Woo and Domesticity: neither is pretty.

The other day Orac blogged his latest bit of woo, in which he reveals that doctors must acquire Continuing Medicine Education credits in order to retain their license to practice, and then reveals that some serious woo at a thing called the "Body Heals Workshop," led by one Adam Dreamhealer, does indeed give the docs attending CME credits. Orac says of Mr. Dreamhealer, "What a fantastic name for a woo-meister by the way. I tip my hat to him."

Omaha objected, saying that her name was Omaha and she had changed it after a comic book character who was half cat.

I replied, "Yes, dear. But you don't claim that you lick people in order to clean them."

Sunday slides by

Omaha and I decided to forgo Folklife today; the weather was icky and Omaha was in mourning: her Macintosh G5 is in critical condition, and one way or another it's gonna cost bucks to get it fixed. We drove up to the Mac Store so she could hand it over, then headed back home.

I was going to make pretzels, but unfortunately we discovered that Kouryou-chan had left her favorite My Little Pony at the pet shop next door to the computer store, so I had to drive all the way back up to the University District, then back home again. It gave me an opportunity to snag more catfood.

Since both girls have started outgrowing their pyjamas, Omaha and I took them out shopping. While the girls were trying them on in their own dressing rooms, a woman came over from the adults' section and walked into an unoccupied dressing room with a bundle of underwear hand. A minute later someone who I hope was an acquaintance of hers, but was yakking fierce on the cellphone implanted against her head, joined her in the dressing room. Through the doors I heard the new one say, "Oh, those are cute!" I turned to Omaha and said, "Y'know, in the pornoverse, this is where the chikka-wakka chikka-wakka music starts playing."

She gave me a vicious look.

On the way out, we went through the "family friendly" checkout lane. Since the lane was plastered wall-to-wall with "Can I have this‽" candy displays I had to ask: what the heck does "family friendly" mean. The cashier said, "No icky magazines."

Ah, so it's not family friendly, it's reality-blinded. A family-friendly aisle would be full of boring non-candy like shaving and grooming sundries. I suppose an argument could be made to stock it with boring magazines like Popular Mechanics and Rolling Stones as well.

Anyway, we got the kids absolutely darling pyjamas with short-sleeve shirts and shorts, and huge packs of underwear and socks. They kinda needed them.

Lifted from the Comments: What about the Joy of Sex?

Someone in my post about Everything You Ever Wanted To Know About Sex (But Were Afraid To Ask) asked me about Alex Comfort's famous The Joy of Sex.

I'm sad to say that The Joy of Sex was also "updated" within the past decade, and the update is horrible. If you must have a copy, buy the original.

The New Joy of Sex does terrible violence to the original. Despite the ever increased prevalance of kink-awareness and kink-safety in our culture, New Joy pares back the bondage section to the barest minimum and recommends scarves and neckties despite all we've learned about how those things can go potentially wrong. The section on threesomes and swapping is gone, replaced instead with short paragraph on how to find another couple to watch, because really, y'know, actually swapping would be icky, and in Alex's universe there exists no porn to rent. The original had a pretty good section on anal sex; it's entirely missing from New Joy.

( Some things are understandable. What came next is not. )

Make a Sex Noise!

Okay, so I've dissed two great classics of modern sex education. Is there anything I can recommend? Yes, one, and without any reservations at all.

The Guide To Getting It On! is simply the most wonderful sex book ever written. I have the first two editions: they keep getting alarmingly fatter. The first edition was spectacular; the second doubly so. There's an astounding amount of information in this book, as well as some absolutely great illustrations that basically show people having a good time, and the ways that they can.

Just looking at the "Bed of Contents" (ha!) is a good step: "The History of Sex," "Dirty Words," "Kissing," "Romance," "What's Inside a Girl," "Getting Naked," "Fluids," "Noises," "Balls!", "Doing Yourself In Your Partner's Presence," "Oral Sex: Popsicles", "Oral Sex: Honeypots", "Massage", "Intercourse," "Up the Bum," "Oscillator, Generator, Vibrator," "Mind-Body Weirdness," "What's Masculine, What's Feminine, What's Erotic," "Sex Fantasies," "Talking To Your Partner About Sex," "Talking To Your Partner During Sex," "Do Buddhists Shave Their Pubic Hair..." That's about half the book. There are sections on talking about sex to the kids, about dealing with menstruation, religious differences, abortion & adoption, sex and the disabled, sex during pregnancy, sex after pregnancy, and so on. There are great two-page "photocopy these" manuals on checking for testicular and breast cancer.

Look, if you're going to have sex ever again, just buy this book. I don't get anything out of recommending it other than the satisfaction of knowing that I have put into your hands the sex manual I wish I had written.