Sex for America: Politically Inspired Erotica

Stephen Elliott, editor
Harper Perennial

There are so many reasons to feel uneasy about the current administration that even us gays can forget that George W. Bush is, as Elliott bluntly reminds us, the "the anti-sex President." The characters in this invigorating anthology hook up amidst concerns about sex education, reproductive rights and sodomy laws, as well as the war, terrorism and encroachments on civil liberties - none of which makes for hot erotica. But it does make for fine political satire and critique, which is of course the point. Some of the contributors paint the government as an abusive lover: Jerry Stahl imagines a hilariously awful affair with Dick Cheney, Lydia Millet introduces a hawk into to domestic bliss, and a gay army mechanic incoherently seeks revenge against the military by becoming the abuser in Anthony Swofford's "Escape and Evasion." Deciding that leaders are just ultimate tops, Charlie Anders borrows their rhetoric for a dom session, while Mistress Morgana complains that even a dominatrix as accomplished as herself can't compete with a warmonger. Not that anyone seems convinced that America is as polarized as the media spins it; party lines blur, as do distinctions of gender and orientation, in may of these stories. In the background, hope and fear duke it out, but the most memorable story is the most despairing: Nick Flynn's evocative account of people who willingly fade away.