things i talk about with friends
May. 12th, 2014 09:44 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
jhameiasomehow i got to talking about homosexual stuff in imperial china with a department colleague (even i’m not sure where this comes from) and she tells me there is a book on homoeroticism in imperial china. it’s an antho of plays, novel excerpts and poetry translated into english. it has illustrations.
from there we start talking about the difference between homosexual and homoerotic and how some lovers are possibly bisexual and perhaps even trans
and then to discussion of terms for queer relationships. like “cut-sleeve” and “peach eating” (both having stories of different love dynamics between emperor and lover)
so I ask, is there one for lesbians?
and she says yes, it vaguely translates into “rubbing the mirror”
that is very interesting, i say, because the other terms imply a difference in status between the lovers, but rubbing the mirror sounds like the lovers are equal
and she says yes and in the pictures the bodies look the same too
there are pictures, say i
it even shows the sex tools being used! says she
sex tools, say i
and she kind of shows me an approximation using her hands and fingers and i’m befuddled and she tells me that there are totally museum exhibitions of these lesbian sex toys and finally i’m like OH you’re talking about double-ended dildos
what? asks she and then wait there’s someone approaching and when the someone passes she says what is it called? how do you spell it?
and i tell her and she says well these things were very advanced they were made out of all sorts of materials like wood and bronze and there is even one which is hollow so you can fill it with hot water
and i tell her about the ones which you can warm up or put in the freezer
and yeah
it was an edifying evening.
this has been a post.
from there we start talking about the difference between homosexual and homoerotic and how some lovers are possibly bisexual and perhaps even trans
and then to discussion of terms for queer relationships. like “cut-sleeve” and “peach eating” (both having stories of different love dynamics between emperor and lover)
so I ask, is there one for lesbians?
and she says yes, it vaguely translates into “rubbing the mirror”
that is very interesting, i say, because the other terms imply a difference in status between the lovers, but rubbing the mirror sounds like the lovers are equal
and she says yes and in the pictures the bodies look the same too
there are pictures, say i
it even shows the sex tools being used! says she
sex tools, say i
and she kind of shows me an approximation using her hands and fingers and i’m befuddled and she tells me that there are totally museum exhibitions of these lesbian sex toys and finally i’m like OH you’re talking about double-ended dildos
what? asks she and then wait there’s someone approaching and when the someone passes she says what is it called? how do you spell it?
and i tell her and she says well these things were very advanced they were made out of all sorts of materials like wood and bronze and there is even one which is hollow so you can fill it with hot water
and i tell her about the ones which you can warm up or put in the freezer
and yeah
it was an edifying evening.
this has been a post.
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Date: 2014-05-13 09:01 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2014-05-13 01:24 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2014-05-13 03:54 pm (UTC)