Stephen Fry Feels Sorry for Straight Guys

[monk222]

Stephen Fry is a gay, liberally inclined, celebrity and is a darling of the Left, but he ran afoul of the Political Correctness Police when he gave his witty voice to an old nut on how straight women don’t go for sex as much as gay men do, as even the most notorious sluts just aren’t that promiscuous:

If women liked sex as much as men, there would be straight cruising areas in the way there are gay cruising areas. Women would go and hang around in churchyards thinking, “God, I’ve got to get my rocks off”, or they’d go to Hampstead Heath and meet strangers to shag behind a bush. ‘It doesn’t happen. Why? Because the only women you can have sex with like that wish to be paid for it... I feel sorry for straight men. The only reason women will have sex with them is that sex is the price they are willing to pay for a relationship with a man, which is what they want. Of course, a lot of women will deny this and say, “Oh no, but I love sex, I love it!” But do they go around having it the way that gay men do?

If my ONTD news is right, he has even given up his Twitter account because of the backlash. Sure, his statement may not be the most diplomatic and nuanced, but he is a comic venting his wit, for crying out loud, and more than that, he is right! I fear the Right more, but the Left is not without its hazards.

Comments

[hardblue.livejournal.com]

Well, I'm not a logician, and I must respect anyone who is able to get into Columbia, but I don't see the necessary implication that he is saying anything about queer women, such that it seems just as natural to infer that he might believe that the gayness in lesbians outstrips the woman-ness in the straight woman. In any case, I take his main point to be that straight men are getting a raw deal, unless they have money, which may be an overwrought and overly provocative argument, but I rather sympathize with it. :(

[hardblue.livejournal.com]

I see your point. He wasn't raising the idea of a 'gay factor' so much, as it was just about how men like sex more and how therefore men hot for each other is a real party, and then your argument on women comes into play. See, I went to State U. and got lucky to get that. But, yeah, straight men without money are still left out in the cold (with some happy exceptions of just outrageously studly looking men who are actually straight) - thank god for Internet porn!

Raw Deal

[poovanna.livejournal.com]

Sorry, Suz, but I got to agree with Monk on this one - Fry's limiting his hypothesis to straight women :) This is a valid assumption because of his first sentence (which, considering the rest of his observation, wouldn't make sense if he was taking about lesbians):

"If women liked sex as much as men, there would be straight cruising areas in the way there are gay cruising areas."

Fry's completely correct - straight men really do get a raw deal! :P

[miss-next.livejournal.com]

There seem to be an awful lot of assumptions going on here, both from Mr Fry and from his detractors, that need unpicking. The major one that I can make out is "women ought to want indiscriminate sex". Mr Fry also seems to assume that men (gay or straight) don't want meaningful relationships.

Why? What is the basis of these assumptions? I'm even finding feminist writers who seem to be going along with the first one, and that staggers me. The only reason I can see that anyone would suggest that women ought to want indiscriminate sex is that so many men do. Not exactly the epitome of feminist reasoning. It's either saying "we ought to do what men want", or, more subtly, "men do it and we're as good as them, so we ought to do it too". Either way, it's a very dangerous attitude.

I don't particularly like Stephen Fry, because I think his wit masks a good deal of arrogance, but I entirely agree with you that he's right even if he could have put it a lot better. (Several people have argued that he's insulting women. I personally think he's insulting straight men more than anyone else. That was unnecessary.)

[hardblue.livejournal.com]

Funny, I just came upon a thread in which apparently femininst women are taking up the 'free to be promiscuous' banner, which you can see here (http://community.livejournal.com/ohnotheydidnt/52802964.html?thread=9029497236#t9029497236).

I think it's generally felt that men cannot but be promiscuous, or at least want to be, and that much of morality is meant to counterveil this doggy tendency. I don't know if it's insulting to men, or just picking at our weakness, and I think, in your sense, that he's not just insulting straight men, but all men, taking up the point you make about how he assumes that gay men don't want meaningful relationships.