Lorem Ipsum > Pain for Pleasure.

Back in college, I took a typesetting class where Lorem Ipsum was the common dummy language to fill in paragraphs. At that time, I knew it was Latin-ish, but never gave much thought to what it might actually mean.

"Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipisicing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis aute irure dolor in reprehenderit in voluptate velit esse cillum dolore eu fugiat nulla pariatur. Excepteur sint occaecat cupidatat non proident, sunt in culpa qui officia deserunt mollit anim id est laborum." 

Today, for some reason I decided to look into it.

According to Lipsum.com, it appears a typesetter altered "de Finibus Bonorum et Malorum," which was written in 45 BC by Cicero. Lorem Ipsum has been used by typesetters since its first appearance about 500 years ago. In 1914, H Rackham provided the following translation:

"No one rejects, dislikes, or avoids pleasure itself, because it is pleasure, but because those who do not know how to pursue pleasure rationally encounter consequences that are extremely painful. Nor again is there anyone who loves or pursues or desires to obtain pain of itself, because it is pain, but because occasionally circumstances occur in which toil and pain can procure him some great pleasure. To take a trivial example, which of us ever undertakes laborious physical exercise, except to obtain some advantage from it? But who has any right to find fault with a man who chooses to enjoy a pleasure that has no annoying consequences, or one who avoids a pain that produces no resultant pleasure?"

I find most of the text interesting, especially considering its appropriateness for most of society today... but then I re-read the first sentence.

"those who do not know how to pursue pleasure rationally encounter consequences that are extremely painful"

It makes me wonder if Cicero maybe just wasn't into spanking or other masochistic pleasures.

call me your slut

"Will you talk dirty to me? Tell me I'm your slut."
"Slut? Really? You're ok with me calling you that?"

He was very sweet, making sure he didn't insult me or hurt my feelings.

To be honest, I love being called a slut. It's what I am. When one of my guys calls me his slut, it makes me feel all warm and gooey inside.

Why oh why would an intelligent woman like me not only allow someone to call me a slut without smacking them into the next room, but want to be called a slut? Because don't see it as a negative word.

Even in college, when it was said that so-and-so is a slut, I was envious of her. She allows herself to be free. She allows herself to have fun. She spits in the eye of the double standard where men are seen as conquerors when they sleep around but women who do are immoral. She is confident enough to be true to herself.

Damn, I want to be like that.
(Ironically, she probably was just the unfortunate subject of gossip and hadn't been sleeping around at all.)

So why and how can I possibly see this as a positive term? A term of endearment?
Evil Slutopia says it best:

"In most of the world, 'slut' is a highly offensive term, used to describe a woman whose sexuality is voracious, indiscriminate, and shameful. It’s interesting to note that the analogous word “stud,” used to describe a highly sexual man, is often a term of approval and envy. If you ask about a man’s morals, you will probably hear about his honesty, loyalty, integrity, and high principles. When you ask about a woman’s morals, you are more likely to hear about whom she shares sex with, and under what conditions. We have a problem with this.

So we are proud to reclaim the word 'slut' as a term of approval, even endearment. To us, a slut is a person of any gender who celebrates sexuality according to the radical proposition that sex is nice and pleasure is good for you. Sluts may choose to have solo sex or to get cozy with the Fifth Fleet. They may be heterosexual, homosexual, or bisexual, radical activists or peaceful suburbanites.

Our approach to a sex-positive language is to reclaim the original English words and, by using them as positive descriptors, wash them clean. Hence our adoption of the word 'slut.'”

The UrbanDictionary.com top definition says it second best:

"Slut: a woman with the morals of a man"

I don't see any problem here.

(BTW, he did talk dirty to me, growling in my ear that I was his dirty slut as I rode him hard. Hearing this filled me with incredible joy and passion. The night ended with one of the biggest orgasms I'd ever had.)


photo credit Dirty Grrrl