Sex in the modern world: Can even a ‘yes, yes, yes’ actually mean ‘no?’

When commentators analyze the new wave of women’s struggles, one of their conclusions is that “no means no” is not enough to lead to a “happy sex life.” This is because it still leaves space for more subtle forms of coercion. Recently, in The Guardian, we saw an exemplary case of this line of argument: “Badgering… Continue reading Sex in the modern world: Can even a ‘yes, yes, yes’ actually mean ‘no?’

Sex, Contracts, and Manners

Sex, Contracts, and Manners

In the West, at least, we are becoming massively aware of the extent of coercion and exploitation in sexual relations. However, we should also bear in mind the (no less massive) fact that millions of people on a daily basis flirt, play the game of seduction, with the clear aim to get a partner for… Continue reading Sex, Contracts, and Manners

Sign a contract before sex? Political correctness could destroy passion

Sign a contract before sex? Political correctness could destroy passion

In the West, at least, everyone has become massively aware of the extent of coercion and exploitation in sexual relations. However, we should bear in mind also the (no less significant) fact that millions of people on a daily basis flirt and play the game of seduction, with the clear aim of finding a partner… Continue reading Sign a contract before sex? Political correctness could destroy passion

A Cup of Decaf Reality

[amazon asin=B00005JMHB&text=The Real Cancun] (2003), the first ever “reality movie,” follows sixteen people together for eight days in a beachfront Cancun villa for the ultimate Spring Break vacation. The movie which was advertised with “NO SCRIPTS. NO ACTORS. NO RULES. ANYTHING CAN HAPPEN ON SPRING BREAK, AND IT DID.”, fared rather poorly at the box-office… Continue reading A Cup of Decaf Reality

Is romance dead? – In the future we’ll outsource sex

Is romance dead? - In the future we'll outsource sex

Romance is maybe not yet totally dead, but its forthcoming death is signalled by object-gadgets which promise to deliver excessive pleasure but which effectively reproduce only the lack itself. The latest fashion is the Stamina Training Unit, a counterpart to the vibrator: a masturbatory device that resembles a battery-powered light (so we’re not embarrassed when… Continue reading Is romance dead? – In the future we’ll outsource sex

‘Humanity is OK, but 99% of people are boring idiots’, Interview with Decca Aitkenhead

'Humanity is OK, but 99% of people are boring idiots', Interview with Decca Aitkenhead

Slavoj Žižek doesn’t know the door number of his own apartment in Ljubljana. “Doesn’t matter,” he tells the photographer, who wants to pop outside. “Come back in through the main door, and then just think in terms of politically radical right; you turn from left to right, then at the end, right again.” But what’s… Continue reading ‘Humanity is OK, but 99% of people are boring idiots’, Interview with Decca Aitkenhead

Drilling into hearts of darkness

There were two ‘Reigns of Terror’ if we would remember it and consider it; the one wrought in hot passion, the other in heartless cold blood … our shudders are all for the ‘horrors’ of the minor Terror, the momentary Terror, so to speak, whereas, what is the horror of swift death by the axe… Continue reading Drilling into hearts of darkness

Anti-immigration politics: barbarism with a human face

Anti-immigration politics: barbarism with a human face

Recent incidents – such as the expulsion of Roma, or Gypsies, from France, or the resurgence of nationalism and anti-immigration sentiment in Germany, or the massacre in Norway – have to be seen against the background of a long-term rearrangement of the political space in western and eastern Europe. Until recently, most European countries were… Continue reading Anti-immigration politics: barbarism with a human face

Slavoj Zizek: the world’s hippest philosopher, Interview with Helen Brown

Flapping his elbows and lathered in sweat, Slavoj Žižek looks like a man in the final throes of radiation sickness doing the birdy dance. But the world’s hippest philosopher is actually miming what he imagines it would feel like to be trapped inside an all-body condom. “I saw this thing in an American store!” he… Continue reading Slavoj Zizek: the world’s hippest philosopher, Interview with Helen Brown