No More Fairy-Tale Sex
Ready to Rouse
Sleeping Beauty?
When is it acceptable for a man to foist
himself on a sleeping woman? You may think
that the correct answer would be never.
How to Rouse Sleeping Beauty
The one exception to the rule of not
initiating sexual contact with women
who haven’t given consent due to not
being awake is if you’re a fairytale prince
and she’s Sleeping Beauty who’s been trapped
in a 100-year enchanted sleep.
Wake Up Call from tsurufoto. on Vimeo.
You’ve just hacked your way through a forest
of thorns.You can’t be expected to dither
over the niceties of permission when there’s
a wicked fairy breathing down your neck.
In any case, princesses are raised to be grateful.
But the maelstrom of stories about consent
or its absence means that now even charming
princes can’t escape scrutiny.
Recently, a mother made headlines by asking her
six-year-old son’s primary school to remove
the story of Sleeping Beauty from the classroom
of younger pupils because of its unhelpful
message about kissing sleeping girls.
She suggested it should be saved for older children
as part of a useful discussion about consent.
Wake up Sex powered by YouPorn.
Cinderella Can’t Wait
for Prince Charming
The University possesses a hookup culture, as any student will tell you. I can’t count the number of times older friends have advised me to shake away the ridiculous notions of romance bouncing around my head.
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They tell me students here do’t date. They tell me to embrace the opportunity of not being tied down to a single person.
Well, I admit I’m no stranger to said hookup culture — an embarrassing fact to admit given that my mother always reads my column. I’m sorry, Mom. Quick, shield Daddy’s eyes! Don’t let him read about his little girl being groped by gregarious buffoons and egotistical assholes disguised in bow ties, khakis and Sperry Top-Siders.
The truth of the matter is, I’ve spent more than one night allowing myself to be wooed by a gentleman whose face I would not be admiring come morning. To an outsider, it might appear I have become somewhat of a scarlet woman.
Part of me wishes that were the case. Life would certainly be much easier in many ways if I could submerge myself wholly in this hookup culture. However, I was raised on Disney fairytales and reruns of “One Tree Hill,” and I harbor an intrinsic desire for a little more emotional complexity.
None of this is to say that I frown upon the woman who chooses to rotate her nights among our venerable pool of men. I applaud this woman; she’s a far better feminist than I, so far as her determination to shatter traditional gender roles and their relevance to stereotypical relationship ideals.
No woman should ever criticize another based on her intimacy preferences. If Miley Cyrus’s reemergence in popular culture can teach us anything, it’s that slut shaming, a mode of judgment that should have met its maker years ago, remains alive and well.
While I may not be the supreme example of unbridled sexual liberation, I do credit myself with an unexpected proficiency in picking up the hookup dialect since I came to to the University 16 months ago.
Until recently, I never pined for anything beyond the neon lights and gyrating shadows of the dance floor. But the appeal of all that blaring music and hazy atmosphere has an annoying habit of dissipating upon the entrance of a guy you really feel to be special.
One-night stands are fine and dandy, but at the end of every night, you still turn back into a pumpkin; the glass slippers and magic wear off faster than your eyeliner.
One-night romances send sparks down your fingertips and thrills through your gut, but they don’t permanently subdue loneliness.
I have a little crush. Am I even supposed to call it a “crush” anymore, or is there a more adult term I should use? Regardless, the University’s hookup culture prompts an embarrassing feeling of shame in me about — gasp! — actually wanting a guy to stick around for a while.
With all these challenges facing me, how am I to woo a prince? Maybe it would be better if I’d just give up any lingering notions of fairytale romance and exclusively commit to a hookup existence.
I have every confidence in my ability to entice a man for a night, but I worry that too long in my company could send the poor fellow running for the hills.
I may get the guy; I may not. I may start my own “Once upon a time,” or I may throw all those storybooks into the ashes. I refuse to wait around, twiddling my thumbs and impatiently tapping my foot for Prince Charming to appear. I refuse to degrade my worth in that way.
Instead, I’ll be a collegiate Cinderella, still sporting those glass slippers, but pairing them with a delightfully too-tight skirt instead of a ball gown.
I’ll go out with my girlfriends and tear up the town. I may pass a few hours with a couple of Merry Men, or even Robin Hood himself.
Exposé We you inside
the world of ‘pick-up artists’
Men who secretly film themselves harassing
women on the streets, luring them back to
their flats and eventually having sex with them.
They post the secret recordings online to share ‘tips’
with other men on how to get women to sleep with them.
Bragging about their sexual conquests, these
predatory men often ignore consent, claiming
to have the secrets to seducing women.