The WELL: inkwell.vue.409: Susie Bright, "Big Sex, Little Death"

#80: Amy Keyishian (superamyk) Mon 13 Jun 11 21:52

Mon, 13 Jun 2011 21:52:00 PDT

Terrific discussion thank you! [Read entire topic]

#79: . (wickett) Fri 10 Jun 11 16:13

Fri, 10 Jun 2011 16:13:00 PDT

Thank you, Susie. I hope to see more of you around the Well. [Read entire topic]

#78: Searchlight Casting (jstrahl) Fri 10 Jun 11 13:36

Fri, 10 Jun 2011 13:36:00 PDT

Yeah, please do, Susie!! It's been delightful. [Read entire topic]

#77: David Gans (tnf) Fri 10 Jun 11 10:43

Fri, 10 Jun 2011 10:43:00 PDT

Please stick around and say more< Susie! [Read entire topic]

#76: Julie Sherman (julieswn) Thu 9 Jun 11 18:35

Thu, 09 Jun 2011 18:35:00 PDT

As a former bookseller at Bookshop Santa Cruz, I am happy to hear that Neal was the one owner who apologized to you, Susie.

As a co-host of Inkwell, I want to thank Susie Bright and David for a wonderful week here in Inkwell. While the attention of Inkwell moves on to a new conversation, this topic will remain open and we hope you will all stick around and continue the conversation. [Read entire topic]

#75: Searchlight Casting (jstrahl) Thu 9 Jun 11 12:54

Thu, 09 Jun 2011 12:54:00 PDT

. ">Egalitarianism is on the defensive right now."< -- Excellent commentary!! Do you see circumstances which may reverse this?"

I'm a great believe in catastrophes, revolutions, and unexpected grace. I certainly don't think the status quo yields anything., YEAH!!! This is indeed as i said how "we" (the Sixties movement) emerged.

>I would have given anything to interview Muriel about that story, about the "sisterly cannibalization," and ask her why she wrote it. Do any of you have any insights?< I'm of course guessing, but perhaps this is a commentary about artists who mistake the world for their private canvass, oblivious to real-world consequences. Sort of reminds me of an art-inclined woman acquaintance (housemate of a friend) who while sitting next to me at a Dead show, as i was visiting with the "fun guys," told me how she was about the only person in the Haight back in the day who was pro Vietnam war, because she was all into reincarnation, and viewed war as a great way to release lots of souls into the cycle. [Read entire topic]

#74: Searchlight Casting (jstrahl) Thu 9 Jun 11 12:46

Thu, 09 Jun 2011 12:46:00 PDT

>"How do you see the current state of women's activism?"

Deplorable.

How's that for a cranky answer? I've said multiple times on this book tour, if the elite of the women's movement hadn't kicked out and slandered everyone who wasn't part of their inner circle for various "sex crimes" and such, we would have a far different grass roots movement who would be equipped to deal with the massive anti-abortion backlash, a la South Dakota.

Instead, the "Ms. Magazine set" have no one to fall back on, to plead with, except their tiny audience in the Democratic Party cocktail circuit, and we all know how well that's worked out for the disposssesed. Frankly, they don't care all that much, they made their bed. Their legacy and money is secure. They threw everyone out who didn't match their class, educational, nepotistic requirements, and much of that was masked as the sex wars.

What we're looking at is the flotsam of a turf war, which is tragic. Of course you have individual women and small groups doing inspiring things. I'd include myself on that list. But in terms of our effect as a mass movement, there's no there there. Virtually every 60s and 70s civil rights movement is in similar straits. Did you see that obnoxious press release from the bigtime gay lobby group that hailed the merger of AT&T and something? Jesus Christ. What a fucking corpse.<

Wow, that made me happy! I know, it's terrible stuff, that which you write about, but i'm glad someone considered a "luminary" of the women's movement isn't shy about calling it the way it is!! [Read entire topic]

#73: Susie Bright (sueb) Thu 9 Jun 11 12:45

Thu, 09 Jun 2011 12:45:00 PDT

">Egalitarianism is on the defensive right now."< -- Excellent commentary!! Do you see circumstances which may reverse this?"

I'm a great believe in catastrophes, revolutions, and unexpected grace. I certainly don't think the status quo yields anything. [Read entire topic]

#72: Susie Bright (sueb) Thu 9 Jun 11 12:43

Thu, 09 Jun 2011 12:43:00 PDT

"the WHY? of ferocious hostility, especially from the "young acolytes" of public figures who opposed you....I wonder if the need to belong, the passion to belong is stronger than anything else for some."

I return again and again to a book-turned-film called "The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie," by Muriel Sparks. you can see great clips of it on YOuTube, but the whole thing is worth it. Whenever I see Maggie Smith in that role, it's like I'm seeing Katherine MacKinnon on stage.

It's abotu this unorthodox, highly charismatic teacher, during WWII in an elite girls school. She froths up her gullible students to go support Mussolini, because of her deranged ideas about art and beauty,with tragic results. It's all a load of crap that even she doesn't truly believe, it's just her schtick, her stage act. She's as sexual and vulnerable as anyone, and her cognitive dissonance is impermeable, until a very angry little girl, who's quite clever, figures out how to undo her. I would have given anything to interview Muriel about that story, about the "sisterly cannibalization," and ask her why she wrote it. Do any of you have any insights? [Read entire topic]

#71: Susie Bright (sueb) Thu 9 Jun 11 12:38

Thu, 09 Jun 2011 12:38:00 PDT

"The chapters on ON OUR BACKS were particularly fascinating to me, because I remember the difficulty I had in finding it in stores in NYC in the 1980s, and the looks that one got from some of the staff in the one women's bookstore where I could get it regularly. Has anyone ever apologized to you for their treatment back then?"

Wow, you're tempting me to write my "scorched earth" sequel. I have only rec'd one apology, from Neal Coonerty at Bookshop Santa Cruz, back in the early nineties, and it brought tears to my eyes. Of course he isn't a woman, or a lesbian who was in the fray of it all.

I have heard many vague "regrets" and "explanations" and people sort of shuffling their feet and looking at the ground. And gossip about how, "you know that bookstore manager who declared an anti-porn, antikink jihad on you guys? She ended up running a dungeon and being a total bottom in downtown Oakland, blah blah blah"

Other people who used to run women's bookstores explain that their whole store came to pieces over this issue, the split. And because they weren't selling the new things their audience might want (because it was BAD!) their sales went to shit as well. [Read entire topic]