Sex After WTC
an email to Dan Savage
Forum: Savage Love
Date: 09/23/2001
Below is an excerpt from Savage Love, a weekly sex advice column by Dan Savage, and Emi's response to it.
From Sept. 23, 2001 issue of The Stranger:
Just what sexual pleasure could a gay man possibly derive from another gay man inserting his fist into his rectum? What is wrong with you people?
Normal Straight Male
I usually write Savage Love on Wednesday afternoons, about a week before it appears in this paper. But my heart wasn't in it when I sat down to write today, Wednesday, September 12. Sometimes what I do for a living feels pretty silly and, believe me, I've never felt quite as silly about being an advice columnist as I do today. The very last thing on my mind right now is sex. And, honestly, I didn't expect to
find any new e-mail when I opened up my laptop. Surely none of my readers were thinking about their sex lives at a time like this! It didn't even occur to me that someone could be sitting at home today obsessing about other peoples' sex lives.
You sent me your e-mail, NSM, at 10:40 a.m. on September 11, 2001-- less than 35 minutes after the south tower of World Trade Center collapsed, and 10 minutes after the north tower of the World Trade Center collapsed. Thousands of people in New York City, Washington D.C., and Pennsylvania had died or were dying horrifying deaths, and
all you could think about were gay men who liked to fist? What the hell is wrong with you?
Dan,
You acted surprised that someone was thinking about sex in the immediate aftermath of the recent attacks, but my sex worker friends and I witnessed a sudden surge of demand for our erotic service in the week of the attacks. Are they trying to get their minds off the tragedy? Or are they trying to make the best of life before the next wave of attacks hit them? Nah, I think it's the television - you see, some people need more entertainment than witnessing the same buildings collapse over and over on TV. I am, of course, sending a portion of my income from the "big week" to a charity.
Socially Responsible Hooker
Below is what actually got published in Oct. 4, 2001 issue of The Stranger, along with Dan's response (in italics):
You acted surprised that someone was thinking about sex in the immediate aftermath of the recent attacks, but my sex worker friends and I witnessed a sudden surge in demand. Are people trying to get their minds off the tragedy? Or are they trying to make the best of life before the next wave of attacks?
Socially Responsible Hooker
P.S. I am sending a portion of my income from the "big week" to the Red Cross.
According to three prostitutes I spoke with, business has indeed been booming. A male hustler in New York City told me his clients wanted to get their minds off the news; a female hooker in Chicago told me Armageddon wouldn't keep her clients from sex; and a tranny escort in Vancouver told me his/her clients were so fucking weird that he/she wasn't in the least surprised that his/her pager buzzed constantly in the week after the attack.
Unfortunately, none of the whores I spoke with were as socially responsible as you, SRH. None said they would be sharing their post-WTC windfalls with the Red Cross.
Note how Dan inserted "Red Cross" when I intentionally avoided naming who I was giving money to. Until Red Cross stops discriminating against people like me ("have been given money or drugs for sex") or Dan ("male who has had sex with another male since 1977, even once") I do not want to support it. My money will go toward organizations that advocate for Arabs or Muslims in the United States or confront prejudices against them.