Dirty Girl Things

Saturday, May 10, 2008

One-Hundred-Ninety

Eden

Betony Vernon’s Eden launches in Paris. It’s an extension of the members-only salon.

We featured Betony Vernon back in October here.

And we have membership. See you there.

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Sincerely.
Eve and JW3 and Mélisande
Dirty Girl Things ©
Unrepentant. Unpretentious. Unconventional. ©

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One-Hundred-Eighty-Nine

Gustav Klimt: a life devoted to women
Gustav Klimt’s golden visions of the female form are about to go on show in Britain. Martin Gayford reports

In June 1902, the great French sculptor Auguste Rodin was passing through Vienna, en route from Prague.

While in town, he accepted an invitation to visit the current exhibition of the Vienna Secession movement, and to meet the artist whose monumental work, the Beethoven Frieze, was at the heart of the display: Gustav Klimt.

The two artists - Rodin 62, and at the peak of his fame, Klimt just about to turn 40 - went to a café in the Prater garden. According to the art critic, Berta Zuckerkandl, they sat down “beside two remarkably beautiful young women at whom Rodin gazed enchantedly.

“That afternoon, slim and lovely vamps came buzzing around Klimt and Rodin, those two fiery lovers,” Zuckerkandl recalled.

“Rodin leaned over and to Klimt and said, ‘I have never before experienced such an atmosphere - your tragic and magnificent Beethoven fresco, your unforgettable, temple-like exhibition, and now this garden, these women, this music. What is the reason for it all?’ And Klimt slowly nodded his beautiful head, and answered only one word: ‘Austria.’”

Rodin and Klimt, despite differences in nationality, age and medium, had a great deal in common, not least that both of them had created daring works with a single theme: a kiss between naked male and female figures. Indeed, the word “kiss” is a little euphemistic. The subject was sex.

Klimt’s kiss was the climactic moment of his monumental Beethoven Frieze, a recreation of which will be one of the highlights of the forthcoming exhibition at Tate Liverpool, Gustav Klimt: Painting, Design & Modern Life in Vienna 1900.

This will be the first substantial exhibition of work by Klimt ever staged in Britain. It will present around 26 paintings and 30 drawings in the context of an equal number of pieces of furniture and objects by contemporaries such as the architect and designer Josef Hoffmann.

Among the Klimts will be several important works including Nuda Veritas (1899), the sensuous naked nymphs of Water Serpents I (1904-7) and a 34-metre replica of the Beethoven Frieze.

This huge work was based on Richard Wagner’s description of Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony, which concludes, of course, with the singing of Schiller’s “Ode to Joy”. Wagner had described this epic piece of music as “a struggle, conceived in the most grandiose manner, by the Spirit for joy against the weight of those hostile powers that stand between us and earthly happiness”.

Klimt represented Schiller’s words, “Joy, beautiful sparks of the gods, this kiss for all the world”, in the most earthy manner, with his naked, embracing lovers.

To Klimt, it seems, the hostile powers - naked temptresses and a huge snarling ape - above all symbolised the disease syphilis of which he was terrified - and understandably, since he had contracted it at an early age.

Thus, his frieze brought together the themes of music, death, love - or sex - so fundamentally fascinating to the Vienna of Sigmund Freud and Arthur Schnitzler. That was perhaps what Klimt meant by his laconic answer to Rodin’s question.

As this incident suggests, Klimt was a man of few words, but he made a forceful physical impression. Alfred Lichtwar, the director of the Hamburger Kunsthalle, described him as “a stocky man, more or less chubby” with “the cheerful, brusque manners of a nature boy, a sailor’s brown skin, strong cheekbones and little darting eyes. When he speaks, it is with a resounding voice and strong dialect.”

A young woman named Frederike Beer-Monti rang on Klimt’s doorbell in 1915, hoping he would paint her portrait (she had already posed for his younger rival, Schiele). She found him both taciturn and formidable.

“Klimt took her hand, looked at it, turned it over and for a long time, said not a single word.”

Beer-Monti was finally allowed to enter. But, “It took a lot of talking to make him a little friendlier.”

Klimt eventually agreed to paint her - an arduous business which took three sittings of three hours each per week for six months. Though the result was a magnificent picture, Beer-Monti was ambivalent about the artist.

“Klimt was exceptionally animal-like. His body exuded a peculiar odour. As a woman, one was really afraid of him.”

Born in 1862, Klimt was from a relatively humble background - the second of seven children, his father a gold engraver. There was something feral about him. In photographs he is often wearing a full-length smock, in which he resembles a classical faun dressed up as a biblical prophet.

His studio was filled, as was Rodin’s, with models who posed for endless drawings - often, again like Rodin’s, of a startling eroticism.

These models inhabited his studio, rather like his pet cats. When he was painting Frederike Beer-Monti, “He took a break every hour and went into an adjacent room to relax and chat for a while with the models who were always there.

Alma Schindler reported that he ‘would take them to the theatre or races, always slipped them a banknote’.” Alma Schindler herself - later Alma Mahler, and subsequently the lover of Oskar Kokoschka and the wife of the architect Walter Gropius - was one of Klimt’s failed conquests.

He pursued her to Italy in 1899, where she was on holiday with her family. He kissed her in a Genoese hotel room, embraced her on a bridge in Venice while they looked into the dark waters of the canal, but she, though wildly in love, was firm ("not without a ring on my finger").

About the same time, Klimt fathered three sons - one of whom went on to become a well-known film director - by two other women, and began a long-lasting, though apparently open, relationship with a talented proprietor of a Viennese fashion salon, Emilie Flöge.

The names of the models and other women in his life do not always survive, partly because Flöge burnt much of Klimt’s correspondence after his death from a stroke in 1918. One who has been identified by chance recently was Hilde Roth, a beautiful Bohemian redhead from Budapest whose face can be seen Lady with Hat and feather Boa (c1910), and voluptuous body - probably - in Goldfish (1901-02).

Although he was a delightful painter of landscapes, women were Klimt’s theme above all others.

Richard Muter, in a newspaper review of 1909, claimed that “the new Viennese woman, a specific sort of new Viennese woman - their grandmothers were Judith and Salome - has been invented or discovered by Klimt. She is delightfully vicious, charmingly sinful, fascinatingly perverse.”

Klimt was certainly able, like certain couturiers and fashion photographers, to make his sitters and models look extraordinarily glamorous. In his later portraits, the work for which above all he is famous, his strategy was to retain the academic realism of his earlier work for the face and figure of the subject.

But he dissolved the rest of the image in luxuriant decoration, derived from Byzantine mosaics, Celtic design, and the Oriental textiles and ceramics that filled his studio. The effect is sumptuous, sensual, near-abstract but not too dauntingly avant-garde.

That ornament, however, tended to be filled with meaning. When Klimt died, an unfinished painting entitled The Bride was left in his studio. The right half was dominated by a semi-naked female figure.

As the art historian Alessandra Comini described it, “The knees were bent and the legs splayed out to expose a carefully detailed pubic area on which the artist had leisurely begun to paint an overlay ‘dress’ of suggestive and symbolic ornamental shapes.”

Thus Klimt’s own death revealed the sexual obsession that lay beneath his shimmering surfaces.

Gustav Klimt: Painting, Design & Modern Life in Vienna 1900 is at Tate Liverpool (0151 702 7400) from May 30 until Aug 31

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Gustav Klimt’s $135 million legacy

Martin Gayford explores the history of Gustav Klimt’s most famous work Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer I

Adele Bloch-Bauer (1881-1925) - delicate, Jewish and intellectual - was unhappily married to a sugar magnate, Ferdinand Bloch-Bauer, and may have had an affair with Klimt (scholarly opinions differ). At all events, she sat for two portraits, the first of which, completed in 1907, became Klimt’s most famous single painting.

Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer I

Adele Bloch-Bauer died aged 43, leaving a request that her two Klimt portraits and three landscapes be left to the Austrian state collection. But her husband fled to Switzerland when the Nazis took over Austria, and his possessions, including the Klimts, were confiscated. For many years they were regarded as Austrian national treasures.

Undaunted, Ferdinand’s niece and heir, Maria Altmann, and her lawyer E Randol Schoenberg - grandson of the composer - fought an epic legal battle for restitution of the pictures, which they finally won in 2006.

Subsequently, Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer I (pictured) was sold in June 2006 for a reported $135 million, making it the most expensive work of art ever to change hands (until it was trumped, five months later, when film and music mogul David Geffen reportedly sold Jackson Pollock’s No 5 for $140 million).

Subsequently, Schoenberg and the Bloch-Bauer heirs continued the battle for a sixth Klimt with a different legal history: Portrait of Amalie Zuckerkandl (1918).

Last month, however, it was announced that the Austrian supreme court had rejected this claim.

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Sincerely.
Eve and JW3 and Mélisande
Dirty Girl Things ©
Unrepentant. Unpretentious. Unconventional. ©

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Sunday, January 27, 2008

Number One-Hundred-Seventy-One

Cities for seduction
Whatever happens, we’ll always have… where? Eight experts in the art of the amorous reveal the destinations guaranteed to melt the heart of your chosen one, with tips on romantic meals, sexy hotels and how to make that big gesture
Interviews by Liz Bird, Annabelle Thorpe and Jane Dunford, The London Observer (January 2008)

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Sarah Beeny
mysinglefriend.com

Cesky Krumlov

One of the most romantic things in the world is feeling that you are discovering somewhere - that together you’ve stumbled on a secret. Cesky Krumlov in the Czech Republic felt like that to us: it’s a picture-book place, with colour-washed houses and detailed architecture dating back to the 14th century. The town is dominated by a walled castle so large it’s like a town in its own right. There are beautiful gardens to walk in and a cafe at the entrance which serves fantastic coffee; you could sit there all day and watch the comings and goings from the castle. The town itself is quite chic - lots of cosy bars and coffee houses - but it maintains a historical feel, thanks to all the cobbled alleyways and courtyards. You need time to wander and allow yourself to get lost. The best way to discover Cesky is to set off without a map and simply keep walking.

The big gesture
Hire a boat to glide up and down the Vltava river that surrounds the town. The best time to do this is in the evening: hire a punt and it comes with two guides who will do all the hard work, while you laze together and watch the town drift by. [For information on boat rental see ceskykrumlov-info.cz; or call 00 420 380 712853.]

The meal
The Hotel Ruze (00 420 380 772100; hotelruze.cz) is very plush, does fantastic cocktails and is probably the best place for a romantic dinner. It’s all very Bohemian-Gothic, worth glamming up for, and has a terrace with lovely views over the river.

The hotel
The Hotel Maleho Vitka, which means The Little Vitus Inn (00 420 380 711925; vitekhotel.cz; deluxe doubles from 2,100 koruny/£60) is in a great location very close to the central square and has a simple feel. Everything is made of wood - the floors, the beds, the furniture - and the rooms are whitewashed and feel a bit like something out of a child’s storybook.

· TV presenter Sarah Beeny is founder of dating website mysinglefriend.com

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Jamie Maclean
Editor, erotic review

Dubrovnik

Dubrovnik is the perfect seduction city for romantics. It offers architectural beauty wherever you look. Don’t be fooled by its compactness - or the guides that tell you you can ‘do it’ in a day. It contains enough piazzas, campaniles and cupolas, steep stone-clad streets, massive walls and bulwarks, quiet cloisters and cool churches (and a tiny, ancient synagogue) to keep you and your partner in a state of wonder and mutual lust for at least a week. It’s no dusty museum town, either. It comes alive at night - with film and music festivals, art galleries and great bars and restaurants.

On a warm summer night in the early 1980s, I sat on the terrace of the Hotel Argentina, wondering whether my girlfriend was going too far. She was dancing energetically, freeform, on a table, barefoot in a clingy summer dress that left little to the imagination. However, our host and fellow invitees appeared to love it.

It was a great party. There was spontaneous close-harmony singing, a lot of grilled meat, and toasts in whichever fiery local spirit you chose. The waiters smiled indulgently as they kept the wine flowing. After all, they knew all about Dubrovnik’s powers of seduction.

Earlier that evening we had drifted arm-in-arm down the Stradun, the city’s main street. The limestone flags, polished by the feet of ages, reflected the soft street lamps. The total absence of cars threw us back to another time, where it was throngs of people, rather than cars, that were the dominant kinetic force.

The traditional passeggiata was in full spate - a river of pretty girls flowed past in their summer best, flirting with the boys, chatting. The warm, scented sea air, the susurration of the crowd, the smell of food from the many restaurants and a quick slug of pale green travarica on the rocks at one of the cafe-bars, all combined to give a heady atmosphere of barely suppressed excitement and sexual promise.

The big gesture
A little before 7pm, look for a small opening in Dubrovnik’s south wall bearing the sign ‘Cold Drinks’. From the narrow medieval streets it will lead you outside the city walls. Buza 2 ( literally ‘Hole two’ ), one of the world’s more precarious bars, is on several levels among the rocks that lead down from the base of the walls to the sea. Order cold beer, enjoy the kaleidoscopic sunset over the sea, and start your beguiling spiel.

The meal
On restaurant-strewn Prijeko Street, you’ll find one of the exceptions to the ‘touristic menu’ rule: Wanda (00 385 98 944 9317; wandarestaurant.com), where the food is delicious and the service friendly. There are grander places to eat, such as Nautika (00 385 20 442526) or some of the big hotel restaurants, where the typically Mediterranean food is also good, but they are far pricier. Seduction special? Lokanda Peskarija (00 385 20 324750) in the Old Port.

The hotel
Price largely determines how central, sensible or sensual. I would tentatively suggest the Hotel Excelsior (00 385 20 353353; hotel-excelsior.hr; doubles from €210/£156; reopens after refurbishment in June), bang next to the grand Hotel Argentina (00 385 20 440555; gva.hr; doubles from €194/£145). Private rooms or apartments can be delightful, but shop around. And my ultimate seduction tip? Buy a copy of Robin Harris’s Dubrovnik: A History. Read it, explore the city together, and get ready for dancing on tables.

· Jamie Maclean is editor of the Erotic Review (eroticreviewmagazine.org).

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James Lohan
Mr & Mrs Smith guides

Marrakesh

Mrs Smith and I first started reviewing hotels in Marrakesh and we loved the place. It’s incredibly atmospheric: exotic and completely out of the ordinary. What better way to spice up your love life than to be seduced by a totally new experience? A hammam for two, browsing in the bazaars, dining on the roof under the stars…

Winter is magical: hot enough to sunbathe while you stare at the snow-capped Atlas mountains; cool enough by night for drinks in front of a crackling fire. Plus, Morocco is only a short flight from London and makes a refreshing change from the more conventional backdrops to seduction, such as Paris or Rome. Choosing a more imaginative destination also means you rack up extra brownie points for knowing that ‘romantic’ doesn’t have to mean ‘run-of-the-mill’.

The big gesture
A hot-air balloon flight might sound a bit obvious, but trust me - this is one place that really justifies giving it a whirl. As you float across the rose-hued medina at sunrise or sunset the mountains rise up on one side and the desert stretches away on the other - it’s an amazing high (obviously, the champagne helps). If this fails, and you have to resort to a shopping spree to win over your loved one, this bird’s-eye view will at least help you navigate your way through the labyrinthine souks when you’re back on terra firma. Ciel d’Afrique (00 212 24 432843; cieldafrique.info) operates hot-air balloon flights in the city from 2,050 dirhams (£135) per person.

The meal
Most riad hotels in the medina will arrange private dining on their roof terrace (balmy night air, flickering candles, total seclusion), but if you want to go out, book a balcony table overlooking the wrought-iron candelabra at Le Foundouk (00 212 24 378190; foundouk.com). You’ll be led down a dark alley by a cloaked lantern-bearer, which sets the mood nicely. Inside, this restaurant has a buzzy atmosphere, great cocktails and sensual Maroc-fusion food: the seafood is excellent, but you must try a traditional pastilla (a pigeon pie dusted with sugar) with some grise, a light Moroccan rosé.

The hotel
With its private sunken pool and fireplace, the Harem tent at Palais Rhoul (palais-rhoul.com; doubles €290, Harem €490) is spectacular, but we prefer to be in the medina itself, at the Noir d’Ivoire (00 212 24 380975; noir-d-ivoire.com; doubles from €180/£134), an elegant riad conversion with its own hammam. Noir d’Ivoire also has an excellent chef: dinner is served at candlelit tables around the courtyard, and on some evenings there’s a pianist. The Panther Suite (from €420/£314) has a private roof terrace with a plunge pool and a canopied daybed (we slept under the stars on our first night there); the smaller Elephant Suite (€310/£232) has a screened Juliet balcony and beaten-silver bathtub for two.

· James Lohan is the managing director of Mr & Mrs Smith guides. For more romantic recommendations, see mrandmrssmith.com; 0845 034 0700.

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Sam Roddick
Erotic entrepreneur

Barcelona

There are certain places in the world where you can feel artistic maverickness - and Barcelona is one. People express themselves with a freedom you don’t often get - it’s hugely artistic, very vibrant and sensual. I love the backstreets where you can get lost, and the incredible buskers on La Rambla. Some are phenomenal; others you don’t know if it’s genius or insanity. There’s an edge of mystery about it all. Then there’s Gaudi’s work - his cathedral is so mystical yet sensual, with a sort of darkness attached. There’s a guttural passion in the Spanish that you see clearly in Barcelona - in the food, the architecture, the artistry. Just wandering around, thrilling things happen - I remember spotting an old guy working in a violin workshop near the Picasso museum and he gave me a private concert.

The big gesture
Whenever I do anything romantic, it’s centred on spontaneity, and there’s plenty of scope for that in Barcelona. There are incredible, sensuous food markets - grabbing some delicious wine and ham and having a picnic in the park is a wonderful thing to do. Or why not organise a private tango lesson? (Raul Mamone offers private lessons for €40/£30 an hour; 00 34 678 371 278; tangosurbarcelona.com)

The meal
Some of the gilded coffee houses are phenomenal. Cafe de la Opera (00 34 93 317 7585; cafeoperabcn.com) on La Rambla is all marble steps and chandeliers and is always busy with people drinking hot chocolate and eating churros.

The hotel
The old Hotel Colon (00 34 93 301 14 04; hotelcolon.es; doubles from €110) is magical. Things happen here: people have epiphanies, visions. It’s not trendy but there’s something sexy about it - it’s got an exciting, unpolished feel which makes it seductive. Otherwise Casa Camper Barcelona (00 34 933 426 280; camper.com; doubles from €210) in the El Raval district is more fashion-conscious but still cosy - there are just 25 rooms. It’s owned by the Camper shoe company and is beautiful, modern and safe. For me, though, a back alley is as seductive as a hotel room - anything a bit clandestine I’m up for!

· Sam Roddick is the founder of sex emporium Coco de Mer.

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Tracey Cox
Sex expert

New York

It is one of the most alive and vibrant cities in the world. Anything is possible. More sexy than romantic, it has energy and vitality. While many romantic films have been set there, the Sex and the City TV series has added to its edgy feel.

The big gesture
Walk across Brooklyn Bridge in the snow or go ice-skating at the Rockefeller Centre. And though it’s a tourist attraction, you can’t help but be wowed by the view from the top of the Empire State Building. Alternatively, take a walk in Central Park. The horse-and-carriage stuff is a bit obvious, but the park has lots of little summerhouses where you can enjoy a little privacy.

The meal
My boyfriend and I would go to Raoul’s in SoHo (00 1 212 966 3518; raouls.com), a fancy French bistro with a dark, sexy atmosphere. It’s where lots of people go to propose. I saw Drew Barrymore there a few weeks ago. I’d probably have peppered steak and chips: New York does the best chips in the world. We’d go for pre-dinner champagne at the stylish Hudson Hotel near Central Park (00 1 212 554 6217; hudsonhotel.com).

The hotel
Gansevoort Hotel in the Meatpacking district (00 1 212 206 6700; hotelgansevoort.com; doubles from $450/£228) is a boutique property, not too big, with stylish rooms where they’ve thought of everything. Press a button and a CD player will emerge from nowhere. The hotel has a swimming pool on top, great in the summer.

· Tracey Cox’s new book, The Kama Sutra, is published by Dorling Kindersley at £14.99.

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Stephen Bayley
Design guru

Venice

Where better for seduction than Venice, city of Casanova? Although as soon as I write that, I have my doubts. I am not certain Venice is the ideal venue for the amorous; there are too many other distractions. As long ago as 1494, someone said it’s impossible to say anything new about Venice, and that’s true. It is haunting and romantic; it’s magically easy to get lost, but never harrowingly so. There are those wonderful little bacari, the hole-in-the-wall bars.

And if these don’t detain you, there’s the art, the architecture, the voluptuous sense of place… Actually, I think an airport hotel in Germany would be a better place for seduction: you and your partner would be so starved of stimulus and so avid for gratification that the nylon foam of the Düsseldorf Hilton would be heaving and squeezing to the dynamics of love by teatime.

But that would be like pornography. And the difference between pornography and erotica is the lighting. Venice has the most wonderful light, especially in winter. At this time of year you either get mist, which is wonderful, or crisp, freezing sunshine, which is even better.

The big gesture
Fly to Marco Polo (such a seductive name for an airport!) and pre-arrange a water taxi so someone’s waiting when you get there. Arrive at night and the water taxi is a glorious 25 minutes of thrashing, inky, blue-black romance across the lagoon. You enter the city by the Fondamente Nuove, just opposite the terrible funeral island of San Michele.

BA (0870 850 9850; ba.com) has flights from £84.40 return. Pre-bookable water taxis are available from £67 for two from Consorzio Motoscafi: 00 39 041 522 2303; motoscafivenezia.it

The meal
Get off at SS Giovanni e Paolo and take the short walk to dinner at the Osteria di Santa Marina (00 39 041 528 5239). Eat fritto misto that is astonishingly, meltingly, fresh, not like stale fishy debris marinated in engine oil. Drink a good soave, say a Masi or a Bolla ( seducers take note: soave means ‘smooth’ ). Now walk to your hotel.

The hotel
I recommend the Villa Igea (00 39 041 241 0956; hotelvillaigea.it; doubles from €155/£115), an 1875 wing of a larger establishment. It is in a beautiful, small, quiet campo. With luck (or good planning) they will have given you a bedroom with a view of Codussi’s astonishing church of San Zaccaria opposite; it is so close you could almost touch it. Amateurs of Renaissance architecture will be entranced. Only a complete dotard could fail to be.

Those sensitive to that sense of place will know that Casanova cavorted in the Benedictine abbey next door (although now, a touch unromantically, the building belongs to the police). In a setting like this, resistance is not so much futile as impossible. Or, at least, very bad manners. And next morning, take another short walk to Harry’s Bar (00 39 041 528 5777) for the Bellini they invented there. Yes, of course, it’s a cliche. But so is seduction.

· Steven Bayley is a design critic, and also edited ‘Sex: An Intimate Companion’.

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Peter Stringfellow
Nightclub owner

London

It’s not the city that makes romance; it’s who you take with you. If you’re with the right person, then Barnsley is good. Having said that, one mustn’t underestimate London for a romantic break. The parks are the best in the world and the skyline is spectacular.

The big gesture
In a few days, my fiancee, Bella Wright, will be returning from Italy, where her parents live. I’ve got a private jet, so we could shoot off to Paris or anywhere we like, but what we’ll probably do is have dinner at home. We live in a flat on the Albert Embankment, where there are incredible views of the city - the London Eye, Big Ben. There aren’t many panoramas as romantic as that.

The meal
Le Caprice (020 7629 2239; le-caprice.co.uk). I was at the opening some 27 years ago. It’s a wonderful restaurant with a plinky-plonky piano and excellent staff. We usually like the maitre d’ to recommend one of the specials of the day, but Bella loves the pasta with white truffles - so she should, at £50 a go - and I always have the super-fresh fish. For dessert, we generally have the tiramisu.

The hotel
It has to be the Savoy (020 7836 4343; fairmont.com/savoy), although it’s closed until early 2009. I used to live in the Savoy Suites for a few years, so I am very fond of it. There used to be a back door into the hotel restaurant from the suites. I love the olde-worlde feel of it - the old boys on the door… it feels very London. The bathrooms are great - big old sinks and massive roll-top baths. You can’t go wrong if you’ve got a big bath.

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Adele Parks
Romantic novelist

Stockholm

It’s one of the world’s most striking capitals and is where my boyfriend took me for a fabulous romantic weekend a few years ago. Built on 14 islands around one of Europe’s largest and best-preserved medieval city centres, the Swedish capital oozes romance. Stockholm is beautifully positioned bang in the middle of stunning and varied scenery. It offers an abundance of museums, sights and events, but for me, the romance of the city is all about the light - God-made and man-made. The skies are endless: often cobalt blue through the day, followed by breathtaking amber sunsets in the afternoon and, as purple darkness descends, masses of candles light up the streets and squares.

The city is compact and easily explored on foot, although some prefer looking around the archipelago by boat. Start your day with a strong coffee and a cinnamon roll at one of the city’s gorgeous chandelier-lit cafes, then stroll the narrow, cobbled streets of Old Town. Head for Hotorgshallen, a cavernous basement food market, and grab a bowl of delicious hot fish soup for lunch. Wander over the bridges towards Sodermalm, Stockholm’s bohemian southern island, for a peek at bookshops, antiques and curio shops, as well as unusual clothing or music stores. If you can’t face shops, there’s a plethora of cosy pubs serving local beer in the neighbourhood.

The big gesture
An exciting way to see Stockholm is from a hot-air balloon; it’s one of the few cities where balloons are allowed to fly right over the centre. Naturally, champagne is involved. [Far & Flyg (00 46 8 645 7700; farochflyg.se/eng) flies between May and September from 1,995 kronor (about £160) per person.

The meal
Go to the Veranda (00 46 8 8679 3586; grandhotel.se), located inside the venerable Grand Hotel. The hotel opened in 1874 and is still wall-to-wall opulence and old-school romance. The smorgasbord is Stockholm’s best. As a rule I hate having anything to do with buffets, but after gorging on favourites like gravadlax with a tangy mustard sauce, I am converted. Reserve a window seat and enjoy the fabulous view over the harbour and palace.

The hotel
I like chic, and the Nordic Light (00 46 8 5056 3000; nordiclighthotel.se; doubles from SEK1,330/£105) is so chic it hurts. The hotel is all about purity and simplicity, unadorned but for the exquisite, ever-changing light shows. But it doesn’t fall into the dreaded all-style-no-substance category; the staff are attentive, and the food, wine and attention to detail second to none, ensuring a sleek design hotel with a warm soul. All the rooms are equipped to the hilt with comforts; some have saunas and Jacuzzis.

· Young Wives’ Tales by Adele Parks is out now in paperback, published by Penguin.

* * * * *

Sincerely.
Eve and JW3 and Mélisande
Dirty Girl Things ©
Unrepentant. Unpretentious. Unconventional. ©

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Thursday, November 29, 2007

Number One-Hundred-Fifty

Ocean’s 11 conman and a royal heist
by David Brown, London Times (Nov 2007)

It was one of the most audacious jewel thefts in history. In the middle of a crowded room, the famed Star of the Empress Sisi was stolen from its high-security case and replaced with a replica.

Nine years after the heist, a criminal mastermind has finally revealed how he stole the Austrian royal heirloom while travelling the world carrying out frauds and thefts on the orders of a mysterious British crime boss.

Details of Gerald Blanchard’s years as head of the most sophisticated crime gang in Canadian history has led to prosecutors comparing his activities to the Hollywood movie Ocean’s 11.

The 35-year-old computer expert has already admitted responsibility for stealing the famed Koechert Diamond Pearl, or Star of Empress Sisi, from the Castle Schonbrunn in Vienna, Austria.The jewel-encrusted brooch had been placed on public display in an alarmed case in 1998 to mark the centennial anniversary of the assassination of Elisabeth of Austria.

Posing as a tourist and accompanied by his wife and father-in-law, Blanchard disabled the case’s alarm and replaced the jewel with a replica bought at the castle’s souvenir shop. The swap was not discovered for more than a month and the loss of a priceless part of Austria’s history remained unsolved until Blanchard led police to its hiding place in his grandmother’s basement earlier this year.

Sheila Leinburd, a Crown attorney, told a Canadian court: “Cunning, clever, conniving and creative — add some foreign intrigue and this is the stuff movies are made of.”

Blanchard has admitted 16 charges of theft and fraud after police built up a picture of his activities during a massive investigation involving thousands of intercepted telephone calls and hundreds of hours of video which he had taken during his international travels.

Scotland Yard has now been asked to help trace the London-based criminal known as “The Boss” who co-ordinated many of the scams. Blanchard has told detectives that the man was raising money to fund Kurdish terrorists in northern Iraq.

Blanchard was a master of disguise and used at least eight aliases to travel the world with the help of forged identification documents and by changing his appearance with make-up, spectacles, beards or moustaches and dyed hair. He used his forgery skills to create fake VIP passes and media identification to interview celebrities and attend major sporting events. One week he would interview the singer Christina Aguilera, the next he was in the pits at the Monaco Grand Prix.

His jet-set lifestyle was funded by sophisticated thefts and frauds through what the Canadian authorities have named the “Gerald Blanchard Criminal Organisation”. With his leadership the gang was estimated to make millions of pounds a year. In one scam they targeted newly-built banking centres which contained cash machines from several banks. Using pinhole cameras and listening devices he monitored the construction work before emptying the cash machines of up to C$500,000 (£250,000) the night before their grand openings. Blanchard was also involved in a massive fraud using details of stolen credit cards to target the accounts of British bank customers in operations across Europe and Africa.

He was finally caught following an operation in November last year when “The Boss” ordered him to fly to Egypt. He was provided with the details of credit cards and PINs of tens of thousands of British bank accounts to create fake credit cards. Gang members wore burkhas while using the cards at cash machines in Cairo, withdrawing up to £500 from each account. When one of the gang disappeared with £25,000, Blanchard was held hostage in London until he could persuade the runaway to return.

Ms Leinburd told The Times: “He is a very charismatic guy and his gang would operate like the guys in Ocean’s 11. But at the same time he knew he was funding terrorism. We have intercepted telephone conversations with The Boss. I don’t think he had any political or religious reasons to support terrorism but saw it as a way to get the information for his operations.”

Blanchard was sentenced to eight years in jail this month but will be eligible for parole in two years. As part of his plea bargaining, he agreed to sell a number of luxury apartments he owns in Vancouver to repay the banks. He has given the banks details of his operations and is in negotiations to work with them on his release from jail.

Associate Chief Justice Jeffrey Oliphant told him: “I think you have a great future if you wish to pursue an honest style of life — although I’m not prepared to sign a reference.”

A life of crime

— Gerald Blanchard born in Winnipeg, Canada. Moves to Nebraska at the age of 7

— Overcomes dyslexia to become expert in computers and security systems

— Escapes from police custody twice within 24 hours in 1993

— Deported to Canada in 1997 after serving sentence for theft

— Star of Empress Sisi stolen in Vienna in 1998

— Becomes leader of the “Gerald Blanchard Criminal Organisation” in 1999

— Police begin investigation into bank raids after thefts in 2004

— Detectives find adult nappies used by Blanchard in hire car during surveillance of banking centre in 2004

— Blanchard and seven others arrested in January this year

— Charged with plotting the kidnap and murder of Lynette Tien, his girlfriend and alleged accomplice, in May. Charges were dropped

* * * * *

Sincerely.
Eve and JW3 and Mélisande
Dirty Girl Things ©
Unrepentant. Unpretentious. Unconventional. ©

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Wednesday, November 14, 2007

Number One-Hundred-Forty-Five

China’s Sexual Revolution
A nation’s sleeping libido awakens.
By Vanessa Richmond, TheTyee

The tanks are parked. Kids are kissing in Tiananmen Square. And if a new documentary is right, it’s the kissing that’s leading to more personal liberty than any form of rebellion since the Cultural Revolution began.

According to China’s Sexual Revolution, by Miro Cernetig and Josh Freed, Chairman Mao married sexuality with capitalism (as forms of corruption and decadence). But now Chinese youth are embracing both with a passion. At warp speed, in fact. There are probably people necking in front of his statue right now, and that’s just for starters.

Here’s what happened. Sixty years ago, Mao turned “couples into comrades and not lovers, and cloaked men and women in the same unisexual suits,” according to the film’s narrator. Makeup was forbidden, and hairstyles were dictated by the government (they were not what you would call flattering). Men and women were supposed to feel only like brothers and sisters, and were supposed to regard sex merely as reproductive labour. Instead, they were supposed to get on with more important work. Um, like making cheap plastic sex toys for the rest of the world (70 per cent of which now come from China).

Why? The communist party regarded sex as an outdated feudal custom. And as Dr. Pan Sue Ming, a scholar featured in the doc says, they considered it dangerous since the Revolution needed “a man to want to fight against someone, but sex makes you love and happy.” The party even chose people’s spouses. And there were propaganda films portraying people who believed in “romance” as foolish, and a source of shame to their families.

Virgin lust

The film reports that secretly, Mao’s own sex life was “worthy of an emperor.” He, in fact, had a lust for virgins, whom he believed kept him young. “And his sexual excesses are now legend.” But he didn’t want his comrades comingling.

As a result there are many Chinese people with as much sexual knowledge as I have of the Mandarin language (I know two words). In fact, a recent survey found that 20 per cent of Chinese men didn’t know what the clitoris is and 50 per cent of Chinese women had never had an orgasm. Sounds super.

One male student from Beijing recently called in to Whispers, a radio sex show (which is now one of the most popular shows in the nation) with a question. He wondered if he could have made a girl pregnant or got AIDS himself from their encounter. The incident in question was one where he and a girl kissed and hugged (and that’s all) while wearing winter coats.

In the past, the government would have cracked down not only on the naughty public kiss but also on the radio show, but now, realizing whole generations lack adequate sexual information and it’s leading to restlessness and resentment of the government, they tolerate it. The government has even come to tolerate sex conferences, complete with sex toy sales and video demonstrations, often flooded by as many as 15,000 people; whereas they used to shut them down. And Beijing alone has 5,000 sex shops, more than New York—all of which are allowed to dispense free sex ed and sell lingerie and sex toys—without bother.

It seems sex ed really is needed—the film has other anecdotes about the level of sexual information out there. One couple, recently married, went to a health information centre to ask about “marital relations.” The counselors soon realized they were both virgins. The couple thought sex entailed touching legs in bed. When I spoke to him, Cernetig said when he heard these two stories, he was shocked. But he’s since heard countless more.

Raunch meets Revolution

Now, I’ve asked a few male friends about this. All said no one specifically told them the details about the birds and the bees, but they were pretty sure that a certain part of their anatomy was meant to make contact with something else—anything else, in fact. And the idea that leg-touching could be “it” seemed, to them, hard to buy. But as a woman, who grew up before so-called third wave feminism made pole dancing and lingerie-in-high-school the norm (have you seen Gossip Girl?), I can see that with sexual repression 100 times stronger than what I experienced, that kind of deep ignorance is not only possible but likely.

Young people in the film are aware they’re under a cloak of darkness and are moving into the cities in droves in order to shed it. The phrase “Sex and the City” comes up frequently, albeit in interesting translations. There’s even a word for the first city haircut a country girl gets—and it represents a kind of metamorphosis. And on the documentary, one such country-bumpkin-transformation says she’s now working as a waitress, and gets shocked when she sees men and women kissing in the restaurant—she sticks out her tongue. But she sticks around.

Another, Xiao Feng, the editor of the Chinese equivalent of FHM is in her 30s and still not interested in getting married. “Once, I would have had a husband and love him and do everything for him. But now we can do things just for ourselves.” She says this would have been unheard of even a few years ago, and her parents still aren’t pleased. But she’ll continue the way she is. And many other women are leaving party-arranged, loveless marriages to pursue the city life too, creating an urban divorce rate comparable to ours.

Feng, and many other “city girls” are glamorous. But most women in the doc aren’t. In fact, one of the most striking things about the documentary is the images of women not subject to “beauty” obsession present elsewhere, like here.

I covered the Miss China World pageant for a magazine a few years ago, and let’s just say most women in the film don’t look like they just stepped off that stage. It threw me for a minute, to see women not so elaborately commercially groomed, and it was also a relief. There was a kind of innocence—meaning un-self-consciousness—that I definitely don’t experience here. And unlike when I watch “normal” TV, I wasn’t constantly measuring myself against the women in the shows. Instead, I was just drawn in to what they were saying.

It’s the feminist irony. On the one hand, I wanted them to find liberation and their dreams. On the other, I wanted to warn them against looking for it in a lip gloss.

Dancing without the stars

In fact, the most charming thing about the doc is the images—shots of ordinary people and of places like night clubs. In the last clubs I went to, in Vancouver, New York and even London, most people looked bored and jaded (maybe nightclubs have “ended” but that’s another story). Not so in Beijing. The club-goers look like they’ve been locked away until this very minute and have just seen color, warmth, music, booze, drugs and the opposite sex for the first time. There’s joy on their faces and in their uninhibited dancing. It’s worth watching this film just to see the wholehearted enjoyment.

But it’s not all rosy—and unlike most docs that focus on sexy topics, this one delves into the complex sociological implications of the trends.

The one child policy was meant to curb overpopulation, and on the good side (depending on whom you ask) had the unintended consequence of liberating women to pursue other things like education and paid employment. But solving the population problem created social problems—given the culture’s strong preference for boys, there will be 30 million more men than women within the decade.

Cernetig says for him, it was the saddest part of the research. In the cities, there are whole armies of men who will never have a girlfriend or a wife. They’ve moved from the country to make a certain kind of life and won’t ever have it. And a form of class-ism is building. Working class men in the film talk about how they know they will never get a wife because they don’t own an apartment and they aren’t at least 173 centimetres tall.

“There is already a rising sense of gang violence in China,” he says, “and it’s getting harder to control. And that’s the reason. A lot of men have nothing to lose. They go to Beijing only to find they will never be a Beijinger.”

And it’s also given rise to a thriving, brand new sex trade, not unlike that of Thailand’s bordellos—to serve those men. Some scenes show “karaoke bars,” shot with a secret camera, where a hundred women sit in a basement, waiting for a client/john to purchase their services for the evening. Cernetig says the dungeon-like grimness there is one of the things that shocked him most.

So what can we learn from watching a sped-up version of the 1960s North American revolution take place at warp speed? Cernetig says, “One is that the Chinese are more like us than you might think. And the other is that it’s a very layered place and a lot of what you see about the great rise of China actually masks a lot of problems.”

* * * * *

CHINA’S SEXUAL REVOLUTION
from CBC-TV

You’ve heard about China’s Cultural Revolution and its sizzling Economic Revolution. But you haven’t heard about its other great social upheaval - the Chinese Sexual Revolution - and like everything in that country it’s happening at warp speed.

It’s China’s version of the 60s revolution - on steroids.

CHINA’S SEXUAL REVOLUTION is the world’s first glimpse - often using secret cameras - into this forbidden new China. It’s a surprising portrait of the Chinese today: the new free love generation that’s left their parents in shock; the booming sex industry that’s creating an HIV crisis; the new generation of career women and feminists that suddenly wants it all - while millions of men feel left out.

This long untold story goes back to the days of Chairman Mao, who made sexuality a great taboo. He ordered everyone to wear unisexual Mao suits, and forbid women from wearing sexy clothing, getting stylish haircuts, or even wearing make-up. Men and women were expected to be comrades - not lovers - though Mao himself enjoyed an emperor’s sex life, seeking virgins to retain his “youth”.

China’s sexual libido was bottled up for 50 years, but now it’s bursting loose, with dramatic effects on marriage, personal freedom and the government itself.

During the film we meet:

- MADAME CHEN, who runs one of 5000 sex shops that have sprung up in Beijing alone in the last decade – that’s more than New York City.

- MUZEMEI, a gutsy woman blogger who became a household name and hero when she broke the “sexual sound barrier” by recording her own love moans - on the internet.

- XIAO FENG, a real-life Chinese version of Carrie Bradshaw, TV’s Sex and the City heroine. She’s the editor of FHM, China’s hottest magazine – and she’s part of a new feminist revolt that’s trading in husbands for careers.

- RU RUMEIN, grandmotherly host of “Whispers” a popular late night sex talk show that’s finally giving the masses their sexual classes.

- JIANYING ZHA and other authors and intellectuals, who give us an intimate personal glimpse into the Chinese today.

We also visit steamy Shanghai discos, where rich playboys have exchanged Mao’s little red book for little black ones - and Beijing hip-hop bars filled with China’s new Generation Sex.

We see how China’s one-child policy has resulted in tens of millions more men than women. Many of those men will never find a wife or have a family - so prostitution now flourishes. Using hidden cameras, we spy on the new karaoke brothels that are more reminiscent of Thailand than China. They’re creating a rising sexual epidemic that’s forcing the Chinese government to loosen up.

Finally, we visit SEXPO, a massive new sex fair where peasants meet 21st Century sexual paraphernalia. And we learn about the tens of millions of Chinese tired of sexual repression and suddenly finding the joys of sexual expression.

Will the Sexual Revolution succeed where the Tiananmen one failed?

* * * * *

Sincerely.
Eve and JW3 and Mélisande
Dirty Girl Things ©
Unrepentant. Unpretentious. Unconventional. ©

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Friday, November 09, 2007

Number One-Hundred-Forty-Three

WELCOME TO THE SEX PARTY
Art - Pleasure - Community - Fun - Learning - Progress
Politics for a Sex-Positive Future

Vote! (if you’re in Canada that is)

Cherry Nipple from SAVY ART

The Sex Party aims to develop a sex-positive culture. We are the world’s first registered political party dedicated exclusively to sex-positive issues. Central to our strategy is to run candidates in elections. We are registered in British Columbia and ran three candidates in the B.C. election May 17, 2005. We are in the process of registering at the federal level. We intend to run in future federal, provincial and municipal elections. Check out our comprehensive platform: federal and provincial. We also seek to build sex-positive community and to challenge sex-negativity through court action and public education. Our main fundraising and community-building vehicle is a social gathering we call SexArtVoteYes! (SAVY) celebrations where we display erotic art, do edge-pushing and explicit erotic performance art, hear erotic poets and comedians, and dialogue about sex and politics in our personal lives and culture.

We need you.

Help make society better and have fun doing it. If you are an erotic artist or performer we can showcase your art. We also need volunteers, skilled and general. Got extra cash and want to give it to a revolutionary cause? Donate to The Sex Party.

* * * * *

PLATFORM - PROVINCIAL

OUR PROVINCIAL PLATFORM To realize a sex-positive culture we need to: a) change our education system b) repeal sex-negative laws and regulations c) support sex-positive community. The provincial government has responsibility in each of these areas.

1) CHANGE OUR EDUCATION SYSTEM

Teach sexual gradualism in schools
Canadian studies indicate that the quantity and quality of sexual health education and sexual health services being provided to our youth are inadequate.

The Sex Party would establish a comprehensive education program in sexual health and hygiene. But we would go further. We favour a school sexual education program that encourages sexual activity - but in a gradual and disciplined way. Our youth need to know that sex is enhanced in both the short and long term by a step-by-step process of sexual gradualism, whereby extensive sexual experimentation precedes first intercourse. Virtually every other learning system involves a gradualist approach, and children naturally embrace it.

Instruction in sexual gradualism would teach a teen a way to explore the erotic responsiveness of his or her own body without contact with another person. Teens would also learn how to set the stage for healthy and satisfying sexual liaisons. They would learn, for example, that trust, emotional intimacy, relaxation, and verbal communication are all key to an optimal first sexual experience. As well, a course in sexual gradualism would teach young people about erotic massage and would emphasize the importance of non-coital erotic experimentation prior to intercourse.

Parents play a key role in the sex education of their children, although that role is usually unconscious. The Sex Party would introduce a program to support parents in their vital role as sex-positive educators.

Teach Tolerance
A key omission in all existing school sex education programs is the lack of any information about the prevalence of irrational attitudes to sex and about the system that generates those attitudes. Sadly, schools are breeding grounds for many intolerant attitudes toward sexual minorities and sexuality generally. The Sex Party would introduce a school program that teaches about the ethic of tolerance generally and specifically about tolerance in a sexual context.

Intolerance in schools is especially harmful to lesbian, gay and bisexual youth. A recent Task Force on Safe Schools in BC heard reports from nearly every BC community about bullying based on sexual orientation. Currently there is no provincial policy aimed at such harassment. The Sex Party would establish a code of conduct in all provincial schools that prohibited harassment based on sexual orientation. We would require school districts to create policies to support lesbian, gay and bi-sexual youth, including the support of gay-straight alliances and peer counseling. We would also require school districts to establish professional support programs for teachers and administrators to deal with discrimination aimed at lesbian, gay and bi-sexual students.

Sexual Studies Department at UBC
The Critical Studies in Sexuality program at UBC offers students a minor in sexual studies. Sexology is a burgeoning field with a promising future and the advanced education system of the province must give far more attention to the subject that it presently does. The Sex Party would establish a department in Sexual Studies, offering courses in all aspect of sexology, including its medical, psychological, educational, technological, legal and sociological aspects.

The Institute for the Advanced Study of Sexual Policy
British Columbia is the home of many world-class think tanks in the areas of medicine, technology and social science. No significant research program focuses on human sexuality and especially its public policy aspects. The Sex Party would provide provincial funding for an institute to conduct high level research into several sexuality policy issues, including enhancing sexual education throughout the lifespan, and eradicating sex negativity systems in the media, religion, the law, and family life.

2) REPEAL SEX-NEGATIVE LAWS AND REGULATIONS

Public Nudity
The federal Criminal Code prohibits all recreational nudity in public areas. The provincial government controls the enforcement of these provisions. At present there is no systematic enforcement policy. As a result of history or geographic isolation, enforcement policies tolerate recreational nudity in specific areas, such as Vancouver’s Wreck Beach. Relatively few such areas exist. Recreational nudists are denied rights to the vast majority of accessible public lands.

Public nudity has many social benefits for both nudists and non-nudists, chief of which is to normalize all parts of the human body and de-stigmatize human sexual organs.

The Sex Party would pass legislation requiring all public parks and beaches larger than one hectare to designate areas reserved for nudists.

Sex work
At present federal criminal law prohibits almost all form of commercial erotic touch. Such a blanket prohibition has been implicated in the stigmatization of sex workers, which in turn contributes to violence towards this vulnerable social group. British Columbia is the setting for one of the most horrific mass killings of sex workers in the modern world. Despite this unspeakable violence against an identifiable minority, successive federal and provincial governments have done almost nothing to change the inhumane prohibitions aimed at sex workers.

Twenty years ago the Fraser Commission undertook an exhaustive study of these prohibitions and recommended radical change. Nothing has happened, except the deaths of dozens of sex workers.

Criminal sanctions against sex workers are within federal responsibility. However the province has control over enforcement of these provisions. The Sex Party would:
a) urge the federal government to implement the recommendations of the Fraser Committee with respect to the repeal of laws prohibiting consensual, adult sex work in private;
b) adopt enforcement policies of the existing laws such as to achieve the same effect as if the existing criminal laws were repealed as provided in the previous paragraph;
c) establish the Sex Worker Empowerment Program (SWEP), a provincial agency providing counseling, education, and advocacy to provincial sex workers.

Municipal bylaws also prohibit most forms of indoor sex work. The Sex Party would amend provincial legislation such that municipalities had to impose on sex workers no more onerous zoning or licensing regulations than those applying to other touch professionals.

Sex Toys
The Municipal Act and Vancouver Charter allow municipalities to effectively prohibit the sale of sex toys in their jurisdiction. Typically a municipality uses this power to define the sale of sex toys as “adult entertainment” and then to confine that business to a zone where there is no land available for rent or purchase - a de facto prohibition. The result is that pre-existing sex stores, which are almost always seedy and intimidating and purveying mainly mass market pornography, have a monopoly on the sale of sex toys. BC law effectively prevents the establishment of wholesome, woman-friendly, sex-positive businesses that sell sex toys. By protecting only seedy style sex stores, BC law helps stigmatize the erotic products industry.

The Sex Party would end such negativity and provide that sex-positive sex toys businesses could operate in any municipality in the same locations any other retail store could operate.

Sexually Explicit Private Gatherings
At present many federal criminal prohibitions inhibit sexual expression in which only willing adults participate and observe. For example, the criminal code prohibits any “immoral, indecent or obscene performance, entertainment or representation.” British Columbia police forces have used such provisions to threaten to charge adult, consenting artists and entertainers who seek engage in sexually explicit conduct before willing adult audiences. The criminal code also prohibits the keeping of a place where “indecency” regularly occurs. In jurisdictions outside BC these provisions have been used to attack bathhouses where open sexual expression occurs, and gatherings of practitioners of group or fetishistic sex. Terms such as “immoral” or “indecent” have no objective meaning. Such laws unduly restrict sexual expression and send sex-negative messages about human sexuality.

Criminal sanctions are within federal responsibility. However the province has control over enforcement of these provisions. The Sex Party would:
a) urge the federal government to repeal these provisions
b) adopt an enforcement policy that formally terminated enforcement of such laws in all cases where sexual expression involved only willing adults, and could be observed only by willing adults.

Sexually Explicit Films, DVDs and Videos
BC legislation provides that the sale of any video or DVD with any explicit sexual content is absolutely forbidden, unless a bureaucrat gives permission.

The Sex Party would repeal this legislation. The federal criminal code already affords sufficient social protection in prohibiting the sale of pornography depicting children or violence. The effect of the provincial regulations is to ensure distribution of only mass market pornography and to prohibit the distribution of sex-positive media, because the market in the former justifies the expense of the approval system, while the market for the latter is too small to recoup such expenses. Hence only the mass market porn, often depicting sex-negative messages, is freely available, while sex-positive material is totally excluded.

Sexual Entertainment in Licensed Premises
BC liquor laws prohibit in licensed premises, sexual entertainment including sexually explicit films or videos and sexually explicit performances, except exotic dancing.

While regulations designed to protect erotic performers and to ensure public health and hygiene are necessary, the BC prohibitions go far beyond serving those interests. They prohibit erotic entertainment which is entirely safe, healthy and hygienic. Why? Because they reflect the sex-negative idea that all sexual entertainment other than the stripper variety is “bad” and thus must be excluded from liquor areas.

The Sex Party would repeal these sex negative regulations and replace them with provisions that allow all forms of sexual entertainment that are consensual, adult, safe and hygienic.

3) SUPPORT SEX POSITIVE COMMUNITY

Long Term Care
Many people in long term care find great comfort and meaning in sexual expression. Most long term care facilities have no policies respecting the expression of sexual needs. This usually results in stifling sexual expression or forcing it to occur surreptitiously.

The Sex Party would require all long term care institutions to articulate a sexuality policy that is non-judgmental about residents’ sexuality and that aims to facilitate any desired activity among willing partners, who can be either fellow residents, visiting friends or spouses, or sex professionals.

The Sex Party would institute a program at provincial nursing schools for specialized sexual care nurses. Their duties would include sexual counseling, risk assessment, and facilitating sexual expression desired by residents, including washing, undress and positioning residents before and during sexual activity, administering erection-producing injections, fitting condoms and helping patients with cleaning and dressing, providing sex toys and erotic material and facilitating contact with sex professionals.

Sex Positive Press Council
Often unconsciously, the media plays a key role in perpetuating sex-negative attitudes. Because the media is generally unaware of their role, they need assistance in recognizing it. Examples of such negativity include:

a) Overt Censorship
1) in images accompanying news stories involving nudity, the media digitally blurs the genital region of the body or female breasts, or hides them via camera angles. See examples from the National Post and Vancouver Sun and the New York Times.
2) the print media censors the spelling of sexual terms, such as depicting the word “fuck” as “f---”. See an example from The National Post.
3) the audio media censors behind a beep sound the sounds of sexual words
Such censorship violates several principles of journalistic ethics and communicates negative messages about genitals and sex and the words, sounds and images that describe genitals and sex.

b) Subtle censorship
The news media has specialists covering every major aspect of human existence, including food, health, education, travel, the environment, business, the media itself, fashion, cars, and wine. Yet not a single journalist in a mainstream media organization focuses on sexuality. The subject deserves at least the same attention as fashion, cars and wine.

The Sex Party would create a Sex-Positive Press Council that would expose the overt and subtle censorship practiced by BC media.

Sex-Positive Holidays
The provincial Victoria Day holiday in May commemorates a monarch legendary for her negative attitudes towards female sexuality. The Sex Party would change Victoria Day to Eros Day to celebrate and encourage sex-positive expression.
There is no provincial holiday in February. The Sex Party would proclaim Valentines Day as an official holiday

* * * * *

PLATFORM - FEDERAL

OUR FEDERAL PLATFORM To realize a sex-positive culture we need to: a) change our education system b) repeal sex-negative laws and regulations c) support sex-positive community.

The federal government has responsibility in each of these areas.

1) CHANGE OUR EDUCATION SYSTEM

Teach sexual gradualism in schools
Canadian studies indicate that the quantity and quality of sexual health education and sexual health services being provided to our youth are inadequate.

The Sex Party would establish a comprehensive national education program in sexual health and hygiene. But we would go further. We favour a school sexual education program that encourages sexual activity - but in a gradual and disciplined way. Our youth need to know that sex is enhanced in both the short and long term by a step-by-step process of sexual gradualism, whereby extensive sexual experimentation precedes first intercourse. Virtually every other learning system involves a gradualist approach, and children naturally embrace it.

Parents play a key role in the sex education of their children, although that role is usually unconscious. The Sex Party would introduce a national program to support parents in their vital role as sex-positive educators.

Education is a provincial responsibility. The federal government can influence education policy through funding programs. The Sex Party would fund provincial and municipal education jurisdictions that adopt the national sex education program.

The Institute for the Advanced Study of Sexual Policy
Canada is the home of many world-class think tanks in the areas of medicine, technology and social science. No significant research program focuses on human sexuality and especially its public policy aspects. The Sex Party would provide provincial funding for an institute to conduct high level research into several sexuality policy issues, including enhancing sexual education throughout the lifespan, and eradicating sex negativity systems in the media, religion, the law, and family life.

2) REPEAL SEX-NEGATIVE LAWS AND REGULATIONS
Public Nudity
The federal Criminal Code prohibits all recreational nudity in public areas. The provincial government controls the enforcement of these provisions. At present there is no systematic enforcement policy. As a result of history or geographic isolation, enforcement policies tolerate recreational nudity in specific areas, such as Vancouver’s Wreck Beach. Relatively few such areas exist. Recreational nudists are denied rights to the vast majority of accessible public lands.

Public nudity has many social benefits for both nudists and non-nudists, chief of which is to normalize all parts of the human body and de-stigmatize human sexual organs.

The Sex Party would pass legislation requiring all public parks and beaches larger than one hectare to designate areas reserved for nudists.

Sex work
At present federal criminal law prohibits almost all form of commercial erotic touch. Such a blanket prohibition has been implicated in the stigmatization of sex workers, which in turn contributes to violence towards this vulnerable social group. British Columbia is the setting for one of the most horrific mass killings of sex workers in the modern world. A serial killer is victimizing prostitutes in Edmonton, and is still at large. Despite this unspeakable violence against an identifiable minority, successive federal have done almost nothing to change the inhumane prohibitions aimed at sex workers.

Twenty years ago the Fraser Commission undertook an exhaustive study of these prohibitions and recommended radical change. Nothing has happened, except the deaths of dozens of sex workers.

Criminal sanctions against sex workers are within federal responsibility. The Sex Party would:
a) implement the recommendations of the Fraser Committee with respect to the repeal of laws prohibiting consensual, adult sex work in private;
b) establish the Sex Worker Empowerment Program (SWEP), a federally-funded agency providing counseling, education, and advocacy to sex workers in Canada.

Sexually Explicit Private Gatherings
At present many federal criminal prohibitions inhibit sexual expression in which only willing adults participate and observe. For example, the criminal code prohibits any “immoral, indecent or obscene performance, entertainment or representation.” Police forces have used such provisions to threaten to charge adult, consenting artists and entertainers who seek engage in sexually explicit conduct before willing adult audiences. The criminal code also prohibits the keeping of a place where “indecency” regularly occurs. These provisions have been used to attack bathhouses where open sexual expression occurs, and gatherings of practitioners of group or fetishistic sex. Terms such as “immoral” or “indecent” have no objective meaning. Such laws unduly restrict sexual expression and send sex-negative messages about human sexuality. The Sex Party would repeal them.

Anal Sex
Federal criminal law prohibits anal sex between individuals younger than 18 or in sexual activity involving more than two people. Such prohibitions are unreasonable. The Sex Party would repeal them.

Child Pornography
The Sex Party supports all reasonable measures aimed at preventing the abuse of children involved in the production of sexually explicit media. Federal legislation prohibits the possession or production of photographs and films that depict real children involved in sexual activity. The Sex Party supports that law. But federal law also prohibits the possession of written material containing descriptions of sexual activity involving children. Such material could include novels, personal journals, or fantasies. No evidence suggests that the prohibition of such writing prevents harm to children. The Sex Party would delete that prohibition.

Canada Customs
Canadian legislation gives Canadian customs officials broad powers to prohibit sexual media crossing Canadian borders. For the last 25 years, federal customs officials have exercised these powers with a high level of capriciousness. Courts have censured this arbitrary behavior. Customs officials have especially targeted the gay community. All such action is unecessary. The Criminal Code provides ample resources to police officers accross the country to seize and destroy sexual media that is truly dangerous to society. The Sex Party would abolish the censorship powers of the customs agency.

Canada Post
The federal government runs one of the most powerful media organizations in the country: Canada Post. Its unaddressed mail program has an audience reach as large as the entire radio industry, or television industry or newspaper industry. Every year it delivers hundreds of millions of unaddressed flyers to Canadian households, including material from charities, churches, government agencies, corporations and political parties.Yet Canada Post refuses to accept The Sex Party’s election flyers because they include tasteful, non-pornographic sexual words and art images. To Canada Post any sexual content is prohibited regardless of its political, artistic or intellectual merit. Such censorship is a classic expression of sex-negativity. The Sex Party would re-write postal regulations to prohibit only sexual material that was clearly pornographic or designed to shock. (The Sex Party is also in the process of attacking these provisions in court.)

3) SUPPORT SEX POSITIVE COMMUNITY

The Sex Party would develop national code of ethics for long term care institutions that is non-judgmental about residents’ sexuality and that aims to facilitate any desired activity among willing partners, who can be either fellow residents, visiting friends or spouses, or sex professionals.

The Sex Party would fund a program at nursing schools for specialized sexual care nurses. Their duties would include sexual counseling, risk assessment, and facilitating sexual expression desired by residents, including washing, undress and positioning residents before and during sexual activity, administering erection-producing injections, fitting condoms and helping patients with cleaning and dressing, providing sex toys and erotic material and facilitating contact with sex professionals.

The Sex Party would create a Sex-Positive Press Council that would expose the overt and subtle censorship practiced by Canadian media.

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Yes, British Columbia & Canada are very progressive!

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Sincerely.
Eve and JW3 and Mélisande
Dirty Girl Things ©
Unrepentant. Unpretentious. Unconventional. ©

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Tuesday, November 06, 2007

Number One-Hundred-Forty

Destination London: The Baglioni Hotel
By Alex Rose, for The Informed Traveler

The Baglioni is a very stylish, intimate, and sophisticated hotel that balances both luxe elegance and discreet personal service. And it’s absolutely first-rate where it matters– in accommodations and service. The hotel resides in a Victorian building in the heart of Kensington, with sweeping views of Royal Albert Hall, Kensington Gardens and Palace, and Hyde Park (which is close enough for a leisurely stroll), while some of west London’s best-known shops and boutiques are only few moments away. The rooms are spacious, with welcoming hues, and for those amorous couples looking for an intimate weekend, the bedrooms are very comfortable and made for play. One nice touch is the lit candles in the bedroom and bathroom every night, compliments of the hotel. The bathrooms are decadently ornate with marble floors, elegant fixtures, and rich colors throughout. There are many complimentary “perks” available to guests such as high-speed internet (WiFi available in the lobby), flat-screen interactive plasma televisions, an expresso machine in each room, a large selection of on-demand music and movies available, and a personal butler for each floor. Unique services such as a baby-sitter and personal shopper are available to guests for a fee. Honorable mentions go to the spa for a full-range of health-and-beauty treatments, the Brunello restaurant for excellent Italian cuisine, and the swank private hotel bar, Boutique 60. Enjoy your stay!

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Sincerely.
Eve and JW3 and Mélisande
Dirty Girl Things ©
Unrepentant. Unpretentious. Unconventional. ©

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Number One-Hundred-Thirty-Nine

Spotlight On: Blakes Hotel London
By Alex Rose, for The Informed Traveler

One of the most enticing hotels you’ll find in London where you can spend a sexy weekend that will indulge your senses in the most extravagant ways. Blakes is the creation of former Bond girl Anouska Hempel who has taken luxury and couture to a new level with her hotel. Each of the 52 rooms are a veritable feast for the eyes with all the decor and furnishings providing a feel of sumptuous luxury. If you value your privacy, no worries here; this is one of the very few hotels where celebrities from all walks of life can check-in and not worry about paparazzi. Jack Nicholson, Robert DeNiro, Leonardo DiCaprio, and Gisele Bundchen, and other well-known celebs have stayed here. What rooms are recommended? All are extremely luxurious and chic, but request the White Suite or Room 309. There’s a wonderful bar and restaurant downstairs, but room service is all you’ll need at Blakes. Quite spectacular by any standard for those sophisticated travelers who appreciate a superb quality of service.

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Number One-Hundred-Thirty-Eight

Off the Beaten Path in New York: the Charms of C.O. Bigelow
By Alex Rose, for The Informed Traveler

The old-fashioned apothecary claims, “If you can’t get it anywhere else, try C.O. Bigelow.” How true. Shoppers boast: “This is the coolest drugstore on the planet– a retro little shop in NYC’s West Village, where Mark Twain once filled his prescriptions!” Again, how true. This local landmark has more than the usual fare you’ll find on the shelf at the local chain drug store. It has an unparalleled selection of hard-to-find cosmetics and homeopathic remedies for everyone. The best thing about these items though is that they are hand-picked and road-tested by the store’s owner, Ian Ginsberg. He travels the world over in search of unique products that really work for his customers. For example, specialty items include: a cinnamon-peppermint concentrated mouthwash from the London pharmacy D.R. Harris, Crystal Eye Gel with a witch hazel potion known to improve tired-looking eyes in ten minutes, a Proraso menthol shaving cream from Florence, Italy, a Propoline First-Aid Balsam from Apitiva, Greece (which contains calendula and aloe known to heal minor sunburns as well as blisters on feet), almost the entire line of Acqua di Parma products from Italy, and London’s George F. Trumper brand of personal care products for gentlemen. And Bigelow’s long list of distinguished names that have popped in to shop since its founding in 1838 include the Roosevelts and John Belushi as well as current celebrities. Next time you’re in NYC, make time to visit this gem.

C.O. Bigelow products are available at all Bath & Body Works locations, and the C.O. Bigelow stores in Columbus, Ohio, Boston, Chicago, and Paramus, New Jersey.

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Monday, October 29, 2007

Number One-Hundred-Thirty-Six

LEGENDARY SIN CITIES
A Canadian Broadcast Corporation documentary, summary from the CBC website

Of all the remarkable events of this century perhaps the most fascinating has been the spontaneous growth, flowering and then decay of a handful of great cities. These cities were places where art, culture and political liberties co-mingled with corruption, brutality and decadence. Everything and just about anyone could be bought and sold. The immigrant would struggle beside the artist. Gamblers, thieves and prostitutes co-habited with soul-savers, the rich and the powerful.

The exhilarating combination of the seamy with the sublime made these places a magnet for all the lost souls and refugees of the world. Pushing the limits of tolerance and freedom, they defined the social, political and sexual culture of the 20 th century. Their names ring out: Paris of the ‘20s, Berlin of the ‘20s and ‘30s and Shanghai of the ‘30s. In the period between the wars, these were the LEGENDARY SIN CITIES of the world.

Contemporary footage mixed with rare and richly evocative archival films, stock shots and stills give resonance to the stories of an extraordinary cast of characters: novelists and artists, musicians and journalists, rogues and sinners. Added to the mix are excerpts from feature films, married with the music of those remarkable times. What results is a richly drawn portrait of a time and place that helped define our century.

PARIS: THE CRAZY YEARS

As Paris emerged from the hardship of the Great War, a wave of hedonism swept through the city. In the wake of deprivation, decadence flourished as Paris once again became the centre of modernity and creativity.

The French call the interwar years “Les annees folles”, the crazy years, and for those who could afford it, it was indeed a wild party. Censorship was minimal, women’s bare breasts were an accepted part of an evening’s entertainment and brothels were legal. The American dollar was much stronger than the Franc, and American expatriates indulged in all that the city had to offer. Back home prohibition and narrow mindedness reigned, but in Paris, champagne and ideas flowed.

Kiki, of Montparnasse (also photographed above)

Some of the greatest artistic collaborations of the century fermented in Paris. It was in a Parisian café that the surrealist photographer Man Ray, met his muse, Kiki of Montparnasse. Here Ernest Hemmingway boxed with Morley Callaghan and F.Scott Fitzgerald kept the time. Across the Seine in Montmartre, Cole Porter would stay up all night at Bricktop’s nightclub and wake up to compose some of his greatest tunes.

While the legitimate arts thrived, so too did the city’s seedy underbelly. It was here that pornographic films and electronic vibrators emerged and student parties turned into marathon orgies. The Grand Guignol theatre walked the line between art and pornography nightly with its feigned mutilations, graphic sex scenes, and private balcony with a double bed.

Foreigners in Paris found a new tolerance for lifestyles that were taboo at home. From the rampant libido of Natalie Barney to the more staid partnerships exemplified by Gertrude Stein and Alice Toklas, lesbians were chic in Paris. Male homosexuality was more covert but sympathetic friends and casual partnerships were easy to find.

Jazz legend Cole Porter moved to Paris where he hosted lavish parties and explored his bi-sexuality.

The soundtrack to “les annees folles” was unquestionably the syncopated import from Harlem: jazz. Paris had a long of tradition of welcoming foreign musicians, and jazz clubs sprang up in the Montmartre district. When Josephine Baker debuted on a Parisian stage, carried in by a half-naked black man, she sent a message across the city, black was beautiful. She became an instant celebrity and a potent sex symbol, all before her 20th birthday.

As the 1920’s came to a close, the staggering numbers of boisterous tourists in search of booze and entertainment began to enrage the French. But it was not the growing animosity towards foreigners that finally ended the great migration. As Black Tuesday toppled the stock market in October 1929, the stream of money that had supported the Americans abroad ran dry. For those who stayed, Paris remained, as Hemmingway described, “A Moveable Feast”, but it became less exuberant, less exciting, perhaps even less sinful.

Josephine Baker became a huge star after she performed an erotic dance, ‘the danse sauvage’ on stage. A teenager from St. Louis she transformed herself into a symbol of liberation and sex. “She devoured men like crazy. She had lots of lovers. The French like to wink at that but she flaunted it and slept with men of the best circles of society as well as men in not so nice parts of society. She also slept with women.”

Many of the creative, successful women in Paris were lesbian. Their weekly salons became famous as the place to mingle with the creme de la creme of the literary and artistic worlds. Famous lesbians like Gertrude Stein and Natalie Barney lived their lifestyle openly in Paris.

Organized by the arts students of the Ecole des Beaux Arts, the Bal of the Quatz Arts was held every spring. It was a huge party that spilled into the streets in a bacchanalian orgy of alcohol and sex. “You were expected to go naked and very elaborated painted or otherwise decorated and things would deteriorate in the course of the evening and these turned into massive sexual encounters.”

BERLIN: METROPOLIS OF VICE

An Otto Dix painting of the decadent film star Anita Berber. Some called her the ‘Scarlett whore of Berlin.’

As Allied Europe recovered from the First World War, the turmoil in Germany was still raging. In the wake of defeat, extremist political groups sprang up and city streets became battle zones as the Left clashed with the Right. Out of this struggle emerged a new democratic state - The Weimar Republic.

Censorship fell with the Kaiser and in the aftermath of war, Berlin shed its conservative past to become the “Babylon of the 20’s”. On the city stages, Anita Berber flaunted her body, bisexuality and drug addictions. In the city-centre the world’s first institute for sexual science boasted the world’s biggest library on sexual matters and pornography. And at nightclubs such as the Residenz-Casino, you could send attractive patrons bottles of cocaine through pneumatic tubes.

Decadence thrived alongside desperation in post-war Berlin as inflation soared out of control. For the impoverished middle class, crow and turnip soup became luxury items but for anyone with foreign currency, the city was a never-ending party. Desperate for hard currency, Berliners catered to tourists’ every appetite, from four-course meals to mother daughter teams in family-run brothels.

But there was more to Berlin than sin. With its superb orchestras, hundreds of newspapers, theatres and cabarets, Berlin was the place for anyone with ambition, talent or hustle. It was here that Bertolt Brecht and Kurt Weill collaborated on The Threepenny Opera, and where Marlene Deitrich’s legs stole the show in Germany’s first talking picture, The Blue Angel.

With most of Europe still closeted, the love that dare not speak its name was shouted out all across Berlin. Homosexual artists such as W.H Auden and Christopher Isherwood flocked to this centre of sexual liberation. Isherwood later turned his experiences in Berlin into a novel, which became the stage play and movie Cabaret.

As Germany’s politics remained splintered, one of Berlin’s most famous artist, George Grosz, took special pleasure in satirizing a little known demagogue making noise in Munich - Adolf Hitler.

With its frenetic pace and insatiable libido, Berlin had been a hard nut for the Nazis to crack. The city did fall, however, partly due to the influence of Joseph Goebbels, the Reich minister of propaganda. As much as he hated the city, he understood it and used scandal, sensation and sheer brutality to bring the city into step. When Hitler came to power in 1933, the Nazis set up headquarters in the old transvestite haunt, the Eldorado, raided the institute of sexual science and started a campaign of brutality that climaxed in WWII. As the Shangrila on the Spree faded, new sin cities emerged in the East.

There were approximately 160 completely different lesbian and gay male nightclubs and lounges in Berlin. The home of some of the most famous transvestites in the city was the Eldorado. Everybody, the hat check girls, the waitresses, the barmaids, were all men. The top female impersonators performed there. In the thirties the Eldorado was taken over and turned into a Nazi headquarters.

Anita Berber was one of the earliest stars of German cinema and the first to dance naked onstage. Her performances were notorious for their eroticism and sexuality. Off the stage she flaunted her bisexuality and her love of drugs and alcohol. She died, at 29, surrounded by statues of the virgin mary and empty morphine syringes.

SHANGHAI: PARADISE FOR ADVENTURERS

In the Twentieth Century, a handful of cities became legendary- and for a time in the twenties and thirties, there was one place known as the wickedest city in the world- it was Shanghai.

For the Chinese, Shanghai meant openness and modernity - the Paris of Asia. For tourists, Shanghai was the whore of the East. The city became a standard port of call for adventurers from around the world and its star grew as a city of vice with everything for sale.

In this Sin City, perhaps the only elusive commodity for the Chinese was power. Shanghai had been carved up into foreign concessions after China’s defeat in the Opium wars of the 1800s and the British, with their posh clubs and colonial attitude were by far the most powerful group in the city, followed closely by the French. The foreigners brought with them their own military, courts, police and even their own architecture. Insulated as they were, the Shanghailanders built up immunity to the poverty around them, ignoring all that they saw as ugly and squalid.

Enterprise ruled Shanghai, whether legitimate or not. In this city of 4 million, there were an estimated 100,000 prostitutes plying their trade from streetwalkers to courtesans. Gangs proliferated, mostly under the control of Big Ears Du and Pock Marked Huang who doubled as gang lords and police detectives. With their ties to the French officials, they supplied the concession with opium, ran the gambling houses and inflicted severe punishments on their enemies. One gruesome punishment involved cutting every tendon of the victim’s body, including the Achilles and the tongue.

With abductions a daily occurrence, home security was a priority for both foreign and Chinese magnates. One nationality had cornered the market on protection- the White Russians. Once well-to-do pillars of Old Russia, they found themselves exiled after the revolution. The men worked as guards or chauffeurs but many of the women ended up in the entertainment industry or prostitution. For both the Europeans and the Chinese, a White Russian mistress became a common accessory.

Among the foreigners, few cut a more arresting figure than cigar-smoking journalist Emily Hahn. She traveled with her pet gibbon perched on her shoulder, lived in a renovated bordello and had affairs with Shanghai’s most fascinating men - Chinese Poet Sinmay Zau and aristocrat Sir Victor Sassoon. An acknowledged playboy, Sir Victor had revitalized the family dynasty, which had its roots in the opium trade, by building the luxurious Cathay Hotel, where he hosted the city’s most lavish costume parties.

There were many classes of prostitutes - at the top were the ‘sing-song’ girls.

The party, however, was over when in 1937, Japan invaded China. By the end of the summer, the Chinese sections of the city had turned into a lawless badlands where abductions, torture and death became commonplace. The international settlements dispersed, with women and children sent home first. As many Shanghailanders said their last goodbyes, however, another group of refugees flooded into the city - European Jews, escaping Hitler to one of the only places in the world still open to them.

The Shanghai that had flourished in this uneasy mix of Chinese and foreigners, of corruption and religious rectitude, of poets and revolutionaries was coming to an end. But it left an indelible mark: for the Chinese, Shanghai’s creative energy and political ferment was a crucible of change; for the Shanghailanders, the city became the stuff of legend.

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Monday, October 22, 2007

Number One-Hundred-Thirty-One

Concubine culture brings trouble for China’s bosses
By Jonathan Watts in Beijing, The Guardian, with additional reporting by Chen Shi and Huang Lisha

· Eleven mistresses unite to denounce corrupt cadre
· Post-Mao era sees revival of ‘second wives’ tradition

China’s concubines have struck again. A corrupt senior official in Shaanxi province has been brought down by his 11 mistresses, according to reports in the state media yesterday.

Pang Jiayu, the former deputy head of the provincial political advisory body, has been sacked and expelled from the Communist party after his former girlfriends exposed him, the People’s Daily said.

As at least the fourth cadre to lose his job in the past year as a result of accusations from “second wives”, Pang’s case has prompted a flurry of reports in the domestic media about the resurgence of China’s ancient concubine culture among corrupt officials.

According to one recent survey, 90% of the senior officials convicted of serious corruption in the past five years kept mistresses. In many cases, they are accused of abusing their positions to make enough money to shower their lovers with gifts.

It is hard to separate the salacious stories from political point scoring, but when a victim falls from grace, the accusations in the local media fly thick and fast.

Mr Pang, 63, was the Communist party chief of Baoji city. His position gave him the power to decide the fate of his subordinates and the awarding of local development contracts.

According to the People’s Daily, he persuaded many of the most attractive and young wives of his employees to become his mistresses in return for “big money projects” for their husbands.

Local media said Mr Pang earned the nickname “mayor zipper” in Baoji and city officials had a saying among themselves: “No sacrifice [of one’s wife], no gain.”

In one case, Mr Pang’s wife and mistresses worked together on a water-diversion project that collapsed less than a year after the construction was finished, the paper said.

His fate was sealed when several of his mistresses’ husbands were sentenced to death for bribery. The wives joined forces to denounce Pang, who would otherwise probably have escaped censure because of his political connections.

With no independent judiciary, no free media and no electoral accountability, China is suffering a plague of corruption. The country’s leaders have repeatedly warned that it is one of the biggest threats to the legitimacy of the Communist party.

When cases do come to light, the punishment is swift and often deadly. The party’s discipline inspection commission said in July that Mr Pang would be dealt with severely.

“Pang did not expect that he would be brought down by his own 11 mistresses,” the People’s Daily said in a report on its website. “What awaits Pang Jiayu is severe punishment.”

In imperial times, a large number of concubines was a symbol of power. The practice is thought to have been stamped out after the Communists took power in 1949, although Mao had many lovers, according to his physician. But in recent years the keeping of mistresses and ernai - second wives - appears to have been making a comeback.

This week, Duan Yihe, former Communist party boss of Jinan city in Shandong province, was executed for blowing up his mistress in collusion with a local police officer. Duan was said to have been driven to murder because his lover constantly asked him for money and would not leave him despite his repeated attempts to break up since 1999.

The highest-ranking official to fall from grace in the past year, Chen Liangyu - the former party chief of Shanghai - is to feel the wrath of China’s justice system after accusations of keeping two mistresses and embezzling at least 3.5bn yuan (£230m).

Corruption and concubines go hand in hand, according to a report in the Beijing News this week, which found that 14 of the 16 most senior officials found guilty of gambling, illegal property deals and money laundering also had mistresses.

This has become a target of black humour among the local media, internet community and even Chinese expatriates. According to a widely circulated report on the Rednet website, there are five motives for officials to keep a mistress: using their power to play with women, showing off, addiction to sex, perversion and a desire to have more children.

Mistress’s story

‘I do it because I feel desperate and alone’

There are thought to be hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of ernai - second wives - in China, but few have spoken out as publicly about their experiences as Azhen. The 24-year-old from Jiangsu province has a blog about her life as a concubine in Shenzhen, a city close to Hong Kong.

For three years, she says, she has been the mistress of a man who is old enough to be her father. “Society calls us ernai. It is not a job that any of us would choose to do when we were children. Some do it for money. Others for love. Many, like me, do it because they have suffered some cruelty and feel desperate and alone,” she told the Guardian.

Azhen says she was neglected as a child because her father abandoned her mother while she was still in the womb. In her first job at a factory, she was raped by one of the bosses.

“No woman wants to demean themselves, but there is no social safety net. I have suffered psychological wounds from my experiences. It has changed my views. I don’t expect my life to be satisfying any more, it is enough if it is peaceful.”

She met her current patron while working as a cleaner in a sauna. Although reluctant to go into details about how much money he gives her and what kind of apartment he pays for, she says her life has improved.

“He comes to see me if he has time. If he is busy, he calls me. As long as he is nice to me, he doesn’t need to seduce me with too much money because I am not a material woman.”

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Friday, October 12, 2007

Number One-Hundred-Twenty-Three

The Country Wife: Wycherley’s wife is in rude good humour with this cracking revival
Charles Spencer, of the London Telegraph, applauds a revival of Wycherley’s bawdy Restoration comedy

Wycherley’s The Country Wife (1675) is that rare thing, a comedy that hasn’t lost its capacity to shock more than three centuries after its premiere.

Toby Stephens as Horner and Patricia Hodge as Lady Fidget in ‘The Country Wife’

For much of its life it was only performed, if at all, in pallid adaptations, and the historian, statesman and poet Thomas Macaulay best expressed outraged respectable reaction to the play back in 1840. “Wycherley’s indecency is protected against the critics as a skunk is protected against the hunters. It is safe because it is too filthy to handle and too noisome even to approach.”

Frankly, when it comes to filth I can’t get enough of it, and in Jonathan Kent’s cracking revival, which launches his eagerly anticipated, year-long artistic directorship of the most beautiful playhouse in London, the piece once again proves that a dirty mind is a joy forever.

Staunch feminists and the terminally priggish may find that this comedy is still too gamey for comfort, but anyone who has ever laughed at an off-colour joke or confessed a sneaking admiration for Bernard Manning or the great Roy “Chubby” Brown will have an absolute ball.

One of the joys of the play is that the elegance of its construction and the glamour of its setting in the higher reaches of Restoration London is so at odds with its lickerish, lipsmacking account of rampant sexuality and barking human folly.

No fewer than three plots involving lusty women and men who are either insanely jealous or criminally complaisant converge, largely united by the unforgettable character of the aptly named Horner, the archetypal randy restoration rake who feigns impotence in order to gain access to apparently respectable wives and then enthusiastically rogers them until he can roger them no more.

Jonathan Kent’s production boasts stylish designs by Paul Brown that wittily combine Wycherley’s age with our own, so that sumptuous frock coats are worn with jeans, and I have rarely seen restoration comedy played with such addictively zestful panache. The vivid vigorous prose dialogue is delivered with superb aplomb and the staging brims with comic life and detail. There’s no mannered fan-play here.

Almost every performance, even the smallest, has its own special energy and shafts of wit, and as a result the play achieves an irresistible comic momentum. Toby Stephens, who has often struck me as the last of the great buccaneering actors, is in his absolute element as Horner, first discovered saucily flashing his bottom at the audience before moving in on his pray with a vulpine grins and the sinuous body language of Mick Jagger in his prime. It’s impossible not to feel some sympathy for the devil.

Patricia Hodge is in peerless form as the chief object of his desire, Lady Fidget, somehow combining an elegant mask of respectability with an itchy sexuality and a knack of deploying her embonpoint as if it were a weapon of mass destruction. In the great “China” scene, in which talk of crockery becomes a riot of sexual double entendre, she and Stephens set the stage throbbing with desire.

David Haig is in tremendous form as a husband who insanely tortures himself with jealousy, his anguish becoming our comic bliss, and there is fine support from Fiona Glascott as his disconcertingly sexy, childlike wife and Jo Stone-Fewings as the most endearing of silly asses.

Shows don’t come much more disgracefully pleasurable than this.

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Wednesday, October 10, 2007

Number One-Hundred-Twenty

Seduced: is it art or is it porn?

The Barbican’s new exhibition which traces the history of sex in art raises difficult questions, says Frances Wilson, The London Telegraph

Challenging: The Beautiful Servant by Fragonard

When police seized a photograph from the Baltic art gallery in Gateshead recently, taken by the celebrated American photographer Nan Goldin and owned by Sir Elton John, the directors of the Barbican art gallery must have felt pretty nervous.

The Barbican’s new show, Seduced: Art and Sex from Antiquity to Now, deals with precisely the difference between art and pornography that the debate over Goldin’s image of two small girls has reignited.

Is Klare and Edda belly-dancing an example of child pornography, or does the fact of Goldin’s reputation as a serious documentary photographer, and the respectability of the Baltic as a museum, elevate the picture to the category of art?

What is sublime to one person can be smut to another, and Seduced does nothing if not tease out the difference between stimulating the mind and arousing the senses. Covering 2,000 years of representations of sex, Seduced sets out to seduce.

Chinese watercolours, Japanese prints, and Indian manuscripts rest alongside Fragonard’s playful but daring The Beautiful Servant.

Equally entertaining will be observing the viewers of the world’s most sensuous images, as they arrange their faces into expressions of scholarly interest. The relationship between viewer and image is part of the point, and the curators of Seduced try to tap the voyeur in us all.

The division of objects on moral, as opposed to scholarly, grounds can be traced to the late 18th century.

Archaeologists excavating the ruins of Pompeii, the vibrant Roman city destroyed in an afternoon by the eruption of Vesuvius in AD79, stumbled upon streets and houses in a state of perfect preservation, but they also found amulets, lamps, murals, statues, jugs, and reliefs, all depicting sex.

Their discovery changed forever our view of classical civilisation. It seems that the culture that provided our model of high thought and refined feeling had no problems either with lower thoughts and less