Chapter 01: First Dinner
When I lived in the East, I had a girl friend Lois. She shared a house, or really an apartment, with two other women. One was a chemist and she was hardly ever home. Margaret was a linguist but worked with us -- we were graduate students -- in the Computer Science Department. We all liked to have nice dinners. We were not fast-food kind of people -- we enjoyed cooking good food for ourselves and others.
This Tuesday night, we had a guest, Emma. She was the wife of Michael, one of my graduate student friends in the Department. He has some special course to attend. Rather than have Emma eat alone at her home, we invited her to dinner.
Margaret was a strict feminist, eager to point out inequities in the treatment of women. She also seemed rather prudish, or at least inexperienced. She was tall and had an elegant figure, but came off rather cold. Emma was a short, Italian woman with plenty of curves -- she was very warm.
During dinner, the conversation some how came around to birth control. Lois talked about the side effects of the pill and got sympathy from Emma. Margaret asked "Why do women always have make life comfortable for men. Why do women have to take the pill?"
In defense of men, I retorted: "Well, of course women have burden of childbirth, so they are the most motivated to prevent pregnancy."
Not seeing much support from the women at the tale for this rationale, I suggested another. "But for centuries men have been wearing rubbers, even though this reduces the sensations of sex."
"Do you use rubbers?" Margaret asked, implicitly accusing me of hypocrisy. Defending myself, "Well, not right now. Lois is on the pill but I have used them regularly. I even carry them in wallet." Lois and I had only been together for a couple of months, so this admission did not seem too bad at first.
However, the women were happy for an opportunity to give me a hard time. "So, you carry around rubbers, even while going with Lois, just in case you run into an available women?" asked Emma with a smile. Lois glared at the implication.
Margaret, giving me an opening said: " I have never seen a rubber."
"I would be happy to model one for you." I said in my most ingratiating voice, hoping to change the subject.
Emma seized on this, seeing an opportunity for fun and humiliation of me. "Oh Peter, what a great idea. Show Margaret the entire process of a rubber and a penis". This was an allusion to our unstated assumptions about Margaret's sexuality. Lois was quiet, not sure how she should react. Margaret, having quietly examined the sexual politics and consulted her own sexual nervousness, and not wanting to appear to back down, said, "OK Peter, it will be fun to see a man strip and show his stuff."
"Is that OK with you Lois", asked Emma belatedly and gave a reassuring smile. Lois nodded, and said -- without a lot of conviction, "This is a new side to Peter, perhaps we can have some fun".
Emma took over. She thought this was great fun, a little excitement outside her long-term marriage.