Reverend Jen does it for science
The life of a sex columnist in New York City is perhaps not as glamorous or lucrative as the Upper East Side fashionista Carrie Bradshaw may have lead television viewers to believe. Rev. Jen an elfin performance artist who operates a troll museum out of her Lower East Side apartment is far from ordinary but she provides a more realistic example (at least financially) of a writer in the big city.
Rev. Jen’s third book Live Nude Elf is a humorous collection of sexperiments performed for nerve.com’s monthly column “I did it for Science.”
When the column’s original author Grant Stoddard retired from his post after three adventurous years Nerve required an innovative replacement that could “keep it fresh.” Unfortunately for Rev. Jen Stoddard was widely celebrated in the city leaving her feeling like “Grant was the Suzanne Somers of Nerve which made me the Jenilee Harrison of Nerve which is a very tough thing to be. Especially because most people don’t even remember who Jenilee Harrison is.” However over the course of two years Jen proved her sexual ingenuity and ability to entertain.
Among her many erotic endeavours some of the more notable include: nude house cleaning female ejaculation a Sex and the City endurance test sex toy Olympics climbing inside a giant latex balloon at a balloon fetish party and my personal favourite: the key party.
Ada Calhoun Rev. Jen’s editor instructs Rev. Jen to throw a key party like the one in the film The Ice Storm (1997) — a film based in suburban Connecticut in the early ’70s starring Sigourney Weaver Kevin Kline and Elijah Wood.
Essentially a key party is an outdated swingers party for married couples. The men throw their keys in a bowl and at the end of the night the women pick the keys out of the bowl and go home with the corresponding males.
Rev. Jen is hesitant about pursuing the assignment as most of her friends are in monogamous relationships but Calhoun coaxes her to “just throw the party and see what happens.” After consuming large portions of cheap beer the ’70s decor sets the mood for ’60s free love and Rev. Jen’s party turns into an orgiastic soiree of sexual debauchery.
Like Rev. Jen this book is far from boring. It is a highly enjoyable and quick read. My only criticism is that it could have done without the overly boastful forward by her literary agent and former lover Jonathan Ames. His eager praise of the good reverend’s talents left a minor regurgitation in my mouth before the book even started. Luckily Rev. Jen has a charming wit and after two pages in I had completely forgotten about the cheesy intro.
