Man on Wire

Why Men Cheat

Have you been hoping for a really cringe-inducing, terrifically long feature story about why men cheat written by a middle-aged guy ever since the Spitzer story broke? Well, your prayers have been answered. See "The Secret Lives of Married Men" by Philip Weiss in this week's New York.

The sad tale begins, "I’m 52 and have always struggled with the desire for sexual variety," and primarily consists of Weiss wandering from pseudo-expert to married male friend, all the while wondering what would happen if he cheated on his wife. "If my marriage broke up, my wife could easily move in with a sister. I’d be as lost as plankton." Mmm. Plankton. The Baby Boomer's new sexy.

How a story like this makes it to the page is beyond me. I wonder about the pitching process. Did this guy and Moss figure this one out over one too many drinks at the Spotted Pig?

And why, above all, did it seem like a good idea to have a man who did not cheat on his wife tell the story of those men who do?

In Letters from Johns, men cheat because they're lonely, because they're bored, because they're afraid of dying, because they're afraid of living, because they don't know how to say what they want to say, because of the blow jobs, because of the naked women, because of the thrill of it, because life is hard, because fucking isn't, because of all the things that you and I can't see because we're not there in the room with them.

Men cheat because they can.

New York Dolls

Check out photographer Elisha Cook Jr.'s shots of Dolls, Mannequins, and Models as seen on the streets of New York City. His subjects include disembodied sex dolls, streaking mannequins, and a headless Jenna Jameson. It's Hans Bellmer poupées gone wild. (via Naked City)

Are You Carrie Bradshaw 2.0?

Company: The Hired Guns (Recruiter)
Position: Editor for a New Women's Sex & Relationship
Site Location: New York, New York
Job Status: Freelance
Salary: Not Specified
Ad Expires: November 6, 2007
Job ID: 834093
Website: http://www.thehiredguns.com

Description:

Title: Editor for a New Women's Sex and Relationship Site
Client: Major Media Network
Location: Flexible--completely dependent on you and your laptop
Type: Long-term contract

According to HBO, "No one captures the lives of the lovelorn and the love-seeking better than columnist Carrie Bradshaw." That is, until now...

Sex & Love

The "Sex and Love" issue of New York magazine hit newsstands today. I am underwhelmed. (In the spirit of full disclosure, I was approached by the magazine about contributing to this issue and pitched a few stories, including one on this NYC-based hooker blogger, who is working on a book proposal and has her own literary agent.) Something about the way East Coast writers cover sex is different from the way West Coast writers cover sex. NYC sex writing is grim and gritty. Maybe that's because Manhattan is, as the Observer recently pointed out, a "porno wasteland." There's something different about the mindset of California born and bred writers, like me. I grew up in a state where Porn Valley is real. Because of a guy named Harold Freeman. The one thing of interest to me was this portrait of porn star Savanna Samson. The article makes no reference to the sex star, but the story in the photograph speaks a thousand words about the realities of porn life.