Letters to the Editor	Letters Archive

Why do we hate them?

As an American-born person who spent much of my younger life in the Middle East-- Saudi Arabia, Lebanon, and Iran-- I have been consistently horrified by America's selfish, unilateral, utterly misguided foreign policy. More frightening than the mess we've made overseas is the lack of dissent and debate here. You deserve congratulations for speaking out.

Your editorial The Real Challenge, November 2001, was right: more violence will not cure violence! I had wonderful friends, teachers, mentors, and-- yes-- sexual adventures in the Middle East. I am heartbroken that the rage and misunderstanding have gone this far, but I can tell you this: most of it was created in Washington, DC.

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When I hear the question, "Why do they hate us?" I want to scream, "No-- why do we hate them?"

G. Steven Rose
Boston, Massachusetts

Totalitarian cock control

As mentioned in Jim D'Entremont's February 2002 article Kissing Big Brother, the penile plethysmograph (or PPG) was invented in Czechoslovakia to keep gay men from entering the military. At the time, Czechoslovakia was a communist country. Communism does not recognize individuality. Everything is regimented by the state, and that includes sexual behavior.

Militant individualists or freethinkers are outcasts in a society that has a marked preference for collectivism. As such, they are sent to some far away Gulag and in some extreme cases to a psychiatric hospital to be "cured." The plethysmograph was developed not by taking into account the biology or physiology of the human being, but rather to serve the needs of a totalitarian state. The PPG is not an instrument of medical value, but of dehumanization.

Max Genzardi
Montreal, Quebec

In your editorial Perverted Science and the article Kissing Big Brother by Jim D'Entremont, were both right on the mark. I know from personal experience.

In January 1995, Federal agents raided my home with a search warrant. They confiscated one of my computers, a video camera, personal documents, some adult videotapes, a television, and a VCR. Four years later, I was indicted for child pornography. Apparently there were a small number of images (less than 50) that the government considered potential child pornography on my computer's hard drive.

As I told my attorney, I did download some images but my reasons were to look for sexual images of me that were taken by an adult when I was about 12 years old. I ended up pleading guilty to one count. The judge sentenced me to twelve months and one day.

The prison experience was enlightening and ludicrous. Prison has nothing to do with rehabilitation or making the public safer. It's mostly about maintaining an industry. The Sex Offender Treatment Program is just part of that industry. It is unconstitutional, unethical, biased, and draconian.

Willie
Texas

I was surprised and pleased to read the commentary in The Guide on the "peter meter" and sex offender treatment [Kissing Big Brother February 2002].

While incarcerated, I was subjected to the infamous "peter meter." It was part of the evaluation process. Later, in "treatment," I was subjected to 18 hours, in one-hour sessions, of ammonia therapy, which involved looking at nude slides of adult men, women, and children. It was bizarre.

Steve
Massachusetts

Segregate jailbirds?

Prisoners dream about pen-pals' money which they usually hustle on the second letter. By the way, most of their stories are the same! They say, "I'm honest, I'm hot, I'm loyal, I'm well-hung, I'm worth your time," etc., etc. That's all not true!

I think prisoners' ads should be placed with the whole address, so we know who we're writing to. This way they won't have our address and come after us when they get out.

It would also be nice if possible to make one section of the Male Box personals for jailbirds and the other section for people seeking long-term friendships. Jailbirds send me pictures that I have to send back to them. So I spend 34 cents each time. I don't want to hurt their feelings by saying that I don't want them. No fair!

A.M.
Las Vegas, Nevada

Learning that people are not always what they claim to be is part of growing up. Sending money or your address to anyone you don't know well, prisoner or not, involves a certain risk. Duh.

While some prisoners might be scamming their penpals, please consider how hard it is for indigent prisoners to get their hands on the few bucks that can make their lives more bearable (for phone calls, or coffee, or microwave popcorn, or pictures for friends, or real shaving cream, or a million other little things easily taken for granted by those on the outside). As slave labor, prisoners lucky enough to have "jobs" are paid pennies a day which they can then redeem on overpriced, shoddy commissary merchandise (the profits from which go to the contractor with the right political connections).

We are not interested in discriminating against prisoners nor in segregating their ads into a special jailbirds section. We trust our readers to be smart enough to only be hustled by those they want to be hustled by....

New Bible translation available...

At this time of pedophiliac and paraphiliac scandal within the Catholic Church, my research into the Holy Scriptures relative to the subject may interest you. I have retranslated from the Hebrew and Greek all the verses of the Bible pertinent to pedophilia and paraphilia.

Previous translators have chosen to hide this issue within the general topic of homosexuality. But It does not say anywhere in the whole Bible that pedophiles, promiscuous heterosexuals, or promiscuous homosexuals are excluded from heaven. Indeed, it does not say that anyone will be excluded from heaven for any sin whatsoever! How shocking!

This re-translation ought to start a revolution in Christian thinking about homosexuality and sexual abuse. Sexual deviation is not a question of ideology but a matter of fallen human nature. My translation proves that both heterosexuality and homosexuality are not a matter of choice but are innate. Homosexuality is not unnatural, though it is not the norm (but pedophilia is rightly deemed a criminal act by most reasonable people).

In the Precious Name of Jesus,

John P. Mercurio
Gloucester, Massachusetts

Frankly, we don't care much what ancient scribes thought about buttfucking thousands of years ago. (Well, we care-- but more out of lascivious historical interest, not moral concern...). Your willingness to join in casting stones at so-called pedophiles reveals how shallow your understanding of Jesus's teachings is. The morally germane questions about any human interaction are never "what was the age (or race, or gender, or nationality, or religion, or circumcision status) of the participants?" but rather, "was the interaction loving?" Many people, or course, cannot imagine that an adult and an adolescent might have a mutually loving and gratifying sexual experience. But then, many people cannot imagine that two men could do the same. And even when such interactions aren't perfect examples of love, they rarely are matters of legitimate judicial concern.

Huh?

This is what I only want in this gay magazine. Put gay homeless men who are from Seattle, Chicago, and also from New York and Santa Ana but only with their name city state ZIP code and address. If they stay in a homeless shelter this is okay too, this is a must.

L. H.
Chicago, Illinois

Thanks for the, uh, suggestion. Perhaps your needs can best be met on the world wide web....

Transsexual: The Guide rocks!

I was impressed with your publication (The Guide). I'm a transsexual girl, and although most of the contents don't apply to me, I still enjoyed the in-depth travel info. The May 2002 issue was my first time reading your magazine. I hope to view more of it.

(Ms.) Asa Nystrom
Cincinnati, Ohio

Appreciates insight

Your article Sex and Terror in the December 2001 issue was remarkable-- such insight.

I found myself thoroughly intrigued. Thanks for this one.

Richard
via the Internet

'Protect the children!'

I read with interest your July 2002 editorial [Adios, Fifth Amendment ] on the ongoing dismantling of the Constitution ("It's like the Bill of Rights was written on an Etch-a-Sketch," as Robin Williams put it some years back).

While you're entirely right about the impact of sexual hysteria, I'd urge you to also consider the impact of anti-drug hysteria. This of course was lately enshrined by the Supreme Court's decision that, Fourth Amendment be damned, high school kids can be forced to undergo a urine test for drugs before joining the school orchestra or debate team. And then there's the miracle of "asset forfeiture," whereby your property can be taken and sold for profit by the local cops without you ever being convicted of anything.

The thread that ties all this stuff together, of course, is that it's all done in the name of "protecting children." Don't even get me started.

Bruce Mirken
Washington, DC