Claire Rayner : "Tell David Cameron that if he screws up my beloved NHS I'll come back and bloody haunt him."

Those are apparently what Claire Rayner, who has died, wanted to be her last words.

I am sure she had her faults , but she was a strong woman who stood up for the NHS and spoke out about safe sex when it was not the done thing. A humanist, rationalist and defender of the rights of patients . She came from a generation that didn't talk about sex, but her approach as an agony aunt was non judgemental and open :

Her husband, who was also her agent and manager, paid tribute to her, saying: "Through her work she helped hundreds of thousands of people and doubtless, by talking frankly about the importance of safe sex in the 80s when almost nobody else would discuss it, helped to save thousands of lives.

"Through her own approach to life she enabled people to talk about their problems in a way that was unique.

I always remember the horror stories my mother, a similar age, told me about girls in particular not being told about sex , about the ignorance . It was good to have someone no nonsense, like Claire, talk about that openly to break down the embarrassment . Sadly many want to go back to the days of no sex education in schools, or pull their children out of it.

New Humanist reprint an interview, that gives a flavour of her forthright style .

We need more outspoken women like that !

Can there be non exploitative feminist porn, that isn't dull dull dull?

I'm planning to write a blog post on whether porn is always a very bad thing in terms of a feminist perspective . I want to do some research first (serious, so no smutty giggles).

Of course when people hear the word porn they assume the heterosexual variety, and that tends to be where feminism directs it's criticism. But what of Gay and Lesbian and generally more queer friendly porn? Can heterosexual porn learn from that ?

I'm curious if there is any feminist analysis, preferably online, of gay and lesbian porn? Is it stilled viewed as oppressive, stereotyped and exploitative ?

As a feminist I don't think porn as such is in itself always exploitative and I believe it is possible to create it where is appeals to women , those of us who are not into costume drama and Mr Darcy fantasies . Porn that isn't so PC that it is just plain dull .

Is porn the same as erotica , or is that just a nice posh word for it , as long as its 'foreign ?'

Anyway, these are some thoughts. I would really welcome links to useful writings on this subject .

Pic from the film Bound, not porn, but some hot scenes in it.

Mosley on down - Guest post by Jim Jepps

Chatting over face book scrabble with Jim, I asked him to do a guest post . Hmmm he pondered, what on? Something thoughtful I suggested, you're good at that. Again he pondered. I suggested putting the topic to a vote on Stroppyblog, he got nervous.
Then came the whole Mosley story and he muttered about going off to write about kinky sex. That's it I said, that's the guest post...as Punchie said over at Dave's, about the discussion on BDSM: I really hope more personal stuff can not be mentioned (or if you must, I'd thought Stroppyblog would have been the specialist for lifestyle like this).

So here is Jim's rather good post :


Frankly all the papers have been very naughty. Very naughty indeed, and I have a basement flat that they must proceed to immediately for their proper chastisement. It really is not on plastering what are private goings on all over place. What's the use of being a fabulously wealthy son of Britain's most prominent wartime fascist if you can't have a private life, eh?

The term public interest is a strange one in the context of the Max Mosley sex scandal. Of course the public is interested, we all want to know whose bits and pieces have been going into whose whatchamacallit, but there does not seem to be a compelling democratic requirement for us to know the first thing about Mosley’s proclivities “sick” or otherwise.

Some of the discussion in the press seems to be of the opinion that because Mosley does the kind of things that only former Blue Peter presenters would contemplate he is not fit to be in charge of that stupid game where ridiculous looking cars whiz about until time itself seems to be standing still. For instance the Telegraph’s Kevin Garside thinks that the revelations around the case “paint Max in a deeply unflattering light, and more readily associates him with the kind of behavior unsuited to one running an international body like the FIA.”

Really? Frankly I could do with that one being spelt out for me because I'm not getting the connection. Perhaps he's called for the driver who comes in last to be stripped and lashed around the track and it's only now people have realised he had ulterior motives beyond simply spurring the others on to do better. However, unless this is so I am nowhere near convinced.

Admittedly when Garside describes Mosley’s sex life as “rich and varied” it’s difficult to know whether he is referring to the fact that Mosley’s five “friends” cost him £500 each and therefore he is regularly indulging a habit beyond the reach of most - even as a Christmas treat. That doesn’t include the reported £ 35,000 yearly upkeep of his fully equipped oubliette either. Yes, obscenely "rich" even.

Incidentally, there seems to have been very little focus on the prostitution angle of the case (and some of the evidence seems to be casting him in more of a pimp than a client) but there has been a great deal of censorious frowning about the so-called Nazi connotations of his ritualized abuse. As if the real social conditions of the women involved is far less interesting than the make believe games they were being paid to indulge in.

Mosley denies there were any Nazi overtones to his orgy, even though one of his captors was wearing a Luftwaffe uniform and a fellow prisoner pleaded with her guards that they were “Aryans” and so did not deserve to be harshly treated. Obviously there were Nazi overtones – but so what? They weren’t organizing a BNP branch, daubing local shops in swastikas or running for office as far right candidates – they were (or at least he was) having fun, mucking around – and they were not to know they were being videoed, so any sensitivities about other people’s feelings are irrelevant because for five out of six of them this was a private function, even if one of them was the wife of an MI5 agent. They just weren’t to know that the News of World would be posting selected highlights on the net.

In “Spanking good fun” I described the common “old stereo type of the elite white male in a powerful job by day and lashed to a dungeon rack by night” and that seems to fit our Max rather neatly. But the stereotype holds our attention because of the contrast between real world power and the make believe powerlessness - not because it reveals the old white guy's true nature, but because it reveals an unexpected side to it.

Some political people seem to be confused because they’ve mistaken sexual games for real oppression. Now obviously slap and tickle without the tickle is not everyone’s cup of tea. Fair enough, but that’s no excuse to go around tutting and getting sniffy at consenting activities you were never meant to find out about, let alone invited to.

In fact it’s worse when people start talking about BDSM as if it’s some sort of bizarre acted out therapy where he’s been working out “issues” with his father. I don’t get turned on by going round building sites, tapping pipes and then shaking my head sadly (which is how I imagine my Dad at work, perhaps the reality was different) and I don’t think it’s an appropriate way of sorting out any father/son issues that may or may not exist. Maybe it’s just that he’s into a particular form of kinky sex, and so he does it. I don't think you'll be getting any great psychological insights just from the press reports though.

Obviously there are some personal ethical issues involved. He’s been getting up to this for decades and forgot to mention it to his wife. That, dude, is not cool. There’s also the prostitution thing, I don’t think it stops being prostitution just because they’re getting paid large amounts of money and appear to be rather happy about the whole thing (which is perfectly possible). So there are power issues here, but it isn't the caning that's the issue.

Whatever the wrongs and rights of this I still find it difficult to get excised and start ranting about his deviance or immorality. I mean he’s not one of those back to basics Johnnies is he? He’s never openly nailed his personal morality to the mast – that just isn’t his kink - so I don't think it's our place to lash him for it. No matter how much he begs.

But still some want to send in the Nazi sex police. The weird thing is the press appears to be taking the position that kinky sex is alright, but German kinky sex? That’s just sick!

Take this from the Guardian when it was put to the reporter that in fact it was just an English dungeon fetish and had nothing to do with the Nazis the journo's patriotic feathers are ruffled and he replies "I know of no English prison that beats its inmates with a stick until their buttocks bleed. I know of no English prison where the warder will deliver those blows and count them out in German. I know of no English prison where the inmates then have sexual intercourse with the warder who has just given those blows." Whilst, of course, the real Nazi regime was just like the fantasy played out for Mr Mosley. Maybe someone needs a history lesson.

We should reject the policing of sexuality even by people who are progressive on other issues. The simple fact is that something can be an expression of a deep desire without being a literal exposition of what you’d like to really happen. Dressing up in a Nazi uniform for kicks does not make you an advocate of genocide – even if you’re a member of the Royal family.

Ah, I’ll go further, because I see some thin ice I’d like to skate on. Some people have rape fantasies, they do, it’s a fact. It does not mean they actually want to rape or be raped they are simply drawing from the deep, dark well of sexuality and if you are one of them it does not make you a bad person and you shouldn’t spend even one second feeling guilty about those fantasies.

Just as a dream does not mean you actually want to play strip poker with William Shatner at the local library (although, actually, that might be pretty cool) a fantasy or a fetish is just that and is not *real* in the sense that you're likely to act it out elsewhere. If you can’t see the difference between being caned by someone in a sexy uniform and the historic horrors of the Third Reich then you have officially left the building of free thinking and joined the temple of dogma where they burn the mention of "incorrect things" because they think that means they will no longer exist.

Sex, drugs and drink;shock new findings

Some researchers were asked to find out about the links between sex, drink , drugs and young people. Hmmm.

They :

They questioned young people in nine cities, one each in the UK, Germany, Austria, Czech Republic, Greece, Italy, Portugal, Spain and Slovenia - who all routinely went to pubs, bars and nightclubs.

They found out that:

Drunkenness and drug use were found to be strongly associated with an increase in risk taking behaviour and feeling regretful about having sex .

Those who had been drunk in the past four weeks were more likely to have had five or more partners, sex without a condom and to have regretted sex after drink or drugs in the past 12 months.

Cannabis, cocaine or ecstasy use was linked to similar consequences.

Study leader Professor Mark Bellis, director of the Centre for Public Health at Liverpool John Moore's University said: "Millions of young Europeans now take drugs and drink in ways which alter their sexual decisions and increase their chances of unsafe sex or sex that is later regretted.

"Yet despite the negative consequences, we found many are deliberately taking these substances to achieve quite specific sexual effects."

And to save them further research I would suggest that similar results would be found for the not so young as well.

Theory as foreplay...part 3 of the sex survey results

Almost there...note to self, do a shorter survey next time with more tick boxes and less free text !

Right ...

If your life depended on it, which TU General Secretary would you shag ?

I left it up to people to add names or comments :

I'd rather die but I guess at pinch Tony Lennon
Christine Payne
Gemma Tumelty of NUS (Is that allowed - she is a LILF, Labour I'd Like to Fuck)
Norman Willis
Was Brenda Dean a GS? I'd like to shag her for selling out SOGAT in the 80s.
Mark Serwotka(3 votes)
Fred Bramley
OMG - it would have to be Sally Hunt. Are there any other women? (2 votes)
am i allowed Paul Mackney?
Bob Crow (4 votes)
Brendan Barber - but only if John McDonnell was allowed to watch
Urgh. WHoever the Musicians Union Gen Sec is so at least we'd have some good accompaniment
Jeremy Dear is hot!
Francis O'Grady

I'd rather shaft all of them
I'd eat the bullet
IF my life depended on it, any of them.
As a dubious ultraleftist I'm not sure I'd recognise a TU General Secretary
All of them.
i would rather be dead (a number of variations on this , suicide, jump, bullet)
Ugh...


Dirty talk, theory as foreplay...

Marx - The second volume of Capital (9.8%) 5
Ernest Mandel's Late Capitalism (7.8%) 4
Weekly Worker (11.8%) 6
A Trade Union rule book ( 7.8%) 4
How many people were on the last anti war demo (7.8%) 4
Was the Soviet Union state cap or degenerated workers state. (35.3%) 18
Swearing al la Will (13.7%) 7
None of the above, that’s too kinky for me. (31.4%) 16

Some of you had your on suggestions for dirty talk :

daniel gluckstein's latest franglais
Marx - 18th Brumaire
Art & Language, Badiou, Stallman.
Pierre Bourdieu
Old issues of Newsline
Bevanism vs. Bennism: The shortest path to the co-operative commonwealth
Sugar production in Cuba

and someone added ...
These questions get weirder and weirder.

So do lefties ever pretend or go along to a political event or join a group for anything other than political motives ? Well...

Have you ever, if you are a straight or bi bloke, ever pretended to be a feminist to get into a woman’s knickers?

Have you ever, if you are a straight or bi bloke, ever pretended to be a feminist to get into a woman’s knickers?

(this was my cynical side coming out about feminist men )

Yes 7.3% 3 (so that's Dave and two others then !)
No 92.7% 38
Other (please specify) 7

Comments ( a few a bit affronted I think ):
Because I am a feminist
I am a feminist, how can I 'pretend'?
I've made a deal about it, but I AM a feminist, so that should be okay.
I *am* a feminist bloke!!!!
I dont get into womens knickers unless im wearing them.
I prefer feminists who are into shagging anyway!

The next one sees aless principled position...

Have you ever bought a paper, trailed along to a meeting, or joined a group, to get into someone’s knickers?

Yes 37.1% 23
No 62.9% 39

one comment :

Yes, but it was the RCP, so I don't think they'll have minded - in fact, I think it was their only recruitment strategy.


Is the personal political?

Yes 86.0% 49
No 14.0% 8

And the final question was "Anything else you would like to tell Stroppy"

Yes, why are lefty men all slightly fucked up, eh!!! Or may be it's just the ones I fancy...

This was quite diverting!

This was quite diverting!

I'm not "left", I'm Green.

Three lefties was too restrictive. There's a lot of nice women on the left! lol

Only in person.

in answering 'there shouldn't be sex-work after the revolution' the answer comes a fortiori from the fact that i don't see there being work after the revolution. and the one member of the tory party with whom i have had sex credits me as part of the reason she is no longer a member of the tory party.

Definitely not.


So there you go, a snapshot of the left and sex. Pretty disturbed but thats why I love em.

oh and thanks again to Jim Jay and Marsha Jane for their suggestions and ideas for questions .

The AWL, dodgy fantasies and lefties you wouldn't kick out of bed..part 2 of the sex survey results

The second part had a number of questions looking at attitudes around sex.

Would a committed relationship for you be:


Marriage, kids and a Labrador (and no, nothing odd with the dog!) (13.6%) 9
Monogamous. (56.1%) 37
Sleep with other people but not tell. ( 9.1% )6
Open relationship, the odd shag with others. ( 24.2% )16
More than one partner. (10.6% )7
Not into commitment . (1.5% )1


Interestingly the majority (56.1) favoured monogamy , though about 34% did see commitment as taking less onventional forms and a few took the well worn path of not telling.

Those who added comments to ‘other’ included :

Different strokes for different folks, but honesty is mandatory.

Emotional commitment, think monogamy is negotiable but irrelevant

I have all the commitment I need for the revolution.

but i find it hard to do (in relation to marriage, kids , Labrador).

I suppose I tend to think its about real choice, not following what society, religion or families expect. Its shouldn’t be about conforming , but I do think the key is honesty and treating people, whether a one nighter or a partner, with respect.

The next two I think highlight that for many lefties sharing at least some politics is important for a partner but not when its just sex.


Would you knowingly sleep with a Tory ?

Yes (33.8%) 23
No (30.9%) 21
Depends how drunk I was (35.3%) 24


Is it important to share similar political views with a partner?
Yes 73.4% 47
No 26.6% 17

Comments :

Helpful, not essential. Share some views, not others

Depends how emotionally committed relationship is! If so yes, if just sex, no

Depends how divergent their view are

It is important that they are not shared.

I don’t think its possible to agree on everything (and that would be dull!), so I suspect for many there will be issues that are more important to share than others.

The next few focus on the leftie variation of work/life balance, yep shagging or selling papers .

How many sexual partners have you had ? And no, let’s not nitpick on the definition like Clinton!
(Though knowing the left, I gave a nit pick option )

1 7.6% 5
2-5 27.3% 18
5-10 4.5 % 3
10-15 19.7% 13
15-25 10.6% 7
25-30 6.1% 4
30-40 1.5% 1
40-50 1.5% 1
50-60 1.5% 1
60-80 1.5% 1
80-100 4.5% 3
100+ 6.1% 4
Can’t remember ! 3.0% 2
Well you see it does all depend what you mean by sex 9.1% 6

Of course this isn’t cross referenced with age, gender or sexuality, so is is just a snapshot. A few ticked more than one, including the “well you see it does all depend” answer as well.

One person added ‘none’.

So far we have lefties busy shagging every day and only a few too busy overthrowing capitalism, so what do they do on Saturday morning ?

Saturday morning , what’s your priority ?

Sex 38.1% 16
Getting down to reading some serious theory 16.7% 7
Writing a blog post 21.4% 9
Leafleting/paper sale/canvas 23.8% 10



Although the highest number said sex, there were quite a few (25) who added their own priorities :

Rowing
First three in order.
Sleeping (8)
I do not get up before noon
Housework
Dealing with the kids/ kids/childcare/Children waking me up when I'd rather stay in bed. (4)
cup of tea
coffee
Walk the dog, buy the Guardian, make breakfast for my lover
Breakfast!
Leafleting outside the local Conservative Club, where their posh yet not that old women's section is having a coffee morning, so I can get invited in
Getting up for work
Writing or producing a magazine/newspaper, or helping out at a food co-op


Now regular readers will remember this blog has been described as all about ‘Fisting, fucking and fishnets .'
I think those less well acquainted with the blog were a tad confused by the question and skipped it. To be honest no idea what the question meant; word association , words beginning with F, stream of leftie consciousness…


This is Stroppyblog, soooo

Fisting 16.0% 8
Fucking 68.0% 34
Fishnets 40.0% 20


Those that people added were :
Sucking the stilletto
Cunnilingus. Giving.
Nah
Eh?
Light S&M
What?
SouthpawPunch
Felines
Fellatio
all 3
Fantasy


Now how sectarian are we in the bedroom (or wherever)?
This wasn’t tick box, people added what they wanted.

Here are some highlights !
1)What groups/parties/sects have you shagged members of?

You name it, I've shagged it
"Apolitical, mostly... "
"SWP, AWL, CPGB "
"Tory, Labour, Lib.Dem. Trotskyite, Marxist, CND, Maoist, Quaker, Catholic, CofE, many others"
"labour, green, tory, lib dem, swp, awl, sparts, various more or less organised anarchist groups
ISG, Workers Power, IS, SWP, Workers Fight, Militant, WRP, the other WRP, Labour Party NEC "
"SWP, Socialist Labour (crap), SA, Green Party (REALLY don't go there!), Labour (but only as an act of class warfare), CBGP "
"Fond memories of RCP chicks in the early 1980s; hit on 'em and their knickers were as good as off. "
"SWP, Respect, Left List "

2)Which was the best ?

Libertarian leftie women
SWP
Anarchist Federation and (tragically) the RCP
The best was undoubtedly the Maoist.
Greens
definitely the anarchists, both on average and individually (and collectively :-) )
Militant, as it was soooo forbidden by the church of Grant and Woods
I haven't kept notes... but, there were these two Lib Dems...
AWL
Most quite crap, though I do have fond memories of a Millie

3)Is there a group, that no matter how much you fancied someone, their membership of it would mean you wouldn’t shag them?

None
BNP (any fascist basically) ( a few on this theme, though I was really meaning leftie groups)
Tories and rightwards, pro-Stalinists
Respect Renewal
NO!
SWP And, historically speaking and more so, WRP. And Furedisti
Shag, yes. Have a relationship, no.
Sparts
Nauseating yuppie liberals
I would only have highly abusive anonymous sex with a neoconservative or libertarian.
AWL
Hackney Constituency Labour Party
English bit of Lutte Ouvriere,
SWP CC
SWP/RCP/WRP
WRP - I don't fuck apologists for rape
Respect
Can't imagine shagging anyone in Socialist Action.
CPGB-ML (wouldn't shag under any circumstance)

What came across from the survey was that the AWL are sort of leftie marmite, people either seem to love em or hate em. They figured highly in who someone wouldn’t shag , but as you will see later they figure quite highly in lefties you wouldn’t kick out of bed or as part of role play fantasy…and Jim is their most popular member !

Which three lefties wouldn’t you kick out of bed ?

I have just listed all the names people put in the survey. Quite a mixed bunch. Some are not that 'left' and one person said they don't 'do' lefties!

Most got one vote, those that got more were :

(some just said one person three times, counts as one)

3 votes

Marsha-Jane

2 votes

Jim Denham
Jim Jepps
Catriona Grant
Stroppy (no I did not vote for myself !)

1 vote

Mary Partington
Sofie Buckland
Gregor Gysi
Hind Hassan
Hannah Sell
Salma Yaqoob
Sian Berry
David Miliband
Segolene Royal
Beauvoir
Luxembourg
Daniel Randall
David Broder
Jeremy Browne
Nick Clegg
Jackie Grunsall,
Lucy Adler,

Bob Browne (Australian)

“Margaret Thatcher, Mussolini's granddaughter, Segoline Royal, Sargosy's bird (I don't do "bed with lefties").”

Carolyn Leckie
Houzan Mahmoud
Barak Obama
Katja Kipping
Owen James
Jeremy Dear
Caroline Lucas
Gail Sheridan
Jon Rogers
Will
Mark Fischer
China Mieville
Angela Eagle
Matt Wrack,
Dave Osler
George Binette

comments...

Er...my girlfriend and all the girls I've slept with?,
ALL OF THEM.
Three persons known to me.
Errrr.
Can't name third
None.
Um, I'm shit with names.
Really not sure, those dead Russians had some sexy beards though
Not telling you!!!
there aren't that many lefties i would kick out of bed.
“If there were three lefties in the same bed they'd be so busy arguing they wouldn't have time for the sex!”
my partner
Oh god. NEXT!
I daren't comment about anyone associated with this blog...
Too embarrassing to say - even anonymously
Silent ones

Lefties and fantasy…

Can I just say all these role play.fantasies were new to me. I mean i'm as vanilla as they come and any fantasy would be very right on and equal and probably involve gambolling through meadows being very respectful. These were all Jim Jepp's idea .
Hmmm, not convincing am I ;-)


Anyway, gave me some new ideas …


Have you ever fantasised (or role played )about :

Melanie Phillips, spank me baby! 7.0% 3
Nuns, with or without guns 34.9% 15
Women in burquas 23.3% 10
Margaret Thatcher 7.0% 3
Jim Denham 9.3% 4
Yvonne Ridley 4.7% 2
John Mcdonnell 11.6% 5
John Rees and young enthusiastic cadre 2.3% 1
Policemen or women 34.9% 15
Tory business women in French underwear 32.6% 14
Nazi orgies with hookers 14.0% 6
Ruth Kelly in bondage gear 11.6% 5
Harriet Harman, in full riot, telling you what a very naughty boy/girl you had been … 7.0% 3
Lefties in uniform – firefighters, nurses, rail workers… 60.5% 26
Or anything else you want to share ? 16.3% 7


And quite a few did indeed share ...

are you trying to put me off sex for life?
I don't go for authority figures. I like the unconstrained play of equals.
Sex in riots.
dom/mes, /bondage
SPP here again, I forgot to mention fantasising about armed workers in struggle, e.g. the IRA, RIRA, Provo IRA, Batasuna, the Welsh Firebombing Nationalists, the UCK/KLA, FSLN, SDLP, Gadaffi's women bodyguard troupe, South American guerrila movements, and the French Tories Womens Institute (Armed Section). Hang on, not the SDLP.
that famous picture of uniformed Maoist girls,
East German fashion chic
Waterfalls au natural
S&M
I am the only true revolutionary, I am SouthPawPunch, spell it properly,!
My girlfriend can't get enough of John McDonnell, if that counts
Pirates
soldiers, obviously.


And a few that said No!!
And
Good grief, none of the above.

Next up...theory as foreplay, lefties talk dirty and threesomes with TU general secretaries...

What lefties do in bed...Sex survey results part 1 !

Yep, the results of the sex survey. Almost as eagerly awaited, and slow, as those in Zimbabwe. No rigging though, honest.

It’s my first blog survey, so it was a bit hit and miss, but hopefully learnt from it for the next. I tried transferring tables over to blogger and it went all wonky, so hope its readable.

Many of the questions are humorous (I hope), but there was a serious purpose. The left aren’t great on sexual politics and I am curious as to how we live our lives. Do we challenge gender roles; do we buy into bourgeois monogamous family units? Do we live the theory or do we muddle along with contradictions.Personally I think muddling along with the contradictions and trying to challenge the accepted norm is the best we can do in this society where the Labour Party bangs on about hard working families (the new deserving poor), when the media still has double standards about laddish men but slutty women and married monogamous bliss is still seen as the gold standard (which is fine if that's what you want rather than expected). Oh and then there’s the role religion plays in moralising about how we live our lives and the odd leftie bemoaning our godless society (if only).

Right, back to the survey !It seemed that most were genuine, with only one obvious spoof. That was someone who said they were 70+, Queer, Transgendered, AWL and had sex everyday. An ‘expert ‘ on the AWL informed me no such member existed, though I think it is Jim and he is just quite well preserved for his age (in whisky I suspect ).

Right, what did it show.

Well the responses were
Pt 1 87
Pt2 69
Pt3 64

The dropping numbers I think a consequence of being in three parts. It was over three surveys because there is a limit on questions with the free package. That has meant its more anonymous, but harder to make links between gender/sexuality/party etc and answers.

What political party/group/alliance are you a member of, if any?

Although free text, and so the option to say none was there, 35 people did not answer this. I suspect some of those were independent and others reluctant to say for whatever reason.

Those who did specify (and it was up to them how they defined it, It was not tick box) :

The Labour Party 9
New labour 1
Labour/LRC 2
Labour Party – Mcdonnellite 1
Green 8
SWP 3
Scottish Socialist Party 3
antifaschiste linke, Berlin 1
SPPP (TORP) SouthPawPunchParty (TheOnlyRevolutionaryParty) 1
AWL 2
CPGB 1
“Prefer not to say – Trotskyist” 1
Ligue Communiste Révolutionnaire 1
Socialist Party 1
Independent Anarchist 1
Respect 1
Libertarian left 1
Workers action 1
Solidarity (US) 1
Lib Dem 1
Independent /None 10
Tory 1

So a fair mix. One Tory seemed to miss the whole point of the survey, as it was for lefties. And of course we could argue about the Lib Dem as well.Oh and Punchie has said it wasn't him from SPPP, so must have been one of his members (so there are two !).

In terms of sexuality :

Straight 67.4% 58
Bisexual 17.4% 15
Gay 3.5% 3
Lesbian 1.2% 1
Queer 5.8% 5
Other 4.7% 4

From what I could tell it was mainly women who defined as bisexual . No one elaborated on ‘other’.

Gender :

Male 62 (72.1% )
Female 20 (23.3%)
Transgendered 4 (4.7%)

Age

16-21 (16.1%) 14
22-30 ( 29.9%) 26
31-40 (20.7% ) 18
41-50 ( 23.0%) 20
51-60 ( 8.0%) 7
61-70 (0.0%) 0
70+ (2.3%) 2


On average, how often do you have sex?

Celibate ( 4.7%) 4
Oooh that was sooo long ago I can't remember (10.6%) 9
Once a year (1.2% ) 1
Twice a year (2.4%) 2
3-6 times a year (2.4%) 2
Once a month ( 17.6% ) 15
Once a week (10.6%) 9
two or three times a week ( 25.9%) 22
Every day ( 3.5%) 3
More than once a day ( 4.7% ) 4
Depends what you mean by sex ! ( 11.8% ) 10
I’m sorry, but I'm much too busy working to overthrow capitalism to bother with all that. ( 8.2%) 7

Now it does all depend what you mean by sex and also it varies from time to time, so I suppose this was just a snapshot. A few people ticked more than one box.

Glad to see some people prioritising the overthrow of capitalism, not like those having sex more than once a day…comrades what about the revolution ;-)

The porn and sex work ones were interesting and I think reflect the complexities that this survey could only touch on.

Around 2/3rd s said they used porn. In terms of whether it degraded women the majority were unsure. Quite a few straight men said they thought it degraded women but they still used it. Quite a few women said they used porn and it was mixed in terms of whether they considered it degrading. Gay men used it and the survey did not cover whether they felt it degraded men. Whether it should exist under socialism had a mixed response and again the question could not really cover the complexities. Is erotica alright but porn not? What really is the difference between erotica and porn, is one more middle class and arty? Is erotica any less stereotyped about gender roles? Would control by women make a difference .Where does that leave lesbian porn (and not the supposed lesbians performing for men )?
The question is quite general, its talking about the present. But does porn, or erotic/sexual material have to be degrading under socialism?

The sex work question again showed the differences in views on this and also that much depended on what was meant by the definition. Again it did not separate out sex work in terms of straight, gay or lesbian.

How often do you use porn?e

Never ( 35.3% )30
Daily ( 8.2% ) 7
Weekly (22.4%) 19
Monthly (7.1%) 6
Only occasionally (21.2% ) 18
Between relationships ( 5.9% ) 5
With my partner ( 8.2%) 7

Quite a few ticked more than one box, such as with a partner and weekly.

Do you think porn degrades women ?

Yes ( 33.3%) 28
No (26.2% ) 22
Hmmm, not sure . (40.5% ) 34
answered question 84

Should porn exist under socialism ?

Yes ( 72.5%) 58
No (27.5%) 22
answered question 80

Should sex work exist under socialism?

Yes (32.1% 27
No (22.6% ) 19
Depends what type (47.6% ) 40
answered question 84

Do you support the existing age of consent?
Yes (56.5% ) 48
No (10.6%) 9
It should be higher (3.5% ) 3
It should be lower (17.6%) 15
Shouldn't be one (17.6%) 15
answered question 85


Right, coming up...the sexual fantasies of the left, lefties you wouldnt kick out of bed and more...

Sex Survey results ...soon

Eddie Truman, on facebook, said it was like the Zimbabwe elections when Tami asked where are the results !. Honest, I will post soon on them and no, they aren't rigged. Its just a lot to plough through.

Note to self, next time keep the damn thing simple !!

Lefties and Sex survey

Reminder : This survey is just for lefties to ascertain their views and experiences. Iain Dale has one for a wider political group.Its also in three parts. A bit of a pain as you have to return to the blog to click to the next part. Do please persist, I have been told by one respondent that the questions get "weirder and weirder."I hope that's an incentive:-)Do you really want to miss out on questions on political fantasies/role play (so far Jim D is very popular, but so are nuns with guns and John McDonnell in a threesome ), your views on commitment, which TU Gen Sec you would shag if your life depended on it and how sectarian are we in the bedroom .The first part is actually the least interesting part!
If you have only completed one section you can still do the others at a later stage.






Its snowing in Brighton, I'm supposed to be putting together some flat pack storage. As a distraction I have been compiling a sex survey.

Its completely anonymous ( I don't have a record of IPs ), so do complete it and be honest!

It is , as I stated in the previous post, a poll for lefties .

First off its in three parts. That's because the survey website charge if you do more than ten questions per survey, so I have broken it up.You need to come back to the blog after each part and then click on the next part.

(links down now as survey closed)

Secondly I want to thank my assistants in this, they are Janine, Marsha Jane and Jim.

Marsha as always lowered the tone, not easy on this blog. Jim kindly spent time on face book making suggestions for the fantasy/role play section. I must though add that none of them are his own personal ones !! At least that's what he told me:-)
Janine added some political insight rather than the smut of the other two.

The purpose of this poll is to get an idea of the sexual attitudes and behaviour of lefties.
There are some serious questions and some not so.
Do lefties challenge the status quo in our relationships or are we pretty bourgeois in the bedroom? Take the survey and lets see…

Sex and Stroppyblog !!

Polls are soooo last year, its surveys that are the new must have for any blogger.

Tami drew my attention to one that she thought might interest me , its on sex over at Iain Dale's Diary.

The survey is quite good except the only left it has as a category is Labour.But what about the strange sexual habits, or perhaps just very dull ones, of the LRC lefties and left of Labour lefties ? They need a voice ! So I am going to put together a survey specially for the left.

I plan to do this later today . Any suggestions for questions please add to the comments box. Oh and this is Stroppyblog, so don't worry about taste or decency :-)

Fifty year old floosies and the Daily Mail

Daily Mail women know their place. Yep, they have jobs but not too high powered. They marry and have nice children who don't binge drink or wear hoodies .They enjoy sex just enough to keep hubbie happy and breed but not too much, none of that 'whore in the bedroom' malarkey .The soundtrack to their lives is Dido and Phil Collins .They go from wife to mother to granny then death , with less and less sex as they progress.

If they are unhappy and want a divorce they are very very selfish. If hubbie leaves then its probably their fault and they should now blend into the wallpaper, do voluntary work and find a nice hobby such as a book group.

There is of course another world and the Mail regularly scares them with stories of this place full of drunken floosies (otherwise known as a leftie bloggers piss up), gay soldiers and single parents with 30 children living on £2 million a year handouts. Hmmm, slight exaggeration on the last example, but you get the point.

Every now and again there is a warning , in case any Mail reading woman feels tempted to dip a toe into the degenerate other world.
One such warning came today with the headline "Are the frisky fifties putting their sexual health at risk?"

It starts by telling the story of 44-year-old Diane(thats not fifty !) who not only had sex with someone other than her husband , and at such an advanced age, but with a younger man to boot:

"When I was growing up, the only thing we worried about was getting pregnant," says Diane, an attractive blonde divorcee with two daughters in their 20s and her own PR company in South London.

"The issue of sexually transmitted infections simply never entered my head, because by the time the Aids epidemic came round I was married and obviously in a monogamous relationship. I was vaguely aware that there was a big increase in such infections, but that had nothing to do with my life."
But then Diane's 19-year marriage came to an end and she found herself back on the singles scene - a very different scene to that when she was first dating in her teens.

"Firstly, I found that all the men my age had let themselves go or were really controlling," she says. "Or if they had kept themselves in shape, were chasing women half my age."

Now this is her mistake. She should have resigned herself to a life of book clubs and gardening, or else made do with what was on offer . But no, off she went to the internet and found herself a younger man. Fun comes before punishment as any Daily Mail reader must know and she caught Chlamydia. The Mail goes on to call her shamefaced and just in case readers thought this a one off :

Diane's tale might sound like a sorry story of one woman's naivety and stupidity, but the fact is she is just one of the soaring numbers of middle-aged women who are at risk of sexually transmitted infections.

Diane herself says:

"It's had a huge effect on my life. I feel as if I daren't date a man as I might give him chlamydia, or catch it again. I haven't slept with anyone for four years. If I did, I would always insist on a condom now, but even then I would feel really nervous.

"What a way to look forward to my retirement in nine years time - I feel I will almost certainly be alone, thanks to my own crass stupidity."

So there you have it, you risk a lonely old age for stepping out of line.

Now of course there are a number of issues here. For a start why not address this to men and women? What about men taking responsibility for safe sex?I note there is no mention of men with younger women being 'naive' and 'stupid' and getting infections.
There is a real issue that the safe sex campaign is missing out people (not just women) who may have been in long term relationships and not really taken notice of them at the time. What is needed is better information, awareness and campaigns that are relevant to all ages not . Thats the issue, not calling women stupid and not giving them sole responsibility for safe sex and ignoring the men .

It should be applauded that women in their 40s, 50s and as the Mail puts it 'even' their 60s have sex. For an article headed 'frisky fifties' they also seem to have a problem with 40 year olds. WTF !! I think its great that women are refusing to conform as they get older and still see themselves as sexual beings.

Yep, when I get to fifty I'll trade in the grumpy old man for a toyboy ...


Pic : Whilst googling for a pic of a floosie came across a site of papier mache figures and this one was called Flora Floosie ;-)

'Green' sex

Whilst perusing Facebook as a way of avoiding other more pressing tasks, I came across a link to a blog post on 'How to green your sex life .'
(hat tip to Jim Jay who posted it up there) .

Hmmm. I try to be green, albeit in a slightly haphazard fashion.I am though a bit wary about 'green sex'. All sounds a bit dull and worthy, two words that should not be linked to sex in my view. Images of hand knitted sex toys wielded by right on bearded men with pony tails appeared in my head (and I must try to erase them forthwith). I do my best to recycle,worry about my carbon foot print, so can I keep my non PC sex please.

Anyway, take a look and see what you think. It includes sex toys, underwear , finding a 'tree hugger' partner (her words, not my sarcasm!)and the benefits of vegetarianism for oral sex. Oh and something about 'suspicious' dildos !

pic is of some 'green' knickers.

Sex, love and politics.

Right, hopefully that got your attention!

Over at Shiraz there is a post about the 'fuck circuit'. I have got into a debate with Punchie about the issue of politics and partners.

Punchie states:
Having a general rule of no howsyourfather with Brit lefts on the grounds of taste (and that rule would also apply, only doubly so, if I was a gay man or a straight woman) an indulgence with an RCPer at the same time (although arguably they were not members of the British Left) was undertaken with higher motives in mind.

My response :

Whilst agreeing that some on the left could do with a bit of a makeover I do find the idea that its a ‘rule’ that you don't have sex with or relationships with lefties. As someone of such principled revolutionary beliefs don’t you find it odd to be with someone who is either ‘unpolitical’ (though I think everyone has politics even if they say they don’t) or right wing ?

Wouldn’t you have to shoot them come the Punchie revolution?

So what politics have your girlfriends/partners/shags had then ?Its not such an issue for a one off but any sort of relationship surely must be difficult if you don't have some politics in common?

Punchie responds ( this is not word for word, so check out the original):

Damn, I knew I shouldn't’t have started this. I’m not sure whether I should go off the subject but as I’m asked, I’ll answer.

People are generally apolitical (although I agree that no-one is really) - “I’m not interested in politics, are you some sort of nutter?” might be a common response.

Also many don’t fit into conventional categories e.g. an Indian who may be big on anti-imperialism (who do the whites think they are to run the world and tell Iran what to do?) mixed with reactionary ‘domestic’ politics (Calcutta’s a cesspit because of these communist chumchas).

But it did include one Frenchwoman who seemed pretty apolitical - or so I thought until she showed me some pictures of her at university including being pictured next to no less than Chirac whilst waving an enormous Tricoloeur - apparently she was the student leader of whatever his party was at her college and another Frenchwoman who appeared a greeny type, if anything, but then I found her current membership card for the British Conservative Party in her house, even though she had only ever lived in France and had been to Britain only a few times (there was strange, and almost understandable reason for this.)

And then there was a Sicilian woman, a long time ago, whose English was diabolical. We got to talk about Mussolini (by sign language, I think) just before she left and she appeared to say she had a great liking for him - but then she may have been saying she had a great dislike of him.

But generally I think the moral is clear - the righter the better. Carla Bruni or Arlette Laguiller? There are more things to talk about than politics.

I am curious as to what others think about this. I do not expect a partner to have identical views to me, that would be dull and I like a challenge. I would want them to be leftish, anti sexist and racist and not homophobic. They would need to be fairly libertarian as well on social issues. Within all that there is quite a lot of scope.

That does not mean politics is the only thing I talk about, but its important.
I would find it impossible to have a partner who held fundamentally opposing political views and stood for everything I fight against.
I could ignore many things, but its impossible to avoid politics as an issue with a partner. I want someone who cheers when there is a victory and gets animated about the issues I believe in.Someone who rants like I do !

This is not such an issue if its just a one off fuck. There is no need to share any interests other than sex. But , saying that, I couldn't fuck someone I knew to be a racist or who was being openly homophobic or sexist . That's not to say sex should be PC, I think it is an area where there are many contradictions and I'm not sure I would want it any other way. I just think if they were expressing those views I would probably have argued with them, been extremely rude and told them to fuck off.

Thoughts ?

Update : re reading this I just want to say that I'm not prescribing what people should do. I suppose with the original comments on Shiraz I was partly trying to wind up Punchie because he is critical of wussy lefties and so I was curious as to why he has a sort of no leftie 'rule' re relationships. So perhaps I have come across as judgemental when that wasn't my intention.

Thinking a bit more about this I am curious to hear from people who have made a relationship work where there are major political differences. I somehow doubt a racist and an anti racist could work, but I have heard of lefties and Tories. I suspect its often that one person is uninterested in politics (though again I don't think anyone is nonpolitical if you really push them on their views)rather than outright opposite. Is there a difference re men and women on this issue?

Lowering the tone...

I am suffering from brain exhaustion so can't think of anything of great political substance to write so trying to overcome this disorder I was flicking through today's Guardian Guide and came across this website. I am addicted, as a boring movie geek, to the Internet Movie Data Base (INMb) so this kinda fascinated me. Who's Dated Who in Hollywood is pretty much what it says on the tin.

The sexual shenanigans of Hollywood movie stars (past and present) and have been spending my rainy Saturday afternoon gawping voyeuristically at a kind of sexual 6-degrees of Kevin Bacon (he too is on there). It is tacky, eye fodder, and very Channel 5 but hey it's fun! I am addicted already... I mean, Drew Barrymore and Courtney Love. Zsa Zsa Gabor...where did she get the time...? And no wonder JFK had a bad back. Sheesh!

You could use this template to come up with "Who's dated Who on the Left".... Yes, it will be based on gossip and innuendo with a tiny, tiny, smidgen of truth. And from my own experience, the Left is so darn gossipy. If the editors of Weekly Worker are reading this, you know this is a runner. I mean, you are not called "Worker's Hello" for nowt. I can just envision Jack Conrad as in house "agony uncle" or the intrepid Eddie Ford sniffing out gossip for his "after the pub closes" column (or whatever "chucking out" time is now..).

Here's another idea, who needs Soulmates (Guardian's lonely hearts page) when the WW could have Comrades In Need of A Shag section. You can find the One(s) by separating the wheat from the chaff, or should that be separating the degenerated from the state caps? Or vice versa.

Anyway, the potential is there to find a comrade-in-arms who finds talking dirty kinky and sexy (when I say "talking dirty" I mean quoting great chunks from Lenin and Trotsky), or discussing the intricacies of sugar production in Cuba floats your boat or maybe discovering someone else out there in Trot land has also read all of the back copies of Intercontinental Press. The potential is great for hooking up comrades with specific tastes....

C'mon you know it makes sense, comrades!!

Anyway, back to my fix of Hollywood gossip. Hopefully, normal service will resume and I will write something intelligent soon. Oh hum......