Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with writing and culture

Sex without pleasure

alice ayres — Fri, 22 May 2009 10:15:10 -0800

Does there exist a culture where sex doesn't result in orgasm? Just finished reading Do They Hear You When You Cry? I started trying to write a story about a futuristic society, and I am coming up short with my limited knowledge. I am wondering if there exists a culture where men ejaculate, but neither the man nor woman experience pleasure when having sex? Links, books, movies (or any other pop culture media), etc? I am familiar with some countries and cultures that practice female circumcision, but are there cultures/countries where men and women BOTH do not derive pleasure from sex? Or even where a man does not derive pleasure from sex?

Follow up (in the event that no such culture exists) - I would assume that this type of culture would have a huge effect on power relations and sexuality and relationships. With my limited knowledge, I feel ill-equipped to say exactly what the effect may or may not be based on actual evidence. Would this be negative or positive [to use generic terms]?

Full disclosure: I'm not a professional writer. I would just like to make sure my story has realistic undertones. Fauziya Kassindja's story moved me, and I am afraid my preconceived notions and lack of concentrated study in this area will lead me to make broad, sweeping wrong generalizations.

Who are the best feature writers out there?

reenum — Wed, 08 Apr 2009 09:21:10 -0800

Who are the best magazine and newspaper feature writers, past and present? I've been on a magazine and newspaper kick lately. I've gotten tons of articles by Michael Lewis, William Langewiesche and Jack Hitt. For sports, I love Gary Smith. I also like to read the in-depth articles put out by ProPublica.

Could you suggest others who write deep, delving pieces about a subject? The subject itself doesn't matter; I care more that the writer have the ability to engage a reader and explain a situation or subject in an interesting way.

Thanks!

New theories of Mimesis (in digital/hypertextual/hypermedial cultures)

0bvious — Mon, 16 Feb 2009 07:09:48 -0800

I am looking for writings on mimesis in regards new, digital, hypertext and hypermedial technologies and cultures. I am following the redefinition of mimesis. From Plato's disregard of oral culture, through his mimesis of Socrates' dialogues in writing. Following Plato, Aristotle's theory was always a written mimesis, thus the order and processes of representation and mimicry were fundamentally written.

In essence, I am interested in how the artefacts of oral culture differed in their mimesis to written culture, and thus, how our modern move from a written to a digital/hypertextual culture will similarly impact on mimetic embodiment.

(I am also concerned with the terms 'digital' and 'hypertextual' - perhaps they are too narrow. Oral, written cultures and then XXXXX? The terms 'Cybertext' and 'Ergodic' do not seem to cover the ground wide enough.)

I have been reading Marshall McLuhan, Jacques Derrida, Paul de Man and Gunter Gebauer's and Christoph Wulf's Mimesis: Culture--Art--Society. I am looking for writings on digital, hypertextual mimesis, and how it differs, how it has altered, the theoretical embodiment of representation in thought, artefacts, language and culture.

Your help, ideas and advice are much appreciated, as always

Help me find this story...

psergio — Thu, 05 Jun 2008 19:26:04 -0800

A few years ago there was a short story in the New Yorker set in the near future. The characters were children raised in a world where they seemed to be market research test subjects... I really can't recall any more details than that... Does this ring any bells?

Looking for detractors of Literary Darwinism

0bvious — Tue, 03 Jun 2008 06:45:07 -0800

Literary Darwinism: A relatively new field of evolutionary psychology / literary theory. What has recently been written in argument against it? I have read through some of the works of:

Joseph Carroll
Ellen Dissanayake
Jonathan Gottschall
Robert Storey
Michelle Scalise Sugiyama

...and a few others, yet I am having a hard time finding critical work designed to bring down the arguments of Darwinian Literary Studies. It appears that the field of Poststructuralism is one of the main targets of Literary Darwinism's (Lit-Dar) proponents.

Has anyone attempted to re-address the balance?

I have found little in Lit-Dar writings about specifically text and textuality, something the Postmodernists very much conern themselves with. Surely there is some work on the subject that addresses its absence from Lit-Dar writings?

(I am not interested in the critique of Evolutionary Psychology - of which there is plenty - unless it specifically addresses the Literary and Textual concerns of Darwinian Literary Studies.)

Thanks a lot

Which books are most representative of each city?

reenum — Tue, 06 May 2008 22:21:37 -0800

What one book will allow others to gain the truest insight into the soul of each city or region Inspired by this recent Metafilter post and blatantly stealing the idea (and some text) from this AskMe post, I have decided to try and read a book about all of the major cities in the United States and the world. I've seen AskMe's in the past about various cities, such as London and New York.

So: which single book from each city is most revealing of the lifestyle, customs, struggles, and spirit of that nation? I lived in San Francisco a while back, and I would recommend any of Armistead Maupin's Tales of the City' books to get a true idea of life in the City.

How Things 'Become': The Infinity of Definition

0bvious — Thu, 13 Mar 2008 09:18:41 -0800

I am looking for writings on the infinity of definition. I am interested in the exponentially divergent curve that is definition.

We create writings and art to better define the world, yet true definition is infinite.

We mediate the universe by erecting borders of definition, i.e. all striped, four-legged, hooved mammals are probably zebras. We categorise the universe into hierarchies, but the more we examine the more pronounced and expansive these hierarchies become.

Language is our greatest defining tool. Yet, the metaphors we evolve to expand the potential of language can themselves only be made to refer back to the language which created them. An infinite loop emerges in most definition.

As new technology emerges we use it to 'add' meaning to artifacts which are already partly defined. By looking at the world with ever more refined microscopes we bring reality into greater clarity. This metaphor can be expanded to refer to texts, art, archaeology, culture etc.

Who has written on the problem of definition? What critical theory has been written on the emergence of infinity?

This question adds on to past questions I have asked at MeFi including (in reverse order):

- Art and artifacts experienced through technology
- The mimetic and narrative capacities of artefacts
- Examples of 'The Infinite' in Myth and Their Effect on Conditions of Truth

Here's hoping you have some ideas...

Travel Writer's Guide to Iceland (in 4 days!)

0bvious — Mon, 18 Feb 2008 04:30:02 -0800

Four days in Iceland from Friday: me and my girlfriend are travel writers and will eventually do a write up of the hotel, restaurants and attractions we visit. How can we best stray off the beaten path in only FOUR days? I have browsed the previous Iceland question on AskMefi, and got some great info, but am now really looking for something unique, and perhaps even, specific to this weekend (Fri 22nd to Wed 27th).

We are staying in Reykjavik at the 101 Hotel. We WILL be visiting the Blue Lagoon, as it is in our writing contract. How else are we to best spend our time? We want to do a really original and exciting write-up of our stay.

And also, what is the weather like at the moment (for anyone who might live there)? And what kind of budget might we need?

Thanks a lot!

A new way to look at the world...

reenum — Thu, 10 Jan 2008 08:23:42 -0800

Looking for books that talk about aspects of society or culture in new and interesting ways. I loved Freakonomics, I love the work of Malcolm Gladwell, but I'm not really sure how books in this vein are categorized.

What I like most about the above are the new and interesting way they look at sometimes mundane subjects or are able to find connections between seemingly unrelated topics.

Any suggestions on similar types of books from the hive mind?

Thanks!

Free rags?

paxton — Mon, 27 Feb 2006 07:45:34 -0800

What are some of the better free weekly rags where you live? Being from MA we have a pretty wide variety of free weekly and bi-weekly publications available. But I'm curious to see what works elsewhere that might be a little different from what I'm used to seeing. Bonus points for rags from college towns/cities. Any extra insight into how ad supported papers in your area do from a business perspective would also be of interest.

Ameica the vast

MiguelCardoso — Wed, 07 Apr 2004 17:59:22 -0800

Here's what could be called an urgent question for Europeans who make their living writing (amongst other things) about the United States. How do you explain to intelligent Europeans that "America" is actually as big and varied a proposition as "Europe"? If not more. [More inside.] Just as Americans have no idea of how diverse Europe is, Europeans think "America" is a collective noun of Republican cowboys interspersed with old-style Anti-Vietnam hippy protesters. They have no idea of the enormous geographic and cultural diversity of the U.S. New York; Washington; California; the Midwest - that's about as far as even the most sophisticated analysts will go. What good arguments can a European journalist give to show that America is a big country, where everyone is just as opposed to everyone else as in all the countries of Europe?