Dirty Dishes	Dirty Dishes Archive

Gay men are often light years ahead of their straight counterparts in matters sexual. Dawn recalls a recent New York City soirée that ended up with Dawn, Dawn's boyfriend, and our (hetero) host -- a world-traveled sophisticate -- reminiscing over a third bottle of wine. He found our tales of various three-ways mind-boggling. "Never would that be allowed," Marc said, nodding his head to the adjoining room, where his fiancée (and evident-whip-brandisher) Holly had turned in early.

Well, we pressed, what sort of adventures had he had?

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The raciest story this attractive, healthy, jetsetter could manage was relating his suspicion that one of the women he talked to in a bar in Belo Horizonte, Brazil, in 1989 may have been a prostitute.

Of course, not all straight people are so pathetic, as Dawn is reminded reading a remarkable article from The Times (London) online (TimesOnline.co.uk). Therein writer Joan McFadden relates the story of a young woman's unapologetic sexual relationship with her brother. From age 17, siblings "Maggie" and "Daniel" found excitement and pleasure in each other's arms and orifices. "We both went out with other people and there was never any jealousy," relates Maggie. "Part of that was because sex with Daniel was so amazing that I had no patience for all the fumbling that seemed to happen with other boys. The sex was never pre-planned, but just always seemed to happen when there was no chance of being discovered."

Sounding like a gay person, Maggie continued: "Every so often I would wonder what people would think if they found out, especially our parents, but it always felt so right and was so exciting that these concerns were never enough to stop me. Sometimes he initiated sex and sometimes I did, but in between times our relationship was as easy, relaxed and affectionate as ever, with the incredible passion of each encounter quietly banked away until the next time."

Alas, Daniel now wants to wed "Alison" and feels he needs to choose between his wife-to-be and his sister. To his credit, he did offer sis the right-of-first-refusal, offering to shack-up with her before saying yes to the evidently jealous-minded Alison.

Though she's moved on sexually (still, Daniel retains "a special place" in her affections), Maggie says "it pains me that what appears so lovely and natural to me would be regarded as abhorrent by most people. It's not my subject, but I would be really interested to see a study on incest done on these terms, moving it away entirely from the concept of abuse. However, I simply cannot imagine that many people are happy to talk about it and I certainly wouldn't put my family through hell by being the first to go public."

So maybe there are more adventurous straight people out there than Dawn realizes. They're just too scared to openly admit to doing more than maybe talking to a prostitute....