A digression: writing about sex and sex art, if you’re not in it as a business, isn’t cost-free. And while we certainly
can’t afford all of the subscriptions we’d like, I want people to make some money so that they keep making it. And – to the extent they can make a good living – and I’ve little idea of the economics of the business – I think they’re more likely to take risks and deviate from formulae.I mean here not only Ms. Berlin (who I don’t know), but also some that I do, like our favorite librarian. Said librarian is so smart and writes so well that while we don’t ever want her to stop writing about sex and relationships, we’d pay to read anything she wrote, because we’re always interested in her observations.

So – our first point here is – we may not be able to support all of our favorite pornographers all of the time – but we should all be paying some of our pornographers some of the time. (Yes, I’m paraphrasing Lincoln, but Lincoln’s record on censorship, except about military matters in wartime, was better than, say,Ashcroft’s. Also, Lincoln was known to tell racy stories and was quite the reader. He would have approved, I think).To quote Ms. Berlin herself (and she’s as funny in her blog as she is on film):  .

“Buy my porn, people. I made it for you.”

Our second point is – that when politicians try to capitalize on our national hypocrisy and ambivalence about sex and prosecute people who produce material, with consenting adults, that other people want to read, watch, listen to, and even pay for – we should roundly and loudly object, regardless of the particular flavor or quality of the materials. In a country where sexuality is politicized, pornography is axiomatically political speech.

Personal Disclosure: My first real employment (apart from jobs in school) was in law enforcement. And early on, I was actively and aggressively involved in investigating and prosecuting child pornography and prostitution (“child” for these purposes, being unambiguously pre-pubescent children), as aggressively as we pursued kidnappers, murderers, rapists, and violent racists. The notion of child prostitution is inserted into discussions of consensual pornography the way the recording industry shamelessly claimed that “illegal” music downloads were financing Al Qaeda. It’s an entirely false – and irrelevant – argument.

We are optimistic that the incoming Administration knows that it has better things to do with the People’s monies and resources. But – just because we’re here encouraging you to live happy, fulfilled lives – you have an obligation to object to censorship. In the meantime, we have fun things to tell you about – but we’ve delayed because we felt obliged to rant and scold.

So – because we’ve spent so much time discussing politics – let’s hope it doesn’t become necessary to remind you all again that the Constitution will only protect us if  we protect the Constitution – here’s what you should do:

• Go to the library, and read.
• Then, go to Mz. Berlin’s blog. Read her words, buy her porn. Mz. Berlin writes much better than I do – and she’s funnier and much better-looking. And she’s got a website and a  blog  - and if she keeps going at this rate we may urge her to run for office. When’s the next California governor’s race?
  
• Then visit Fetish Nation. Ian Rath, we think, takes the best photographs of Ms. Berlin. On the other hand, if he’s ever taken a bad photograph, he must have put someone else’s name on it. He’s got a blog, which is either new or I’m betraying my ignorance, which, in any case, is vast.
• Join Fetlife. It’s not a non sequitur, or if it is, you’ll still be happy about it.

I’ve been reminded that we’ve had in our house a number of discussions about Mr. Rath and his oeuvre. The beautiful blond from Kansas – whose sexual appetites, interests and observations are as amazing as her taste in men is questionable – finds Mr. R. (and quite a number of his on-screen colleagues, too) exceedingly attractive – has wondered if there isn’t a second, much more exclusive line at Fetish Nation – “Doesn’t he ever take his clothes off?” she’s wondered aloud, more than once. Mr. R. may, in fact, be her favorite male adult performer.

Part of this is that he’s just a really good-looking man – with a lot of presence, very funny, and unquestionably very smart. So we think that he has a thing for very smart women – viz. Ms. Berlin, and something about the charming/clever conversations gets the villain in him going – and that’s why his work is all so hot – but, as we noted before, funnier at the beginning, Very seriously hot by the end.