'X' explores pleasure and pain in a dystopic world

It's Been a Minute

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News Commentary, Society & Culture, News, Spirituality, Religion & Spirituality

4.6 • 8.8K Ratings

🗓️ 5 July 2022

⏱️ 24 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

How do freedom and rights intersect with sex, pleasure and the self? It's a question the U.S. is facing in the wake of the Supreme Court's recent decision to overturn Roe v. Wade — and a central theme in writer Davey Davis's new novel. In X, Davis relocates the conflict over these ideas from courts and abortion clinics to queer clubs and BDSM dungeons in a more dystopic version of our present.

In this episode, guest host Anna Sale talks to Davis about why sadism is romantic, how bureaucracy can become a tool of oppression and why bad behavior doesn't make us less human.

You can follow us on Twitter @NPRItsBeenAMin and email us at [email protected].

Transcript

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0:00.0	You're listening to It's Been a Minute from NPR.
0:03.2	I'm Anna Sale.
0:04.8	This is my first episode guest hosting It's Been a Minute,
0:08.1	and I'm so excited to be here.
0:10.4	I'm usually the host of WNYC's Death, Sex, and Money,
0:14.5	an interview podcast about the things we think about a lot
0:17.8	and need to talk about more.
0:19.7	Things that are taboo, which is why it is fitting
0:24.0	that my first episode here is filled with taboo.
0:27.5	And a warning that means this conversation might not be suitable
0:30.8	for all listeners.
0:32.2	It contains a frank discussion about sex,
0:34.6	including kink, domination, and sex acts that include some violence.
0:39.8	We are talking about a new novel called X.
0:43.8	If you were describing the book to someone unfamiliar
0:46.8	with the particulars of the scene and the world
0:49.3	that this book inhabits, how would you describe this novel?
0:52.3	Okay, the short version of that is Dyktrama.
0:55.7	That's Davy Davis, the author of X.
0:59.8	It's a noir, quasi-mystery set in the Brooklyn Queer BDSM scene.
1:05.3	X is about a person named Lee who lives in New York.
1:09.0	They are a lifestyle sadist, so they're into SM.
	...

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