Republicans' Telling Sexual Fantasies

As numerous posts over the years have noted, the great majority of political sex scandals involve Republicans, including "family values" Republicans caught in same sex scandals (think GOP Senator Larry Craig or former Virginia 2nd district GOP Congressman Ed Schrock for starters).  At the same time, numerous reports find that the highest Internet porn usage is in the Bible Belt.  What's going on?  I've always believed that both phenomenon were a function of the repressive political and religious atmospheres in which the right wing types live: they are supposed to be monogamist who wouldn't even dare "lust in their hearts" over anyone but their spouse.  Yet, in reality, they want to have forbidden sex - seemingly lots of it.  A new study which looked at sexual fantasies of Republicans and Democrats seems to bear out this view of Republicans longing for "forbidden sex."  Less sexually repressed Democrats have far less longing for sex that involves infidelity.  A piece in Politico looks at the findings.  Here are some excerpts:

I surveyed 4,175 adult Americans from all 50 states about what turns them on and published the findings in a book entitled Tell Me What You Want. As part of this survey, participants were given a list of hundreds of different people, places and things that might be a turn-on. For each one, they reported on how frequently they fantasized about it.

I learned a lot about the nature of sexual desire in modern America, but one of the more intriguing things I uncovered was the political divide in our fantasy worlds.

While self-identified Republicans and self-identified Democrats reported fantasizing with the same average frequency—several times per week—I found that Republicans were more likely than Democrats to fantasize about a range of activities that involve sex outside of marriage. Think things like infidelity, orgies and partner swapping, from 70s-style “key parties” to modern-day forms of swinging. Republicans also reported more fantasies with voyeuristic themes, including visiting strip clubs and practicing something known as “cuckolding,” which involves watching one’s partner have sex with someone else.

As I argue in Tell Me What You Want, the supersized sexual appeal that non-monogamous and voyeuristic acts hold for Republicans likely stems from the fact that sex outside of marriage and multi-partner sex are huge no-nos in a political party that continues to make “traditional marriage” one of the cornerstones of its official platform and regularly funnels federal funds toward abstinence-only sex education. Nothing makes us want to try something like being told you can’t do it. This is why taboos, no matter what they are, often become turn-ons.

The appeal of the taboo stems from a long-standing principle of psychology known as reactance—which stipulates that when our freedom is threatened and we’re told we can’t do something, we want to do it even more. Many a parent has discovered this principle and used it to their benefit in shaping their children’s behavior through reverse psychology: Frame the desired act as something your child isn’t allowed to do and you just might get what you want.

To be sure, sexual fantasies have complex origins. They aren’t just a product of our political affiliation and what we’re told we can’t or shouldn’t do—there are myriad other factors that contribute to why we develop the turn-ons that we do. But my research suggests that politics certainly seems to play some role.

Following [Sarah] Palin, the next most frequently mentioned politicians in Republicans’ fantasies were John F. Kennedy, Bill Clinton and Nikki Haley. . . .  (Note that my data were collected in 2014 and 2015 before the Trump presidency began and only into the early days of his campaign. At that time, I only received one fantasy about Donald Trump in the entire dataset.)

Again, it was nice to see my analysis about sexually repressed Republicans - and by extension, Christofascists - borne out.

The Ashley Madison Hack - The Gift that Keeps on Giving

As previously noted on this blog, hypocrite extraordinaire - and sexual predator - Josh Duggar has been "outed" thanks to the disclosure of hacked information from the Ashley Madison adultery site.  But Duggar is hardly along in the ranks of the "godly folk", professional christian crowd and, of course, anti-gay Republicans who are proving that it is they themselves, not gays, who are the real threat to the "sanctity of marriage."  So far joining Duggar are first, Christian YouTube star Sam Rader, as reported by Joe Jervis:

Christian YouTube star Sam Rader, who first came to our attention for a viral clip in which he tried to convince his five year-old daughter that gay marriage is a very bad thing, has been busted for having an Ashley Madison account. Last night Rader posted a clip in which he announces that Jesus has already forgiven him. . . . The Raders reportedly make into the mid-six figures from their YouTube channel.

Perhaps even more fun is the "outing" of anti-gay Executive Director of the Louisiana GOP, Jason Doré, who is incredibly claiming he had an Ashley Madison account for "opposition research."  Admittedly, the GOP trends towards being stupid, but even local Louisiana yahoos may find Doré excuse to be too far fetched to believe.  The Times Picayune looks at his ridiculous attempt to mount a smike screen:

Louisiana GOP executive director Jason Doré said Thursday that his name is on a list of accounts released as part of the Ashley Madison cheating website hack because the site was used for "opposition research."

The director of the statewide Republican Party said via text message that an account was created under his name and his former personal credit card billing address in connection with the work of his law firm, Doré Jeansonne. He declined to say who he was using the account for.

The database shows Doré spent $175.98 on the site, which he signed up for in 2013.

Ashley Madison, the site known for connecting people looking to cheat on their spouses, was targeted by hackers and the data of millions of account holders was released Thursday.

The Louisiana GOP has been outspoken about issues connected to infidelity in the past, having asked former U.S. Rep. Vance McAllister to resign his 5th District congressional seat last year after he was caught on camera kissing a married staffer.  GOP Chairman Roger Villere Jr. did not respond to a request for comment.

As Towleroad notes, Bill Maher is having a field day with the outing of these lying hypocrites:

Career homophobe Josh Duggar’s latest fall from “grace” proved to be the perfect fodder for Bill Maher on Friday’s Real Time monologue, with the late night host saying “forget building a wall around Mexico, let’s build one around Josh Duggar!”

Regarding Duggar’s apology, Maher had this to say:

“It must be so great to be an evangelical Christian. You know cause Jesus always forgives no matter what you do. I ask Jesus forgiveness, ah there it is again.”

Maher also poked fun at Alabama being the most adulterous state in the Ashley Madison hack:

“You know can’t say they didn’t warn us. They said when gay people get the right to marry, the Christians are going to go ‘ah, f–k it'”

Still Another Herman Cain Accuser Comes Forward

Perhaps there is a God - one who enjoys exposing liars and hypocrites. Why else would we be faced with would be standard bearers of the party of "family values" who can best be described as hypocrites if not pathological liars. On the one hand we have serial adulterer Newt Gingrich blathering about his desire to "protect the sanctity of marriage" from the gay barbarians (to borrow a phrase from "Marcia" Bachmann). One the other, we have Herman Cain who has just been accused of yet another affair outside his marriage. Cain is equally anti-gay and wants to "protect marriage." That two such individuals are supported by conservative, "pro-family" Christians shows that utter moral bankruptcy is likewise the norm amongst the self-congratulatory pious set. It's mind boggling that serial infidelity and likely constant lies are perfectly fine with these "godly" folks as long as the adulterers/liars are heterosexual. Talking Points Memo looks at the latest revelation about Herman "I can't keep it in my pants" Cain. Here are some highlights:

Herman Cain is quickly dealing with the latest round of accusations of alleged sexual impropriety — this time, by letting the national media know about it before it hits big.

Cain appeared Monday afternoon on CNN, saying that a woman will soon make a public allegation against him. The news story in question is from the local Fox station in Atlanta, which is teasing an upcoming report that a woman will claim a 13-year affair with the candidate, which he denies.

Another Talking Points Memo piece goes into details of the affair and reports that reporters have confirmed that the accuser had Hermain Cain's private cell phone number. Here are some of these details:

Ginger White, the Atlanta businesswoman who is claiming that she had a 13-year affair with Herman Cain, has given details of the alleged relationship to the local Fox station in Atlanta.

White told the station that Cain would fly her out to cities where he was speaking, and that they would then stay nice hotels. She claims that their physical relationship ended about eight months ago, right before Cain launched his presidential campaign.

White said she came forward because she was worried about potential media coverage about herself — and because of Cain’s attacks on the other women who have accused him of sexual harassment. “It bothered me that they were being demonized, sort of, they were treated as if they were automatically lying, and the burden of proof was on them,” White said. “I felt bad for them.”

White also showed the station evidence of some kind of contact with Cain — cell phone records, with Cain himself responding when the station tried the number:

She showed us some of her cell phone bills that included 61 phone calls or text messages to or from a number starting with 678. She says it is Herman Cain’s private cell phone. The calls were made during four different months— calls or texts made as early as 4:26 in the early morning, and as late as 7:52 at night. The latest were in September of this year.

With all these accusations, it's really becoming impossible to believe that with all the smoke there hasn't been a fire - or two, or three, etc.

East Coast Marriage Lunacy

Meanwhile, on the east coast in Maine, the fundies are seeking to push for a Prop 8 type rescission of Maine's recent gay marriage laws. As is always the case with these folk, truth is never an obstacle to their disingenuous rants, one of which is that same sex marriage will encourage adultery among heterosexual marriages - something that is beyond ludicrous since evangelical Christians already have the highest divorce and remarriage rate of any religious group. Moreover, the Christo-fascists claim that monogamy is not considered important by gay couples. Tell that to the boyfriend or 99.99% of the gay couples I know and you'll get a smack down. But again, with the Christianists truth never matters. Here's a highlight from the bullshit being disseminated by the Maine Marriage Alliance:

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How does your neighbor’s same-sex marriage undermine your marriage?

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Traditional societies depend on shared morals. Unfortunately, in modern times, democracies have traded absolute truths and collective morality for personal freedom.
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Legal recognition for openly non-monogamous gay unions would effectively destroy the taboo on adultery. The result is a continual downfall of families and society.
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Stanley Kurtz, a research fellow at Stanford University explains: “What we need to understand — but do not — is that gay marriage will undermine the structure of taboos that continue to protect heterosexual marriage — and will do so far more profoundly than either the elimination of sodomy laws, or the general sexual loosening of the past thirty years. Above all, marriage is protected by the ethos of monogamy — and by the associated taboo against adultery. The real danger of gay marriage is that it will undermine the taboo on adultery, thereby destroying the final bastion protecting marriage: the ethos of monogamy.”

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Remember, Stanley Kurtz has authored other bogus studies that manipulate the data to achieve the result that he seeks - precisely the type of "study" that the Christianists prefer. I'd also note that if what my boyfriend and I do or don't do in terms of monogamy threatens your marriage, I'd say your marriage is already pretty f*cked up to start.