I got stung a bit this morning -- the perils of ego-surfing. Someone mentioned in the Another Subcontinent forum that some author had 35,000 hits on Google, which made me realize that I didn't know how many I had. So I checked (around 13,000 -- convenient having a unique full name), and then started randomly visiting links, just to see what people were saying. And on one of those links, regarding the sex-writing class I taught last summer, there was some guy saying that he wouldn't want to take a sex-writing class from me, because he had seen me doing a spoken word piece about being in an open relationship with two guys, and he didn't want to even imagine one person having sex with me, much less two. Ouch.
His point appeared to be that you wouldn't want to learn how to write about sex from someone you didn't find sexy. Personally, I think finding the teacher sexy might be a little bit of a distraction from the writing, but that's not really relevant.
The moral of this story is, look before you leap. Or possibly, be careful what you ask for, you might get it. Or maybe, it is better to concentrate on getting your work done to the best of your abilities than to spend time fretting about what people are saying about you, because there will always be some idiot somewhere saying something stupid.
Bah. I can imagine it. Heck, I can imagine a lot more than that. 😉
Don’t let one person’s opinion bug ya. There’s lots of people I don’t find attractive and plenty I know don’t find me attractive. Which is all well and good, ’cause if everyone found the same person sexy, there would be no room for everyone else.
Mary Anne,
I think this means you’ve hit the big time–he wouldn’t have gone to the trouble of making the comment if you hadn’t entered his subconsciousness in some way.
Moral: celebrity has its perils, and requires a thick skin.
Wow. What an unbelievably narrow aesthetic range that man has. Believe me, Mary Anne; there are plenty of us out here who can imagine it quite happily. He sounds like someone who could really benefit from your workshop. Too bad that he’s not open to it. He’s got a pretty bizarre perception of what a writing teacher is there for, too. Reminds me of the online discussion I read on Missy Elliot, where some guy was opining that she shouldn’t be allowed to sing because he didn’t find her sexy. And his opinion of her beauty — by no means shared by everyone — has *what* to do with her musical talent? This feels similar to me. I agree that you probably did get under that other man’s skin at some level, made him think about things that make him squirm. Good for you!
Oh, it’s no big deal. I got my revenge already; I imagined him as a perfectly good-looking guy who nonetheless mysteriously repulses women. He’s only actually been laid once, and it was a pity-fuck. He can’t get women to sleep with him, or even go to dinner with him. No wonder he has to take out his frustration on the net. Poor bastard.
*chuckle* you know, I didn’t want to mention it, but I’d been spinning quite a similar fantasy.
winter makes me lethargic, too, until I use my SAD light. did you ever try it?
No — I really should at some point. I’m doing mostly okay, though, as long as I don’t let myself turn on the tv until evening…