[dropcap style=”font-size:100px; color:#992211;”]L[/dropcap]et’s be clear about this: it is the male sex urge which has gotten us this far.
If sexual relations had to be discussed and agreed upon in primitive times the race would be extinct. Predators, pestilence, famine and extreme weather patterns would have wiped humans off the planet and left the animals in control. They may, of course, have made a better job of it but their lack of opposable thumbs would have seriously affected their tool making ability and prevented them from designing flushable toilet facilities or smartphones.
The abiding notion of a mother goddess springs from a time when parenthood was not ascribed to any particular paternal source. A birth nine months after some unseemly multi-partner scrabble in the dark was perceived as a miracle and solely due to the magical ability of the female. Only later when tribal patterns became more sophisticated did the father take some credit for the manufacture of a child. Previously the male was perceived as an essential if demonic force due to his ability to concentrate exclusively on a single activity such as hunting or copulating. The ‘natural male’ could deliver pleasure/semen in circumstance bereft of comfort or luxury.
In our present situation digital soothsayers now mark a course without the need for either sweat or blood so once again, the paternal influence wanes. The totem of a father god, along with unrestricted male urges, may now be something we need to shed, like tonsils or a sixth toe. Humans, however, do not evolve at the speed of Feminist thought, which brings me to Stan Lee, the ex-supremo of Marvel Comics and the mastermind behind the current superhero phenomenon. ’Smiling’ Stan is being accused of sexual harassment by the company who up until recently supplied his care nurses.
The man is 94.
Any serious Health Care professional is aware that elderly males can get frisky. It’s a post-pubescent flare before death. And, by the way, PPF is not restricted to men. In her last year’s my mother often regaled me with disgusting sexual fantasies about her doctors and, every single time I visited her in a hospital ward, I was subject to unwanted attention and vulgar displays from lady patients who were ‘old enough to know better’.
Ex-President Bush senior (93), an ex-Head of the CIA and a man I have no time for at all, has also been publicly accused of grabbing young women’s asses on photo shoots over the last few years. This should not be a ‘# Me Too’ situation or a cheap opportunity to extort money through the legal process. It is in fact a ‘how to deal properly with old people’ issue. The correct response is to firmly remove the offending hand and tell the senior groper to behave.
Professional entertainers in Hollywood and elsewhere have now raised the bar for standards of sexual behaviour in and out of the working environment. Less than half a century ago these types of people were considered vain and self-centred at best; rogues, scoundrels and liars at worst. Now, through their self-generated PR machines, they speak out for the downtrodden and the abused. If the new wind of change in the entertainment industry is genuine then the likes of H. Weinstein and J. Saville will have no shade to hide in. A future without serial abusers of perceived power is a good thing even if it means we have to suffer someone like O. Winfrey as an American President.
It is worth noting that constant and dramatic change in the corridors of American power seems to mesmerise both press and social media so that invisible policy makers can get on with business as usual. Stan Lee was well aware of this diversity solution back in the 1960’s when Spider Man was swiftly followed by The Hulk and Iron Man by The Black Panther etc. Constant change and a ruthless attitude to waning attention spans have allowed Marvel Comics to blossom into a giant of the modern entertainment industry. The US President’s chair revolves in a similar fashion. Bush senior himself followed an ex-movie actor into the Whitehouse and was replaced by a Southern boy who couldn’t keep his pecker in his pants. After Trump it may well be that there is a slot for a smug nosey-parker talk show hostess.
But Oprah should beware the curse of PPF which could haunt her declining years. If she does ascend to the seat of power and lives long enough, even the divine O may slide down into the depths of her unconscious where unattended demons still dwell.
They will not be satisfied by feigned sympathy or rhetoric.
Image: Pixabay/COnmongt
Having completed principal photography on phase one of the Sharks revival SWP is now preparing to edit the One Last Thrill feature documentary. Sharks themselves are ‘dropping a big one’ by releasing a double album Dark Beatles/White Temptations in April 2018.
In his spare time the author kayaks the muddy river Ouse and walks the South Downs which gently enfold his home town of Lewes.
