Sometimes when reading I come across something that makes me smile, or, even better, cracks me up and makes me laugh. What follows is a tidbit that did both, so I hope you enjoy it also.
Dear Abby,
I am a twenty three year old liberated woman who has been on the pill for two years. It’s getting pretty expensive and I think my boyfriend should share half the cost, but I don’t know him well enough to discuss money with him.*
That’s it. That’s the tidbit. My first smile was one of disbelief. I thought the author I was reading had made up a nonsense letter and was including it in his book to prove a point. I mean, who in the world would write to Dear Abby and say they were having sex with a man but were afraid to talk to him about money matters? Then I noticed the asterisk by the word him, so I looked down to the bottom of the page, and started laughing. The footnote indicated that that the letter was the real thing. It had appeared in a collection of Abby’s columns which had been published in a book “The Best of Dear Abby” way back in 1981 by Andrews and McMeel. By then my mind had kicked into a playful mode, so I began to make up some questions:
1: Isn’t it great that President Obama wants to have Insurance Companies pay for the pill so that women today won’t have to bear the cost, but can get contraception free, if they want it, as part of their health benefits?
2. I wonder if the writer of the letter is around today to benefit from President Obama’s proposal…. If she was twenty three around 1981…she would be…. somewhere in her mid-fifties now. At present if she were still intimidated at the prospect of talking with a boy friend about something as personal and intimate as money, she would finally be able to relax and enjoy sex without that preoccupation.
3. Is it ridiculous to think that talking about financial matters is more personal and intimate than engaging in sexual activity?
4. Maybe not! Maybe I am the one who is out of touch with reality? Maybe today it is easier to talk about your sex life than your finances.
5. Why in the world did it take way over thirty years for a president to come along who wanted to have contraception subsidized as a woman’s right? Shouldn’t the Federal Government have stepped in and taken care of this problem before now?
6. Let’s see…what’s the proper framework in which to pose the question? Is contraception part of Reproductive Health….is it a human right…a right of all persons everywhere and therefore a woman’s right and a man’s right too?
7. Say it is a question of Human Rights. Then what? Well, logically the Insurance companies, or the Federal Government, or Somebody (the taxpayers) should end up paying for it and for Viagra for men as well, right? For all I know that may already be taking place. After all, the USA has always been a man’s world where male rights were recognized before female.
8. If a man has a right to sexual activity to satisfy his desire for pleasure, certainly a woman does too….If the woman’s taste happens to be for a male of the species, why shouldn’t the option for Viagra also be included in her health plan, thereby saving her the frustration of wasting her time with a dysfunctional male?
9. Could it be that in spite of all the benefits the Sexual Revolution has produced, it hasn’t gone far enough? Isn’t it a tragedy that there are still so many people all over the world who have so much anger and rage and do so much damage, all because of their repressed sexual urges?
10. I mean, look at Fundamentalist fanatics and the way they treat women, start wars and engage in terrorism all over the place.
11. Why don’t we learn from History? Back in the Sixties and Seventies, the Hippies had the answer: Free Love and Uninhibited Sexual Expression is the way to Universal Peace. Make Love, Not War!
12. That’s what we need to use our technology for! Instead of sending soldiers and armaments to other countries, this country should use its know-how to develop an International Peace Corps based on the Hippie model, respectful of local culture and indigenous religious superstition, but based on the deeper sexual needs that are hardwired into all of humanity. Instead of trying to export Democracy or Capitalism, we should export Therapeutic Sex.
13. Whoops. I just got a phone call. I was talking with a friend and got around to explaining this posting that I was composing. He sounded interested, so I read it to him and asked his opinion. His critique may show just how out of touch I am. He said, “What you wrote is somewhat amusing, but hardly strong enough. Most things you are trying to express satirically or ironically, a whole lot of people seriously hold as rock solid, self-evident truth. Remember, in this country pregnancy falls into the category of sickness or disease. That's why contraception, like abortion, is getting classified as health care. Another thing….your last point about the Hippie Movement and freeing people from their sexual inhibitions to produce peace…. It is a poor idea that continues to make poor people rich. Hollywood and TV, with their Soft Core and Hard Core Porn, have specialized in making millions off it for years. ”
I still get a kick out of that Dear Abby letter though.
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