New England Erotic Legends, the Gay Marriage Exit Strategy, & the Hypnotic Lover

Today, on my In Bed podcast, I tell the story of my East Coast book tour, where puritanical stoicism stokes the finest erotic minds.

Look at this list of authors with uncommon sexual insight, just from BAE's archives:

Tom Perrotta, the late John Preston, Michael Lowenthal, Amanda Nash, (the founder of Paramour), Corwin Ericson, Hanne Blank, Eric Albert, Rick Connerney, Steve Almond, Michael Bronski, Karl Iagnemma, Alicia Erian, Sue Katz, Peggy Munson, Marge Piercy, Lisa Santoro, Cecilia Tan, Sharon Wachsler — I'm sure many of these author's works are classics on your bookshelf.

I have more Bostonian literary contributors to Best American Erotica than any other region. It's such deep readers' culture there, the home of America's English language publishing. Funny how that history keeps making its stamp, whether it's the legacy of the witch trials or that of the free-thinkers and abolitionists.

I  was invited to speak in Boston, courtesy of GLAD, at Ben Franklin's old haunt, the historical Old South Meeting House, on the subject of "Whither sexual liberation?" which  fired up my best Tea Party instincts. 

I asked the audience to consider what might be our "Gay Marriage Exit Strategy." We're going to prevail on this one— and then what? I remember well after the Vietnam War, many activists asked: what holds us together now; where do we go now? It was a pretty hard bump.

After eating and drinking my way from one end of Southie to the next.. .and yes, my dining guide is forthcoming... I took the DownEaster train (fantastic!) up to Portland, Maine, for the state's first-ever erotic book reading. The tension was exquisite. I got lost in the trees, afterward, too.

  Listen to an excerpt 

Listen to the whole show at Audible.com: LINK

Get the show free for a month: LINK

 

Also on today’s show, I have another update on yet another hypocrite from Texas: prosecutor Chuck Rosenthal, (a.k.a. "Idiot. Dumbass. Fool.") who castigated gays but now finds himself in the middle of his own sex scandal. His family-values stand against sodomy didn't take into consideration that he might himself get caught doing it.

Finally, in my Try This at Home mailbag,  a listener describes his pleasure doing erotic hypnosis on his lovers— and leaves me asking a few questions on his technique!

Don't forget, you can send your confidential questions, feedback about the show, and requests for girly cards to susie@audible.com. (Episode 329, February 15, 2008).

Photo credit: Jessica Lockhart, my Audible show editor, and I, get a little lost on the public grounds at the Baxter School for the Deaf, at Mackworth Island.