1977 Hustler Review Series #3: Bondage Article
Why I'm SSL Reviewing a 1977 Hustler
So there is a fab lady named Jill Hamilton. She made it into the Orgasm Equality Allies List a good while ago for her various writings. She's awesome and she's goddamn funny. She writes the blog In Bed With Married Women, which you will not regret reading.
Now here's where Hustler comes in. She had a give away on her blog, and we readers had to comment and tell her what we wanted so she could pick randomly and ship shit out to us. I saw she had a vintage Hustler, and so I asked - nay begged - for it. I promised to SSL Review it cover to cover, and here I am doing just that.
An SSL Review is a critique specifically of discussion and/or depiction of female orgasm and/or female masturbation in media (usually I do this for movies or TV not magazines, though). I particularly pay attention to the realism and scientific accuracy of the depiction/discussion and how it fits within the larger cultural conversation about female orgasm and female sexuality. However, this SSL review is a bit of a fudge on the rules, because it doesn't involve a specific discussion or depictions, but I think it is interesting and related, so I wanted to write about it. Plus, this should be quick.
Feel free to check out the previous SSL Reviews of the Advice Column and the Porn Movie Review sections.
The Gist
This is an article by a Hustler reporter who saw a sexual restraint catalog that made him hard and took it home where his girlfriend Cindy eventually found it. Low and behold, Cindy was all like 'let's try some of this shit.' So they did. They've been doing it for about a year. They love it, and this article is sort of a primer about what it's like and what to buy and all that.
He talks about how sexy it is and how Cindy feels it's sorta a way to act out fantasies about being dominated without actually getting hurt. In fact he says bondage is not dependent on pain like sadism or masochism. He also thoughtfully talks about some safety issues (ropes are bad for novices 'cause circulation constriction, ya need to be careful with neck stuff, some positions are not for long term, use good quality stuff - that kind of thing). He also mentions a few different types of things that can be used. That's where the SSL review comes in.
"The 'spanker's belt' has an extra-wide crotch strap to force the ass cheeks apart for paddling. Some companies offer options, such as vibrators or dildos, that snap into the crotch strap and are forced into either the cunt or asshole when the strap is tightened."
Why I'm SSL Reviewing This
Okay, so like I said before this SSL review is a little unorthodox because there's no specific discussion of lady-gasm or lady-bation. The above quote is the only thing that gets close in this article, though. I would have just skipped this piece of the magazine and gone to the next depiction/discussion, but an element of the above line caught my eye.
Basically it just struck me that the options for vibrator placement are up the v or up the butt - not against the clitoris/vulva.
1. Only 20-30% of women claim to orgasm regularly during intercourse.
2. Stimulation inside the vagina (or butt) has never been shown in scientific literature to cause orgasm, but clitoral/vulva stimulation has been shown in scientific literature to cause lady-gasm numerous upon numerous times. So to me, if you're making a vibrating crotch attachment for a female wearer - I say skip the hole stuff and press that vibrator against the clit, ya'll. AmIright?
What That Line Says About Lady-gasms
Now, there's actually nothing wrong with what this article says about lady-gasm. It's actually saying nothing at all about it. No one is saying in this article that putting a vibrator up those holes is supposed to cause an orgasm. It might just be something fun that has nothing to do with the spank-ees orgasm. Maybe it's merely one type of the lady-giving pleasurable accouterments in the restraint accessory arsenal and just happens to be the one Mr. Chris Cassel decided to talk about. That's cool.
Truth is many a woman have very much enjoyed a vibrating dildo up the junk, but giving pleasure and giving an orgasm are not always the same thing. Insertions can, without a doubt, be pleasurable to women, but the large majority of women have never orgasmed from it.
Again, the line itself isn't a problem, but I feel like it is part of something larger that is a problem. When talking about women's sexual pleasure, insertion is just too often discussed exclusively, with no mention of the the clit - the female's actual organ of sexual pleasure - which is just wierd because few if any women ever actually come from ramming stuff up their holes. It's just strange that overall as a culture we focus so much on insertion to the exclusion of the clit. I don't think it's nearly as common for penis and penis stimulation to be left out of articles about male pleasure to speak exclusively about non-penis pleasure like ball touching, anal penetration, or nipple stimulation.
So that's why I wanted to comment on this - because, well, it's part of the terribly wrong-headed all insertion no clit sexual culture. In this article, while describing the fun of restraint, Chris talks a lot about Cindy's positioning through restraints and how it allows him to enter her vagina and bunghole (his word not mine). So the pleasure for him clearly involves his penis getting stimulated inside her holes - and we assume that pleasure includes his orgasm (and that's a sensible, scientifically backed assumption). His scenarios would also insinuate her holes getting stimulated by his dick are part of the pleasure for her - and we would probably assume that includes her orgasm as well (a not very likely, not scientifically backed assumption). So, he mentions insertion with his penis (orgasmic for both parties we assume) and then later with options from the belt above (orgasmic for her we assume), but he never ever mentions anything about how her clit gets love. His penis gets love and her vagina (and bunghole) get love, but does her clit?
Maybe we don't have the whole story, maybe he's all over that clit making ol' Cindy come hard. Maybe...but if the clit were part of this sexual stuff, why wasn't it mentioned or insinuated. I venture to guess Cindy's clit wasn't getting love. Clits all over the world get ignored in favor of the neighboring vagina, and I think that is both reflected in and perpetuated by how invisible it is when talking about sex. This Hustler article is just one of so, so, so many that blatantly ignore the clit. It might not seem wierd at first glance because we're so used to it. When sex is discussed it's the penis and the vagina not the penis and the clit (I'm talking even to you Last Week Tonight with John Oliver), but it is wierd. It shouldn't be the norm.
Point is, this article is fine, but it just reminded me about how very invisible and undervalued the clit was back then and continues to be.
P.S. Big ups to people like Sophia Wallace who are doing badass things to remind us that the invisibility of the clit in our sex talk and sex culture is wierd, and stupid, and needs to change. #Cliteracy