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Share something that stood out for you while reading Buzz and why it’s meaningful to you. It can be a quote, an illustration, a paragraph, a story, or a chapter. Please reference a page number, if possible.
Something that really stood out to me in buzz as shocking was reading a on page 4 that it was illegal to penetrate the genitals or anus. I had no idea at all!
Another thing that stood out to me was how intelligent Betty was on page 48 where she discusses her knowing of maintaining “emotional connection in order to have pleasure”only made women more dependent instead of truly liberated. Betty knew separating the two didn’t make female sexuality/masturbation male oriented it made womens sexuality and masturbation independent in the same way mens was. An equal platform for sexuality and masturbation. Feminists it seems at the time were afraid maybe to see similarities between men and themselves so they refused to see female pleasure could be equally independent versus having value judgements like “disconnected, wrong, emotionally devoid”. Betty saw everyone being hurt by the patriarchy and honored both experiences without blame but instead with curiosity and understandingOne of my favorite parts of BUZZ was Chapter 8: Female Masturbation. I loved reading the story of how Dell Williams met Betty at a yoga retreat and wanted to ask Betty how to masturbate but she was too shy. She of course did end up contacting Betty and then participated in a Bodysex Workshop and the rest is history. I liked that this chapter went into depth about Bodysex workshops and Betty’s role in raising awareness on masturbation and women’s pleasure.
There were many things that stood out when reading BUZZ, the Presbyterianism women whom where trying to create sexual release for themselves while navigating an anti feminist environment. Which is still alive today.
Being a lover of Her-story/ History, I love love loved the archaeological findings of dildos and phallus’s as far back as BCE and further still . I find it fascinating how we always celebrated sexuality but over time it became repressed and subjected to shame and guilt, yet the book details how we as a human race despite the repression in some cultures have always found a way to connect to our sexuality. The waves of revival that come and go through ages, for example sales men going door to door selling dildos in 1900’s and then forward to Betty’s time and people having dildos and vibrators in sex parties and once again becoming a common place to live, in the bedside cabinet. I like the point she makes about Williams flipping consumerism on it’s head; shopping doesn’t need to be an idle past time for women but an act of sexual awakening. Williams focus on Betty trailblazing the path for a women’s sexual revolution is so brilliant since its subjugation since Biblical times.
I appreciate that in chap 8 that Lieberman covers a great deal of Betty’s life’s work, so even if you’re not studying Betty’s Dodson, you get a very direct feel of her activism. The message that woman can enjoy pleasure as much as men and not relay on men for their pleasure is still to this day such strong message for us women. And that we can have more fun with or without a lover, it’s our choice.
The vibrator revolution.
Chapter 10: “Vibrators did change women’s lives for a very simple reason: They gave women the first orgasms of their lives. These weren’t teenagers either; they were women in their thirties and forties. A first orgasm is memorable at any age, but to have one after years of sexual relationships is even more profound. These women began to question why, after decades in a relationship, they had never felt sexual satisfaction. And they began to wonder what else their lives had been lacking, which led them to question the gender roles that had defined their lives.” (182)
This passage stood out for me because I wasn’t aware of the importance of the vibrator as a tool to bring women to orgasm before encountering Betty’s work, attending my first Bodysex workshop, and reading this book. I have always masturbated with my fingers since a young age and I didn’t know it was not that common for many of us to do so. I am amazed at how this tool can be liberating for women who had never experienced an orgasm before. It is a powerful device in women sexual liberation I can see that now.
First, I’d love to see Buzz made into a miniseries. I think that would be AWESOME.
So much about this book stands out to me. I like that it’s written not as an academic paper but like a story with characters. I like that the author links each person she talks about to the next person she’s introducing: “A few years before Dodson introduced vibrators to her conscisousness-raising group, Gosnell Duncan was miles away in Chicago…” This helps my brain locate each of the people being highlighted in relation to each of the other characters and then to me, the reader.
One of the parts that has stuck with me is chapter 6, pages 93-107, about Gosnell Duncan making dildos out of silicone so that he and others could have a meaningful sex life as paraplegics and various other differences in abilities and then growing into this sort of advice-giving sage as the only person many of his clients could go to for their various sexual advice needs.
Duncan’s “problem” that he solved for himself and his clients had never crossed my field of awareness, not because I don’t care but more because I’m not in the paraplegic community. Now that this is in my frame of reference I’m like, “Duh! Of course this was a huge need that needed to be met!” The whole chapter was a lightbulb for me and made me just want to know more about Duncan and his life and the people who were helped by him.
It’s irritating that Duncan’s clever and cute names for his products like Joy Boy got rejected. Personally, I want to have sex with the Joy Boy! And I do not want to experience the Artificial Penis #1, #2, or #3 – unless it was maybe a kinky medical fantasy scene. It’s also messed up that he was not met with a resounding, “hell yes,” to his inventions but rather had to deal with the hardships of our cultural “epidemic of chasteness.”
Why are we not honoring this fabulous and brilliant man in our sex education? (My question kind of answers itself, we don’t have meaningful sex education for anyone let alone highlighting the heroes of the sex toy/sex enjoyment movement. This highlights the repression soup we’re all brought up in.)
It stands out to me that he was a black paraplegic man addressing his needs and the needs of his communities but that the satisfaction of him and his community reached its way to me a white-presenting non-binary woman in the future, where I now get to enjoy my harem of silicone dildos, in their colors other than “caucasian nude,” some of them looking like penises and others not resembling human penises at all. This makes a good case for why we need all of us, with our differences and our particular needs and desires; our differences make us stronger and better as a fun and fabulous species here on this planet.
I’m skipping over so much amazing stuff about Duncan and this chapter but I’m trying not to make my forum entry super long. I now feel a similar affinity towards Duncan as I do for women like Betty Dodson and others. I get to exist in my life the way I do because of them. I hope that others get to exist because I do the work I do as well.
“Not only are women taught masturbation is wrong, but they are also taught that a man should bring them sexual pleasure “ pg. 55
This quote stands out for me, because seeing this myth in print, woke me up. OMG, My sex life or the lack of it has been runny on this script for my life time. What an oppressive, pleasure stealing believe.
So encouraging to read Betty’s emancipation from the above myth. Know that I am awake; I am taking my pleasure for myself with my self pleasure practice and being proactive with partner sex. And waving the positive sex banner for women.
”speak your mind, state your pleasure” all day long !
It shocked me that selling sex toys could be illegal and you could get legally punished for it. The whole book was so interesting to me. I loved that this was a required read as sex toys are a huge part of my life and what I share with other women on how to stimulate themselves to mind blowing orgasms. Thank goodness they are legal now or I would be locked up for life.
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