Tuesday, April 24, 2012

Virgin Myths: Virgins are Frigid

Cherry graphic via
I realized I haven't popped a myth since January. Y'all, that was so long ago! My apologies!

As a reminder, my intent with my series on virgin myths is to challenge preconceived notions regarding virginity. Thus far, all the myths I've tackled are stereotypes I've faced in my own life, or in the case of my post on male virgins, a stereotype I myself held. (I know. Feminist fail).

But what isn't true for this feisty francophone virgin could totally be true for another virgin. Just remember.

Virgins are people too.

So, that said, let's talk about those cold bitches who won't put out! Bro.

Myth: Virgins are uninterested in sex. Virgins are frigid. Virgins lack affection.

Friday, April 20, 2012

Book Club Friday: TWO books!

Confession: I have read a LOT of books lately. Way more than the occasional reviews I've managed to write here. My goal for the year is to read 52 new books, as in, rereads of old favorites don't count. I'm already about four books ahead... and I've also reread at least five books since January. Alas, it's not as impressive as those carefree summer days as a child... and teenager... and college student... when I read at least a book a day, if not five books a day. Still, a book a week is pretty good when juggling a full-time job.

With so many books left unreviewed, for today's Book Club Friday, I'm going to regale y'all with TWO reviews. Oh, yeah. Y'all can think of a way to thank me later. ;)


Confession: I have a bad awesome habit of buying bargain books for my kindle. I just can't resist the selection of titles for $0.99 to $2.99, especially when they're marked down for one day only. Both of today's book reviews find their origins in Amazon's kindle store.

Saturday, April 14, 2012

Me & OKC (Part Three): In Which I Learn a Valuable Lesson About Dating Historians


Confession One: I may be a nerd at heart, and I may be dating a nerd, and I may sometimes exhibit an intellectual elitism, BUT. This story goes to show that intelligence is not everything. Not even close.

Confession Two: I don't have much dating experience. At all. Not including dates with the boyfriend, I have been on three official dates. This story is about my second date.

It wasn't supposed to be a date.

I had agreed to hanging out, not going out. Huge difference in the connotation between those two very similar expressions.

John* was living outside of Paris at the time, doing research at the National Archives. He was a grad student from Yale (working on his Ph.D. in history), skinny, bespectacled—my kind of guy, right? He contacted me on okcupid a week or two before my winter break,** during which I had plans to travel to Toulouse, Marseille, Aix-en-Provence, Nice, Paris, and Saint Germain-en-laye. His opening message referred to my admiration for George Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-Four and linked to one of Orwell's essays. After a few brief exchanges, John told me that if I were ever in Paris, I should let him know so we could meet up. I was a little paranoid about meeting up with a guy so shortly after initial contact, but I didn't know when I would next be in Paris, so I agreed to meet him during my vacation.

So, I have since deleted our initial exchange that took place via okcupid, but we very quickly moved to gmail. Thus I can share with y'all this little gem.

Also, there is a marvelous little bookstore right across the Rue des Archives. I'm not suggesting going there, because girls tend to look at me funny when I suggest a bookstore as an appropriate venue for a first date, but a much, much nerdier person than I am might conceivably have visited the one-euro book box on the sidewalk outside every day for the past eight months while trying to gather his courage to confront the slightly terrifying person who runs the place for long enough to find out where the cash register is.”

1) This is when John elevated our meeting to a date. 2) How could I demote our first encounter after he so cutely suggested we visit a bookstore?***

I know at this point he sounds like the man of my dreams. And yet...

Things started off very awkwardly.

I held out my hand to shake hands when we finally met in person... but he took my hand and kissed it. I'm sure some girls would find this very charming, but I did not.

The conversation would have been fine, I guess, if he had been capable of discussing anything other than history. That was it. Maybe a few anecdotes from undergrad or childhood, but otherwise, it was nonstop history the entire time.

My degree is in history. I love history. I want to be an archivist or teach high school/university history. I will talk your ear off about history when given the chance.

But I do not want to spend three or so hours on a first date discussing history.

Like this, but with history. And with one reluctant participant.

Friday, April 13, 2012

Book Club Friday: From My All-Time Favorite Author

Even just casual followers of my blog and my twitter have probably figured out by now I'm a feminist. What isn't so obvious is my equally passionate identity as a history nerd. Probably because it's easier to relate feminism to virginity than it is to somehow connect history to virginity. That is, without having to do extra research.

Anyway. I double-majored in history & French, with a concentration in women's and gender studies. My academic interests often overlap with my leisure activities, like my choice of literature. For this week's Book Club Friday, I'm reviewing a book by my all-time favorite author, Philippa Gregory. She's arguably best-known for The Other Boelyn Girl, but what I finished last weekend was The White Queen, the first book in a new series called The Cousins' War.


The Tudor Dynasty is my favorite time period, hands down. Queen Elizabeth I is my idol. She's like a rock star to me. Excuse me while I fangirl for a moment over England's most notable monarch and one of the world's greatest politicians of all time. *le sigh* 

Anyway. I've read all of Gregory's novels that take place in the Tudor Court, but now she's started a series that predates the Tudors, during the Wars of the Roses.

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