Chapter One: Under Where? Underwear!

As promised, here is a short excerpt from my memoir that examines one woman's journey discovering and understanding her sexuality, her role as a woman, and herself.  In Chapter One, I talk about how we are often introduced to the idea of sexuality with a simple question: Where do Babies Come From? 

On Facebook I read a status update that my nephew was told by a friend of his that babies come from the great baby cloud. Since cloud computing is getting so very popular, I could not help but imagine Google being behind this operation, talk about Google+, with Apple on its heels for iTunes downloads. Picture this, baby souls stored in “the cloud,” being pumped with information from the Internet - twitter feeding the virtual soul fetus along with Facebook wall updates, and targeted advertisements.  Advertisers would be in heaven! Consider the potential of training a child to be a consumer even before he or she popped out of the womb!  Capital delight!

I also examine the sad truth that for many women, including many in my family, the first introduction to sex is rape:

Writing this memory down, I sit and wonder what my Mother must have felt or thought with my imitation of her eye drawings: for I now know this was her first memory, and the eye was what she focused on as she was being raped. She was a very young child when it first happened. This sexual abuse would follow her throughout her childhood, adolescence, and into the throws of young adulthood. Much of it stopped at thirteen or fourteen when she pulled a gun on her attacker, her Stepfather, and hitchhiked out of Fairbanks, Alaska, taking the Alcan highway. Maybe she viewed the single eye as not only a physical example of her attacker, but as the all-seeing Ra, a universal god.

Do the myths we tell our children about sex and sexuality eventually lead to larger misconceptions, such as the myth that women deserve to be raped, that it is the only thing that can control her? Or, rather, is this slippery slope argument without steam and substance?


Writing the Diaphragm Blues looks to the comic moments of sexuality, to the more serious consequences of sex and violence - all though the eyes of one woman, her experiences, and her efforts to better understand herself and her place in the world.

New Underwear Followers

Dear Reader,

Well true to form, after mentioning the following words on my post (prostitution, underwear, sex and procreation), I received a few interesting new Twitter followers, including 1 sex worker, a book promoter-promoting a"Where do Babies Come From" book and, this was interesting in the end, a company called PantyO.

Sex Industry Workers

Generally, Twitter sex industry workers are rather easy to detect becuase the avatars of these Tweets are of young, sexy, women who either suck on their fingers, a piece of fruit or are seen sitting with their legs wide apart. I highly doubt that any of this images are of the actual Twitterer, but you have to love their Tweets:

I just met a new girl and we are gonna hang out, wanna cum?

Oh Brother!  Again, each to their own, but these folks are NOT bothering to read my tweets, or my bio. Rather, all they are doing is targeting me with the use of searches.  As Pooh Bear states: oh bother.

But I did get two unexpected new followers that should be mentioned generally: What looks to be an interesting read on where babies come from and a company selling Panties.

Where do Babies Come From?

One new follower was advertising the book Birds, Bees, Babies by J.L. Sweat. Regarding the book, the author writes:

The birds and the bees.  Birds, Bees, Babies is a book that takes a “Santa Claus” or nonbiological approach to teaching children about the birds and the bees.  When a child asks the age old question, where do babies come from, this book can help provide a healthy and positive solution to having the birds and bees talk.  The book follows a little girl who has been taunted by a friend because she does not know where babies come from.  Her father tells her the story of the birds and the bees and that babies are created because the birds and the bees make a baby and then it is delivered by the stork.  This unique and exciting story is intended to present a non-sexual approach to the explanation of where children come from.

This book takes the opposition direction that my mom finally took when giving me low-down on procreation,  and it leaves me to wonder: what story is the better story to tell on this topic: the mythological non-biological explanation or the biological one?  What do you think (leave comments below!)

Underwear!

The other new follower from my post was a company called PantyO, and they make a Kegel exercise undergarment selling for over $50 dollars (ouch!). If you wish to investigate, here is an article that discusses the Kegel Exercises from the Mayo-Clinic. These female undergarments are designed to help strengthen the pelvic floor mussels, which assist in childbirth, urination (avoiding incontinence) and, of course, sexual enjoyment.   

At first I was a bit wigged out on this follow.  I thought to myself:

Great, vibrating panties are following me! 

But this was not the case; after doing a bit of research, I can see how this product could be helpful not simply for someone hoping to enhance sexual pleasure, but, importantly, for those experiencing incontinence.

I have cared for several older and sick men and women in my life and I can tell you, if they could have avoided the problem of incontinence, they would have. But the panties made by PantyO should really come in more styles, rather than the bikini cut version, including styles preferred by an older crowd.  If you are targeting to fight incontinence, then you need to market to those people as well.

Where do Babies Come From:

I am still interested in hearing the story you were given about where babies come from, why now leave a comment here!

R