This title shocked me. Pussies in a national news outlet? Evidently, Diane Sawyer and Brian Williams caught on. The Russian punk band "Pussy Riot" has made that happen. They are using it to name a revolution of freedom. And that freedom is not just political.
There were pussies on parade this weekend, and I am not talking kitty cats. Okay, if you got this far, hang on and maybe even embrace the word.
It's time to replace the pejorative put upon her with a more positive perception. Since everybody is afraid to name her, isn't this just as good as any? Forgetting the cultural nonsense around it, doesn't it make you smile?
First, it started with More Magazine and Naomi Wolf's article titled "Vaginas Rule." She has discovered the power of pleasure and the creativity that flows from that. So have a lot of us, actually, and it was singing, dancing and acting out all over New York City this weekend. And I haven't frequented theatre or the movies lately, so what gives? Given that my own solo show comedy, Hot Mama Mahatma, is about this very subject, I was intrigued.
On Friday night I was treated to the new off-Broadway show, Cougar the Musical. I usually hate that word, having been teased with it by my women friends because of the younger men who have delightfully found their way to my lips and other parts of my body. One great line in the show asks, "What do we call men who date younger women?" "We call them...men." So, what do we call women who date younger men? It would appear we should call them "women." Yes to that!
And Cougar the Musical got it right, hilariously and poignantly depicting how younger men are seeking out older women, for experience and even, dare I say it? Love. Sort of like Alec Baldwin and his new ingénue, in reverse! It was a hit with the SRO audience.
Saturday night brought the big screen and big stars, Meryl Streep and Tommy Lee Jones in Hope Springs. It's a beautiful and painful depiction of a dead, long-term marriage coming back to life, as Meryl steps up and says, essentially, "I'm not going to take it anymore." I know about that. Only she had the happy ending. I had to leave... thus, the younger men.
Sunday afternoon, I took in yet another stage play comedy, Mother Eve's Secret Garden about... guess what... the power of a woman finding her pleasure. Adorable. Sunday evening brought the screening of the new indie film, Hello, I Must Be Going. Here, a post-divorce, depressed thirty-something gets lifted from the depths by her 19-year-old lover, and it wasn't with the antidepressants that her mother recommends. If mom only knew. The message? Put down the prozac, ladies, and look to yourselves!
Here's the thing. Sex has the power to heal. In all of these, it wasn't woman as predator, nor man as controller or abuser. But it was the power of the woman's desire, her inner longing, her need, her knowing of something bigger that propels her and then eventually her man to something grander.
There are such great books about a woman discovering what sensually excites her, then what it does for her and her partner. It's not the humping and bumping depicted on the screen. No wonder it's said that over fifty percent of women don't orgasm during intercourse! No, a woman's pleasure usually starts with a low simmer and great foreplay. The filmmakers evidently leave that part on the cutting room floor. When a guy gets this secret down he can bring her to a boil and then experience the fire.
Even though it has become my new hobby, learning all of this, it has also taken years off of me. People tell me I'm getting younger. Well, my birth certificate hasn't changed, but my energy has. And that is what living, breathing sensuality can do for a woman when she owns it. Don't take my word for it.
Sex Educator Sheri Winston entertains and educates with her brilliant book, Woman's Anatomy of Arousal. Trust me, nobody taught this in biology class or in the back of a car, for that matter.
When women discover this, they step more fully into the world with confidence. It unleashes something for them, and then men, too. Talk about equalizing the sexes! And what could be more fun? If the whole world gets a clue about this, I swear we'll have world peace AND better sex! Why? It's a freeing up of old ideas, just like the Pussy Riot women are doing in Russia.
This Pleasure Revolution is happening. There's Mama Gena, David Deida, Sheri Winston and now Naomi Wolf, Meryl Streep and a host of others. It's under the radar screen, but this is just the previews. Get your popcorn and your massage oil, folks. It's coming to a theatre and a bedroom near you!