Sex Wars Catfight

Yesterday, my "Sex Wars" piece ran on the Daily Beast.

At Salon's Broadsheet, the always savvy Tracy Clark-Flory offered up her typically nuanced take.

"Women might be able to make out with another girl at the bar, get spanked, called dirty and demeaning names -- but those things are hardly transgressive in our (pornographic) sexual culture. Is it OK for them to want to spank and demean a man? Is it cool if they expect their boyfriend to perform oral sex, but don't return the favor? What about if she expects an orgasm every time but doesn't care a whit about giving them?"

At Jezebel, Megan Carpentier proffered her view on the subject with the grace of a felled wildebeest stumbling to its knees on the Serengeti floor.

"The patriarchy hurts men too. Damn, that just slipped out. Sorry, Susanna, I guess I just can't stop myself from caterwauling about it. It's so easy sometimes — but I guess you probably noticed that when you were writing your story."

In the end, Debauchette twittered the true insight of the night.

"Funny how jezebel discourages men from voicing rape fantasies, then chalks up their silence to the patriarchy. Jezebel: the new patriarchy."

The Daily Beast

My first piece for the Daily Beast, "Sex Wars: Sluts vs. Losers," in which I virtually mud wrestle with Grant Stoddard over the current state of the sexual double standard, is online.

"Over the years, the mainstreaming of pornography, the rise of the Internet, and the single-handed crotch-flashing efforts of Britney Spears have brought sex to the forefront of public discourse like never before. Yet, despite all this so-called 'progress,' I’ve found that it’s women who remain subjected to the sexual double-standard. The evidence is written across the Internet."

Read: "Sex Wars: Sluts vs. Losers."

The Writer's Life

I'm a freelance journalist. Over the last decade, I've written over a hundred articles and appeared on TV over a hundred times. These days, I'm looking for work in the freelance writing sector. Can you help? As you can see by the sidebar to your left, I've written for Details, Harper's Bazaar, and Radar, the San Francisco Chronicle, the LA Weekly, and the New York Post, Salon, Wired News, Nerve, and many more. Primarily, I'm a culture writer. I've covered art, fashion, movies, comics, technology, and sex. I've done straight up newspaper writing, trend-oriented magazine pieces, celebrity profiles, personal essays, and blogged-for-dollars. I've written for print and online, for publications in America and abroad. Along the way, I've written regularly for various venues as a columnist or a contributor. Today, I'm looking for writing work that falls into any of these categories. Please feel free to email me with leads, questions, or comments here.

Clayton Cubitt Interview

JPG: The Magazine of Brave New Photography has posted my profile of photographer Clayton Cubitt, aka Siege, online. Issue 12: Fashion, edited by designer Alison Kelly of "Project Runway," will be out soon.

Recently, his work has taken a new turn. He has begun "degrading" his images. The results bring to mind the experimental films of Stan Brakhage, who painted on and scratched the film surface to dramatic effect, and "Decasia," a 2002 film by director Bill Morrison created out of found silent film footage that is actively deteriorating. This new work—in which shards of light streak across a model's face and shooting vectors intertwine with whirling hairdos—are as enamored with desecrating beauty as they are invested in paying it homage. In this case, his inspiration came from a most unlikely source. In 2005, his mother, a resident of Pearlington, Mississippi, a small town located not far from New Orleans, was living in a new home Cubitt had spent his savings buying for her six month previous. Her home and all her belongings were destroyed by Hurricane Katrina. His subsequent efforts to help his mother recover from this devastating loss, his repeated tours through this fallen city in shambles, and his experiences creating portraits of the survivors he encountered there deeply moved him and forever changed his view of the world. "The more recent work, the personal and the fashion work," he reveals, "where I'm literally degrading the quality of the image—injuring it, damaging it—is a result of Hurricane Katrina, what it's done with New Orleans, and what it's done with my family. It's that notion of beauty—not in spite of decay, but because of decay. It becomes so horribly beautiful that you can't look away."

Bloodsuckers

THE PORN STORY

Number of Publications Pitched: 21

Number of Newspapers Pitched: 4

Number of Newspapers That Responded: 0

Number of Liberal Political Magazines Pitched: 4

Number of Liberal Political Magazines That Responded: 0

Number of Female Editors at Online Publications Pitched: 5

Number of Female Editors at Online Publications Who Responded: 2

Number of Times Female Editors at Online Publication Passed the Pitch on to Another Female Editor at That Online Publication: 3

Number of Female Editors at That Online Publication Who Said They Didn't Understand It: 3

Number of Female Editors at That Online Publications Who Said No: 1

Number of Times I Thought About Giving Up: G

Number of Magazine Editors Who Stated They Would Get Back to Me in a Month: 1

Number of Magazine Editor in Chiefs Who Responded Two Weeks Later at 8:11 PM on a Saturday Night Wanting to Talk on the Phone: 1

Number of Editors Who Said They Were Not Interested, but If They Were, What Do I Charge?: 1

Number of Editors Who Did Not Get the Pitch Because Their Email Program Thought It Was Spam: 2

Number of Editors Who Said They Liked It: 1

Number of Editors Who Said Yes: 1

Extreme Porn Crackdown

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Here We Go Again

Oh, here I go. The train is leaving the station. Yea, though I walk through the valley of porn, I will fear no evil for thou art with me.

Of Midgets and Men

About a week ago, I went back to freelance writing. I've been doing a lot of pitching, and emailing, and networking. I've been doing it for a decade, so it's nice to be back in the saddle. My first piece is for Radar. Apparently, midgets are key. I'm looking for other gigs, so if you're an editor with work or a writer with a lead, please feel free to contact me.