Bill McGurn · March 15, 2012 at 11:01pm

I don't know about others around Ricochet, but when Raquel Welch speaks about men and sex, it gets my attention. And recently she complained about what internet porn is doing to the male libido, suggesting that we men can't handle the truth:

“I just imagine them sitting in front of their computers, completely annihilated. They haven’t done anything, they don’t have a job, they barely have ambition anymore,” said the 71-year-old actress. “And it makes for laziness and a not very good sex partner. Do they know how to negotiate something that isn’t pre-fab and injected directly into their brain?”

Unlike Rick Santorum, she's not running for office. Like Rick Santorum, she's on the record with some ... uh ... controversial remarks about contraception

Comments:


doc molloy
Joined
Feb '12
doc molloy

Raw Prawn- check out Tammy doing justified and ancient she looks fine too and can she sing.. 

Katie O
Joined
May '10
Katie O

It's so interesting how this thread has taken a distinctive turn towards locker room banter. Mr. McGurn has raised a very interesting topic, I wish we could discuss it. Or you could discuss it and I would just read ;)

I just got this book Adam and Eve After the Pill: Paradoxes of the Sexual Revolution, two days ago for my kindle...I'm almost 2/3 through it...quite a feat for me. There is a whole chapter on pornography which I have found challenging to my libertarian leanings...but maybe I'm outgrowing them. 

David Williamson
Joined
Mar '11
David Williamson
Raw Prawn:  At one time, a still from 10,000 BC featuring Raquel in a fur bikini being chased by a dinosaur was exciting.  

This is why I am a conservative.

Glenn the Iconoclast
Joined
Apr '11
Glenn the Iconoclast

I remember seeing Ms. Welch on Dick Cavett's afternoon show about 1970 and being surprised at how intelligent she appeared, in complete contrast to the sexy airhead image I had formed of her.

Ms. McCain, with her "emoticon of privacy" doesn't strike me the same way.


Joined
Dec '11
Guruforhire

She is on the right track.  There is a reason that guys go cross eyed and fall over.  Men have a huge and instant hormonal response to orgasms that has no analog in the female world.

Its like comparing crack to cocaine.  There is a reason why crack addicts spend every single waking moment looking to enter what was described as the closest thing to secular heaven that can be found on earth.  The hormonal responses in the brain are similiar, but crack is all of it right now, while cocaine has a more gradual change in hormones.

 Yes the oversexed media is a problem.  Lets consider that Britney Spears has mainstreamed group sex within the young ladies, and Rhianna has been doing her level best to make BDSM mainstream as well.  I have many problems with the second one, there are certain depths that unprepared young girls shouldnt explore until they are comfortable with the idea that they are mixing sex and violence with someone with a huge mass and strength advantage susceptible to serious overreach in both areas.  Doms need training.  anyway.  Where does anybody have to go anymore to be kinky?

 The media is feeding men crack.

Edited on March 16, 2012 at 1:17pm
Franco
Joined
Sep '10
Franco

Katie O: It's so interesting how this thread has taken a distinctive turn towards locker room banter. Mr. McGurn has raised a very interesting topic, I wish we could discuss it. Or you could discuss it and I would just read ;)

I just got this book Adam and Eve After the Pill: Paradoxes of the Sexual Revolution, two days ago for my kindle...I'm almost 2/3 through it...quite a feat for me. There is a whole chapter on pornography which I have found challenging to my libertarian leanings...but maybe I'm outgrowing them.  

I too wish for more substance here, but really the post is flawed from the outset. The only reason this gets anyone's attention is because a former bombshell is expressing something. Camille Paglia has much to say about this subject and other women and men but they aren't Raquel Welch. Bill says so himself. Ironic.

Guruforhire: 

 The media is feeding men crack. 

Absolutely. 

Roberto
Joined
Mar '11
Roberto

Franco

Katie O: It's so interesting how this thread has taken a distinctive turn towards locker room banter. Mr. McGurn has raised a very interesting topic, I wish we could discuss it. Or you could discuss it and I would just read ;)

I too wish for more substance here, but really the post is flawed from the outset. 

You both say there is more substance to be had here, and I do not disagree, but if the posting is flawed then reformulate and repost it. Seize the initiative. 

Leporello
Joined
Feb '12
Leporello

Nothing Raquel Welch says or does deserves our attention.

And it's tiresome to hear liberals express a pang of regret after spending their entire lives undermining our mores, our sense of decency, and our regard for family.

Bill McGurn

Katie O, Franco: That's rather the point. When Rick Santorum says something, it's dismissed as the rantings of a religious fanatic unhappy with the 21st century. When Raquel Welch says something very much the same, it's more interesting precisely because of who she is, and, in this case, who she is does give her some credibility.

As Katie points out, Mary Eberstadt says it quite well in her book Adam and Eve After the Pill. Then again, Paul VI pretty much predicted it all in Humanae Vitae (as Mary E points out). 

Franco
Joined
Sep '10
Franco

Roberto

Franco

Katie O: It's so interesting how this thread has taken a distinctive turn towards locker room banter. Mr. McGurn has raised a very interesting topic, I wish we could discuss it. 

I too wish for more substance here, but really the post is flawed from the outset. 

You both say there is more substance to be had here, and I do not disagree, but if the posting is flawed then reformulate and repost it. Seize the initiative.  

Sorry, that's not my job. I'm sick of spending hours writing something and having it ignored. I know it isn't my writing so much as there is so much going on here. People like to pay attention to what everyone else pays attention to, thus if a post is on the member feed and doesn't get promoted no one feels worthwhile to comment the post gets pushed off the front page quickly - this dog learned the game.  I have a busy day today and commenting doesn't take the same effort as posting.  Go to my page here and look at some of the things I have written and count the comments. 

Franco
Joined
Sep '10
Franco

Bill McGurn: Katie O, Franco: That's rather the point. When Rick Santorum says something, it's dismissed as the rantings of a religious fanatic unhappy with the 21st century. When Raquel Welch says something very much the same, it's more interesting precisely because of who she is, and, in this case, who she is does give her some credibility.

As Katie points out, Mary Eberstadt says it quite well in her book Adam and Eve After the Pill. Then again, Paul VI pretty much predicted it all in Humanae Vitae (as Mary E points out).  

I agree, but the flaw lies in citing someone who gets attention for her looks (essentially) and has made money off of her appearance and expecting this won't result in frivolous comments or "locker-room banter".  

This subject is huge. I don't know where to start. I don't think it is something that can be dealt with by politicians either. We have a government out of control and it's ineffective and  arbitrary. To hold the conceit that government can tackle this problem in any significant way is absurd.

Santorum is stupid for engaging in this realm.

Edited on March 16, 2012 at 3:20pm
Franco
Joined
Sep '10
Franco

I am also supremely annoyed that a former sexbomb is lamenting the fact that other women choose to be even more explicit than she and that men and women of Hollywood and the porn industry are distributing the films.

I'm not being prudish sexually, I'm being prudish rationally. Why is she the authority? Why do heads turn when she says something? She willfully (and thankfully to many) objectified herself. At the time she did, I'm sure there were those who considered her antics and roles too risque. This is worse than the Hollywood actor weighing in on politics. She doesn't know what she is talking about. 

Franco
Joined
Sep '10
Franco

[Off-topic comment removed by editor.]

Edited on March 16, 2012 at 5:21pm
Leporello
Joined
Feb '12
Leporello

Franco

I agree, but the flaw lies in citing someone who gets attention for her looks (essentially) and has made money off of her appearance and expecting this won't result in frivolous comments or "locker-room banter".  

Well said.  Let's have more posts on folks like Eberstadt, none on folks like Welch.  How about a guest contribution from Wendy Shalit, for instance?  

If we're going to discuss a female movie star's opinions on such a topic, how about one who has had the guts to decline roles in which she sports skimpy clothing or does bedroom scenes?  (Not sure such a person exists, but, if she does, it would be interesting to hear about her thoughts and experience.) 

Roberto
Joined
Mar '11
Roberto

Franco

Roberto

Franco

Katie O: It's so interesting how this thread has taken a distinctive turn towards locker room banter. Mr. McGurn has raised a very interesting topic, I wish we could discuss it. 

I too wish for more substance here, but really the post is flawed from the outset. 

You both say there is more substance to be had here, and I do not disagree, but if the posting is flawed then reformulate and repost it. Seize the initiative.  

Sorry, that's not my job. I'm sick of spending hours writing something and having it ignored. I know it isn't my writing so much as there is so much going on here.   · 1 hour ago

Ah unfortunate, but understandable.

Jojo
Joined
Jun '11
Jojo

This thread may have dwindled, but I have to tell a story.  I went to The Four Musketeers movie with my parents and younger brother (he was about nine.) At some point a nightie was removed....all you could see was it landing on the floor.....and my mother marched us all out of the theater.  It was mighty embarrassing.

Go Mom.

Bill McGurn

I have to say I'm a little surprised by what might be called the new prudishness  in the idea that when a movie star says something, there cannot possibly be a real argument. Miss Welch is indeed a movie star. She is not, however, a movie star opining on the Sudan, or on fossil fuels, but on an issue that was directly related to her career: sexuality, sexual desire, and sexual allure. It is her position that pornography, especially internet pornography, is having a debilitating effect on both romance and male libido. Earlier she had similar comments about the effect of contraception on relations between the sexes. She may be right; she may be wrong; she may be over the hill; but many people, from both right and left, have said similar things, and it is on the face of it interesting that it comes from her. 

And of course before Ronald Reagan was a politician, he was an actor. Even after he was president, it was common to dismiss him as a grade B movie actor with such hits as "Bedtime for Bonzo." 

Leporello
Joined
Feb '12
Leporello

Bill McGurn: I have to say I'm a little surprised by what might be called the new prudishness  in the idea that when a movie star says something, there cannot possibly be a real argument...

And of course before Ronald Reagan was a politician, he was an actor. Even after he was president, it was common to dismiss him as a grade B movie actor with such hits as "Bedtime for Bonzo."  · 9 minutes ago

Well, writing as one of those intellectual "prudes," I think you are misunderstanding the objection.  It is not that no movie star has anything interesting to say.  It is that this movie star, who spent her career brainlessly advancing the cause of casual intimacy, does not deserve our attention when she questions the latest version of casual intimacy.  

That blasted internet sure ruins the magic of sleeping around!  Ah, insight.

Mr. Reagan was an actor whose work did not corrupt our morals, nor would he ever have made such silly remarks on any subject.

Maggie Somavilla
Joined
Sep '11
Maggie Somavilla

Jojo: This thread may have dwindled, but I have to tell a story.  I went to The Four Musketeers movie with my parents and younger brother (he was about nine.) At some point a nightie was removed....all you could see was it landing on the floor.....and my mother marched us all out of the theater.  It was mighty embarrassing.

Go Mom. · 2 hours ago

Jojo, congrats on having a great mom!

Franco
Joined
Sep '10
Franco

Bill, Raquel welch doesn't have anything substantive to say other than something we all know. But to isolate on pornography is shallow and probably what someone who was the object of so much attention in her life would do. Shes been married four times, and here where Newt's three marriages disqualify him from being President with so many, having four marriages and supposing she knows the inner workings and dynamics of men's sexuality, is a bit much.

I'm sick of male-bashing and the reflexive need for many women to place every last problem they see with male/female relationships squarely upon men. Ms. Welsh doesn't know anything in this department. She has an opinion and as far as I'm concerned falls woefully short on depth, and so do the comments in this post for the most part, as a result. 


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