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What a wild account of some court case humiliation! In Roman Catholic France, (pre Revolution) human bodies were not considered private property. Married persons were required to perform their bedroom duties by law. An impotent husband, even if he was unaware of it before marriage, would be considered to have committed larceny. Divorce was almost non existent, but a marriage could be dissolved on the account of the husband’s flaccid prone penis! The couple would be subject to examinations, plenty of groping and prodding by medical professionals. Under all that pressure how is a man to perform?Then, they would have to copulate in front of medical professionals and/or close family members at the court to make sure the husband was doing his wife right. It all sounds so humiliating and hilarious that this was once a way to settle a court case! An excerpt from the text: “It involved a couple—likely estranged—who were compelled to have sex in semiprivate quarters, either within the courthouse or rented rooms, with medical people and legal people and close family nearby. In some accounts, all that shrouded the copulating pair were thin paper screens; in others the small crowd gathered behind a half open door or in an antechamber. The entire trying event lasted roughly two hours, punctuated by the kind of bickering achievable only by two people-in-hate. Before and after there were careful checks for fraud. On entering, each party was stripped and examined in every available orifice, searched for vials of blood, and checked for the use of astringents. Afterward, their genitals and bedsheets were subject to examination for fluids.” https://www.theparisreview.org/blog/2016/05/18/the-hard-on-on-trial/

Remember the first time you were naked with someone? How exhilarating it was to finally pass that threshold, how painfully self aware it felt to have all of you exposed in front of someone, how erotic it was when your senses were intoxicated by their scent and feel of skin. Contemporary American culture has done away mostly with the taboo of nakedness, nudity is thrown in our faces every day, from the way we dress, to how promiscuous our culture has become, internet pornography, to our collective images in media. (I am not saying this is good or bad, merely an observation.) It's a long way from nearly a century ago when table cloths were necessary to cover piano or table legs because they would otherwise compromise someone's otherwise "moral" mind. A time where it was improper for the legs of anything, inanimate object or person, to show. Where women undressed in the dark, shaded their lamps, wore hooded bonnets and rode in closed carriages. (Sounds claustrophobic to me.) Victorian rebels had interesting, miniature gestures of combatting this. It was all in the little coded details, that others who understood what they meant could learn something about their sexual freedom. They would pierce their nipples and other parts of their body, and wear silk petticoats, which rustled seductively when up close. So sensual appeal came through preparations which were hidden by clothing. A Victorian symbol of sexual freedom was an invisible one. What would a man imagine when he heard that rustling of petticoat? It would have probably driven him wild with desire. It all sounds so absurd, but that stifling, heavy clothing of the Victorian era was a response to a new era of secularism, where meaning in daily life didn't revolve around the King of a feudalist age or around God. Before mass production, clothes were handmade, and people had few unless you were wealthy. They were an indication of class rather than emotions or personality. It's hard to imagine a world where clothes were not signifiers of individual personality, because today clothing expresses so much of who we want to be in public. A dress in 1750 was not a matter of what you feel, it was a marking of where you stood in society. A dress in 1890, could express your inner self; make you feel chaste, or sexy. So that Victorian prudery was a backlash against the new concept that you can decipher meaning and personal traits from clothing. So they covered up, laced themselves tightly, veiled their faces even, to hide their inner selves in public in a society that valued sexual chasteness. There was a strong division between public life and private life that didn't exist before and to transgress that boundary was quite serious, even if you were married. In another thread, Beardlessbard brought up how taboo intensifies crossing boundaries. Imagine how intensely erotic it must have been to even see someone's inner wrist, their ankle, their bare neck. Nudity became hyper fetishized in this context, it was more than to be simply undressed. It was about being allowed into someone's life, about trusting someone with their reputation in a strictly chaste society, about granting permission to an intimacy that few would ever have access to. The danger of rejection or shame to one's reputation, the barriers of outer garments, finally shed, the sharp, ecstatic relief once accepted. We've come a long way sexually in some ways, but it's always interesting to look back at history and see what was forgotten and could be appropriated to our benefit today. The fun of that is that we are self aware when we engage, and can still benefit from the emotional thrill. The privilege of intimacy is something we can take from the Victorians and make into a game of permission. The more value placed on it, the more the seeker savors it once he or she finally gets it. The more present we are as we peel the layers of clothing away, revealing gifts of intimacy one after the other. A heel slipped off, a lacy stocking peels away, a sweater comes off, a bra unclasped. Parts are exposed slowly and with much effort, making it that much more rewarding to behold and worship. Wouldn't that be a fun worshipping game?!

I love learning about anything combining subculture and fashion My number two love is sharing my knowledge. Hanky Code History Lesson: Pretty self explanatory, used by gay men to signal their personal preferences in a fun snazzy and subtle way. Test: I expect to see an endless chain of hankies coming out of both your pockets, but tell me your colors No Bonus Points: The yellow with white stripes worn to your right should go without saying. COLOR WORN ON LEFT WORN ON RIGHT BLACK heavy SM top heavy SM bottom GREY bondage top fit to be tied! BLUE, Light wants head cocksucker BLUE, Robin's Egg 69er anything but 69ing BLUE, Medium cop copsucker BLUE, Navy fucker (top) fuckee (bottom) BLUE, Airforce pilot/flight attendant likes flyboys BLUE, Light w/WHITE Stripe sailor lookin' for salty seamen BLUE, Teal cock & ball torturer cock & ball torturee RED fist fucker fist fuckee MAROON cuts bleeds RED, Dark 2-handed fister 2-handed fistee PINK, Light dildo fucker dildo fuckee PINK, Dark tit torturer tit torturee MAUVE into navel worshippers has a navel fetish MAGENTA suck my pits armpit freak PURPLE piercer piercee LAVENDER likes drag queens drag queen YELLOW pisser/WS piss freak YELLOW, Pale spits drool crazy MUSTARD hung 8"+ wants 8"+ GOLD two looking for one one looking for two ORANGE anything anytime nothing now (just cruising) APRICOT two tons o' fun chubby chaser CORAL suck my toes shrimper (sucks toes) RUST a cowboy a cowboy's horse FUSCHIA spanker spankee GREEN, Kelly hustler (for rent) john (looking to buy) GREEN, Hunter daddy orphan boy looking for daddy OLIVE DRAB military top military bottom GREEN, Lime dines off tricks (food) dinner plate (will buy dinner) BEIGE rimmer rimmee BROWN scat top scat bottom BROWN LACE uncut likes uncut BROWN SATIN cut likes cut CHARCOAL latex fetish top latex fetish bottom GREY FLANNEL owns a suit likes men in suits WHITE beat my meat (J/O) I'll do us both (J/O) HOLSTEIN milker milkee CREAM cums in condoms sucks cum out of condoms BLACK w/WHITE Check safe sex top safe sex bottom RED w/WHITE Stripe shaver shavee RED w/BLACK Stripe furry bear likes bears WHITE LACE likes white bottoms likes white tops BLACK w/WHITE Stripe likes black bottoms likes black tops BROWN w/WHITE Stripe likes latino bottoms likes latino tops YELLOW w/WHITE Stripe likes asian bottoms likes asian tops BLUE, Light w/WHITE Dots likes white suckers likes to suck whites BLUE, Light w/BLACK Dots likes black suckers likes to suck blacks BLUE, Light w/BROWN Dots likes latino suckers likes to suck latinos BLUE, Light w/YELLOW Dots likes asian suckers likes to suck asians RED/WHITE GINGHAM park sex top park sex bottom BROWN CORDUROY headmaster student PAISLEY wears boxer shorts likes boxer shorts FUR bestialist top bestialist bottom GOLD LAME likes muscleboy bottoms likes muscleboy tops SILVER LAME starfucker celebrity BLACK VELVET has/takes videos will perform for the camera WHITE VELVET voyeur (likes to watch) will put on a show LEOPARD has tattoos likes tattoos TAN smokes cigars likes cigars TEDDY BEAR cuddler cuddlee KEWPIE DOLL chicken (under-aged) chicken hawk (likes young adolescents) DIRTY JOCKSTRAP wears a dirty jock sucks dirty jocks clean DOILY tearoom top (pours) tearoom bottom (drinks) MOSQUITO NETTING outdoor sex top outdoor sex bottom ZIPLOC BAG has drugs looking for drugs COCKTAIL NAPKIN bartender bar groupie KLEENEX stinks sniffs KEYS IN FRONT has a car looking for a ride KEYS IN BACK has a home needs a place to stay HOUNDSTOOTH likes to nibble willing to be bitten UNION JACK skinhead top skinhead bottom CALICO new in town tourists welcome TERRYCLOTH bathhouse top bathhouse bottom WHITE w/MULTICOLOR Dots hosting an orgy looking for an orgy