A Blast From The Past

 Hey there fellow nerds!  Ya wanna read a surprisingly enlightened exploration of love, homosexuality and the fluidity of gender from 1908?  No shit, kiddies - nineteen oh eight.  Surprisingly, us folks used to be called 'Uranians'.  Or 'Urnings.'  (Insert Rowan and Martin joke here:  How much are Greeks Urning?  About a buck fifty!!!)  

Admit it. That's some funny shit right there.

Here the linkie:    https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/53763

Everybody needs to belong to EGutenberg.  It is The Tits.

I'm trying to write a story about a lesbian, so I'm doing my research.  I mean, I was there, but being Bi, I just went around everywhere and waited for the vibe to happen.  I wasn't entrenched in the lesbian community.  (Yes.  In Oregon in the 1970's, lesbians lived in trenches.  It was rough out there.) There was a definite culture going on, but I never stuck around long enough to learn the secret password and handshake.  I just remember really, profoundly, shitty, grim, horrifying bars full of women in casual wear dancing to 'I Can't Go For That' by Hall and Oates. I did learn how to close dance with another woman, though, which was fun.

I read Stone Butch Blues years ago, and I only related to half of it, as you'd expect.  A lot of what was being described was not what I saw, either. It being the Seventies in Portland, I was around a lot of younger women trying to rewrite what being queer was all about, and it seemed to be about wearing casual clothes and dancing to Hall and Oates. And boycotting Coors (booo) and drinking Anchor Steam Beer (yay! support your community!)  Then I met my girlfriend, and coasted on that for a year.  

So, I study, and in my travels found this little gem of a book.  It's not a terrifically engaging read- BUT! there are some awesome passages so it's worth the slog, lil buckaroo; don't be lazy! - until you get to the Appendix, where there are a number of testimonials from gay men and women of the day.  They're amazing to read.  Everyone is a little leery of coming right out and admitting to the sex, but consider the times.  And then there's those that do own it, and that is absolutely mind blowing.  Think of how brave you had to be to even write that letter, or talk to the author!

________________________

As long as I'm here I'm going to add this issue:  Women wearing mens' underwear. Specifically tighty whities. This, I do not understand and never have.  Fitted uns are constructed to fit certain bodies.  If you are female and you wear tighty whities, (y-fronts to you Brits) you are going to have this floppy pouch sticking out in front.  It feels weird and it looks weird and it is unpredictably breezy at times. 

Yes, I have worn mens' tighty whitey-style underwear on a number of occasions. Once, out of of sheer curiosity. (Therein lies a tale.)  The rest of the times, I was out of clean uns.*  My ex-husband, who was built like a chihuahua, wore the same size as I did, so necessity ruled the day.  As petit as he was, I still had that funky pouchy thing sticking out in front. And t.w's have these beefy leg bands that are apparently there so that your dick and balls don't fall out and run down your leg and off into the distance laughing hysterically. They are horrid and they chafe. But apparently wearing these things is de rigueur among studs. This is not a news flash by any means, I know, but...they're not comfortable.  If you're not wearing high heels, why are you wearing Tee Dubs? Why do that to yourself? WHY GOD WHY.

Not that I am the Underpants Police, or a Bottom Inspector.  Link follows.  If you don't hit that link your soul is dead.

http://viz.co.uk/2014/10/26/dawn-bottom-inspectors/  

If you can get with mens' briefs, that is totally OK with me.  I am only concerned for the comfort and general welfare of my people.  So if you're female, and you're reading this post sat in a pair of mens' beefers, take a moment and ask yourself "Am I really comfortable?  Or am I just sitting in a lie?"  I think everybody should do this at some point in their lives.  Are you really getting the most out of your underwear experience? Is your hine ruled by your politics, or do your politics rule your hine, or however I meant that sentence to come out?  I say you should always put comfort and hygiene first.  

That's why I go commando in mens' sweat pants.

*Speaking of a blast from the past, do hit this link (demanding, aren't I?) and revisit the last time I ever wore a pair of mens' underpants, which post is most excellently well and truly described as 'A Blast From The Past'

https://opiejett.blogspot.com/2018/09/hammer-time.html?zx=7087e31b821ffb0d