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Reporter surprised that a woman’s brains do not leak out during a blowjob

zuzu

How else to explain this?

There are moments that make you question your fundamental assumptions about the world. One of them took place a few days ago, when news emerged that Monica Lewinsky had just graduated from the London School of Economics.

She did not!!

Lewinsky, 33, is known more for her audacious coquetry than for her intellectual heft, and the notion of her earning a master of science degree in social psychology at the prestigious London university is jarring, akin to finding a rip in the time-space continuum, or discovering that Kim Jong Il is a natural blond.

Monica Lewinsky may be a lot of things, but stupid isn’t one of them.

Moreover, just because what she happens to be known for is sucking the president’s dick doesn’t mean she can’t also be a smart person. Sucking dick doesn’t leach one’s brains, after all, something our reporter, Libby Copeland, might know by taking a poll of the newsroom at the Washington Post. Fifty bucks says there’s a cocksucker or two among the reporting staff there, and one doesn’t get a byline at the WaPo by being an intellectual lightweight.

(Hush, you. We’re even including Richard Cohen. Being a fool and/or a tool does not mean that one isn’t actually a smart person.)

I’m actually a little rocked by the idea that Monica Lewinsky is 33 by now. Damn. I guess I didn’t realize a) how much time had passed and b) that she was only 5 years younger than I was.

From what I know, through friends of friends in the publishing world who were involved in babysitting her during her book tour, Lewinsky was — many years ago — a bit needy. But then, she’d spent well over a year under intense scrutiny and federal investigation, waiting for her testimony and being the butt of jokes. And probably starved for the company of people her age.

But remember — she turned the hobby she picked up during this time, knitting, into a business. So she had the requisite experience in the business world to go to the London School of Economics.

Copeland’s article is all about the “dumb-but-smart” uh, “phenomenon.” And how, exactly, did Monica Lewinsky fall into this category? Because she trusted the wrong person and got dragged into a Congressional witch hunt. And then had the good sense to keep her mouth shut while the investigation was pending and the press was busy constructing a narrative that she was a dumb, fat broad who sucked dick in the Oval Office.

33 thoughts on Reporter surprised that a woman’s brains do not leak out during a blowjob

  1. I kind of liked the article, and was surprised to see so many bloggers taking that stance on it. I read it as “we thought they were dumb, but turns out they were really smart”. Yeah, it was stupid that everyone thought she was dumb for the blowjob (and a lot of people thought she was more stupid for trusting Linda Tripp), but I saw it more of a mea culpa. Maybe I gave it too much leeway.

  2. Lewinsky, 33, is known more for her audacious coquetry than for her intellectual heft, and the notion of her earning a master of science degree in social psychology at the prestigious London university is jarring

    This would seem to betray the writer’s startling lack of experience with both givers of blowjobs and graduate degree holders (and the decidedly non-null intersection between the two.)

  4. «Lewinsky, 33, is known more for her audacious coquetry than for her intellectual heft»

    this is more or less factual, is it not? similar to, e.g., “leonard nimoy is known more for his role as ‘spock’ than for his artistic prowess as a photographer.”

    as well, many people who know ms lewinsky personally have described her as “ditzy”, “immature”, etc. (have you read the starr report?) and her tv interviews have never come across as particularly erudite or intellectual, imho.

    the author of the article admits that he/she drew the (apparently) incorrect conclusion that lewinsky was dumb. nonetheless, the blogger (zuzu?) seems to be wildly misrepresenting the author’s own assumptions and conclusions i.e., ‘fellatio causes brain damage in women’ …huh?

  5. Every time I read anything negative about Lewinsky, I just cringe. I overidentify with her, I suppose, as a fat Jewish woman about her age who has sex and talks about it with her friends. Granted, I’ve never had sex with anyone famous, but I could too easily see myself in Lewinsky’s position. I’d like to think that I wouldn’t have fooled around with a married — woman in my case — but I can’t say that I imagine myself as all that far from Lewinsky’s shoes.

  6. Nobody tried to strip Clinton of his Rhodes Scholarship when he got caught; no one should deny that this grad student has moved on with her life despite the most mortifying of bad judgment and, I’ll say it, immorality. But what adult reaches maturity without regrets?

    She could have 5 million dollars whenever she writes the “my affair with Bill Clinton” book; instead, she started a business, put her ass through grad school, got a degree and left the 5 million on the table.

    Upon her peace. She is a role model on how to pick up the pieces and move on with grace and focus. Would that I had her guts.

  7. The whole received narrative of the Lewinsky affair, for which the Post bears some responsibility, depends on her allegedly having been a certain kind of person: slatternly, trivial, exploitable, & stupid. If she’d already been conventionally credentialed as a serious, intelligent, self-directing women, everything would have read differently. (At a minimum, she would have been thought worthy of a larger measure of privacy & respect than women who’re designated bimbos & sluts are afforded.) Not that there would’ve been no scandal, but bien pensant opinion would have deemed it less of an fatal affront to the Republic. The evidence of what she’s done with her life since 1998 casts new light on the way the press portrayed her, & must be slightly embarrassing to at least some of the people mocked & disdained her then.

  8. Lewinsky, 33, is known more for her audacious coquetry than for her intellectual heft, and the notion of her earning a master of science degree in social psychology at the prestigious London university is jarring, akin to finding a rip in the time-space continuum, or discovering that Kim Jong Il is a natural blond.

    ‘Cause, you know, they let ANYONE be a White House intern. You don’t have to be smart or motivated or anything. Just apply and, if you’re cute, they let you in.

    I read it as “we thought they were dumb, but turns out they were really smart”.

    No, it was distinctly a “they appear dull or ditzy but possess unpredictable pockets of intelligence” (quote from the article). When’s the last time you described someone who was “really smart” as having “pockets of intelligence?” 😛 That’s a back-handed insult, not a compliment.

  9. ‘Cause, you know, they let ANYONE be a White House intern. You don’t have to be smart or motivated or anything. Just apply and, if you’re cute, they let you in.

    HONESTLY.

    And, let’s be real, folks, if I ever have I the opportunity, I’d probably blow a president. Definitely not Bush, and I probably wouldn’t have given Clinton a blowjob even in the dark, but I’d do it if I thought it’d be an interesting experience. Not even just so I could say I did! Just because, well, hey, who wouldn’t want to see what it felt like fucking a president? 😛

  10. In ten years, will a similar article be written about Jeff Gannon and what he was doing in the Bush White House? I think not and not because Gannon isn’t likely to graduate with a degree from a prestigious institution. Rather, this happens to be about a woman who had the nerve to explore her sexuality (immoral? Perhaps Clinton was, but that’s between him and Hillary). For this, Lewinsky is supposedly considered unintelligent. I consider the real idiot to be the author for baring such bias for the world to read (not to mention the publishers who allowed it to go into print).

  11. ‘Cause, you know, they let ANYONE be a White House intern. You don’t have to be smart or motivated or anything. Just apply and, if you’re cute, they let you in.

    In all fairntess, in the Bush White House, all you need is a degree from an unaccredited Bible college and a letter of recommendation saying you hate gays and atheists with extraordinary passion.

    If she’d already been conventionally credentialed as a serious, intelligent, self-directing women, everything would have read differently. (At a minimum, she would have been thought worthy of a larger measure of privacy & respect than women who’re designated bimbos & sluts are afforded.) Not that there would’ve been no scandal, but bien pensant opinion would have deemed it less of an fatal affront to the Republic.

    The passive voice is a bit problematic here. The mainstream media would’ve probably read it differently. But the voters at large came close to returning a Democratic majority in the House even though the media portrayed Lewinsky as dumb.

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  13. I wouldn’t be too congratulatory about Monica Lewinsky getting a White House internship or into the London School of Economics on merit alone, because it probably helps that she’s rich. I think the press was pretty stupid about her (like they are about almost any woman related to politics … like the ‘calculating bitch’ narrative about Hillary Clinton or always gabbing about Condoleeza Rice’s outfits) and that Linda Tripp was kind of awful, but I don’t understand why I’m supposed to feel sorry for her.

  14. I mean, I sort of feel sorry for her the way that I feel sorry for celebrities who are stalked by paparazzi and creepy fans, but considering the many worse things in this world (like terminal illness or being homeless), I can’t personally summon that much sympathy for her.

  15. the press was busy constructing a narrative that she was a dumb, fat broad who sucked dick in the Oval Office.

    Was that created by the press, or fed to them by Carville, Begala and Blumenthal?

    (Or even Billy Jeff himself? Monica came on to me and I never touched her, right?” said to secretary Betty Currie.)

  16. Naw, you see, semen contains these molecules that when swallowed (or taken up by the vagina) find their way into the bloodstream, cross the blood-brain-barrier, and attach themselves onto neurons and cause programmed cell death. This renders the woman brainless! (and also has the added benefit of explaining why a man should never, NEVER accept the sperm of another man. It’s dangerous stuff.)

  18. I remember that when she first started her handbag business, Allure magazine took them around to various fashion designers (including Michael Kors) to get their opinions. They were very impressed … until they found out who the designer was.

    I think I understand why she got her degree at the London School of Economics. There are certain people who can never look at her and not think, “But she’s had Teh Dirty Sexx! Doesn’t everyone know that she had Teh Dirty Sexx and cant’ be allowed in polite society?”

  19. “And, let’s be real, folks, if I ever have I the opportunity, I’d probably blow a president. Definitely not Bush, and I probably wouldn’t have given Clinton a blowjob even in the dark,”

    Well, I can’t imagine anyone I would ever know being President, but assuming that it could happen I would of course be willing to give him a blow job. (And Clinton — would be on the short list.) But not under his desk, in his office! Seems to me they both showed awfully poor judgment.

  21. zuzu

    I obsess? Care to offer some evidence to substantiate your assertion? (go see how much I obsess on my blog)

    ahem… a little projection?

  22. semen contains these molecules that when swallowed (or taken up by the vagina) find their way into the bloodstream, cross the blood-brain-barrier, and attach themselves onto neurons and cause programmed cell death.

    Such a beautifully nerdy snark.

  23. Perhaps “obsess” isn’t the right word; after all, you do spend a lot of time fretting about Muslims and immigrants and slutty girls and accusing liberals of being anti-Semitic. But here’s a start.

    In any event, this post has very little to do with Bill Clinton, except for the part where he is the owner of the dick that got Lewinsky into the public eye. But for the purposes of the attitudes reflected in the article in question, who the dick is attached to isn’t important. The idea that fellatio makes a woman stupid is.

  25. And, let’s be real, folks, if I ever have I the opportunity

    … I would (assuming I found the guy attractive to begin with) repeat “National Enquirer” to myself until I lost the impulse, and keep picturing my least flattering possible photo visible in every supermarket checkout line, with the least flattering possible headlines to accompany it.

    She is a role model on how to pick up the pieces and move on with grace and focus.

    Second that sentiment.

  26. It is interesting to me that the same people who obsess about the “anti-Semitism” of liberals are the exact same people who declare at every opportunity that Monica Lewinsky is a fat, money-grubbing, filthy slut.

    I realize that we’re talking about people who are severely irony-impaired, who wouldn’t understand the genuinely anti-Semitic underpinnings of how Monica was portrayed if you smacked them in the face with it, but it’s still very, very interesting.

  27. In all fairntess, in the Bush White House, all you need is a degree from an unaccredited Bible college and a letter of recommendation saying you hate gays and atheists with extraordinary passion.

    Touchè.

  28. I think that Copeland may be doing a bit of projection there; after all, here’s someone who also wrote that Barack Obama is so gosh-darn popular because… wait for it… everyone has a crush on him. Really.

    Lorelei: Ditto, only switching for gender. In fact, if I live long enough to see a woman elected President, and if it were someone not unlike, say, the current junior senator from New York, the only hesitation that I would have would be as a result of looking for an oxygen tank so that I wouldn’t have to come up for air.

  29. here’s someone who also wrote that Barack Obama is so gosh-darn popular because… wait for it… everyone has a crush on him

    She’s hardly the only one writing about him in those terms. I am getting just about tired of articles that talk about Obama as if he were running for Chief National Sex Object. It’s reminding me of when Quayle was supposed to appeal to the women’s vote because he was good looking.

  30. Not, mind you, that I put Obama and Quayle in anywhere near the same category for brains and general natural competence. Just that I’m not evaluating Obama as a prom date.

  31. t’s reminding me of when Quayle was supposed to appeal to the women’s vote because he was good looking.

    Wait, he was supposed to be good looking? Wow, the things I missed being a youngun back then.

  33. Wait, he was supposed to be good looking? Wow, the things I missed being a youngun back then.

    I think that any presidential or vice presidential candidate that’s younger than average gets described as good looking, no matter what he looks like otherwise. No matter what MRAs try to say about men being unlike women and improving with age, it’s still true that young men look better than older men. On average, anyway.

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