vanilla

An acquaintance of mine recently sent me a link to some explicit lesbian porn, in celebration of Porn Day or some such. I applauded her spirit, and thanked her. It was a 10-20 minute film, and i didn't watch it all, as it got boring by the time the sex began. I mentioned this to her, and that i prefer erotica with intelligent dialogue and character development. She said i was being silly, and that porn was simply for revving up and gettin' off.
I told her that my tastes in porn were more vanilla than hers.
I was being a little self-deprecating and disingenuous with my word choice, just to make sure she felt affirmed in sending me the link, and affirmed in her love of porn. Vive la porn! Even though the hardcore stuff bores me, the free expression of any kind of porn is tied into progressive social strides in general, and for women in particular.
I'm pretty historically comfy in my shoes, but there have been one or two moments over the years when i entertained the thought that my tastes in porn were a reflection of repressed, middle-class morality. An analogy clicked into my mind recently however, which has made me comfy with saying that my disinterest is not because i'm an uptight white boy, or worse (gulp), an elitist.
I realized i relate to hardcore porn much the same way i relate to hiking/climbing magazines. I adore hiking and rock climbing, yet have absolutely no interest in hiking/climbing magazines. When a friend shares one with me, i'm singularly unmoved. Why? Because i have NO interest in watching someone else climb. If i'm not doing it myself, i just don't care. It doesn't matter how pretty the trail or mountain is. I don't care if someone's discovered a new climbing technique, or lived some amazing adventure...i don't care, i don't care, i don't care. I don't want to look at climbing, i just want to do it.
Ding ding!
And just so, is my attitude on hardcore porn. Porn loses me when it's simply about "the act". And it's not explicit depictions per se that turn me off...there are some NC-17 films that i love, for the drama and for the titillation.
For that matter, i can also get swept away in a really good book about climbing.
And for what it's worth, my visual titillation doesn't always have to involve a high level of artistic merit...i still haven't seen BATTLESHIP POTEMKIN or LAWRENCE OF ARABIA, yet i've viewed PARADISE (or at least fast forwarded through to the good parts) more times than i can recall.
But i'm generally not interested in other people "doing it" (either activity). I'm not an elitist or snob, and i'm not vanilla...i'm just self-absorbed. Or more flatteringly, i believe life is too short to be on the sidelines.
Show me a picture of a mountain, and i'm ready to climb it. I don't need you to backlight it or adorn it with lacy lingerie, or show me people having a GREAT time climbing it. You're boring me, i was already sold.
Show me a picture of a woman, and i'm ready to free climb her peaks, bivouac in the curve of her neck, and whisper in her valley. No, i don't want trail guide Ron Jeremy!
As Ron White said so perfectly, "Seen one pair of boobies......you wanna see the rest of 'em." But i can take it from there. If you want to show me a gloriously indulgent carnal act involving the aforementioned boobies, you'd better have some damned fine writer attached to the project...
Either that, or have all the men wearing latex "wrob" masks.
But really, that's not necessary.
I'll take it from there.