in cause she's 19. (Harvard Class of '09 if you want to feel really old!) See Brian Van's awesome photo gallery from Wednesday's reading. (and check out his www.485i.com for much more.)

The Village Voice Power Plays blog announces their new sex columnists (check the comments especially from the reader who didn't even like my column!)

The L Magazine iChat about the new Voice sex column might win funniest coverage:

Asch: but, you know, they fired someone who's very involved in the sex-writing community and alternative sex cultures so they could run jokey stuff that is, implicitly, punking the whole nature of a sex column
Asch: also, people who talk about sex using locker-room metaphors like "climb back on that horse" should be shot, in the brain, with a bullet

My girl Jessica Cutler, the much-missed former New Yorker, says "Everybody Loves Rachel." Again, someone I never would've become friends with if it weren't for my Voice column and that would've been a shame. Never underestimate the power of a thank you note. The Jessica I've gotten to know since I wrote about her is, I suspect, not the Jessica people bandy around to mean some sort of filler for slut/skank/ho of the day. I've learned so much about not giving a shit what people think of me from Jessica, and she never fails to entertain me whether via e-mail or when I see her out (last time notably at Madame X for Nina Hartley's book party where the first thing she told us about the guy she was with is that he had a big cock). "Spanking Jessica Cutler" remains my favorite column from my Voice tenure (perhaps because it, in some small way, made those three ultra expensive, largely pointless years of law school seem at least somewhat useful) and you can bet that no matter what, if that case goes to trial, I will be covering it even if it's just for this blog. Here's Jessica:

I can't help but feel that losing a sex column is not so much Rachel's loss as it it is ours. The Voice has two married mommies writing about their sex lives, and it's almost as if being single is somehow passé now. So where does that leave us Lusty Lady fans? Waiting for her first book! (More on this tk.)

Viviane's Sex Carnival, "It Takes TWO Columnists"

Yep. It takes TWO married sex columnists to replace ONE Rachel Kramer Bussel. I was married for over a decade and had little or no sex, much less good sex. I'm not going to read about two married columnists not getting any. In Yoda speak I say, break me a fucking give.

Fishbowl NY Media Minutiae roundup

Flora Fling, most dedicated In The Flesh attendee ever, writes an open letter to the Voice - Okay, Flora is really the most dedicated blogger ever - she dug up the Time magazine cover featuring the two Hollywood actors Gael Green slept with tha she read about at the reading! That is so fucking cool - Flora, you rock my world

Can "reliably ho-y" be my new tagline? Professionally, I guess I am. Maybe I can make a t-shirt.

The never-ending Robert Steinbuch lawsuit

Lawyers in the house: how do you add an unknown person to a suit? This is one of those times I wish I'd finished law school and perhaps knew the answer. How is anyone ever going to be able to find out who tipped Wonkette off? What is she found out herself through googling or there were multiple sources? Would she even have those records thousands upon thousands of emails later?

From The Washington Post's Reliable Source column:

Steinbuch's Suit Has Room to Grow

The bitter and messy lawsuit against Capitol Hill sex blogger Jessica Cutler by a former paramour is snaking its way into the highest echelons of D.C. blog royalty. In a federal court filing late last week, a lawyer for Robert Steinbuch said he will seek to add Ana Marie Cox , founder of the popular political-gossip Web site Wonkette, as a co-defendant.

Cutler's explicit online "Washingtonienne" diary, detailing escapades with several unnamed men, blew up into a mini-scandal after Wonkette publicized it in May 2004. A year later -- after Cutler lost her Senate job but gained a book deal -- Steinbuch sued, alleging invasion of privacy and emotional distress. Cutler responded that she only shared her blog with four friends and did not perpetrate its broader airing. So Steinbuch is now seeking to add Cox and the as-yet-unnamed person who turned her on to Cutler's blog to the suit. Cox, now a columnist for Time, declined comment last night.

Though it's more complex than I could do it justice in such limited space, I still stand by my "Spanking Jessica Cutler" column. The way my non-legal mind sees it, trying to rectify your loss of privacy by splashing your name all over the world doesn't seem to make much sense. However, I do see the fault of the explosion of the original Washingtonienne blog lying more with Wonkette than with Jessica. Surely there are countless blogs that, were they to "blow up," would cause anguish and/or humiliation, etc., for their subjects, but they never go any farther than a few people. Let's recap via Privacy and Security Law Blog:

As Steinbuch further observed, in her blog, Cutler gave “widespread publication” to very intimate facts about their affair, including “the number of times Plaintiff ejaculated, his difficulty in maintaining an erection while wearing a particular condom, spanking and hair pulling during sexual activity (conveniently leaving out Cutler’s request of both), . . . physical descriptions of Plaintiff’s naked body, the physical details of the sexual positions Plaintiff assumed during sexual activity,” and other highly embarrassing and confidential facts about their sexual activities.

Here's a sample snippet about him from the Washingtonienne blog:

RS looks just like George Clooney when he takes off his glasses. I am serious.

Has a great ass.

Number of ejaculations: 2

He likes spanking. (Both giving and receiving.)

I put the moves on HIM. That is, I brought him back to MY place, I was the one who jumped on HIM.

Do you think it would have changed his suit in any way if Jessica had left in her own "request of both?"

and another:

So it turns out that RS cannot finish with a condom on. He can barely stay hard. So he ends up taking it off and humping away at me. Maybe I forgot to tell him that I'm on the Pill. Note to self...

I also learned that he was a cop, so he has scary police shit like handcuffs in his closet. He implied that we would be using them next time, which is intriguing, but I know I'm going to get scared and panicky. (Which would probably turn him on.)

A lot of people have asked me: but don't you think these are things the average person would want to keep quiet? Perhaps, but . . . there's a difference between not wanting something to be made public and suing someone for damages for revealing it. I know certain thngs about people I've slept with, and I try to be judicious about them, but they also know things about me. It's a give and take, a tricky balancing of trust. Also, many of my friends know things about me. If we have a fight and start hating each other, they could conceivably blog something mean or "private" about me. But then wouldn't it be my fault for telling them that? It's not a lie, and I don't see why the truth should not be an absolute defense. That's in my world, I have no idea how this lawsuit will turn out.

But as the literary world recovers from the James Freys, Jayson Blairs, and Kaavya Viswanathans of this world, all of whom seem to have profited from lying in some form, I feel like we need to question the way we seem to put sex on such a pedestal that any mention of it seems to make us feel "dirty" or exposed. It's just not such a big deal, I'm sorry. I'm getting all these emails like "wow, you like to give blowjobs." Firstly, I so rarely get to do it that it's almost like a dream or something when I do. Secondly, news flash, it's not the rarest thing in the world. Some women and men like to suck cock, some don't. Just as some like or don't like spanking, hair pulling, etc. It's not right or wrong or anything, it just is, and the sooner we stop sensationalizing it and realize that everyone probably has something "freaky" or "kinky" or whatever going on in their bedrooms, the less I think we'll care about what everyone else is up to. I wasn't saying that I'd want everyone in the world to know if I couldn't get it up, but more that it's totally common - erectile dysfunction, spanking, etc. Common enough that no one's career should be ruined, in this day and age, by sex-related "revelation of private facts." Come on! We know that President Clinton, a married man, was getting his dick sucked under his desk. If we can deal with that knowledge, we can deal with a little spanky-panky on Capitol Hill. The question, I think beyond the legal one, is not "would you want these facts revealed?" but "do people in intimate relationships with you have an obligation not to reveal them?" And I'm going to vote no, they don't.

It's so funny to even talk about this case, for me, in such abstract terms because now I'm friends with Jessica, and can even get her to publicly spill disgusting stories. Look out DC - we are invading BEA next week and I intend to let go of my New York blues and really have a fabulous time.

The Hottest True Confessions You'll Ever Hear

IN THE FLESH EROTIC READING SERIES
TRUE SEX CONFESSIONS NIGHT
WEDNESDAY APRIL 19th at 8 PM
AT HAPPY ENDING LOUNGE, 302 BROOME STREET
(B/D to Grand, J/M/Z to Bowery, F to Delancey, http://www.happyendinglounge.com)
Admission: Free
Happy Ending Lounge: 212-334-9676
http://inthefleshreadingseries.blogspot.com

In April, New York’s hottest personalities share their 100% true sex confessions. From bad sex to porn obsessions to prostitutes and more, they’ll make you cringe, laugh, and turn you on (maybe even all three at once!). Featuring comedian Dan Allen, blogger and novelist Jessica Cutler (The Washingtonienne), Dategirl columnist Judy McGuire, Columbia Spectator sex columnist Miriam Datskovsky, memoirist and editor Felicia Sullivan, and your host, Rachel Kramer Bussel.

In the Flesh is a monthly reading series hosted at the appropriately named Happy Ending Lounge, and features the city's best erotic writers sharing stories to get you hot and bothered, hosted and curated by Village Voice sex columnist and acclaimed erotic writer and editor Rachel Kramer Bussel. From erotic poetry to down and dirty smut, these authors get naked on the page and will make you lust after them and their words. Future themed nights include GLBT stories and erotic memoirs.

Reader Bios:

Dan Allen is a NYC-based comedian and writer. He has appeared on Comedy Central's Premium Blend and is a regular contributor for Us Weekly's Fashion Police. He is currently writing Kevin Bacon's biography in the sixth person.
http://taoofdan.com

Rachel Kramer Bussel is a New York City-based author and editor. She is Senior Editor at Penthouse Variations and a Contributing Editor and columnist for Penthouse and writes the Lusty Lady column for The Village Voice. Her erotic stories have appeared in over 50 anthologies, including Best American Erotica 2004, and she’s edited her own collections, including Naughty Spanking Stories from A to Z 1 and 2. Rachel has also written for AVN, Bust, Metro, New York Post, Punk Planet, Time Out New York and Velvetpark. http://www.rachelkramerbussel.com

Jessica Cutler is best-known as the author of The Washingtonienne, both the blog and novel of the same name, which was published by Hyperion in 2005 and optioned by Sarah Jessica Parker for a television series for HBO. She iscurrently working on a second novel. http://www.jessicacutleronline.com

Miriam Datskovsky is a 21 year old writer and a junior at Barnard College, Columbia University, where she studies human rights and political science. Ms. Datskovsky is the Editorial Page Editor for the Columbia Daily Spectator, authors the newspaper's bi-weekly sex column, and speaks and writes about relationships. http://www.miriamdatskovsky.com

Columnist Judy McGuire has worked a number of very odd jobs in her life, including stints as an auto-parts delivery person, a heroin ethnographer, and managing editor of the well-known stoner journal, High Times. Ironically enough (to anyone whose known her for over a year), she writes "Dategirl," a sex & love advice column, for the Seattle Weekly. In addition to print, Ms. Judy has also worked in television, her latest gig being associate producer on a Court TV documentary about the murder of punk singer Mia Zapata, called Death of a Rising Star. Like everyone else and their mother, she has a blog: http://badadvice.typepad.com

Audacia Ray is a New Yorker, writer, sex worker rights advocate, alternative model, safer sex educator and intrepid pervert. Her writing has appeared in Everything You Know About Sex is Wrong, The SexHerald, and the forthcoming First-Timers: True Stories of Lesbian Awakening. She is executive editor of the Utne Independent Press Award winning $pread magazine, writes and edits porn site reviews at SugarClick.com, and was named #3 on Fleshbot's Top Ten Hotties of 2005. Audacia blogs and shows her boobs at WakingVixen.com.

A New-York based writer, Felicia Sullivan's work has been published in Swink, Post Road, Mississippi Review, Pindeldyboz, Publisher’s Weekly, and the anthology, Homewrecker An Atlas of Illicit Loves. Algonquin Books will publish her memoir in 2007. http://www.feliciasullivan.com

Why I continue to adore Jessica Cutler

Now I can concentrate on fucking for cash and prizes instead.

This is also something I could totally see GirlyNYC saying. Jessica also extols my personal favorite, the Hitachi Magic Wind, though I think a shopping trip to Babeland is required soon as I will most likely be relying on that kind of sexual stimulation for quite a long while. The naive, silly, dorky, probably futilely romantic part of me has taken over and I actually want to fuck for love, or something like it.

Lawsuits are much more interesting to me now than they were in 1996

I'd have made a terrible lawyer, but some aspects of the law still fascinate me. Just got this July 26th filing by Jessica Cutler's lawyers via my Google news alert on "Robert Steinbuch" and found it fascinating, especially this part (bolding mine):

Steinbuch’s complaint comes too late as to all but the last blog entry concerning
him. Leaving aside the one-year statute of limitations, Steinbuch’s complaint fails to state a claim upon which relief can be granted because: (1) Steinbuch had no reasonable expectation of privacy in a sexual relationship he chose to have with Cutler; (2) Steinbuch waived whatever right of privacy he may initially have held in his sexual relationship with Cutler by consenting to Cutler’s disclosure of details of that relationship to their fellow co-workers; (3) most of the facts Cutler disclosed about Steinbuch in the blog were no longer private by the time they were described in the blog (the right of privacy with respect to the remainder having been waived); (4) the website Wonkette gained unauthorized access to Cutler’s personal blog and "publicized" its contents within the meaning of invasion of privacy caselaw; and (5) Cutler had a First Amendment privilege to discuss her own personal sexual experiences with Steinbuch, which have a logical nexus to the general topic of sex, money, and political power, matters of legitimate public interest, especially in Washington.

Steinbuch’s claim for intentional infliction of emotional distress suffers the same
infirmities with respect to the statute of limitations and the First Amendment privilege. Additionally, this claim is deficient as a matter of law because: (1) Cutler’s conduct was not so outrageous in character as to go beyond all possible bounds of decency and neither was it so atrocious and utterly intolerable in a civilized community; (2) Steinbuch’s allegations fail to satisfy the requisite level of intentionality or to establish causation; and (3) Steinbuch’s allegations of emotional distress are wholly devoid of particularity and are therefore legal conclusions masquerading as fact.

And finally, Steinbuch’s acquiescence to Cutler’s sharing of the intimate details
of his sexual relationship with her served to communicate to Cutler during the relevant period that he did not care who knew about such details. Steinbuch is thus now equitably estopped from complaining — more than a year later — about Cutler’s disclosures.

I got criticized by some S&M-ers for suggesting that privacy was a right created by the Supreme Court in 1973 in Roe v. Wade and that its value has been overrated and inflated to unreasonable levels. I was talking less in legal terms. I'm definitely pro-choice, but I think we've all seen that pinning reproductive freedom to such precarious legal grounds hasn't exactly been a surefire way to make it last. I'm certainly not a legal scholar, but I do think the right to privacy was established on shaky grounds, and, as has been argued by Catharine MacKinnon, is not necessarily a feminist victory for several reasons, which you can investigate on your own. So not only is the right to privacy not totally secure, but if we expand that out, how can we ever guarantee people total privacy? We can't, nor should we necessarily. Beyond that, we are living in an era when people are willing to give up all semblance of privacy for a shot at fame. Whether we like it or not, we live in a tabloid, gossip-fueled culture. The First Amendment protects our speech and expression about our public and private activities (see bolded part above). Additionally, the expectations for privacy as we go about our daily business have lessened as we as a society have opted for less privacy and more information. Tell-alls, talk shows, blogs and a general desire to report on everything we see and hear shows us this. How else to explain the rise of tabloid magazines and Gawker Stalker? To explain the differential treatment between JFK's affairs and Bill Clinton's? The rise of the roman a clef? To me, Bill Clinton is the prime example of that very thin line between the claim of sexual privacy and hypcorisy, and I recommend the anthology Our Monica, Ourselves for more about that. Steinbuch is claiming in many ways the same thing by admitting to the behavior in question and then asking for damages; he wants to have his pussy and beat it too.

The reason I don't condemn this is because privacy, in many ways, is a way for all of us to hide behind barricades, behind privilege, behind hypocrisy, especially when it comes to sex. With the New York magazine piece I see even more people clamoring to call Jessica names like "slutbag," and, as Girlynyc, said, Why hate on the easy girls? Even more so, it's easy to say those things from the guise of an anonymous or private setting, when we know nothing, or at least, not everything, about your sex life. I'm not saying that everyone needs to be as open as me or Jessica or any of the women interviewed, but that to expect privacy to stop at the bedroom door is foolish and, at this point, almost anti-American. We want our gossip, we want our scandals, we want our salaciousness. And I'm gonna be optimistic and choose the bright side of looking at this voraciousness: we want to know because we're curious about sex. We want sexual information in the forms of porn, books, columns, and media including gossip. We want the scoop, the dirty, the nasty, and to hide behind privacy while simultaneously calling people names, or to, say, be willing to indulge in things like spanking, brag about it around the office, and then sue for infliction of emotional distress is, to me, disgusting, hypocritical, and means that we've failed in creating a culture of real sexual choice.

All that being said, and perhaps this makes me slightly hypocritical, I'm actually not 100% exhibitonistic. I do enjoy and value my privacy, though the things I'm private about might be different than the things you are. I don't believe stating something like "I'm into spanking" really is so damaging, or that it even tells you anything much about me beyond that statement. It doesn't tell you what I'm like to hang out with, it doesn't tell you how I laugh, it doesn't tell you whether I can keep a secret or what kind of friend I am, in short, it doesn't really tell you all that much that matters to me about how I am as a person. We all have public and private sides, things we show and things we don't, and that's fine; but creating a culture that hypes sexual privacy does pave the way for sexual scandal, hypocrisy and name-calling. It makes examples out of some people while others are off doing the very same things without anyone being the wiser. Everyone wants to know "am I normal?" but we'll never know the answer and shouldn't care what everyone else is doing anyway, at least as a barometer for our own sexual desires. Instead of being so nosy about who everyone else is fucking, it would be nice if we all focused on our own sexual satisfaction. I'm not against the voyeurism, because I'm as nosy and voyeuristic as you get, but I also examine my own actions and motivations, and I try not to judge others, because at the end of the day, what you do in bed, unless I'm interested in or sleeping with you, really just doesn't affect what I do in bed.

Perhaps tangentially related: An editorial in favor of legalizing prostitution

Maybe it's time we stop feigning innocence and family values and open the legal doors to prostitution once more.

One need only look at the immense hypocrisy over sex work and adultery to see why "privacy" just isn't a cure-all. We seem to act like it's everybody else watching porn, hiring sex workers, working in the sex industry and committing adultery and yes, for some people, it is other people, but clearly not for everyone. At least some of us own up to what we're doing, and I will always admire a proud whore versus a cowardly lawyer. Just can't resist, via the last link to Bowen School of Law, bolding mine:

Professor Steinbuch joined the Bowen School of Law faculty in 2005 after several years in government and private practice. His government service includes clerking on the United States Court of Appeals and working at the United States Department of Justice. Most recently, he worked for the United States Senate Judiciary Committee. His academic and practice interests include: commercial law, ethics, law and economics, criminal law, law and government and evidence.

Library Journal

From a Library Journal roundup on first novels:

CUTLER, JESSICA. The Washingtonienne. Hyperion. ISBN 1-4013-0200-9. $23.95.
For Cutler, it was just a few quick steps from Capitol Hill aide with a scandalous blog to ex-Capitol Hill aide with a scandalous blog to first novelist with over 30 reviews or features in publications ranging from Vanity Fair (a half-page "Fanfare" entry) to the Village Voice (check out the "Lusty Lady" column). No, this is not Jane Austen, but even the
Washington Post 's venerable Jonathan Yardley concedes that this juicy tale of sleeping with the pols is "lively, funny, and agreeably in-your-face."
(LJ 6/15/05)

She's back and she's wearing Agent Provcateur

I don't know where exactly along the way I went from being slightly skeptical to being a huge supporter, but it was pretty early on. Anyway, I am so loving Jessica Cutler's new website. The girl is back and she's blogging again, but best of all, she could give a shit about what you think of her. Any girl who has a donate button saying "I need money for slutty clothes and drugs!" and who just sends a big fuck you to all the people who gave her shit for the boobs on the cover of her books by posting her own boobs, in a really hot lacy pink Agent Provocateur bra is okay in my book. The first media mention at the top of her site claims her as one of "Washington's Most Loathsome."

Seriously, I have a girl crush on Jessica Cutler, if only because I'd love just a smidgen of her devil-may-care attitude, and the way she just totally owns her actions, her self, and now, her website. This girl is smart and sexy, and please don't mistake me for saying that you should all go out and emulate her. Neither is she. I don't think anyone could weather being held up as a role model, or as an example of all that is evil in the world. People are more complex than that, and Jessica has managed to come out ahead with this without compromising who she is. She had some sex, she wrote a blog (which, obviously, MANY of us have done), and the rest kindof unfolded around her but rather than slinking away she has stuck around, not as some contrite quiet repentent soul, not skirting around what she did, but just digging in her heels and saying "I'm me, take it or leave it." And that's not an easy thing to do. As Meghan O'Rourke put it today at Slate,, "Even when a young woman feels fine about her sexual choices, she still encounters unconscious reinforcement that what she's done is wrong."

I think the more criticism of her I read, like what I read in Female Chauvinist Pigs, the more I couldn't help but take it personally. Anything you say about Jessica, or, say, Monica Lewinsky, or really any woman who does anything sexual that becomes public, really reflects on all of us. Because those critics? You know, the ones who call people like her (or me) things like slut or whore or pig? They'll say that and think that unless you're a virgin on your wedding day, and by virgin, they very likely don't mean "everything but." It's really easy to try to distance ourselves from the Jessica Cutlers and Monica Lewinskys of the world, to try to act like we're better than them or different or morally superior, but, news flash - we're not. Bill Clinton's not, Robert Steinbuch's not, I'm not and you're not.

I admire Jessica for her tenacity, her honesty, and just her sheer pluckiness. And yes, you can fucking quote me on that. But don't take my word for it (and I don't necessarily expect my readers to agree with me on this, but I think anyone who automatically criticizes her needs to reexamine the situation a little more clearly )- read her new blog.

Also: My Gothamist interview with Jessica Cutler

My Village Voice column, "Spanking Jessica Cutler"

Jessica Cutler's TV deal

And lucky me, I can call this "research." I am working on but won't get to finish before I leave a huge book roundup, so many ideas percolating in the world of late about women and sex and it's fascinating how ideological it can get from multiple angles, and Cutler's at the center of a lot of these debates, if not by name, between the lines at least.

I'm gonna just say congratulations to Jessica Cutler for her recently-inked TV deal (via Wonkette, via New York):

HBO has acquired the rights to Jessica Cutler’s The Washingtonienne, a book based on the salacious blog she wrote while working as an intern on Capitol Hill; Sarah Jessica Parker will co-produce

Also:

My interview with Jessica Cutler at Gothamist



Washington Post article "Kiss and Blog" by April Witt

The messages warning Jessica that her private little joke had just gone very public came from a girlfriend over on the House side. Reading it, Jessica says, she was too stunned to wonder how Wonkette had discovered her blog. Instead, the portion of Jessica's brain that had evolved to help humans survive marauding mastodons screamed: Kill the blog! Kill the blog!

Washington Post chat chanscript with April Witt, where she starts with the following:

April Witt:
Good afternoon. There has been a huge outpouring of response to this story, and I don't think it's just because sex sells. I think Jessica's tale touches on a lot of issues of gender, sexuality and power that the culture is still trying to work through. When Brandi Chastain ripped off her jersey after she scored the decisive penalty kick against China to give the U.S. victory in the Women's World Cup final, it sparked a national debate about women's empowerment and body image. Now we have female Olympians posing nude - or scantily clad - in men's magazines and nobody is much complaining. That surprises me. Personally, I cringe at the notion of female Olympians posing in Playboy. Why would women who have real power and accomplishment in their lives want to pose for the sexual gratification of strangers? To me that is undercutting your power. Yet in yesterday's New York Times swimmer and sportscaster Diana Nyad opined that these women are redefining what it means to be sexy "They are both athletic and sexy - the new sexy," Nyad writes. Granted, Jessica's chosen sport seems to be an event we can't name in The Washington Post, but I do think the reaction to her touches on some of the same questions about what it means for women to be sexually empowered. I doubt we'll come up with any answers today. But I suspect the conversation won't' be boring.