Macho Sluts Read Online Free PDF Page B

progress. More and more young people have families who support them and are able to join gay/straight alliances in their schools. They take it for granted that their futures can only look brighter. I hope that’s true, but if it is, it will only be through continued vigilance and action. We can’t trust the benevolence of the majority or some natural, progressive trend in history to take care of us. Neither of these things exists. I just wish that gay men and lesbians would be more willing to admit that they are now in a privileged position, relative to the trans community, and stop trampling on our heads. Do you really want to be on the same side of this issue as the Republican Party?
    So. Even if you buy what I have to say about the politics of this whole mess, do you want to take a chance on a book that may or may not accurately represent lesbian experience? First you probably ought to know that not all of the stories in this book are about woman-to-woman S/M. (And not all of my readers are dykes. Thank you for your letters, email, and easy care instructions.) There’s only one way to find out—that’s the same way that you had to find out what it would feel like to squeeze your hand between your thighs, or apply a dab of that lubricant, or switch on the vibrator. The same way you had to find out if spanking could really feel good or if being tied up was too scary to enjoy. You have to actually try it.
    Not every erotic experiment ends well. Crisco, for example, was a bad idea. Sheets that still smell like fried chicken. Yeast infections. Holes in gloves and condoms. Yuck. But I think most of us suffer from a lack of opportunity rather than too many temptations. Even the tricks who shouldn’t have spent the entire night in your bed or the dildo that broke were worthwhile attempts to have more fun, be daring, and enjoy your far-from-infinite span of days on this amazing planet. You can’t make an omelet without going down a few dead end streets. So you learn, perhaps, to stay home while you are ovulating and never go cruising in the Castro again.
    Are you more afraid that you won’t have any fun—or that you’ll be thrilled to pieces? Which is it? Be bold. Put yourself in my proverbial hands. I promise I won’t drop you. I’ve been a top for nearly three decades, and I still know my way around a bent psyche and a wet pussy. There’s no threat to your real life. It’s all just fiction, fantasy, flat black ink on a white page. But it could lead to touching— touching yourself, asking someone else to touch you, reaching for someone else’s skin and heart and mind. Whether you are a lesbian transgressing enough to listen to a transman with an extensive dyke history, or a gay man enjoying the guilty pleasure of lesbian lustmaking, or a straight person who doesn’t know which end is up, there’s something here for you.
    And if it is a good time—if you, perhaps, might be a Macho Slut yourself—you might even find yourself begging for more. Don’t worry. There is more. There’s always more.

Introduction to the original edition
    Liberty is the right not to lie.
—Albert Camus
    The things that seem beautiful, inspiring, and life-affirming to me seem ugly, hateful, and ludicrous to most other people. This may be the most painful part of being a sadomasochist: this experience of radical difference, separation at the root of perception. Our culture insists on sexual uniformity and does not acknowledge any neutral differences—only crimes, sins, diseases, and mistakes. This smug erotic totalitarianism does hidden violence to dissidents and perverts. It distorts our self-images, ambitions, and dreams. We think we are alone, or crazy, or ridiculous. Our desire learns to curb itself, and we come to depend on the strength of self-repression for our safety. We live in fear of being known, and such fear stifles the nascent erotic wish before the