Grown-up Sex

Among my pet peeves is the use of the word "adult" to describe anything with sex in it. These means a whole range of movies, books and songs aimed at an adolescent mind-set (and by this I mean, overly concerned with sex and the body in general) are grouped under the heading "adult" which no longer means "a person having reached the age of reason".

This is not to downplay, minimalize or even diss sex. But how about sex for grown-ups? And more specifically, sex for grown-up women? (Because, truth to tell, sex for grown-up men sounds an awful lot like adolescent sex, doesn't it? Or am I being vastly unfair?) As an antidote to ditties about hotness, lollipops, muffins, whatever, I intended to offer yet another Joni Mitchell song: "Come in from the Cold", from the 1991 album Night Ride Home It's about connection, uncertainty, and by golly, it's about sex, but it's a grown-up woman talking about sex. Up until today, they had a lovely version of the video released with this song, but it's been withdrawn to a "copyright claim by a third party", and the other two versions on YouTube are mysteriously silent. I may check in and embed in a few days.

In the meantime, if you want to hear a woman's rather less reflective take on sex, may I suggest one of my personal favourites Right Hand Man by Joan Osborne (to which I can link, but not embed)? There's been several claims that this song is about masturbation, but I say, bosh. Why would she be asking to borrow a toothbrush and clean shirt? And (let me stress this is a rhetorical question), how many people walk differently after masturbation? I think this lady's been busy with a partner...