{"id":5976,"date":"2012-07-05T20:39:41","date_gmt":"2012-07-06T00:39:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/evetushnet\/?p=5976"},"modified":"2012-07-05T20:39:41","modified_gmt":"2012-07-06T00:39:41","slug":"how-to-write-about-sex","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/evetushnet\/2012\/07\/how-to-write-about-sex.html","title":{"rendered":"&#8220;How to Write About Sex&#8221;"},"content":{"rendered":"<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC \"-\/\/W3C\/\/DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional\/\/EN\" \"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/TR\/REC-html40\/loose.dtd\">\n<html><head><meta http-equiv=\"content-type\" content=\"text\/html; charset=utf-8\"><meta http-equiv=\"content-type\" content=\"text\/html; charset=utf-8\"><\/head><body><p>this was the part which struck me:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>These insights extended to matters of the heart.  A couple of years  ago, after dating a mutual acquaintance of ours had left me feeling  bruised and baffled, I sought Sister\u2019s advice.  After hearing my story,  she frowned slightly and asked,  \u201cAre you sure ________ is even capable  of the kind of intimacy you want?\u201d   Just recently, the woman was  diagnosed with a mild form of Asperger\u2019s Syndrome, which, while not  precluding intimacy absolutely, does tend to complicate it.<\/p>\n<p>By some roundabout way, it was Sister\u2019s stodginess that allowed her  to come closer to the truth than either of us could.  My own diagnosis  was that the woman was a lesbian.  In part, I might have lit on the idea  because it provided my ego with an out, but it was also in sync with my  self-consciously modern outlook, the one that sees sex, especially  exotic sex, everywhere.  Sister saw straight through to human suffering.   I\u2019ll try to remember her example the next time I feel the temptation  to be tragically hip.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>(<a href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/diaryofawimpycatholic\/2012\/07\/how-to-write-about-sex\/\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\">more<\/a>)<\/p>\n<p>Those paragraphs reminded me of <a href=\"http:\/\/www.thirdorder.org\/dec08\/evetlove.html\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">this short story<\/a>, in which\u2013among other things\u2013I suggested that the longing we see between two people, that visible absence, may not always be sexual desire. In this case it was the desire for absolution.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>this was the part which struck me: These insights extended to matters of the heart. A couple of years ago, after dating a mutual acquaintance of ours had left me feeling bruised and baffled, I sought Sister\u2019s advice. After hearing my story, she frowned slightly and asked, \u201cAre you sure ________ is even capable of [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1071,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7,10],"tags":[109,65,108],"class_list":["post-5976","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-mackerel-snapping","category-self-obsessed","tag-enemies-of-eros","tag-love","tag-my-fiction"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v21.1 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>&quot;How to Write About Sex&quot;<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"this was the part which struck me: These insights extended to matters of the heart. A couple of years ago, after dating a mutual acquaintance of ours had\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/evetushnet\/2012\/07\/how-to-write-about-sex.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"&quot;How to Write About Sex&quot;\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"this was the part which struck me: These insights extended to matters of the heart. A couple of years ago, after dating a mutual acquaintance of ours had\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/evetushnet\/2012\/07\/how-to-write-about-sex.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Eve Tushnet\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2012-07-06T00:39:41+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Eve Tushnet\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Eve Tushnet\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/evetushnet\/2012\/07\/how-to-write-about-sex.html\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/evetushnet\/2012\/07\/how-to-write-about-sex.html\",\"name\":\"\\\"How to Write About Sex\\\"\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/evetushnet\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2012-07-06T00:39:41+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2012-07-06T00:39:41+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/evetushnet\/#\/schema\/person\/ca04686b93c92257f019070302a23415\"},\"description\":\"this was the part which struck me: These insights extended to matters of the heart. A couple of years ago, after dating a mutual acquaintance of ours had\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/evetushnet\/2012\/07\/how-to-write-about-sex.html#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/evetushnet\/2012\/07\/how-to-write-about-sex.html\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/evetushnet\/2012\/07\/how-to-write-about-sex.html#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/evetushnet\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"&#8220;How to Write About Sex&#8221;\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/evetushnet\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/evetushnet\/\",\"name\":\"Eve Tushnet\",\"description\":\"Conservatism reborn in twisted sisterhood\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/evetushnet\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/evetushnet\/#\/schema\/person\/ca04686b93c92257f019070302a23415\",\"name\":\"Eve Tushnet\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/evetushnet\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/be87ff28da150cb07788911c22e42ae2?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/be87ff28da150cb07788911c22e42ae2?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Eve Tushnet\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/evetushnet\/author\/evetushnet\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"\"How to Write About Sex\"","description":"this was the part which struck me: These insights extended to matters of the heart. A couple of years ago, after dating a mutual acquaintance of ours had","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/evetushnet\/2012\/07\/how-to-write-about-sex.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"\"How to Write About Sex\"","og_description":"this was the part which struck me: These insights extended to matters of the heart. A couple of years ago, after dating a mutual acquaintance of ours had","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/evetushnet\/2012\/07\/how-to-write-about-sex.html","og_site_name":"Eve Tushnet","article_published_time":"2012-07-06T00:39:41+00:00","author":"Eve Tushnet","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Eve Tushnet","Est. reading time":"1 minute"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/evetushnet\/2012\/07\/how-to-write-about-sex.html","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/evetushnet\/2012\/07\/how-to-write-about-sex.html","name":"\"How to Write About Sex\"","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/evetushnet\/#website"},"datePublished":"2012-07-06T00:39:41+00:00","dateModified":"2012-07-06T00:39:41+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/evetushnet\/#\/schema\/person\/ca04686b93c92257f019070302a23415"},"description":"this was the part which struck me: These insights extended to matters of the heart. A couple of years ago, after dating a mutual acquaintance of ours had","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/evetushnet\/2012\/07\/how-to-write-about-sex.html#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/evetushnet\/2012\/07\/how-to-write-about-sex.html"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/evetushnet\/2012\/07\/how-to-write-about-sex.html#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/evetushnet"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"&#8220;How to Write About Sex&#8221;"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/evetushnet\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/evetushnet\/","name":"Eve Tushnet","description":"Conservatism reborn in twisted sisterhood","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/evetushnet\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/evetushnet\/#\/schema\/person\/ca04686b93c92257f019070302a23415","name":"Eve Tushnet","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/evetushnet\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/be87ff28da150cb07788911c22e42ae2?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/be87ff28da150cb07788911c22e42ae2?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Eve Tushnet"},"url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/evetushnet\/author\/evetushnet"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/evetushnet\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5976","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/evetushnet\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/evetushnet\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/evetushnet\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1071"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/evetushnet\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5976"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/evetushnet\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5976\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/evetushnet\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5976"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/evetushnet\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5976"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/evetushnet\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5976"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}