Yes, indeed. Sorry, Susan - I do think Jack is a variation on the most simplistic or extreme Guido thing. Especially considering that his nicely-born heiress was married to an upper-class twit, and she's recovering with someone who isn't afraid of his own sexuality.

edit: and the whole deal with the nice refined lady getting to be unladylike with a "just shut up and make my eyes roll back in my head eighteen times, ok?" buck who has a job that involves cutting metal with fire, or pounding hot rivets into building girders? Is that there's no emotional requirement, and it's uncomplicated. That's the Guido at its most extreme and also at its most basic.

Doesn't apply to Jack, obviously. But I do think there's a secret lingering suspicion amongst a lot of women that the Big Dumb Stallion type is going to be way the hell more vigorous in bed.

You know? As opposed to someone whose last three sets of ancestors were all related to each other before marriage, who has no visible chin, and who has the name "Smedley" in there somewhere.

Good bio, Allyson. I agree with the comments Deb made about the two sentences. Send it in.

Oh, no doubt, Deb. "Nobody had great sex with a Sheldon. It's the name...if you want somebody to fill your teeth or do your taxes, Sheldon's your guy. But nobody ever said "Ride me like a stallion, Sheldon." "When Harry Met Sally"

Heh. Sheldon or Hubert or Clive. Just - no. Never happen.

My father's name was Hubert. However, I don't think it was a problem for him. His father used to call him the "Stud of [where they lived]". Of course, people called him Mac as often as anything else, and he was in Navy, and then a carpenter, and a 6 foot, blue-eyed blond, so there were other factors at work.

Mac

See? He needed a nickname.

And I speak from experience, lest you feel wounded. My own father was an Oscar. He got around it by being a musician. That's always deadly.

Well, the people closest to him called him Hubie. He was also an identical twin, which also has appeal, or at least gets a person noticed. But mostly he managed to be smart, funny and kind all at the same time, which is usually a 2 out of 3 deal at best, for most people.

He got around it by being a musician. That's always deadly.

I do think Jack is a variation on the most simplistic or extreme Guido thing. Especially considering that his nicely-born heiress was married to an upper-class twit, and she's recovering with someone who isn't afraid of his own sexuality.

Just so long as it's duly noted that not only is Jack a better lover than Sebastian, he could spot him 30-40 points on an IQ test and still come out ahead. t g But yeah, I'm definitely playing with that trope a bit--there's the contrast between what they (and the reader) know to be a well-rounded relationship that's as much about true minds and kindred spirits as physical passion and what the world around them thinks they're about when their affair is discovered.

Just so long as it's duly noted that not only is Jack a better lover than Sebastian, he could spot him 30-40 points on an IQ test and still come out ahead. But yeah, I'm definitely playing with that trope a bit--there's the contrast between what they (and the reader) know to be a well-rounded relationship that's as much about true minds and kindred spirits as physical passion and what the world around them thinks they're about when their affair is discovered.

There, of course, you're getting into the territory that keeps me prickly: the idea that the woman mustn't actually enjoy the sex.

Note to historians:

Girls like orgasms. Orgasms are fun. You'll get my multiple orgasms when you pry them from my cold dead -

Never mind.

If they do that, it's time to call paraphilia, no?