| SEX IN THE SOUTH: UNBUCKLING THE BIBLE BELT
by Jon W. Sparks Reprinted from Commercial Appeal Do you reckon that sex in the South is any different than it is anywhere else? Shoot, Bubba, yin and yang can be as different as fiction and nonfiction. Sometimes, it's hard to tell the difference. Suzi Parker, for example, writes of Skirtman in Little Rock. This is a straight man who likes to wear skirts. And high heels. But he's not a cross dresser: He doesn't look or act feminine. This is truth. Eva Morris, on the other hand, writes of finding a fine musician on Beale Street and making a steamy and memorable visit to his dressing room. This is fantasy. Parker's book, "Sex in the South," is an engaging and revealing collection of feature stories ranging from lap dances at Platinum Plus in Memphis to closeted gays in Natchez, Miss., to a musclewoman for hire in Florida. And, of course, Skirtman. On the other hand, Morris's torrid and revealing book is fiction that reads as memoir and is less varied in subject matter. But there is a generous assortment of situations. Highly diverse variations on one basic carnal theme. Parker is a Little Rock-based freelance journalist and has contributed features to The Commercial Appeal in recent years. She has solid reporting skills and a breezy approach to feature writing that works well with this topic, don't you know. She puts herself in these expositions and that works with the attitude - think Janeane Garofalo with manners. But sometimes you hunger for another voice. Her profile of a gay man in Natchez, for example, relies solely on the subject's voice. He gossips, he makes claims, he judges people. You wonder, "Can that be true?" But Parker seeks out no one to confirm or counter his statements. Nonetheless, this is a terrifically readable book. It is meant to entertain (see how a sex toy party is like a church meeting!), educate (a burlesque dancer is not a stripper!) and amaze (an underwater porn enterprise in rural Tennessee!). And can they do all that at Platinum Plus? Where Parker's book is about those wacky erotic things people do, Morris's "RoadBabe!" is explicitly erotic in itself. The author is based sometimes in Memphis, sometimes in East Hampton, N.Y., and oftentimes on the road. She has secured a niche writing automotive raunch and has appeared in "Best American Erotica 2000." Nothing can ruin an amorous tale quicker than dimwitted scribbling. Happily, Morris's well-written smut will ring your belles lettres (but don't try it all in one sitting). Her style is conversational and plenty wicked. Conversational is good, because it's intimate, but sometimes not so good when it wavers in consistency. But nothing that a little editorial tightening couldn't fix. Perhaps with some wide leather straps and a firm hand. |