Annals of Cross Cultural Understanding

I commented on this over at TPM (Yglesias), but I’m in a saucy mood so I will elaborate on the point here.Matt considers the assertion by a Sunni cleric that "lesbianism is not as bad as homosexuality, in practical terms."

Echoing many others, I can observe that it would be interesting to see the cleric’s field notes on that one. But set it aside. The more general point is that his attitude, whatever its merit, has been pretty much conventional wisdom in the United States for a long time. Proper Victorian ladies were permitted to have “companions” as long as they didn’t frighten the horses (one advantage of being held in contempt is that you can do pretty much what you want when the contemnor isn’t looking). Details are here. In many circles, for a man to have a lover known as a former lesbian imputed a certain cachet. It suggested a woman who takes sex seriously and is willing to take some risks for it—together, of course, with the suggestion that she’d finally met the guy who could escort her onto the true path.

On a parallel path, it is said that lesbian content offers attractive opportunities for the porn industry, because some women will watch it, and men will watch anything. Lesbian prison flics count as a genre all their own.

So the cleric doesn't need to worry about taking that people-to-people visit to Omaha. He'll feel right at home.