GIRLS BATH BEACH

When we were growing up, my parents sent me to a science camp out in the Central Oregon desert. In the middle of the day, the temperatures would often soar well above 100. The camp was "rustic" at best; none of the ramshackle cabins and outbuildings had air conditioning or plumbing, so the counselors took us down to the river for our daily bathing.

I think it was much more common back then to separate boys and girls. In school, we had boys PE and girls PE. Co-ed sports was totally unheard of. Perhaps because of this, there was never any thought group showering in the locker rooms.

In the case of camp, that sense of shared group shower carried over to the river. The river didn't seem as much "swim time," as it was the only shower we'd get at camp without indoor plumbing. So, the river time was really shower time, and boys and girls were separated.

Being so hot and dusty, everyone gladly stripped down and jumped in. Normally, the water would be freezing, but in the mid-day heat, it felt refreshing. No one complained about bathing in the river. Maybe there was "body image" anxiety back then, but I can't recall it. Media hadn't told us we should be concerned, and so we weren't. We considered some girls pretty, and others maybe not as pretty, but that was usually a combination of face and personality. No one ever focused on another's body. Tighs, hips, chest, it was all just as "God made you," we'd been told. And so who were we to question God.

Maybe in some ways we really were ignorant in those times, but then, it seemed a lot healthier, a lot less stressful, and a lot more fun.

Those Sexy 70s...

1950s Housewife

Breaking rules is so much more fun than following them. It's no surprise that the height of cocktail culture was during Prohibition. Modern pornography (as in photographs and films depicting sexual acts) was born in the prudishVictorian Era, and wife swapping and nudism entered the American vernacular in the repressed 1950s.

As Senator McCarthy was trying to call out communists, and as TV and magazines depicted perfect nuclear families, with father knowing best and mom pulling a hot ham from the oven, and the two kids studying at school and playing sports, there was just as much sexual libido as any other generation. Perhaps suppressing it only made it that much more exciting.

As any reader of this blog knows, I'm a huge fan of the flower power hippies and back to earth kids of the late 60s and 70s. Those skinny dippers at Woodstock and beyond really knew how to be natural out in nature, and are all the sexier for it. And while I completely advocate for an open and honest acceptance of human nudity in nature (see my other blog Naked Outdoors), I have to admit that a world without censorship and prudes would be a little dull. Some of the fun of stripping off clothes is the thrill of it being a little "inappropriate."

That's why I find this image so erotically charged. Just her nude body could belong to any era, but with the hairdo and cat-eye glasses, this is clearly the 1950s. She's maybe late 20s, early 30s? For the time period, she's probably a housewife somewhere in a new American suburb. Her husband has a steady 9-5, and in this post-war boom, they own a home. A nice white one-story ranch. And the home has a front yard with a driveway for their new chromed Chevrolet, and a big backyard.

Perhaps when her husband is at work and she's finished the dishes and laundry because she owns new washers and dryers and housework is done by modern machines and not by hand, she has more time for herself and relaxation. Perhaps she takes a towel and paperback novel into her big backyard, and in the sun, lays out, buck naked. It's something neither her mother or her husband would approve of, but that makes it all the more empowering.

Colorado Cowgirl

It doesn't get any sexier than this. 

DEBBIE DOES DALLAS

When Debbie Does Dallas hit theaters in 1978, it was an instant hit. Today, it remains one of classic adult films of all time. Bambi Woods leads a cast of girl-next-door types, with natural bodies, engaged in scenes on actual locations. Some scenes were shot at Brooklyn College athletic field and the Pratt Institute library in Brooklyn, without the administration's knowledge or approval, making the film all the more naughty.

The words "plot" and "porno" rarely go together, but by today's standards, Debbie Does Dallas is a veritable War and Peace. The premiss: The head cheerleader, Debbie, has the opportunity to join the Texas Cowgirls, if she can raise the travel funds in two short weeks. Her friends all decide to pitch in, and they soon realize that their bodies are their most lucrative assets.

Many feminists would discount the plot as nothing short of endorsing teenage prostitution. Others could argue that the film does not depict exploration, but rather female empowerment, as the girls set their own rules and their own terms. Either way, in the end, it's a porno, and the concept of lecherous old men scoring with innocent (or not so innocent) cheerleaders is one of the most universal fantasies. Debbie Does Dallas shines because it shows the "girl next door" getting it on with everyday shmoes. Debbie is the pretty cheerleader every guy in school dreamed about.

Here's the plot, simple, but still a classic.
(Spoiler Alert.)



Debbie Benton, captain of her high school cheerleading squad, has been accepted to try out for the Texas Cowgirls. Her parents disapprove, though, and refuse to pay the fare to Texas. To help Debbie, her cheerleader friends Lisa, Roberta, Tammy, Pat, and Annie decide to accompany her to Texas. They have two weeks to raise the money.




The girls are getting dressed in the locker room, while Roberta and Pat are in the showers. After all the other girls have left, Rick, Tim and two other guys come in, and begin kissing and caressing them. Roberta takes one of the guys into her mouth, and Pat follows her lead. Next they're having sex on the shower tiles, and at one point, Roberta is going down on one cock, while being pounded by another.

The girls then get to work. Debbie gets a job at a sports store run by a friend of her father, Mr Greenfield. Roberta convinces Mr Hardwick to give her a job at the candle store. Tammy takes a job in the local record store run by Tony. Rikki and Annie agree to wash Mr Bradly's car.

At the sporting goods store, Mr. Greenfield informs Debbie that it's closing time. She reminds him that she's been working for him for three days, that she still hasn't worked in the stockroom yet, and that she really needs the money. He tells her that there are other jobs that can be done which would be much more fun. She asks him what he means by that, and Mr. Greenfield says that she could do him little favors. Starting to sound suspicious, Debbie asks him what kind of favors. After he stammers a bit, he blurts that he'll pay her ten dollars if she'll let him look at her breasts. She's shocked and refuses, as she's a good girl, but he begs and gives her the money in advance. Visibly reluctant, she lifts up her shirt, and he attempts to touch her breasts, prompting her to jerk the shirt down. Mr. Greenfield offers her another ten dollars to let him touch her breasts. She thinks that's going too far, but agrees to let him touch them for a minute. She lifts her shirt again, and he touches them, but she jerks her shirt down again over his hands as he begins to lean close so as to lick her breasts. He offers her another ten dollars to let him suck on them. Debbie asks him if he'll give her twenty dollars to do so. He agrees, and lets her take the money from his pocket as his hands are otherwise occupied. After a moment of him suckling on her breasts, she tells him to stop or she'll tell her mother. Mr. Greenfield backs off.

Realising that the girls will not be able to raise enough money by legitimate means, Debbie convinces the others to engage in sexual activities for more money.

Later, Roberta is at work in the candle store when she gets a phone call from her boyfriend, Tom. She tells him that he's not supposed to call her at work, but gets aroused talking to him, rubbing her breasts. After hanging up, she's still aroused, and so she takes off her shorts and starts to masturbate. She reaches over, and uses one of the large candles. Just as Roberta is getting going, in walks Mrs. Hardwick.

Mrs. Hardwick guides Roberta over to a couch and sits down beside her. She caresses Roberta's body, trying to calm her down and stop her from getting dressed. In walks Mr. Hardwick. Roberta tries to leave, but is tugged down between the two of them. Mr. Hardwick reminds her that he told her that she could earn some extra money with a special job, and begins to undress while his wife starts to caress Roberta between her legs. Mr. Hardwick starts having sex with Roberta while Mrs. Hardwick pulls her own dress aside so that she can masturbate while watching. She also licks at Roberta's breasts and caresses Roberta's pussy as her husband continues to go at it. When Mr. Hardwick achieves climax, Mrs. Hardwick assists him in ejaculating on Roberta's feet and licks it up.

Meanwhile... Rikki and Annie head for Mr. Bradley's house to offer to wash his car. He's not home, so they decide to wash the car anyway, and fool around by spraying and splashing each other while they do. When Mr. Bradley comes home, he asks them what they think they're doing, and brings them inside his house to change into dry clothes. Rikki asks if there's anything else that he wants them to do for him, and while he confirms that there is, he doesn't think they'd know about it. Annie suggests that he'd be surprised at what they know, and Rikki says that they do more than wash cars. He asks whether they'd tell anyone, and they promise that they wouldn't. Finally, Mr. Bradley asks how much it would cost to have them undress in front of him, and they offer to do it for ten dollars. They strip off their wet clothes and then start to head upstairs. He asks them to stop, and offers to pay them twenty-five dollars if they'll let him kiss them all over. They agree, and sit down on a couch. He begins to kiss and caress Annie's breasts, and then moves onto Rikki's, and then moving back to go down on both young muffs. Rikki undoes his pants and starts to suck him off, bringing Annie down to join her in doing so. Mr. Bradley then has anal sex with Annie and pulls out to spray onto her back. Rikki licks it from Annie's back. Just then, he thinks he hears his wife arriving, and Rikki and Annie flee upstairs.

Donna is going to her job at the library, when her boyfriend Tim comes up to her and asks her when he can see her again. She kisses him and asks him to call her later that night, after her other job. In the library, she greets Mr. Biddle, who clearly has a lecherous interest in her. He tells her that he's heard about Teen Services, and asks her how the company's progressing towards their goals. She makes a double entendre about them, and hints that the company has made some new services available. When he asks about them, Donna tells him that this isn't really the place to talk about them. He heads off to the office and asks her to keep an eye on things here. At this point, Tim arrives and begins caressing her very vigorously, telling her that he's going crazy with arousal. She offers to show him what her girlfriends have shown her, and begins performing oral sex on him. After he achieves climax, Mr. Biddle returns and angrily throws Tim out, then orders Donna to accompany him to his office. There, Donna weepingly begs him not to tell her parents, and he agrees to not tell them, but tells her that she needs a good spanking. He bends her over his lap and begins slapping her bottom, interrogating her about the sort of services that Teen Services is providing. She finally tells him that they'll do anything that a client likes, and offers to do the same for him. He wants to pull up her skirt, pull down her panties and spank her bare bottom, and she agrees to let him do so, leaving the question of payment to his discretion. He does what he wanted to do, while she begs him not to hurt her in apparently feigned fear. Later, Donna comes out of the library to meet Tim, telling him that she worked things out with Mr. Biddle.

At the tennis court where Lisa works, Hamilton is playing tennis with his buddy Ashly. He tells his friend about Lisa, describing her as a girl who's up for anything. Lisa brings out towels to them, and Hamilton asks her to bring a clipboard. When she stoops over to pick it up, it's revealed that she's not wearing panties to both of them. Hamilton introduces Lisa to Ashly, and Ashly asks about the sorts of services that Lisa and her friends provide, specifically whether there's anything that they don't do. Lisa answers that anything they don't do, they make up for with enthusiasm. Hamilton asks her to bring them some fresh towels in the locker room. In the next scene, Lisa is in a sauna, seated between a naked Hamilton and Ashly. Hamilton removes her dress, and Lisa does down on him, while Ashly mounts her.

At the sporting goods store, Mr. Greenfield approaches Debbie and begins caressing her, telling her that he's desperate to do more with her. Debbie tells him that the girls promised that they wouldn't spoil themselves for their future husbands, which prompts him to tell her that there are things they can do that wouldn't spoil her. She speculates that maybe one of the other girls would be able to things with him, but he doesn't want any of the other girls. He offers to put up all the money for her trip to Texas, as well as cover whatever expenses for the other girls that haven't already been met. Debbie is ecstatic, but she does wonder what she's supposed to do. Mr. Greenfield tells her that it'll be a surprise.

Lisa answers a phone call from Tammy at the tennis court. She reassures Tammy who seems nervous about something, and then agrees to come down and help her out.

At the book store, Tammy is with Tony, who asks her how their project is going. Tammy tells him that the other girls are doing well, but that she is trailing behind. When he asks her why, she claims that she needs more time. Then Lisa shows up and explains that she's with Teen Services as well, and that she understands Tony is interested in what they have to offer. Lisa makes it clear that he can have anything, and begins kissing him as he sends Tammy to lock up. Tony licks her breasts and removes her skirt, while she takes off his pants and begins blowing him. When Tammy comes back, she hesitates a moment, and then joins in on the cock sucking.

Debbie, dressed in her "Cowgirl" uniform, returns to the sporting goods store. Mr. Greenfield, speaking over a loudspeaker, tells her to lock up and then come up to the mezzanine level. She does so, wondering aloud what the surprise is going to be. He comes out wearing a football uniform. He chases a laughing Debbie around the store. When he finally catches her, he explains that he wanted to be a football player, but he was too small. He's always dreamed of making love to a cheerleader. He kisses her passionately, and begins to undress her by undoing her bra and licking her breasts. Debbie performs oral sex on him, asking him if she's doing it right. She takes his pants down, and he removes her shorts and performs oral sex on her. Mr. Greenfield carries her over to a mat, with Debbie surprised at how strong he is. (He attributes it to eating his Wheaties.) They then have sex in a variety of positions: first in the missionary position, then doggy style, and then with Debbie on top. They finish in the missionary position before Mr Greenfield ejaculates on Debbie. At climax, captions proclaim "Touchdown for Mr. Greenfield" and "Score One for Debbie". Debbie's head lolls in exhaustion, and another caption says, "Next" before credits roll.

GIRLS SHOWER, BOYS WONDER

In high school, we all wondered what it would be like to be a fly on the wall in the girls' gym shower. We spent so much time and energy and creative powers imagining.

BOOMER COOL

Sometimes hear the Baby Boomers brag about how cool they were in the 60s. Most of the time I dismiss it as nostalgia inextricably morphed with pop culture. But sometimes I come across evidence that, yeah, maybe the 60s were a pretty fun time to be young.

DODGE IN YOUR GARAGE!

Have you noticed the new Dodge Challengers and Ford Shelby Mustangs have a distinct retro re-issue look?

I say bring back Motor City! And Dodge, while you're at it, can you bring back more ads like this...

PRACTICE

I asked my high school girlfriend how she could be so good at sex if she was a virgin when we met. She said she had lots of practice with inanimate objects.

Emily Dickenson

Emily Dickinson, regarded as one of America’s greatest poets, is also known for her life of self-imposed social seclusion. Her lifestyle created an aura, often romanticised, and frequently a source of interest and speculation. But ultimately Emily Dickinson is remembered for her unique poetry. Within short, compact phrases she expressed far-reaching ideas, questioning the nature of immortality and death. Amidst paradox and uncertainty, her poetry has an undeniable capacity to move and provoke.

Emily Dickinson was born on 10th December, 1830, in the town of Amherst, Massachusetts. As a child, Emily proved to be a bright student. She delighted classmates with her original writings of rhyming stories. Emily’s father was strict in bringing up his children. Emily said of her father: “His heart was pure and terrible.” He censored household reading materials; Walt Whitman for example was considered “too inappropriate” and novels had to be smuggled into the house.

At a young age, she said she wished to be the “best little girl.” However despite her attempts to please and be well thought of, she was also independently minded.

Because of her discomfort in social situations, Emily gradually reduced her social contacts, going out less and less into society. By her late twenties, this led to an almost complete seclusion; she spent most of her time in the family house. Still, she maintained close personal relationships through letters, and penned more than 1,700 poems, which were published after her death. She had instructed her sister to burn all her letters. Not specifying poems, those, luckily, were spared. There are only a few known photos of Emily. No doubt many of her secrets were kept from history.

Unfinished Music, Two Virgins

In October, 1968, John Lennon and Yoko Ono released, “Unfinished Music No.1: Two Virgins.”

Staying up all night at John’s home studio in Kenwood, John and Yoko created the music by recording tape loops of John on different instruments (piano, organ, drums) and sound effects (including reverb, delay and distortion). Yoko ad-libs in response to the sounds. At the end of the session, the story goes, they made love.

The title came, John said, from feeling like they were "two innocents, lost in a world gone mad."

John and Yoko used a camera with a self-timer to take the nude photographs of themselves for the album's cover; the front showed them standing naked facing the camera, the back cover showed them from behind. (The photos were taken at Ringo Starr's basement apartment at Montagu Square, where Lennon and Ono stayed later that year.)

Paul McCartney provided a note on the album cover, which read: "When two great Saints meet, it is a humbling experience. The long battles to prove he was a Saint."

The cover provoked an outrage, prompting distributors to sell the album in a plain brown wrapper. Copies of the album were impounded as obscene in several jurisdictions (including 30,000 copies in New Jersey). John commented that the uproar seemed to have less to do with the explicit nudity, and more to do with the fact that the two of them were rather unattractive and the photo unflattering; Lennon described it later as a picture of "two slightly overweight ex-junkies."

John Lennon and Yoko, you are my heroes. You bared it all for each other and your art. Thank you.

We miss you John.