Fuck, American-Style

Book focuses on the darker side of sex

by M.J. Fine

You can tell a lot about a society by its wildest dreams and darkest fantasies. Sex for America's two dozen short stories suggest we are one sick nation.

The hottest — and healthiest — tale is Alison Tyler's "Measure A, B, or Me?" A civic-minded husband has been neglecting his less fervent wife, but a little role-playing relieves their frustration. While it's a touch formulaic, there's nothing wrong with sticking to a routine that works.

Not every contribution is meant to titillate, and most don't. Professional dominatrix Mistress Morgana's witty essay "An Open Letter to the Bush Administration" takes the president's inner circle to task for taking all the fun out of her job. "I have a better international travel record than Mr. Bush, a stronger right arm than Mr. Rumsfeld, and a better rack than Ms. Rice," she notes, "but I don't have anything close to your operating budget, and I adhere to a code of ethics and social responsibility that prevents me from competing with you on any sort of real level."

Degradation rules here, and violent sex — both consensual and non-consensual — is the norm. Oval Office trysts are out; torture's in. And I lost count of the bloody asses. "Escape and Evasion," by Jarhead author Anthony Swofford, follows a Marine who gets off on raping lovers and fighters before getting what's coming to him; in Tsaurah Litzky's "Purple Tulip," a resentful Dutchman expresses his distaste for the U.S. by tearing into his American conquest until she passes out.

Few of the stories' encounters satisfy their subjects, let alone a reader who just wants release; among those set in the future, there's nothing but misery and servitude for women. "Tamar's Prayers," by Avital Gad-Cykman, is an atomic-age update on King David's daughter, with Tamar subjecting herself to a gang rape to prevent nuclear war. High school girls are recruited to blow soldiers in Jami Attenberg's "Victory Garden"; in Michelle Richmond's "Milk," an unwed mother redeems herself by luring enemy soldiers to their deaths by suckling them with poisoned breast milk.

If this is the state of the union, we're all screwed.

(m_fine@citypaper.net)

Sex for America: Politically Inspired Erotica Edited by Stephen Elliott Harper Perennial, 288 pp., $13.95