Then Joanna wrote:
> No, it's not leftist culture; it's "asexual" U.S.
> culture. Americans who know how to flirt or be
> comfortable about their bodies are few and far
> between.
I think you are both right. I think there is a lot of confusion in American culture over what is the line between healthy sexuality and respectful behavior toward women. This is particularly true in activist/leftist circles. So you get men who are absolutely petrified around women. Anyway, this applies at least to that subset of activists who are "politically correct". Politically correct men make me puke and politically correct women make my dick limp, so I try to stay shy of that crowd. I like to hang out with people who love life and bodies; hey, I know we're fallen but it's the only game in town that I can be sure of :)
An Italian female friend of mine who is a novelist (she is considered a "feminist" novelist in Italy) was very struck by what she saw when she visited me in the Bay Area one time. She made the remark to me that here (in the Bay Area) in feminist circles everything was about the male. When I asked her what she meant, she said that she found that the women engaged in so much male bashing that in the end their movement ended up being centered on men instead of being centered on their own realization. That impressed me as an interesting observation. Maybe there is some truth to it. If it is true, the it is another example of negativity gone bad.
I dont know if it is because feminist ideas are less pervasive in europe or not, but in any case there does not seem to be the above problem of sexual politics-at least it is not as pronounced- in Europe (at least with France and Italy. I dont know enough about Latin America to even have that much to say. I also think you have the northern european influence in American culture that has a bad effect on how people live in their bodies.
-Thomas
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