"Lust"

Now seeing as I was unable to attend class and partake in the discussion of Susan Minot's Lust I thought I should discuss it in my first blog post. Now Lust focuses on the psychological consequences of  a young women having meaningless sex, this woman who is portrayed as what today some people might call a slut. Merriam Webster defines a slut as " a woman who has many sexual partners", not a person or even a man just a women.

Our society's differentiating views on men and women shows the way we hold men and women to different (often double) standards. For men the more woman you sleep with the more "respect" or "props" you get from your "bros" whereas if a woman were to have "too many" sexual partners she would be judged for it by both men and women. I think my fellow ethics classmate, Marek discusses it very similarly and probably better than me in his blog post: Lust or Love.

The pressure society puts behind sex can be one of the reasons the narrator comes off being rather detached and casual when she is recalling or rather listing her fornication's with all of these men. There is a certain lack of intimacy that she portrays and even when having meaningless sex with someone there is still some pleasurable gratification involved. However the narrator, she seems to separate body and mind especially when she describes herself as just "a body waiting on the rug". Which further pushes another society view where sex doesn't always equal love. 

"They turn casually to look at you, distracted, and get a mild distracted surprise, you're gone. Their blank look tells you that the girl they were fucking is not there anymore. You seem to have disappeared." 

I think by ending the story with those lines Susan Minot gives the audience a look into the confused narrator's mind. In my opinion sex means something different for everybody at different points in their life. We don't all want relationships all the time sometimes we just need the release that comes with a one night stand. However, there are also benefits to being in a relationship, as I call it all the gooey chick flick moments. In the end I think the narrator wanted more than just sex, she wanted the attention and love the comes with being in a relationship.

If you would like to comment and share your thoughts on the story that would be fantastical, no trolls please. : )

Lust by Susan Minot