why do i hate that artist thing that people keep posting on my facebook so much? why am i such a jerk?

I've met a few swingers or people claimed to be swingers. Seems like they're always either kind of homely boring types or really neurotic in my experience.

I don't think it's about swinging or key parties. women spending time together without men present used to be inherently suspicious activity. the most benign explanation is that they were having lesbian sex, thus the innuendo.

disappointing, but probably accurate

that's going to be the title of my textbook about the real history of 20th century america.

key parties sound suspiciously like something that didnt actually happen

that's another reason why getting some first hand stories would be illuminating!

i was reading a 70's paperback the other day that was just transcripts from a feminist awareness group. suburban-types. its a pretty sad book. the stories are really sad.

the first and last time i heard about key parties was the ice storm.

does that periodical you collected have any references to such parties, LL?

Key party[edit source | editbeta]
"Key party" redirects here. For the cryptographic identification event, see Key signing party.

NPR's Fresh Air ‏@nprfreshair 17m
TODAY: Jonathan Lethem's politically radical family, growing up on a commune, + Grandma's sex life inspired his new novel Dissident Gardens.

Side note, the fact that Lethem's new novel is set in Queens makes me suspicious that he's actually an agent of gentrifying real estate interests. That said, I will probably read it.

haha

does that periodical you collected have any references to such parties, LL?
i was wondering just that -- i haven't looked through all of them because i was saving them for later -- they are a finite resource -- but maybe this calls for some investigation.

Key parties split my parents up. My mum was attending them, my dad wasn't. /therapy

I'm not about to ask my mum about them tho eugh gross

that sucks, but also it's v interesting. probably not an isolated incident.

i take the Tupperware thing simply to mean that it was a party where women could be in a non-male space and drink and chat and whatever, same sort of principle as book clubs in recent years?

in the third Rabbit novel - Rabbit is Rich i think - there's a whole awkwardly self-conscious couples swinging scene which taps into that same middle class underbelly in the 70s vibe as The Ice Storm

every sequel to fear of flying to thread too -- but that's all fiction. i want to know what really happened at these parties.

an oral history, if you will

it's an interesting question - a lot of contempo fiction makes a deal of this scene but how real was it and how much was just contempo fiction feeding off itself? offhand i can't think of any other big social crazes that have been mostly pure fiction tho

There's definitely something to the fact that "dark underbellies" make for good fiction and therefore may have a kind of exaggerated presence in our minds as a result.

has anyone written a book/made a movie that exposes the dark underbelly of suburban life? i think that'd be a pretty good idea.

someone should write a book exposing the warm, soft underbelly of the crack trade

there's some interesting work been done on the extent to which cannibalism was a fiction of Western travel writers/novelists which isn't quite the same thing but close enough

i can't think of any other big social crazes that have been mostly pure fiction tho

― iMacaroon dragoons (Noodle Vague), Monday, September 9, 2013 11:14 AM (6 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

http://www.museumofhoaxes.com/hoax/weblog/comments/3524/

oh yeah good shout. not immortalized in fiction much yet tho afaik

i mean there's a bunch of urban legend scare stuff, still see "watch out for vicious crims handing out LSD disguised as sweeties" notices on the reg

it just seems like even swingers prob want to be able to choose who they do sex with

definitely, but then i reckon in a party with maybe 6 couples, fixing the draw shd be pretty straightforward and probly happened more often than not

invite one ugly couple for the "russian roulette" variation

"there's some interesting work been done on the extent to which cannibalism was a fiction of Western travel writers/novelists which isn't quite the same thing but close enough"

THE most popular literary genre in America for many years was the captivity narrative. often padded and puffed up and made more scary. or even made up completely.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Captivity_narrative

I think the compelling aspect of the 70s key party is that they were both widespread and casual, which pretty clearly wasn't the case, even if they did happen sometimes.

the 70s key party myth, I should say

i totally believe that there were 70's hot tub swing parties and there were definitely places like plato's retreat where things got crazy. but i had never heard of the key thing until the book. cool idea anyway.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plato's_Retreat

has anyone written a book/made a movie that exposes the dark underbelly of suburban life? i think that'd be a pretty good idea.

lol

thought that was gonna be a treeship post for a second, there

in elementary school i had a friend who had just moved from california and he asked me one day if my parents ever had naked parties

my wife can tell you about some scary parties in the 70's...

you know, hippie drug parties and stuff. they always sound like a nightmare to me. people blowing pot smoke into her face and stuff when she was little. damn hippies.

I had this American Studies class on the postwar period that was kind of premised on the idea that postwar suburbia was a pill-addled horrorfest. In retrospect, while suburban life is worthy of critique, the tone of the course seems a bit hysterical.

xp want some whiskey in your water, some sugar in your tea

it wasn't leave to beaver, i will tell you that much

heavy domestic booze consumption was probly much more socially acceptable from the 40s thru 70s than it is today, it's not a massive stretch to believe that prescription drugs and then some non-prescription drugs wouldn't have been a massive no-no in the same era

we're all alright we're all alright hello wisconsin

lol

i actually kinda thought this was cute/funny. such a rarity to not hate facebook stuff that looks like it was shared a zillion times.

https://sphotos-a-ord.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-frc1/1000964_659407387411334_733906806_n.jpg

ok i lol'ed

I don't understand this "suburbia" stuff...as if suburbs are one giant boring blob with neat front lawns and topiary. People who didn't grow up in them started this. To hear my mom tell it, the suburbs were more liberal in the sixties and seventies...they owned their own single-family property instead of taking in boarders or being one yourself.

In my early years I had to live with grandparents , cousins and an elderly couple all in one building...I was really happy but that is how my parents grew up...in a crowded apartment block.

Marijuana...shit, we had heroin dealers a few blocks away. No, it isn't "cool" - they were scary people and neither smart nor "liberal".

https://sphotos-b-iad.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ash4/q77/1234305_10152206256353986_1114325619_n.jpg

i can think of two things wrong with these wacky science jokes

what a horribly formed wacky science "joke"