Sex and the Secret Service

I suspect that you've heard about the Secret Service sex scandal where President Obama's advance team in Cartagena, Colombia allegedly hired prostitutes, then failed to pay at least one of them.

While the investigation of the events in question grinds on, and the televised political discourse tries to blame the president for this, one big aspect of this story has been missing from the coverage.

If the Secret Service wasn't a total boys club, this wouldn't be an issue.

I am not in the Secret Service. I am far too lazy to even bother applying. As far as I know, my entire interaction with the Secret Service has been when I used to see Lady Bird Johnson's security team guarding her, back in the days when we used to share a manicurist at a small salon in Austin.

Looking at the Secret Service from the outside, one thing is clear.
You don't have multiple people allegedly hiring prostitutes on a work trip if your work culture is one where women are respected as people.

According to this NYT article, 25 percent of the people who work in the Secret Service are women. No data is given for what percentage of these women are field agents.

Then again, as parodied on Jon Stewart earlier this week, the idea that women are people is having a rough time right now.

Update: Another Jon Stewart clip

The Daily Show with Jon Stewart
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Last Night at the Alamo Grindhouse (aka Watching Vintage Prints with director Quentin Tarantino) (2007)

Dressed in jeans and a black hoodie-- and clutching a beer-- film director Quentin Tarantino paced in the spotlight of the small stage of the Alamo Drafthouse theater in downtown Austin, Texas. He told the mostly male crowd that when he was in 6th grade, his mother had gotten him a subscription to Playboy. His first gift issue featured a pictorial on Casanova & Company (1977) a Tony Curtis/Casanova/ mistaken identity flick. Later re-titled Sex on the Run, it recently served as the kickoff film for Quentin Tarantino presents Last Night at the Alamo Grindhouse (May 10,11,13)—a three night mini -festival of grindhouse triple bills—showcasing Tarantino’s personal vintage 35mm prints of the low-budget gems that once played America’s drive- in’s.

The festival was inspired by the relocation of the downtown Austin, Texas Alamo Drafthouse, a quaintly tattered beer and food-serving movie venue. The downtown location was the first incarnation of what’s now a successful small chain of theaters known for eclectic programming. Sex on the Run was followed with Sex with a Smile (1976) an omnibus film of several short sex stories. The night ended with The Oldest Profession (1967) with seven directors contributing shorts on prostitution through the ages. (Tarantino’s sex comedy prints also screened at the 2007 Los Angeles Grindhouse Festival as Euro Sex Comedies Triple Feature.)

One distinctive aspect of the Alamo QT events is that there’s no velvet rope. The illusion: you’re watching movies in someone’s living room. Patrons are asked to refrain from seeking autographs or shoving screenplays into Tarantino’s face, but you can walk up and chat.

…Men are from the Hot Wheels aisle, women are from the Barbie aisle. (2005)

Getting a Valentine's gift for your significant other can be as tricky as making a tactical error on The Apprentice. One mistake and you'll be painfully backpedaling for weeks. Thus the question lurks in the minds of men everywhere--what do women want for Valentine's?

As the big day creeps ever nearer, the holiday advertising becomes as inescapable as kudzu. Some advertising features sex, and some features romance. And it all seems to be aimed at men doing the purchasing. For Valentine's is about the myth of men pursuing, not the woman's art of being caught.

But why is it that men are the ones doing the buying? Shouldn't love be a two way street? Not a chance buddy, not a chance. And the toys we played with as children are partially responsible.

One painfully popular guide to male/female relationships is, Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus. Perhaps a more accurate title might be, Men are from the Hot Wheels Aisle, Women are from the Barbie Aisle.

Let's start with a look at how boys are indoctrinated into the world of "Me Macho Tarzan, You Decorative Jane." The "boy aisle" at the local discount retailer is filled with rows of crushing, maiming, crashing, shooting and body-slamming things. With all of this relentless activity, is it any wonder that a sensitive man is as difficult to find as half-price Godiva?

Meanwhile, back in Barbieland, girls are indoctrinated into cleaning, cooking, grooming, and caring for others. With that in mind it's hard to consider the Easy Bake Oven and Snack Center as anything other than a tool of capitalistic sex-role indoctrination. Or, as Barbie might say during a political uprising, "Never mind the barricade, girlfriends; lets just make more cupcakes!"