 | |
| Author | Rita Mae Brown |
|---|---|
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Genre | Fiction, Comedy |
| Published | 1982 (Bantam Books) |
Southern Discomfort is a 1982 novel by Rita Mae Brown. Through comedy and farce, it explores the theme of hypocrisy, especially that based on social status. [1]
The plot occurs between the years 1918-1928, in Montgomery, Alabama. Hortensia Reedmuller Banastre is a beautiful woman who comes from old money. She is the mother of two, and is trapped in a loveless, yet "socially appropriate" marriage. She falls in love with Hercules, a teenage black prizefighter. After Hercules dies as the result of a train accident, and the failure of the slow, for-blacks-only ambulance, Hortensia gives birth to their daughter, Catherine. To avoid the inevitable scandal, Catherine is raised by Hortensia's cook. However, the jealousy of Hortensia's son, Paris, who becomes increasingly crazed, threatens to upend the balance Hortensia has achieved in her life; and continued secrecy becomes impossible once Catherine, who clearly does not belong in either black or white worlds, becomes curious as to her lineage. After some emotional upheaval, however, the Hortensia and Catherine's lives settle into a new and happy order.
Subplots in the novel include the view of Montgomery and its residents through the eyes of the prostitutes Banana Mae Parker and Blue Rhonda Latrec, who divide the town by sexual categories, and the star-crossed film stars Grace Deltaven and Payson Thorpe.
New York Times reviewer Annie Gotlieb, analyzes Brown's view that passion is inherently innocent, but places the choices characters make in its name in the context of rules: "It's a grown-up novelist's insight that every freedom must be understood within the bounds of a shared social structure that can, if stretched, yield painful renewal; if shattered, tragedy." [2] Gotlieb laments Brown's need to fit the novel's plot into too-tight constraints: "It's rare to say that a book would be better if it were longer, but I suspect that in a less impatient era Southern Discomfort would have been a 700-page epic that slowly revealed the roots of character and the intertangling of disparate lives. As it is, the book often seems abrupt and arbitrary, jump-cut as if it were a two-hour movie... minor characters, like Hercules's boxing manager, Sneaky Pie, are so vivid that they cry out for more space. The plot moves in fits and starts. A fistfight between mother and son is perfectly rendered, but a later, even more crucial scene of violence is rushed and anticlimactic. The reader is left feeling charmed, moved - and a little bit cheated." [2]
In a generally positive review, Kirkus nevertheless rates Southern Discomfort as, "Brown, less infectiously than in Ruby fruit Jungle or Six of One, celebrates anything-goes sexual exuberance and scampers up and down the ladder of social class." [3]
A dominatrix, or domme, is a woman who takes the dominant role in BDSM activities. A dominatrix can be of any sexual orientation, but this does not necessarily limit the genders of her submissive partners. Dominatrices are popularly known for inflicting physical pain on their submissive subjects, but this is not done in every case. In some instances erotic humiliation is used, such as verbal humiliation or the assignment of humiliating tasks. Dominatrices also make use of other forms of servitude. Practices of domination common to many BDSM and other various sexual relationships are also prevalent. A dominatrix is typically a paid professional (pro-domme) as the term dominatrix is little-used within the non-professional BDSM scene.
Northanger Abbey is a coming-of-age novel and a satire of Gothic novels written by the English author Jane Austen. Northanger Abbey was completed in 1803, the first of Austen's novels completed in full, but was published posthumously in 1817 with Persuasion, although the title page is dated 1818. The story concerns Catherine Morland, the naïve young protagonist, and her journey to a better understanding of herself and of the world around her. How Catherine views the world has been distorted by her fondness for Gothic novels and an active imagination.
Sex work is "the exchange of sexual services, performances, or products for material compensation. It includes activities of direct physical contact between buyers and sellers as well as indirect sexual stimulation". Sex work only refers to voluntary sexual transactions; thus, the term does not refer to human trafficking and other coerced or nonconsensual sexual transactions such as child prostitution. The transaction must take place between consenting adults of the legal age and mental capacity to consent and must take place without any methods of coercion, other than payment. The term emphasizes the labor and economic implications of this type of work. Furthermore, some prefer the use of the term because it grants more agency to the sellers of these services.
Slut is an English-language term for a person, usually a woman, who is sexually promiscuous or considered to have loose sexual morals. It is predominately used as an insult, sexual slur or offensive term of disparagement. It originally meant "a dirty, slovenly woman", and is rarely used to refer to men, generally requiring clarification by use of the terms male slut or man whore.
Child prostitution is prostitution involving a child, and it is a form of commercial sexual exploitation of children. The term normally refers to prostitution of a minor, or person under the legal age of consent. In most jurisdictions, child prostitution is illegal as part of general prohibition on prostitution.
Rita Mae Brown is an American feminist writer, best known for her coming-of-age autobiographical novel, Rubyfruit Jungle. Brown was active in a number of civil rights campaigns and criticized the marginalization of lesbians within feminist groups. Brown received the Pioneer Award for lifetime achievement at the Lambda Literary Awards in 2015.
Prostitution in Thailand is illegal. However, due to police corruption and an economic reliance on prostitution dating back to the Vietnam War, it remains a significant presence in the country. It results from poverty, low levels of education and a lack of employment in rural areas. Prostitutes mostly come from the northeastern (Isan) region of Thailand, from ethnic minorities or from neighbouring countries, especially Cambodia, Myanmar, and Laos. UNAIDS in 2019 estimated the total population of sex workers in Thailand to be 43,000.
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Male prostitution is the act or practice of men providing sexual services in return for payment. It is a form of sex work. Although clients can be of any gender, the vast majority are older males looking to fulfill their sexual needs. Male prostitutes have been far less studied than female prostitutes by researchers. Even so, male prostitution has an extensive history including regulation through homosexuality, conceptual developments on sexuality, and the HIV/AIDS, monkeypox, and COVID-19 epidemic impact. In the last century, male sex work has seen various advancements such as popularizing new sexual acts, methods of exchange, and carving out a spot in cinema.
Cynthia Holden Enloe is an American political theorist, feminist writer, and professor. She is best known for her work on gender and militarism and for her contributions to the field of feminist international relations. She has also influenced the field of feminist political geography, with feminist geopolitics in particular.
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Prostitution in Ireland is legal. However, since March 2017, it has been an offence to buy sex. Third party involvement is also illegal. Since the law that criminalises clients came into being, with the purpose of reducing the demand for prostitution, the number of prosecutions for the purchase of sex increased from 10 to 92 between 2018 and 2020. In a report from UCD's Sexual Exploitation Research Programme the development is called ”a promising start in interrupting the demand for prostitution.”
Prostitution is the business or practice of engaging in sexual activity in exchange for payment. The definition of "sexual activity" varies, and is often defined as an activity requiring physical contact with the customer. The requirement of physical contact also creates the risk of transferring infections. Prostitution is sometimes described as sexual services, commercial sex or, colloquially, hooking. It is sometimes referred to euphemistically as "the world's oldest profession" in the English-speaking world. A person who works in this field is called a prostitute, and sometimes a sex worker, but the words hooker and whore are also sometimes used to describe those who work as prostitutes.
Glenn Quagmire, often referred to by just his surname, is a fictional character from the American adult animated sitcom Family Guy. He is a neighbor and friend of the Griffin family and is best known for his hypersexuality and his catchphrase, "Giggity Giggity". The show's creator and voice actor Seth MacFarlane describes him as "an appalling human being who is still caught in the Rat Pack era" based on anachronistic 1950s party-animal clichés. The episode "Tiegs for Two" revealed that the surname Quagmire was originally the Polish surname Quagglechek or Quaggleczyk, the suffix -czyk indicating a diminutive in the Polish language.
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The sex industry consists of businesses that either directly or indirectly provide sex-related products and services or adult entertainment. The industry includes activities involving direct provision of sex-related services, such as prostitution, strip clubs, host and hostess clubs and sex-related pastimes, such as pornography, sex-oriented men's magazines, women's magazines, sex movies, sex toys and fetish or BDSM paraphernalia. Sex channels for television and pre-paid sex movies for video on demand, are part of the sex industry, as are adult movie theaters, sex shops, peep shows, and strip clubs. The sex industry employs millions of people worldwide, mainly women. These range from the sex worker, also called adult service provider (ASP), who provides sexual services, to a multitude of support personnel.
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Six of One is a 1978 novel by Rita Mae Brown. It is the first in her Runnymede series of books about a small town on the Mason-Dixon line and its sometimes eccentric residents. It is also the first of the Hunsenmeir trilogy, a subset of the Runnymede series, which focuses on the elderly Hunsenmeir sisters. According to Brown, the sisters are based on her own mother and aunt, who "do tend to dominate in a way", and the town is based on her own birthplace, about which she says: "It’s really interesting to have one foot in the North and one foot in the South."
Rebecca, Not Becky is a 2023 novel by Christine Platt and Catherine Wiggington Greene.
