Ask Phoebe Maltz Bovy Anything
Literally, ANYTHING
Friend of the pod and honorary Canadian Phoebe Maltz Bovy will be joining us soon to discuss her new book, The Last Straight Woman: On Desiring Men, that New York Times article, and assorted other topics. Phoebe has graciously agreed to answer questions from our Primo subscribers, so please leave your questions and/or comments below.
As a Canadian whose family owns a small cottage in the Laurentides, I loved your piece on the Canadian cottage, especially the reference to "questionable plumbing". My question is, what type of ground sonar should I be using to scan for mass graves, and would they sell it at Canadian Tire?
Having heard about Phoebe's book a year ago, I was really eagerly awaiting it. It didn't disappoint. It felt like exactly what I needed to read, as an average-looking straight woman who yearns a lot.
I have a lot of queer friends and have over the years been doubted by them. Are you really straight, surely you find women attractive, how can you be interested in men, etc etc. I find this very annoying and I doubt they would like it if I did it to them. I'm getting so tired of being told that things would be easier for me if I was a lesbian (because it's true that lesbians have shown more sexual interest in me recently than straight men have. But I just don't want to fuck them, so it doesn't help).
I wonder if Phoebe could say more about the current idea that to be a straight woman is to be subject to unwanted attention from men. And the implications behind that- 1) to be a proper straight woman you must be desirable to men. 2) to be a proper straight woman, you mustn't be very interested in sex, and so that's what makes the attention unwanted. It felt like something clicked when I read that. When I hear women talk about how much they have been sexually harassed, I'm unable to relate. I just don't get groped or yelled at, and it almost feels like there is something wrong with me. What am I, chopped liver?