Acting Citizen: Kinky Rights

By James Knudsen

The Moristotle & Co. blog has a well-earned reputation for being family friendly, Rated ‘G’, adhering to the Hays Code, and Safe For Work. Nonetheless, in order for this month’s column to work, I must introduce the topic of sex.
    A dear friend who passed away several years ago, summed up the varieties and complexity of the human sexual universe thus: “Everybody’s got their trip.” For all our genetic similarity as a species, when it comes to sexual congress, regress, redress, and ultimately, undress, the scope is 360 degrees of all extremes, from the completely ordinary to the…well, I’m afraid I occupy one of the more ordinary solar systems of the universe, so I can’t speak to how extraordinary the x^th extreme may be.

    I do know that as the ordinary moves away from the 1950s, suburban ideal of heterosexual intimacy, in the privacy of a ranch style, tract home, the word “kinky” is used to describe what ensues. My aforementioned friend knew about kinky. It was his job to know. He had a regular, ordinary career as a bail bondsman, but his side gig was that of a male escort to the stars of Hollywood in the post-war era. A more detailed account can be found in the book Full Service, by Scotty Bowers. Kinky, in the context of two consenting adults, is, in the eyes of most people, a harmless activity. Kinky, in the context of the public square – I think we’re getting an idea of what that looks like.
    The United States was, for much of its history, a country that wanted to be viewed as respectable. True, we were prone to some reckless, “cowboy” antics like overthrowing foreign governments, starting wars on questionable grounds, and putting the dollar ahead of our professed ideals, but the visage we maintained was navy-blue, three-piece suit, white-collar dress shirt, and black oxfords boring. This also described our political leaders, and to a certain extent it still does, except now that attire is often modified with the replacement of oxfords by pumps. And this same sedate aesthetic defined the exercise of our rights.

    To identify a word as misused and misunderstood as “rights,” I think one must turn to the letter “C” in the dictionary and locate “Christian.” Rights, freedoms, liberties. Americans – some Americans…far too many Americans – now believe that those three words are: 1. the same thing, 2. absolute, and finally, 3. to be enjoyed where and whenever possible, and if it may be done at the inconvenience and/or annoyance of a fellow citizen, well then they’ve hit the trifecta. The American Experiment and its central tenet of individual liberty has become – in a word – kinky.

Copyright © 2020 by James Knudsen