sex | The Smart Set

A Mink

Paula Marantz Cohen — Mon, 29 Aug 2022 11:30:00 +0000

When we consider the predatory behavior of high-profile individuals like Andrew Cuomo, Charlie Rose, and Matt Lauer, we tend to think that they were driven by lust and egotistical entitlement. We fail to take into account the societal expectations that prevailed a mere 50 or 60 years ago when these men were boys. Within the […]

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Changing Seasons

Rachel Coppe — Thu, 23 Jun 2022 21:00:00 +0000

So, it goes like this: every April, for the past 3 years, I have spent in the aftermath of some kind of breakup. Now I’m sure I would be able to recognize this fact, and have it not bothered me if I met any definition of what it means to be a “chill girl.” However, […]

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Jagged Little Healing

Raechel Anne Jolie — Thu, 17 Sep 2020 14:00:31 +0000

Content note: discussion of childhood sexual assault “I would love to go down on you,” is what my mom’s boyfriend said to me when he held me down on a bed when I was 13 years old. The only other time I had heard the phrase “go down on” was in Alanis Morissette’s “You Oughta Know,” in […]

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Remembrance of Loves Past

Norman Allen — Mon, 22 Jun 2020 12:48:38 +0000

At 44, I left my partner of a decade and became single again. In the year of slow healing that followed, I was haunted by images from the past. Not the immediate past, not the life I had just departed, but more distant relations. I thought of the park ranger I lived with on Cape Cod. I thought of the aptly […]

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Unmanned at the Fleabag Hotel

Ellen Carr — Thu, 03 Oct 2019 11:30:14 +0000

I don’t watch TV. A big contributor to my joy at becoming single three years ago was the option to read a book rather than watch tv with my ex at night. There is no better distinction between tv and books than the fact the former can be consumed with other people, while the latter […]

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Bed Mates

Vittoria Benzine — Thu, 05 Sep 2019 11:30:21 +0000

I’d never had a sober sexual relationship. “Honestly non-monogamous,” read Rob’s online dating profile. At the beginning of 2018, I was just two weeks out of my five-year affair with alcoholism, but I was still perusing the same apps I’d use to find men who might buy me drinks. Armed with no 12-step program, just my own desperation, I passed the days doing […]

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Unappeasable and Peregrine

Greg Gerke — Thu, 08 Aug 2019 11:30:28 +0000

Sometimes, when I tell someone of my interest in Kubrick, they will briefly brighten and then suddenly grow dour before asking, “What did you think of Eyes Wide Shut?” It is not for nothing. This film was and still is reviled by many in the public and the critical establishment. Is it Tom Cruise? Is […]

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Geography

Jessica Sucato — Mon, 23 Jul 2018 11:30:56 +0000

“Well, what does sex mean to you?” he asked. I laughed. Kyle repeated the question, “Seriously,” he said. We were young and 20, saddled up next to each other in my twin bed. The metallic frame chirped as he propped up on his elbow and stared at me. I stared at my ceiling, the textured […]

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The Dark Lady Ryan

Lynn Levin — Thu, 04 Jan 2018 12:20:43 +0000

In Dark Ladies & Other Avatars, her debut poetry collection, Joan Roberta Ryan pays exquisite attention to seeing, eating, feeling, reflecting, and remembering — acts of attention that define what it means to live fully and well. Lit up by sparkling specificity and wit, these beautifully crafted, mostly free verse poems focus on both lovely […]

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Sacred Monsters

Ernesto Oyarbide — Mon, 26 Jun 2017 09:30:47 +0000

June can be the cruelest month in London . . . if you originally come from Spain. At this point in the year, most cities in the Iberian Peninsula showcase a splendid sun: a warning of the blazing summer that is to come. But this was not the case in the gayish Soho district. It was a […]

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