All Couric! All the Time!

The Couric article has elicited quite a response, so I'll stick with it for the time being (although there's plenty of other things to talk about: item number one being that MTV's new show "Rich Girls" may be the most important addition to the 10 o'clock hour of television since Seinfeld went into syndication). Here are some hilights from the emails I've gotten so far:

"I wonder how she squares her 'oral sex is demeaning' philosophy with her famously liberal politics,
vis-a-vis gay rights. Does she believe gays (lesbians, too) are demeaning themselves by the common practice?"

A dissenter:
"You're intentionally ignoring the context of her remarks in order to feign personal offense. 'Demeaning
to girls,' was the line. Unless you're shacking up with a girl (a female human who hasn't reached the age of majority), she said nothing to cause you
any consternation."

This female reader echoes my female roommate's response:
"If the woman is completely in control of what's going on, it can actually work as a power trip for her."

"Just want to clarify what you heard Katie Couric say. Is oral sex demeaning for girls if they give it? Or if they receive it?
If it is politically correct to go down on women I need to know. Preferably by 9pm tonight."

Yep, these are my readers.

Be Careful What You Wish For

Well, this morning I came into work generally annoyed at another thing I saw on TV. As per usual I wrote some ranting emails to my friends and sent along my grievances to my favorite writers in the hopes that they'd get some press. Today was different though, because my beef with Katie Couric and her weird public stance on oral sex has gotten some pub. Thanks to instapundit for linking to me and giving some validity to my grievance. I haven't been this excited since Schick introduced the quad-blade razor!
AJ4A

Katie Couric: Go to Hell

This morning I heard Katie Couric describe oral sex as "demeaning to girls" for the second time this year. For some reason this drives me absolutely mad. I'm at once perplexed that she can say this on-air, and that nobody has made a story out of it. Below are my letters to The Today Show and to Mickey Kaus at Slate.

During the “teen sex” segment on this morning’s show I heard Katie Couric mention that oral sex is “first of all, demeaning to girls...” This is the second time I’ve heard the anchor say this on-air. The first was about 6 months ago, during a segment about talking to your kids about sex. How is it that she can say this on-air as if it is fact? Hopefully you’re getting hundreds of letters and emails from young, confident women who are offended at the suggestion that they are somehow being demeaned and/or taken advantage of by participating in a perfectly normal and healthy sex act. I’m saddened to think that there are young women watching the show who are just starting to make informed, safe sexual decisions for themselves, only to be falsely told by someone they look up to that they are being “demeaned” and possibly taken advantage of. What’s truly demeaning to women are Ms. Couric’s strange and inappropriate assertions on the Today Show. She ought to keep her nonsensical opinions about oral sex to herself.

Justin Beere
Santa Monica, California

Mr. Kaus,

For the second time this year, I was lazily watching the Today show in bed when Katie Couric blurted out her opinion that oral sex is demeaning to women. The first time this happened was in a segment about how to talk to your kids about sex, while today it occurred during an interview with the editor of Teen People magazine. Why aren’t people writing about this? The 25 year old woman I live with was mortified at the statement; offended at the suggestion she was somehow too stupid to know she was being taken advantage of, and saddened that younger women trying to sort through their sexual development were being advised by a role model that a perfectly natural and healthy sex act was harmful to them. What the hell is the matter with her?

Please help,

Justin Beere
Santa Monica, California

TGlenn

Terry Glenn not only caught 3 touchdown passes today, at the post-game press conference he revealed that he's got the best hair in professional sports, barely beating out Ben Wallace and that DB on the Packers who looks like he's wearing a black Komondor dog on his head like that guy in the beer commercial. In other news, I've been working hard to convince myself that this year's Niners team was no good, mainly so that I wouldn't be so disappointed if and when they lost a bunch of games this year. Major blow to my progress with today's upset of the SuperBowl champs; I expect to have my day completely ruined next time they lose. And the worse thing about it is that the Niners delivered joy on so many occasions when I was growing up, I feel like I have no recourse at this point. Bill Simmons once wrote that a franchise should get a 10 year grace period from its fans when it wins a championship. Well what happens when they win another THREE championships in that ten year period? Will I be in my fifties before I can complain? Does the odometer reset with each SuperBowl victory? I don't know how I'm allowed to react. Hopefully they'll win one again soon so I don't have to worry about this every year.

Baseball Fails Me Again

As per usual I got sucked into both LCS matchups this year because of the presence of a couple of intriguing underdogs. And once again, as per usual, none of the teams that I was rooting for got what they seemed to deserve. Last year I watched the Giants go to the Series, but they lost so badly, played so uninspired that I almost don't even remember it. This year it was a repeat performance, although the G-men mailed it in two series earlier than last year, saving us all the trouble of watching them do it in the finals twice in a row. Everyone in my office is walking around trying to make sense of a 162 game season that culminates in a matchup we couldn't care less about. See, this is why I stick with the NFL. With comparatively much shorter seasons, every week provides opportunity for dramatic wins/losses. Put another way, when I'm watching the Olympics I'd rather watch all of the sprint events than follow the marathon race. With the sprints I'm likely to see some close finishes, some exciting battles. My country will win some and they'll lose some. They may not win the overall gold, but there will be some memorable victories. With a marathon you've got to dedicate hours of your time waiting for the only part that really matters: the last two miles of the race to the finish line. And when your guy loses you're immediately questioning your loyalty, your patriotism, and your sanity, wondering why he ran all that way just to blow it in the end. How could something so magical, something so deeply desired by the whole country just get obliterated in such agonizing fashion? I'm a famous Non-Believer, and can't stand it when athletes thank God, but if there was a God, THIS would have been a situation where he could have intervened and willed the RIGHT team(s) to victory. Usually when I see athletes praying on TV I spew vitriol wondering how these dullards could think their God picked their team over the other; how they could be so crass as to assume God is interested in the outcome, when they get paid either way. But in this case I would have understood. The wrong teams won.

Hello Friends,

This is the very first incarnation of my journey into the fold. Hold onto your hats, soon there will be some real, actual content here.