April is National Poetry Month!

Edna St. Vincent Millay, excerpt from her play, The Lamp and the Bell.


Rain comes down
And hushes the town.
And where is the voice that I heard crying?

Snow settles
Over the nettles.
Where is the voice that I heard crying?

Sand at last
On the drifting mast.
And where is the voice that I heard crying?

Earth now
On the busy brow.
And where is the voice that I heard crying?

feed the flames, tuppence a bag

If you are blissfully unaware of the short happy life of the Open Source Boob Project, have some context.

No, theferret, I don't think the world would become a utopia if strangers were encouraged to feel comfortable asking me if they could touch my breasts. Rape has not wiped the world of its ills, prostitution has not wiped the world of its ills, consensual adult sex has not wiped the world of its ills. While having one's sexual needs met--whatever they are--certainly helps a person maintain a balanced perspective, I've not found that traits of selfishness, assholery, mental rigidity, dysfunction, etc, are confined to chaste virgins or the sexually frustrated.

On a related note, I never experienced any noticeable sense of freedom or empowerment being in the presence of men whistling at, honking at, shouting at, or soliciting me for sex on the assumption that I was a prostitute, as indicated by my choice to enter a red light district--that is, the streets immediately outside my undergraduate university. I have to be honest; ever since then, I've held a grudge against people making unwarranted assumptions about my openness towards sexual contact with them based on my duel choice to be female and present in whatever venue they considered fair game for sexual solicitation.

( I don't like being touched by strangers. And guess what? I'm okay with that! )

If I was ever approached at a con by someone asking if he or she could touch my breasts, or honest to god, even just asking me if I'd like a pin to indicate that my boobs were up for grabs, I'd feel my dignity to be violated, because someone took away my right not to be sexually solicited in grossly inappropriate circumstances. It's not okay to ask a girl how much per hour just because she's in a neighborhood where prostitutes hang out; it's not okay to ask a girl if she wants to make her breasts publicly available just because she's at a con. Or a bar. Or a party.