April 19, 2018

"The husband was sitting on the sofa in the living room, totally nude, clearly in a sexual position."

From an "Ask Amy" letter (WaPo) by a woman who was flummoxed by the lack of blinds on her neighbors windows. The comments focus on that one sentence:
What is a sitting sexual position on a sofa? Could he just have been watching the playoffs?
And:
I do find amusing the indication that he was "sitting on the sofa in a sexual position." what could that even mean? Was he in "downward dog mode, or sporting a major erection? I wonder if they look over and wave when they see LW looking at them. Perhaps they are just into nudism. LW does not say they are having sex, just the husband watching TV naked.

29 comments:

Kevin said...

Could he just have been watching the playoffs?

Playoff hockey is like sex for our neighbors to the north.

rhhardin said...

Maybe it's hot. Draw the curtains and there's no breeze.

rhhardin said...

Take up life drawing.

traditionalguy said...

It's that new fangled Color TV to blame. Back in my day the real black and white TVs had no sexual attraction...other than the Test Patterns, maybe.

buwaya said...

Men.
Any position is a sexual position.
Women not really.
It's biology.

Leland said...

At least he wasn't drinking coffee, while a woman trespassed across his yard with her children.

exiledonmainstreet, green-eyed devil said...

If he makes a habit of sitting naked on his sofa, that sofa is pretty nasty and unsanitary. Think about it. Underwear exists for reasons besides modesty.

Sebastian said...

"The husband was sitting on the sofa in the living room, totally nude, clearly in a sexual position."

You know, like, spreading his legs, ready for action. Clearly.

Bill R said...

I do that in the morning sometimes. It gives me a place to put my doughnuts.

William said...

Is there such a thing as an Odalisque male pose?

Dust Bunny Queen said...

Perhaps we can consider the neighbors' lack of clothing and lack of blinds an expression of FREE speech.

If burning the American Flag, which isn't actually verbal expression is considered free speech, why shouldn't nudity be FREE speech? Visually portraying a protest against the restrictive confines of a repressive capitalistic society that strangulates the natural processes of the body and enriches itself over the mandatory purchasing of manufactured ...oh Hell. I can't keep up this drivel, but you get my point.

You are not allowed to limit free speech. Right? Nudity can be free speech. Plus they are only speaking in their home.

Bilwick said...

I'm typing this in a sexual position. Because that's the kind of scamp I am!

Expat(ish) said...

Very cis-judgemental of them.

-XC

Freeman Hunt said...

I assume hand placement may have been key.

Etienne said...

A sofa is from Arabic Moslems, while a couch is from French Catholics.

Coucher avec moi ? Non, sale cochon, tire-toi de mon canapé.

tcrosse said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
tcrosse said...

In Canada they call it a Chesterfield, while in Milwaukee we called it a Davenport.

Leland said...

Maybe the #Metoo movement can overturn Lawrence v. Texas like that ruling overturned Bowers v. Hardwick?

Gahrie said...

Perhaps we can consider the neighbors' lack of clothing and lack of blinds an expression of FREE speech

I think it's a privacy issue.

Surely the 14th Amendment protects your right to sit in your living room while nude.

PatHMV said...

Professor, an unrelated comment regarding links to the Washington Post. It's bizarre to me that if I click on a link to a WaPo article you have posted, I can't read it, because there is a subscription requirement, and all I get is an ad to buy a subscription to them.

But if I go to Google and search for the article, I can click right through, no ad, full, un-nagged access to the article, on the Washington Post website.

I've long thought that to promote blogging, they should offer a blogger subscription, where if you (Althouse) paid a little more, then your readers could access the article you link to without a subscription of their own.

Yancey Ward said...

He was obviously man-spreading while nude.

Leland said...

He was obviously man-spreading while nude.

And sub-consciously she thought, "I'd f'that" ergo it was sexual. It's all in the eye (and mind) of the beholder.

Yancey Ward said...

It reminds me of the Seinfeld episode where Jerry wakes up on the NY subway to find himself sitting next to a naked man. The man says, "I am not ashamed of my body." Jerry then says, "You see, that is the problem- you should be."

Ralph L said...

PatHMV, I usually have the opposite problem. I can see it from someone else's link but can't when going there myself.

There was a court case in the DC area in which a guy was seen nude in front of his glass door by children--who were taking a shortcut through his yard.
Don't remember how it came out. Did we discuss it here? Sounds Althousian.

JaimeRoberto said...

Maybe he was sitting like Al Bundy with a hand in his underwear.

Ralph L said...

Someone's comment at WaPo: invite the other neighbors to watch. Make popcorn.

Leland said...

Just remember, the guy sitting on a couch in his house nude is just asking for sex.

Now if a woman is in her house nude, what she is wearing (or not wearing) doesn't mean she was interested in sex. It is not ok to see a naked woman and just think sex.

#MeToo

Gahrie said...

I can't believe that everyone is making the assumption that it was a man just because it had a penis.

iowan2 said...


"A sofa is from Arabic Moslems, while a couch is from French Catholics."

And davenports? That's what I grew up with, I'm guessing German Protestant.