Humor will not be tolerated!! -Portia

Rose-colored glasses denote optimism, methought! This idea of sex = "bad, bad, bad," baffles me, and maybe I was raised in a different church, but I always had the impression that sex was so very desirable indeed (like candy, cocktails, blowing huge sums of money, rock & roll), and that's why it perhaps did not
behoove teenagers to get involved JUST YET.

This from a girl who was prepubescent til sophomore year of high school, and pretty much asexual til 18 or so. Who would blush profusely in the most sterile, least sexy discussions of canals and tubes in human biology. I wonder if she was the youngest in her family. Being the oldest, I was always upstairs with the adults rather than playing with the kiddos downstairs, and my parents are pretty frank about sex (but
not raunchy or crass).

It's interesting to talk to guys and see how very different all of these lessons are coming across: here I had always thought of us women as medieval-like harlots, weak and uncontrolled in our desires and just out to thwart men from the straight (not that straight!) and narrow with our shoulders and knees and mission-thwarting-NCMOs. And here the guys tell me that we were actually virginal, pure creatures put on pedestals and they were the hedonist cravens. Who knew.

I think that my discomfort with sexual topics arose from knowing nothing about it. Once I started learning what it actually was I got less and less uncomfortable and now I like discussing it and reading about it, to the point of seeking discussions and books on the subject. (Not that I'm being inappropriate; I find discussing the ramifications of some not-quite-human characters of mine having sex or reading Marduk's textbook from his human sexuality class fascinating.)

My brothers are a different story, especially the 16-year-old. He'll freak out if I so much as say the word "bra." Though I think much of it is an affectation due to how he thinks he should act - not only is that his habit, to pick up and magnify cues from his brothers and anyone else he looks up to, but also growing up with my mother is not an atmosphere in which you can retain virgin ears. (We all knew about it when she decided to buy nipple rings.)

I was always very prudish, but my YW leaders tried really hard to get me over it. Normally you would think it would be the opposite, with YW leaders lecturing about the dangers of being worldly, but mine knew I needed a push in that direction.

Background information: there are eight children in my family
Story: I was at a party at my YW president's house, probably when I was around 12 or 13, and the topic of sex came up, or rather someone just said the word sex, and I turned all awkward and blushed and balked. Instead of changing the subject my YW president turned to me and said, "Bet there's no sex going on over at the Miller house, no siree!" Implying of course, that eight children didn't just come out of nowhere, and it was time I acknowledged the existence of sex.

Over time my leaders got me to loosen up, stop wearing as many layers, and start using the word "crap." I owe them a lot.

Medical school has entirely removed from me any residual awkwardness about sex or any other bodily functions that we don't normally discuss in polite company.

I haven't the slightest intention of voting for Mitt Romney, and am far from offended by that his wife has "never worked a day in her life" (neither did my mom, which is kind of weird to think about: never got a pay stub, never had to fill out a W-2, but for crying out loud, this doesn't reflect on her worth as a human), but for the love of Cthulhu, if I see one more self-righteous comment about the fact that ANN ROMNEY MAYBE HAD A GARDENER OR LAUNDRESS ONCE, STOP THE PRESSES, I will probably lose it. It's so offensively stupid on two levels. One: demonstrably false. This idea of an army of hired help, like she's the Dowager Countess from Downtwon Abbey, is just not true. Second, even if it were (which it's not, stupid fellow liberals on the internet), who cares? The finest world leaders of the 20th century were probably all raised by nannies. What do I care? It's in the league of stupidity of the Obama cum Muslim conspiracy theory. A. He's not. B. If he were . . . so?

Heh. It happens that my roommate is the third of eight kids, so it's not for lack of younger siblings arriving at the house that she's like that. Portia, I guess when I use the expression "rose-colored glasses" I'm portraying the kind of idealized Mormony world where everything is good and nothing indecent or questionable happens. And in her world, sex is apparently indecent since she's single? Maybe. I've never flat-out asked her, but I suspect it has something to do with her desire, which I have heard her express, to be ladylike. I agree that its' good to be ladylike in that it's good to be classy, respectful, and not crass or crude, but her definition seems much more 19th century than mine. Also, as NerdGirl can attest, there are times and ways to talk about subjects that might be considered crass in other contexts, but her mind isn't open to that, either. She's also expressed gratitude vocally that since we're women, we're not accountable for the fact that we're still single, since apparently it's all the men's responsibility to pursue. I did raise my voice in contradiction of that one. You can argue whether men have *more* of a responsibility to pursue women than vice versa, but we definitely are accountable for what we do with regards to that as well
I suppose it's been on my mind lately because I've been re-exploring the line of where I feel comfortable talking about what in different contexts. I don't know if I was ever quite as uptight as you, Genuine, but I have definitely relaxed a ton over the years, which was good, but I want to take care that I don't relax too much- which is what I'm debating internally.

This upcoming week, I get to see ahem., Genuine Article, Whistler, L'Afro, Uffish Thought, and...someone else who has a strong affiliation with the Board, but I'm not actually sure he has a pseudonym. All in one place. I am one excited lady. Just throw in a few more faces and it would be the perfect college reunion.

awwww yeah! I'm somewhat terrified of the long drive, but I learned how to use cruise control which will help

Tomorrow, when I leave work, I'm not coming home. I'll trundle my little car full of goods down to Provo, where I will (attempt to) stay.

Whereabouts will you be, C4? We should hang out some time. Marduk and I are usually free a couple of days a week.

C is for wrote:Tomorrow, when I leave work, I'm not coming home. I'll trundle my little car full of goods down to Provo, where I will (attempt to) stay.

That makes our getting married easier.

Craig Jessop wrote:

C is for wrote:Tomorrow, when I leave work, I'm not coming home. I'll trundle my little car full of goods down to Provo, where I will (attempt to) stay.

That makes our getting married easier.

I hope you've already applied for some married housing, because I hear it can be very difficult.

Currently I'm just southwest of campus, bob! A mere 3 blocks from D5 and 1 block from ... E6, when she lives at her actual place.

C is for wrote:

Craig Jessop wrote:

C is for wrote:Tomorrow, when I leave work, I'm not coming home. I'll trundle my little car full of goods down to Provo, where I will (attempt to) stay.

That makes our getting married easier.

I hope you've already applied for some married housing, because I hear it can be very difficult.

Which is why I've found us a place in Springville. Classy. Ironically, one of my friends lives up the road a bit so I drive past it all the time. It's even classier in real life.

http://provo.craigslist.org/apa/2990554656.html

Welcome to Happy Valley, C4!

And for the random part of this thread, I just wanted to say that I ended up saying "Yes, ice machine" in a conversation the other day, and then tried not to smile at my own inside joke. It was rather sad. But I do love that question . . .

Are you going to change your location to "a less happy valley than the valley I used to be in"?

I would just like to brag that my husband finished the St. George Ironman yesterday. The wind kicked up 4 foot waves and beat in his face on the steep bike climbs, but my favorite crazy man kept going for all 140.2 miles. It was really amazing to watch.

One thing I've never eaten so much in one sitting that I said to myself "I don't want to eat any more of this" is gummi worms.

That is way cool 42! I have a lot of respect for people that do Iron Man competitions.

One of our neighbor's cats was hit by a car. This particular cat looked a lot like my roommate's cat (we've let the wrong cat in before), so for a little while, we weren't sure which cat had been hit. Sad day, either way.

That's so sad, Katya. We lost one of our cats that way.