Forbidden love. Literally.
[On the title image: Romantic interactions with Bigfeet are not possible in the popular video game, The Sims 2. There are always third party mods, however...]
Q: If it doesn’t matter, why are you writing a diary?
A: Because the attitude behind it matters.
You’ve probably already heard of the story in the Virginia 5th Congressional district, and if not, here is the Daily Kos article by Joan McCarter. The Republican candidate, Denver Riggleman, has a sideline in writing Bigfoot erotica. I’m actually not too bothered about that. What I’m bothered by is the Democratic candidate’s statement:
"My opponent Denver Riggleman, running mate of Corey Stewart, was caught on camera campaigning with a white supremacist. Now he has been exposed as a devotee of Bigfoot erotica. This is not what we need on Capitol Hill."
The white supremacist part is terrible. White supremacists should never, ever, ever be elected to a political office in the U.S., let alone one as influential as the House of Representatives. (McCarter did a nice job of linking many relevant articles, so I’m not going to duplicate her work and try to look as though I did it all). It’s the “devotee of Bigfoot erotica” part that worries me.
My friend Cecilia Tan made some good observations on this. Cecilia has been an out bisexual and BDSM activist since the 1980s. She’s been writing scifi/fantasy erotica at least that long: her first published story was “Do Telepaths Need Safe Words?” She has her own publishing house, Circlet Press, which is why she had to answer a lot of email today about Bigfoot porn.
Her entire blog post, “They Say Politics Makes Strange Bedfellows? Bigfoot Erotica and the VA Congressional Race,” is well worth reading, but aside from the social nuances involved, she makes a point those of us trying to bring about a Blue Wave should think about. She asks, “who is that message for?”
Conservative voters have proved they care more about keeping democrats out of power than they do about whether their candidates are actual pussy-grabbing adulterers, so they sure as heck aren’t going to blink at bigfoot. Whereas liberal voters support freedom of creative expression and equal rights for sexual minorities. Trying to ridicule someone’s harmless kink is not okay.
There’s no point in trying to clutch at one’s pearls over Bigfoot erotica when the actual candidate is a terrible person who supports and perpetuates loathsome political doctrines. I know that it’s well, sexier, but we can have a better message:
“Dear Denver:
We in the Democratic Party believe in a big tent. Your fellow perverts* here would welcome you with open arms if, y’know, it wasn’t for the whole Republican/neo-Nazi /white supremacist thing. We want nothing to do with the appalling “Unite the Right” rally at which a protestor was killed last year. We’re afraid we’ll have to blue, I mean, blackball you, after all.
No love,
The Democratic Party
Mr. Rigglesworth is boating on a river in Egypt if he thinks we believe his story of “writing it as a joke.” Let’s just be grownups here, ok? That’s assuming we all are grownups, Mr. Moore. I admit that I haven’t read Mr. Rigglesworth’s oeuvre, nor am I likely to, given that it’s been pulled. However, I will bet anything that it is not nearly as good as the work of Chuck Tingle. I am not sure about the rules on this, so I am going to play it safe and not link anything, but if you Google “Mark Oshiro Chuck Tingle,” you can see and hear live readings of such masterworks as “Oppressed in the Butt By My Inclusive Holiday Coffee Cups,” “Slammed in the Butt By My Hugo Award Nomination,” and “Oregon Patriots Occupied My Butt.” They are well worth it, though very, very NSFW.
Washington Post: Think we’ve reached rock bottom in politics? Two words: Bigfoot erotica.
Vox: The Virginia House race at the center of the “Bigfoot Erotica” controversy, explained.
*Please note that in BDSM circles, “pervert” is an affectionate term when addressing each other. Hurling the word at a stranger is not. I’m sure you can tell the difference.
