The awkwardness and uncertainly was my favorite part. We'd all love to be the person Glynnis MacNicol describes but I thought that scene was more realistic and incredibly relatable when trying something new for the first time in your fifties.
I agree! I also think that the awkwardness and experimentation are intimacy enablers, as opposed to professional, mechanical, and very punctual sex! The rawness of it makes it far more reliable in my eyes.
The awkwardness is real and deeply human. A woman who fully knows herself is a rarity. I'm doing research for a book on sexual liberation and the reality is that many women of all ages don't know their own desires because our culture conditions girls and women to please men instead of discovering their own pleasure and desires. I've learned women like Glynnis - and myself, who started figuring out my pleasure as a teen because I had a indirectly sex positive mom who didn't center men - are outliers.
Completely agree. I also think what we want is complex because we are complex. Parts of us may want one thing and other parts may not or may be completely ambivalent. Our cultural conditioning also doesn’t make a lot of space for complexity or nuance either.
Yes!! Thank you for this. I absolutely loved the awkwardness of that scene. It was the most depiction to me of trying something new and a reminder that none of us really know what we’re doing all the time. I think fear of that awkwardness keeps us stuck!
I haven’t seen babygirl yet, so can only go on what I’ve read and my thoughts/feelings about female desire more broadly. With regard to the banal, going to the movies alone has long been a desire of mine. There’s nothing more perfect. I’m sorry you got looks, but…women’s desire! In the sexual realm, I think we can all agree on the role of internalized patriarchy on sexual expression. Are we the virgin or the whore? Frankly, I want to be able to be both and everything in between. My ideal lover would be down for this. If not, I guess I’d just have to sample the smorgasbord :-)
My reverse age gap series is very much a woman who knows exactly what she wants. I think I’m with Glynnis on this one. Although it’s fiction of course it would be nice if the woman controlled the bedroom for once! Maybe someone can make my billionaire Mrs Jackson into a movie deal !!
The awkwardness and uncertainly was my favorite part. We'd all love to be the person Glynnis MacNicol describes but I thought that scene was more realistic and incredibly relatable when trying something new for the first time in your fifties.
I agree! I also think that the awkwardness and experimentation are intimacy enablers, as opposed to professional, mechanical, and very punctual sex! The rawness of it makes it far more reliable in my eyes.
The awkwardness is real and deeply human. A woman who fully knows herself is a rarity. I'm doing research for a book on sexual liberation and the reality is that many women of all ages don't know their own desires because our culture conditions girls and women to please men instead of discovering their own pleasure and desires. I've learned women like Glynnis - and myself, who started figuring out my pleasure as a teen because I had a indirectly sex positive mom who didn't center men - are outliers.
Completely agree. I also think what we want is complex because we are complex. Parts of us may want one thing and other parts may not or may be completely ambivalent. Our cultural conditioning also doesn’t make a lot of space for complexity or nuance either.
Yes!! Thank you for this. I absolutely loved the awkwardness of that scene. It was the most depiction to me of trying something new and a reminder that none of us really know what we’re doing all the time. I think fear of that awkwardness keeps us stuck!
I’m literally reading this on my way to see it, alone. 😁
Hooray, enjoy!!
I haven’t seen babygirl yet, so can only go on what I’ve read and my thoughts/feelings about female desire more broadly. With regard to the banal, going to the movies alone has long been a desire of mine. There’s nothing more perfect. I’m sorry you got looks, but…women’s desire! In the sexual realm, I think we can all agree on the role of internalized patriarchy on sexual expression. Are we the virgin or the whore? Frankly, I want to be able to be both and everything in between. My ideal lover would be down for this. If not, I guess I’d just have to sample the smorgasbord :-)
My reverse age gap series is very much a woman who knows exactly what she wants. I think I’m with Glynnis on this one. Although it’s fiction of course it would be nice if the woman controlled the bedroom for once! Maybe someone can make my billionaire Mrs Jackson into a movie deal !!