Reviews

It has been interesting for me to read the reviews of My Body-His. The last two reviewers really hated Luke, the main male character. I imagined people would feel more like Bookie Nookie who wrote, “Honestly, Luke is one of those heroes you love to hate and I can’t really decide at the moment if I want him or want to kill him.”

I don’t quite understand the abject hatred of Luke. I see him as a flawed, damaged character and Jane can choose to leave at any time. Of course, I know more of the back story than the rest of the readers that comes to light in My Body-His (Marcello) the second book of the My Body trilogy. I didn’t intend for people to hate him, however I did hope people would feel Jane’s plight and it is clear to me that is happening.

I honestly see more of a love to hate him scenario than a hate to hate him. It will be interesting to hear the views of the men who read the novel (all the reviewers have been female so far). I wonder if men will feel the same way about Luke.

One reviewer didn’t care for Jane either and another said she thought Jane was addicted to the orgasms Luke doled out. I don’t see Jane as addicted to the sex which Luke uses to keep her engaged. She is addicted to his love and approval which he dishes out and then takes away again. That is the addiction for Jane.

Of course the wonderful thing about reading a book is that you get to decide what it all means to you and with that, I will let you all decide for yourself.

Now that the book is out, I would love to know what you think.

Warm hugs,

Blakely

Man Sweat

I recently read an interesting article entitled “Why the smell of a man’s armpit is a turn-on” by Fiona Macrae. I find it especially intriguing because we as a cultured do so much to try to cover our natural odors.

According to the article, male sweat contains a compound called Androstadienone. Scientists say that just a few sniffs and a woman’s mood is lightened and her sexual arousal is raised.

I have no doubts about this at all. A good manly smell is such a turn on and now I know that this smell affects me hormonally, physiologically, and psychologically according to the article. What a power packed punch!

Another interesting fact stated in the article is that women on the pill seem to be immune to the smell.

They did another interesting study where women were broken into two groups. One group rated photos of men and the second group rated the same photos but unbeknownst to them they were subjected to the smell of male sweat at the same time. The women in the second group rated the men much higher than the women in the first group.

It was also mentioned in the article that we use smell to find a good match. The more different they smell from us the better the match in regards to the immune system and it keep us from mating with those genetically close to us.

I feel the need to make the pitch to reduce all the unnecessary smells in our lives especially scented laundry detergent. I personally hate to hug someone and get the stinky laundry detergent smell. It’s so egregious that it covers everything else.

This is probably TMI but I adore my husband’s smell and in fact if he has showered I’m not as turned on by his scent. I much prefer his smell by the end of the day!

This leads me to another thought. Can you be in love with someone whose smell you don’t like? I would think not. What do you think?

To all my friends, fans, and their families on the east coast, you are in my thoughts tonight and I hope that you all weathered this storm unharmed.  Here’s hoping the clean up and recovery go quickly and smoothly.  Having experienced too many hurricanes in Florida I now reside in the Great Northwest.

Warm hugs,

Blakely www.amazon.com/author/blakelybennett
http://www.amazon.com/My-Body-His-Blakely-Bennett/dp/1603815236/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1349791682&sr=8-1&keywords=My+Body-His
http://www.facebook.com/pages/My-Body-His-series/359307324147300

The Love Debate

A while back my husband and I debated whether love is something that never dies or something you can fall in and out of. There are people who I have loved but no longer love. It’s my husband’s contention that I was never in love with them in the first place.

I have a less ethereal view of love. I believe love takes time and attention. If love is not nurtured over a long period of time it will wane or change. I also believe love can die or be cut out of you with painful, hurtful, or neglectful behaviors.

My husband asked me how I can be committed to anyone if I believe love can die. One, I don’t see love and commitment as the same thing and two, love that is nurtured stays alive and strong. My relationship with my husband is living proof of that.

I have heard it said, over and over, “I still love her…I’m just not ‘in love’ with her anymore.” I’m not sure what that’s supposed to mean. You still care about them but you have no desire to be intimate emotionally or physically?

I think many people confuse love with New Relationship Energy (NRE), lust, and/or limerence. They each inspire all those wonderful biochemicals we get to experience in the beginning of a relationship or romance.

I don’t believe in love at first sight. To me love grows over time. However, I do believe strongly in lust at first sight. Although both Jane and Luke in My Body-His would say that they fell in love at first sight, I would have to argue that chemistry and lust consumed them both to such an extent that it felt like love to them.

I have not loved any other man in the way I love my husband. I have grown and changed over our years together as has my capacity to love. I do believe that if we stopped nurturing our connection that our love would eventually fade away or transform into a different kind of love.  In the same way I believe love evolves over time, I believe love devolves without the necessary attention.

Where do you fall in this debate? Do you believe that love is everlasting? Or do you believe love has the capacity to last a lifetime but can also die out?

Please share your comments.

Warm hugs,

Blakely Bennett
www.amazon.com/author/blakelybennett
http://www.amazon.com/My-Body-His-Blakely-Bennett/dp/1603815236/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1349791682&sr=8-1&keywords=My+Body-His
http://www.facebook.com/pages/My-Body-His-series/359307324147300

Orgasm

My husband and I were joking around that we should open a place called the Orgasium; combining the words gymnasium and orgasm. It would be a place where people could learn to have and give intense long lasting orgasms. Not sure our culture is ready for that, yet. I still hold out hope.

What is an orgasm really? For me it’s the culmination of an intense energy explosion that shoots all these fantastic biochemicals through my system giving me the best high imaginable without any long lasting side effects except the desire to do it again! According to Wikipedia, an orgasm is the peak of the plateau phase of the sexual response cycle, characterized by an intense sensation of pleasure. Yeah, that’s what I meant. 😉

I find the release one of the hardest things to describe and as my publisher/editor so kindly pointed out and I can’t use, “waves of pleasure”, over and over.  🙂

Did you know that the clit is the only organ whose sole purpose is sexual pleasure? I have often wondered why it’s situated above the vaginal opening as it seems to be a flawed design. If the clitoris was located just inside the vagina…wow! I also wonder why such a small percentage of women can have orgasms solely through intercourse and yet in movies and books (even mine in some places) that’s all it takes to get a woman to cum leaving women feeling somehow inferior because they can’t orgasm that way.

I think it’s vitally important that a person know how to make themselves cum. I was shocked to find out my college roommate had never ever masturbated. How can you show your partner what makes you feel good enough to cum if you yourself do not know?

I don’t think the orgasm is the most important part of sex, just the best part! I think the best way to get the orgasms you really desire is to be connected, along with open and honest communication and self-exploration with your partner.

What do you think?

We Kill Our Intimacy with Politeness

We kill our intimacy with politeness and sometimes with downright dishonesty. We have been raised in a culture that tells us it’s more important to be nice than to be truthful. It’s more important to save face than to face the facts. I recall my mother saying on several occasions, “Why do you have to wear your feelings on your sleeve?” I can honestly say I have learned to be more discrete about it but I’m not really sure it’s for the best.  I think this very structure plays a huge role in perpetuating the rampant cheating that seems prevalent in many relationships.  Be nice and don’t tell your partner your needs are not being met.

I have spoken to friends and chatted online with so many people who are in unhappy relationships and it always seems to come down to two things; an unwillingness to be honest and a fear of confrontation. The two seem to be connected. If they were to be honest, they might “upset” the other person and have to deal with another’s anger, real or imagined.

Every time we lie blatantly or by omission we are tearing at the fabric of the intimate relationships we are trying to create. Why do we do this as a culture? Why has this become the status quo and operating procedure?

Jane, in My Body-His, battles with this very conundrum, rapidly changing because of her relationship with Luke while struggling to find her core self.  Her fear propels her to do dishonest things that she later regrets and has to ultimately face.

I am here to share that I have never, not yet anyway, died over being truthful or having a confrontation.  I’m not saying it’s easy or should be done with everyone you meet.  Being open and honest requires telling someone things even when you know they don’t want to hear them.  I’m not saying it’s fun but I can absolutely promise it opens the door to greater connectedness and intimacy, a greater knowing of the other person and self.

Every time we pretend, avoiding the truth, we are also hurting ourselves. We have to show up as a person different than our true selves. Of course there are times where this is necessary like in the work place or even with relatives of a different belief system.  However, it shouldn’t be with the person or people who know you the best.

I think that taking the time to peal the onion of yourself and sharing your true essences with another reaps great rewards. It will be the most liberating experience of your life. I firmly believe in the sentiment that the truth will set you free.

I’m sure some of my readers are already on this journey. Please feel free to share your stories that will inspire the rest of us to take a chance on honesty and transparency.

Sex Drives and Hal Sparks

I read an article recently where the author felt strongly that if you and your spouse’s sex drives are discordant that accommodations should be made for the one with the higher drive. I didn’t agree with everything she said but I did agree with her premise that men who tend to have higher sex drives will eventually cheat if they are not satisfied.

I think most of what we buy into in our culture regarding sex and relationship is propaganda. Hal Sparks has to be one of the funniest comics I have ever seen and I just love how irreverent he is about standards of behavior. He did a great bit in his Charmageddon show about the differences of men and women going into a sex store and buying toys. He says, because men are considered the more sex obsessed, they are required to behave differently. Woman can have a trunk full of toys and when a man finds out about them, it’s his lucky day to have such a sexual woman. But if a man has a mere drawer full of toys, the woman will be running as fast as she can out the door.

I enthusiastically agree with Hal when he says that other than some differences in plumbing in the lower region, men and women are the same. It is our culture and religion that shapes us into different creatures, not our biology.  I wonder if the differences we find in men and women will affect how each reads and interprets my novels.  Will my book just appeal to the Mommy Porn crowd or will Daddy Porn be on the rise?  Can we even call it Daddy Porn?  Somehow I think there might be a double standard with that moniker as well.

Back to our sex drives.  I’m not so sure there is a huge difference between men and women that you don’t find within the same sex. For instance, my second boyfriend had very little interest in sex. I went through hoops trying to get him more interested. What I think is different is that we as women take something into our bodies which in turn makes us more vulnerable than the men who do the penetrating.  Whether it’s because of our biology or upbringing, it seems most women need a connection to want to be sexual and most men need sex to want the connection. If your woman isn’t feeling connected to you, you probably aren’t having much sex.

So what to do when your sex drives aren’t a match? In our culture we are told to just buck up and suffer or have an affair. I personally look forward to the day that people start being honest about sex and their needs and desires. I think if people did that BEFORE they were married, they might not end up with such a mismatch. I personally don’t think people are smart when it comes to picking a mate and they do not hold sex high enough in the equation.

Oh here’s another great thing that Hal said in his routine that I loved. He said you should never save yourself for “the one”, you should be busy practicing for “the one”. Hell if they are your “one and only”, you should do everything you can to be ready for them. 😛

Here’s another plug to talk about sex and what you need. The more you are willing to talk and share, the more likely it is that you will get what you need. Oh and definitely check out Hal Sparks Charmageddon. I laughed so hard both times I watched it.

Perspective and Perception

When crafting characters, their different perspectives and perceptions help drive the conflict and define their uniqueness.  I have spent a lot of time musing around the idea that perspective is like a sphere which can be experienced from an infinite number of possible perceptions. Where you are positioned on the sphere, metaphorically speaking, has to do with your genetics, experiences and upbringing (family, culture, religion, etc.)  All of those varying facets add depth to a character.

Perception or seeing something from a perspective unique to your point of view on the sphere always presents the opportunity for a diametrically opposed view point from the other side of the sphere. Is it possible to find common ground with someone whose idea of the situation is opposite? I’m not sure and this is something with which Jane in My Body-His struggles. In real life does it work best if they are at least in your quadrant on the sphere? Or at least on your side of things?

Why the heck does it matter that we have similar perspectives? My experience and therefore perspective is that to navigate well through life with someone, a lover or a friend, you have to have some similar perspectives and perceptions. I’m not saying they have to be really closely matched but they have to be close enough that I can stretch my perspective enough to see your point of view and vice versa.

I used to talk to this guy online whose wife felt that she had a better childhood and therefore had better ideas and ways to navigate life. So every time they came to a crossroads of having a different perception (according to him), she would make life miserable until she got her way. Clearly they are headed for a divorce if nothing changes but I think a huge part of their conflict is centered on the fact that they perceive life so differently.  Their life might make an interesting story.  At least it makes for a lot of drama.

I have always found it interesting to speak to people who have different perspectives as it can open the door to new ideas and different ways of thinking. I’ve come to the conclusion however that there needs to be some overlapping of how we see the world to make a deep and secure connection.

I would very much like to hear from my readers what they think about the necessity of a shared perspective.

Dark Fantasies

I talked with a friend the other day and we had a conversation about fantasies. Not specific ones but fantasizing in general terms, which got me thinking about how writing is very much a fantasy process.  Every writer uses his or her imagination and empathy to craft the story.

I wondered if men and women fantasize differently.  My friend always fantasizes about someone he knows in scenarios that he would like to happen.  Another thing that men tell me is common is to relive a scenario that actually took place.

For me my fantasies are darker and I wouldn’t want them to happen in real life. They rarely star someone I know or have seen. So I was left wondering if the difference was simply the difference between the sexes but after speaking with a few women it seemed that they themselves were varied in style. One said that the men in her imagination rarely have a face and that it was more about the scenario. I can relate to that. Another said that it depended on her mood.  Sometimes it’s about someone she knows and other times not.

I did some research and consistently it is said that men are more visual and therefore focus far more on the anatomy of their desire where women focus more on emotion and affection. Neither really describes me. Evidently rape and forced sex is common for women because on a list of top ten fantasies for women it ranked number one.

It may come down to desire because a man driven to rape, in fantasyland anyway, is so overcome by lust, he can’t help himself.

I read an interesting article called Rape, Fantasies, and Female arousal by William Saletan. He addresses research done measuring a woman’s intellectual response as opposed to her vaginal blood flow. According to the article, men’s minds and genitals are in agreement when it comes to sexuality and fantasy but for women it is different. They are speculating that arousal in women can be stimulated by the need for protection which is a biological response to avoid vaginal damage. They called it, “reflective sexual readiness” which is very different from desire. However they believe it is wired into our arousal system to keep us safe from abuse.

In my writings, I’m very fascinated by the body/mind conflict in sexuality.  Maybe my character, Jane, experiences reflective sexual readiness.  If that is the case, she doesn’t know it.

The Sex Conversation

My husband and I spent the weekend with friends of ours and another couple.  It’s worth mentioning because we, adults in our 40s, 50s, and 60s, all talked openly about sex, attraction, turn-ons, vibrators, and more.

We all agreed that our society is rather constipated when it comes to sex and communicating openly about it.  Sex is as important to life and relationship as is sleeping or eating and yet we as a culture shun real conversation about it.  There is much to learn from each other.

Expectantly, the conversation evolved into a discussion about my novels and my motivation for writing them. You can read my previous blogs to read about that. The pleasant part of people asking me about my motives is that I’ve gotten over the embarrassment of what people will think of me because of what I have written. Some will think me a sex fiend and I’m okay with that. Others will understand the depth of character exploration and appreciate the journey.

I am enjoying a newfound freedom of exchange of ideas with openness that until My Body-His had eluded me. I want to thank everyone who participated in these open discussions this weekend and…please open your own discussions right here by making a comment or asking a question. This is a good place to start anew.

The Power of Empathy

Recently I was sitting with a couple of my girlfriends who asked in subtle terms how I could write on the subject of BDSM? “I mean, you don’t really live that lifestyle, do you?” “No,” I said, honestly.

I believe, in the heart of every fiction writer dwells the power of empathy. We create characters, give them names and identities and place them in crazy situations. As an author, I have to listen carefully to my characters once underway because as they get involved with one another they tell me things about who they are and what they need. Everyone is just trying to make the best of what they have been dealt and if I listen carefully enough I can empathize with their circumstances and share that on the page. When Jane feels…I feel it as well.

I’m not discounting research when necessary but at some point the research has to meld into a palpable situation I can feel so you can feel it too.

Maybe empathy is why I can’t watch violence, torture or gore in movies and TV. I can’t tell you the number of movies where I have had my eyes closed for parts of the film.

Authors write about all sorts of subjects whether or not they have direct experience with them. Fortunately I finally figured out a good use for my vast imagination. At least I hope you all think so. 😉