“Swinger” story touches a nerve
Re: “One Night as a Swinger” by Jane Smith (SEE #814, July 2, 2009)

It’s always been my understanding that if a feature article in SEE isn’t centred around something timely (a current news item or upcoming event), it needs to achieve a certain level of quality in order to pull its weight as cover story. What, then, does one make of Jane Smith’s article, “One Night As A
Swinger”?

I had always thought that literally scaring your audience into reading further by building up some nonexistent menace was more The Sun’s M.O. Ms. Smith attempts to pass off her depictions of “down-and-dirty, no-holds-barred sex clubs” (as well as her fear of “rash violence and drug use”) as popular clichés surrounding The Lifestyle. Notwithstanding how paradoxical this seems (given that Smith also states that the general public is unaware that swingers still exist), I’ve yet to find a single victim of these so-called common misconceptions. If anything, the cliché is that Lifestyle clubs are consensual gatherings of primarily middle-aged married couples.

While this may evoke images of people “chained to the walls moaning in terror” for Ms. Smith, the rest of us tend to picture... well, exactly what the author discovers to be true by the end of her experience. Either Ms. Smith is both ignorant and paranoid (and a little sex-phobic), or it was all a clever strategy to rope in readers with supposed shock value, then validate them by arriving at a conclusion they’d already reached, even before picking up the paper. Either way, it’s hardly unbiased, certainly not relevant or informative, and I feel the need to double-check one more time to ensure I haven’t accidentally been reading The Sun.

If we wanted a realistic impression of life as a swinger, shouldn’t we have relied on someone who was in a position to at least potentially engage in the act itself? Maybe someone who doesn’t insist on constantly condescending her subject? Pro tip: if you have to remind your readers that you’re “open-minded and liberal,” you’re probably not. Apparently, imposing herself on the private activities of an exclusive group gives Ms. Smith every right to judge their beliefs, behaviour, and physical attractiveness. One hardly needs to wonder as to the real reason she didn’t attach her name to this piece.

However, my beef here is not solely with the author. The accompanying cover picture (two feminine silhouettes about to kiss) is remarkably out of place, considering the article makes no specific mention of any same-sex activity. At best, it seems like an underhanded attempt to catch the interest of readers who’ve been following the many recent developments in queer issues — at worst, a rather typical (yet no less offensive) example of the media pandering to society’s ugly fascination with femme/femme lesbian activity, due to the reaction it gets from hetero males. Isn’t SEE above this crap?
-ROBYN SLACK
EDMONTON

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