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prebeartobemoosified's review against another edition
challenging
dark
funny
informative
5.0
the introductions and supplementary material for this book of classic queer erotica is incredible and just as relevant now as it was then, sadly. i hope to live to see a world where this sort of sexually liberated utopia exists.
lesbrary's review
4.0
Macho Sluts is a book that apparently needs a lot of introduction: 75 pages of it out of the 400 page book. It makes sense, though, because a lot of the appeal and importance of Macho Sluts comes from the reaction to it. It was originally published in the 80s, during the feminist sex wars. BDSM was seen as a patriarchal power display, and something lesbians just didn’t do. Macho Sluts inspired a lot of outrage, but it also just kept selling...
Read the rest of my review here: http://lesbrary.com/2012/07/29/danika-reviews-macho-sluts-by-patrick-califia/
Read the rest of my review here: http://lesbrary.com/2012/07/29/danika-reviews-macho-sluts-by-patrick-califia/
bonkbrown's review
fast-paced
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual assault, Lesbophobia, Kidnapping, Police brutality, Sexual content, Pedophilia, and Rape
livewisdom's review
2.0
I can see why it's referenced as ground breaking for when it was written, and as an example of good hard core lesbian erotica.
katie_king's review
4.0
This isn't a review, it's a collection of thoughts as I read the book. There may be spoilers, although I reject the notion that a book published thirty years ago can really be "spoiled".
Introduction: it's not an intoduction, it's a manifesto, and that's with a capital M as in manifest, by definition: "display or show (a quality or feeling) by one's acts or appearance; demonstrate."
Califia is saying, "If you want the erotic fiction you desire, first you must demonstrate what it is." That's this book. Califia is correct that the specifics are dated, but it contains relevant historical information on censorship.
Finally on to the meat of the matter: the first story, "Jessie" (AKA the starfucker). It starts out like your typical hookup story, but it promises to take a darker turn, and quickly. Am I going to do a play-by-play (or blow-by-blow) of this book? Quite possibly. My reaction at the end of the first story: Califia can work up a kinky-hot-sex scene, but doesn't seem to know how to wrap up a story.
"The Finishing School" - whoa, these short stories are long, especially for porn. I guess people's attention spans were a lot longer thirty years ago. Anyhow, this one is strictly for the aficionados (if there are any) of faux-Victorian lesbian incest porn. Age of consent, anyone? Also, not all of these sluts are macho by anyone's definition. Also, Califia's writing goes from the sublime to the ludicrous, example quote here:
"[Mamma] caught influenza while two counts, one French and one Italian, were making love to her in an open carriage on her way back to our hotel. They were quite piques because her fever made her delirious before she could tell them which of their countries had won her accolade for amative skill. " My least favourite story in the book.
I've been told that "The Calyx of Isis" is the real deal, and the heart of this collection. It had better be, since at 90 pages, it's practically a porn novella, especially in this era of the short attention span. Calyx of Isis: Hot wish-fulfillment fantasy, and I'm only talking about the establishing premise, the notion that there would be a permanent. multi-story, well-run, well-appointed and scrupulously maintained woman-owned women-only sex-positive space for dancing, socializing, and other more intimate activities. File under "would never happen", or "this is why we don't get to have nice things".
And later: Thirty-three pages into Calyx of Isis: 'Scuse me while I get some graph paper to map out the dungeon. Fortunately, the author already rolled all the stats for this quest, because this not-so-short story has more characters than a Russian novel.
Still later: 'I continue to plod or plow through Calyx of Isis. Upside 'leather-and-fur-bikini'. Downside? All those cans of Crisco." This story can be an ordeal for the reader as well as the fictional protagonist, but as a work of fiction it sets up the scenarios, the archetypes and the stereotypes of lesbian S&M writing well enough to be a reference point for much of the works that followed.
Quote: from "The Hustler" "You can go a long way on middle-class rectitude and sheer ignorance." This may be my favourite story of this collection, and that quote is only one of the reasons.
"Surprise Party": if cop/leather fantasy is your thing, this one starts off well. Even if that’s not your taste, stick with it, as it gets better. My personal preference is a plot with a beginning, a middle and a happy ending, and this story comes through on all counts. Will definitely re-read.
"The Vampire" This story could be the mother of all those sexy-vampire stories, Personally I'm not a fan of the erotic-lesbian-vampire genre. It's too much akin to the lesbian-dies-in-the-end trope, except in this version she's already undead. However, it does highlight once again Califia's fascination with sex as a predator-prey activity.
"The Spoiler": another cat-and-mouse game of obsession, seduction and humiliation, this time with no female characters at all. It's probably the most unusual story in this collection. Fascinating, yes, but erotic? Your mileage may vary.
"A Touch of Vanilla": supposedly the only story in the volume that doesn't feature hard-core kink, and yet I would like to dispute the label. It's like Califia was thinking, "I'm writing all this niche erotic fiction for the S&M crowd, I should do something for the non-kinksters that is as kinky as possible in that genre." And so they wrote a story about cunnilingus as an ordeal.
The Afterword: "A Note Lesbians, AIDS, and Safer Sex". DISCLAIMER: you shouldn't read this as a safer sex guide or (maybe not even read it at all}. It seemed obligatory in the late 1980's, when HIV-AIDS was not well understood and the death toll was rising, to include as much knowledge as possibly about the disease and ways to reduce personal risk, but this information definitely reflects the state of knowledge at that time.
Introduction: it's not an intoduction, it's a manifesto, and that's with a capital M as in manifest, by definition: "display or show (a quality or feeling) by one's acts or appearance; demonstrate."
Califia is saying, "If you want the erotic fiction you desire, first you must demonstrate what it is." That's this book. Califia is correct that the specifics are dated, but it contains relevant historical information on censorship.
Finally on to the meat of the matter: the first story, "Jessie" (AKA the starfucker). It starts out like your typical hookup story, but it promises to take a darker turn, and quickly. Am I going to do a play-by-play (or blow-by-blow) of this book? Quite possibly. My reaction at the end of the first story: Califia can work up a kinky-hot-sex scene, but doesn't seem to know how to wrap up a story.
"The Finishing School" - whoa, these short stories are long, especially for porn. I guess people's attention spans were a lot longer thirty years ago. Anyhow, this one is strictly for the aficionados (if there are any) of faux-Victorian lesbian incest porn. Age of consent, anyone? Also, not all of these sluts are macho by anyone's definition. Also, Califia's writing goes from the sublime to the ludicrous, example quote here:
"[Mamma] caught influenza while two counts, one French and one Italian, were making love to her in an open carriage on her way back to our hotel. They were quite piques because her fever made her delirious before she could tell them which of their countries had won her accolade for amative skill. " My least favourite story in the book.
I've been told that "The Calyx of Isis" is the real deal, and the heart of this collection. It had better be, since at 90 pages, it's practically a porn novella, especially in this era of the short attention span. Calyx of Isis: Hot wish-fulfillment fantasy, and I'm only talking about the establishing premise, the notion that there would be a permanent. multi-story, well-run, well-appointed and scrupulously maintained woman-owned women-only sex-positive space for dancing, socializing, and other more intimate activities. File under "would never happen", or "this is why we don't get to have nice things".
And later: Thirty-three pages into Calyx of Isis: 'Scuse me while I get some graph paper to map out the dungeon. Fortunately, the author already rolled all the stats for this quest, because this not-so-short story has more characters than a Russian novel.
Still later: 'I continue to plod or plow through Calyx of Isis. Upside 'leather-and-fur-bikini'. Downside? All those cans of Crisco." This story can be an ordeal for the reader as well as the fictional protagonist, but as a work of fiction it sets up the scenarios, the archetypes and the stereotypes of lesbian S&M writing well enough to be a reference point for much of the works that followed.
Quote: from "The Hustler" "You can go a long way on middle-class rectitude and sheer ignorance." This may be my favourite story of this collection, and that quote is only one of the reasons.
"Surprise Party": if cop/leather fantasy is your thing, this one starts off well. Even if that’s not your taste, stick with it, as it gets better. My personal preference is a plot with a beginning, a middle and a happy ending, and this story comes through on all counts. Will definitely re-read.
"The Vampire" This story could be the mother of all those sexy-vampire stories, Personally I'm not a fan of the erotic-lesbian-vampire genre. It's too much akin to the lesbian-dies-in-the-end trope, except in this version she's already undead. However, it does highlight once again Califia's fascination with sex as a predator-prey activity.
"The Spoiler": another cat-and-mouse game of obsession, seduction and humiliation, this time with no female characters at all. It's probably the most unusual story in this collection. Fascinating, yes, but erotic? Your mileage may vary.
"A Touch of Vanilla": supposedly the only story in the volume that doesn't feature hard-core kink, and yet I would like to dispute the label. It's like Califia was thinking, "I'm writing all this niche erotic fiction for the S&M crowd, I should do something for the non-kinksters that is as kinky as possible in that genre." And so they wrote a story about cunnilingus as an ordeal.
The Afterword: "A Note Lesbians, AIDS, and Safer Sex". DISCLAIMER: you shouldn't read this as a safer sex guide or (maybe not even read it at all}. It seemed obligatory in the late 1980's, when HIV-AIDS was not well understood and the death toll was rising, to include as much knowledge as possibly about the disease and ways to reduce personal risk, but this information definitely reflects the state of knowledge at that time.
industrialathena's review
4.0
Pat Califia is a perverted literary genius. I don't just mean that she writes about sexy taboos with great skill. She has the will and insight to stare into the face of the our collective psychological abyss and mine it for all its erotic potential. That's no easy feat by any means, but for me what makes Califia a genius is the fact that she is also willing to candidly discuss the political/moral implications of her work and the quest to get off in repressive times. I would like to think that the political landscape has changed for the better since this book was originally published in 1988, but the intro this collection of shorts stories is both a frightening and insightful analysis of the sexual politics landscape at the time.
As for the stories, there is a little bit of everything in this collection: Victoriana, sci-fi/fantasy, girl on girl, guy on guy, hetero, orgies, etc. All of it heavily laced with Dominance/submission and Sadomasochistic themes. Definitely a very hot collection, but honestly the stories are intriguing in their own right even if you aren't looking for erotic thrills.
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