Susie Bright has slaughtered a stampede's worth of sacred cows during her long career as a nationally renowned sexpert.
Whether revealing her hilarious sex fantasies about former vice president Dan Quayle, suggesting that religious people might as well worship a big ball of cheese, scathingly deconstructing the basic tenets of anti-porn feminism, or tossing the dialectic on its ear by using the Reagan Era Meese Report as a "Jill-off" tool, Bright never shied away from outrageousness and eye-poking.
Her latest book, Full Exposure, is a dramatic departure from the polemics of the past, but still a carefully thought-through manifesto of erotic creativity.
Beginning with the fundamental premise that eros is the most powerful force shaping our creative and emotional lives, Bright carefully tackles such subjects as censorship, adolescent sexuality, consumerism, language, gender roles, celibacy, lover's ethics, and sexual longing. In doing so, she convincingly builds an argument that it is important to consider and, indeed, cultivate, your own sexual philosophy.
She's still unafraid to rail against things she perceives as destructive (of consumerism, she says, "It hurts when I see people ... who think great sex is about the right accessory and perfect lighting") or misguided (on celibacy, "One thing that celibates and sex fiends share is a fascination with the temptations of the genital regions") but this is definitely a kinder, gentler Bright.
Wired News spoke with Bright recently about the book, her life, and her other projects like her regular Salon column.
Wired News:Full Exposure lives up to its title. You've opened up your personal life and internal dialogue to a new degree. What inspired you to write such a deeply revealing and open book?
Susie Bright: I didn't have such ambitions to begin with. Two years ago, I was trying to sell a book idea based on the notion that with the Year 2000 coming, it would be great to do a book looking at a century of American erotica: its triumphs and humiliations, the political brouhahas, the character of the erotic writers that changed America's consciousness, etc. It was going to be called "100 Lovers," and I'm still mad that it was not snatched up by some inspired publisher. However, one of the editors who listened to my ideas was particularly interested in a section of my proposal I called "Clit Notes," which was about the value and process of articulating your own erotic ideas -- a sort of "call to arms" for sexual self-expression. That eventually became Full Exposure. Now, beginning this writing process was not easy! I often wondered, "What have I gotten myself into?" I didn't relish talking about painful chapters in my own sex history. But thankfully, once I just got in my "writing harness," my discipline to tell the truth as a writer took charge and banished my private mewling and scratching to the back room.
WN: Where did the idea of an "Erotic Philosophy" come from?
SB: You can thank one of the students in my classes at University of California at Santa Cruz. She introduced herself in my last class as a "safe sex peer counselor" who was trained to help students "gear themselves up," so to speak, for having sex without undue risk or anxiety. Part of this training -- and this is standard at many universities -- is to compose a "sexual philosophy," which in their terms means figuring out ahead of time what you would do in various bedroom situations. Anyway, the phrase "sexual philosophy" really stuck out at me. I liked it conceptually. I had much bigger visions of what it could mean than whether you use rubbers or not.
WN: Your class must be a great finger on the pulse of campus sexuality. Now that we've moved from GenX to GenY, what are kids up to?
SB: They're more liberal about social issues that touch on sexuality -- like gay marriage, for example -- but more conservative and emotionally immature about their own sex lives ... they're virgins later in life. They think that if they are careful and find the perfect person to be with the rest of their lives, that they can avoid all the messiness and horror of boomer sexuality. More romantic about monogamy than any group I've ever seen.
WN: A central premise of your new book is that everyone is sexual, from a baby to a geriatric. Why do you think parents and children have such a difficult time accepting each other's sexuality?
SB: People are scared of hearing about their parents' sexuality because they fear that it might be prophetic, or strike too close to home. It reminds you of your childhood urge to finally separate from them, and not be defined by them. But if you are at peace about that issue, learning about the sex histories of your family line is not more threatening, and just as interesting as any other part of family history.
WN: You always give out your URL -- www.susiebright.com -- and email at readings and lectures. What kind of feedback do you get?
SB: Lots and lots of personal letters, people's sex histories and points of view, news about things I might be interested in, and, of course, a few interesting solicitations....
