“Part of it, of course, is simple curiosity in bondage and sadomasochistic sexuality (BDSM). That part is simple to explain: The pain and fear that comes with sadomasochistic sex causes the brain to shunt blood flow away from its executive “decision-making” areas (frontal cortex), which results in an altered state of consciousness in both the giver and the receiver. Like autoerotic asphyxiation or cocaine, experiencing fear and pain can heighten sexual gratification, but at some cost…”
Issue 15 of Berlin Geist Literatur, similar to our issues in the past, explores a single theme or issue relevant to the New Left from various perspectives and in various contexts. With the recent and continued regression in the United States and abroad of women’s rights, sex worker’s rights and protections, freedom of physical expression, and bodily autonomy in general, Issue 15 is centered on physicality, dedicated to a thoughtful discussion of physical connection and attraction, the nature of desire, and the inherently human nature of physical expression inward and out.
"The body of light, sometimes called the astral body or the subtle body, is a quasi material aspect of the human body, being neither solely physical nor solely spiritual…"
The café is where the future will end and begin again as talk of uprising – our promised revolution – is loud and most-persistent here. It keeps our hands warm in the winter.
Love is freedom, Gogo said. Love is flying and falling and falling and catching and getting up again. Love is not what it was before, she said, but what it will be tomorrow.
It will only be a matter of time before the accessibility and readily-available nature of A.I. partners will supersede the time and effort it takes to impress a real one.
