England's Daughters, America's Women

Growing up female in America. What a liability!

Jong (1973)

ʒeve þi cunte to cunni[n]g, And crave affetir wedding

Proverbs of Hendyng (hendyng=clever), Middle English (mid-13th century)

I was not against marriage. I believed in it in fact. It was necessary to have one best friend in a hostile world, one person you’d be loyal to no matter what, one person who’d always be loyal to you. But what about all those other longings which after a while marriage did nothing much to appease? The restlessness, the hunger, the thump in the gut, the thump in the cunt, the longing to be filled up, to be fucked through every hole...

Jong (1973)

By this proverbe thou shalt understonde, Have thou ynogh, what thar thee recche or care How myrily that othere folkes fare? For certeyn, olde dotard, by youre leve, Ye shul have queynte right ynogh at eve. He is to greet a nygard, that wolde werne A man to lighte his candle at his lanterne; He shal have never the lasse light, pardee, Have thou ynogh, thee thar nat pleyne thee. ... What eyleth yow to grucche thus and grone? Is it for ye wolde have my queynte allone? queynte=cunt

Chaucer, The Wife of Bath (late 14th c)

The zipless fuck is absolutely pure. It is free of ulterior motives. There is no power game. The man is not ‘taking’ and the woman is not ‘giving.’ No one is attempting to cuckold a husband or humiliate a wife. No one is trying to prove anything or get anything out of anyone. The zipless fuck is the purest thing there is. And it is rarer than the unicorn. And I have never had one.

Jong (1973)