To take JZ out of the question, if someone has a completely relaxed attitude to the Princess Leia thing, like a Swede would, then they're not kinky, right? But if it's because of a trauma they had while watching the original SW movies, and they're maybe a bit ashamed and driven, then they're kinky...it's the person, not the activity?

So basically, your hypothetical wife could engage in all the spinach spanking she wanted, if she's Swedish about it, it's perfectly wholesome?

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I suppose we should be grateful for small favors. @@

Gov. Kaine (D) in VA is opposed to a state constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriages and civil unions. [link] Why? Because it "puts thousands of unmarried couples at risk of losing a slew of benefits."

Kaine said he expects to spend considerable time talking to voters about the issue to counteract claims that the amendment merely bans same-sex marriage. "I suspect I won't be talking to just one or two people, but in a way a lot of Virginians will hear," Kaine said.

Trust me, I understand political expediency, but treating same-sex unions (whether they're marriages or not) as an afterthought while he vigorously defends Jane Doe and John Smith's right to essentially have the same rights as married couples just smacks of fence-straddling and avoiding the primary issue the amendment raises. Way to not take a stand for basic human rights.

Two polls conducted by Mason-Dixon Polling and Research Inc. for Virginia newspapers have found that a majority of voters support the amendment, though one poll showed that Northern Virginians opposed it.

One of these days, Northern Virginia will seriously contemplate becoming its own state. The political beliefs and issues facing this region are completely opposite from the rest of the commonwealth, and have already caused serious strife in Richmond.

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Re: Survivor: I loved loved loved CaoBoi. "You have a bad wind. Let me give you a hickey with my fingers and it'll go away."

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Survivor:

At least it worked.

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So basically, your hypothetical wife could engage in all the spinach spanking she wanted, if she's Swedish about it, it's perfectly wholesome?

Um, yeah, that sounds like a good taxonomy of the weirdness of sex-practices. If it's not weird to either partner, but just part of the ordinary repertoire, it loses the "kink" designation. If it's a special "I can only do this on Tuesdays/I have to do this when the moon is full/I have to do it this way because I saw a red car today" type of practice, where the practice becomes an expression of an unresolved emotional issue, it becomes kink.

Here's a question. Are there any fetishes (read: psychological pathologies about sex) which in mild cases can not be called kinks? I mean, excepting kiddie porn. Is there such a thing as a shoe kink which does not rise to the level of fetish?

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it's perfectly wholesome

But you've got to watch the saturated fat content.

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megan, no kidding. It just cracked me up.

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I'd assumed that the reason homely men can succeed in straight porn is because male consumers are likely to have a hangup about watching pretty

I think it's more what Hec said, that ugly men got work because nobody was looking at them, anyway. I swear that somewhere I've read that the change happened as gay porn become big business. So I think Peter North was just part of a general trend; gay porn led to more attractive men in the business. And around the same time the home video market exploded, so appealing to female consumers became more of a priority.

Kinkiness requires some pathology.

I probably wouldn't use the word pathology because of the connotations -- or, actually, I'd say that non-kinky sex is just as rooted in pathology. The difference is that those pathologies are more common. But I agree with the gist.

I think there could be a person without pathology who just likes being tied up during sex.

Do think there could be a person who just likes being tied up, period, without it being in any way sexual? I mean, if you don't normally enjoy being restrained, but you do enjoy it in a sexual context... again, pathology is too strong a word, but that by itself suggests that it's not just "I like A, and I like B, so A+B is even better!"

I mean, they do tend to have shaved, toned chests and pretty faces, but, you can only tell in the three or four glimpses you get.

I think you're watching the wrong porn.

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Survivor:

I loved the opening, with people scrambling to get supplies off the boat. Nice and dramatic and team-building and a great start.

Plus, I continue to Love me some Jeff Probst.

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I missed the first five minutes, Robin, so I missed the splitting into tribes. Did they know before then that they were going to be divided by ethnic groups?

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