what purpose did i serve in your life
by Marie Calloway
Tyrant Books, 2013
200 pages / $19.00 buy from Amazon or SPD

 

 

 

 

 

 

1. A link to Frank Hinton’s review from a few weeks ago.

2. Sex Writer Marie Calloway Addresses Dr. Phil Controversy Live

3. “I started to wonder, and felt relieved that there might be truth to the idea of intellectuals all being frauds. I knew that I certainly was.”

4. Some old links [TRIGGER WARNING: “journalism”]: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6

5. I don’t know if Marie Calloway’s writing is unique, but I know I haven’t read anything like it. Have you?

6. “I wondered if maybe men are incapable of understanding something like this as anything other than something that’s meant to get them off.”

7. I’ve been thinking about how subjective the idea of “degradation” is, unless we’re talking about soil erosion or something.

8. 

9. I’d be curious to read a story that was “completely incomprehensible to men,” especially if Marie Calloway wrote it.

10. It’s funny how such clear, direct prose has resulted in so many people missing the point entirely.

11. “It was interesting to me, the way that two men could, with their bodies, actively physically create a reason to respect me less, that they could transcribe shame onto my body with their own.”

12. “Why do they feel they get to decide if I’m ‘degrading’ myself, and assume that I have no understanding of those things?”

13. 

14. “She is sure enough of herself to confront and even invite misunderstanding, as though misunderstanding might offer a way forward toward an authenticity beyond the deceptive surfaces of exhibitionism.”

15. I think some of the best art lends itself to misunderstanding.

16.

17. 

18. The only sentence I actively disliked in what purpose did i serve in your life was: “I couldn’t believe my luck, with him being a two pump chump.” I thought it could be greatly improved to “Lucky me, a two pump chump” or even “Great, a two pumper.”

19. 

20. “Whenever I allowed myself to be used so blatantly I could never reconcile my excitement and my curiosity, my desire to experience, with the feeling of being dehumanized and uncared for.”

and

“(I entered, temporarily, into a bizarre mental state induced by my need to disassociate from the humiliation, the pain, and my disgust at my willingness to engage in it.)”

21. “I had actively adjusted my sexuality so that it was more compatible with a common male sexual urge.”

and

“I had never met a guy who liked doing it in missionary before. I kind of even trained myself out of liking it, because most guys are so bored by it.”

22. I can’t help but read the feeling of “blankness” described as being connected to “a hole torn in the image I wanted to present of myself.”

23.

24. “I can’t go into a situation knowing that I’ll write about it.” I wonder if this is true.

25. The addendum to “Adrien Brody” is absolutely profound.

Tags: 25 Points, Marie Calloway, new york tyrant, tyrant books, what purpose did i serve in your life