an interview with WASITGOODFORYOU
Meet Eliza Lawrence, a third year at the University of Edinburgh and founder of the true and tender WASITGOODFORYOU sex blog. We decided to send her some questions as the colour Nude often sends us lovely (and sometimes not-so-lovely) reminders of being nude and intimate.
What has hearing other people’s stories/submissions taught you?
What made you decide to start this blog?
It started partly at university when I had all my wonderful friends over for dinner and sex would always be the second topic. Sometimes even before I put the kettle on. It would cause quarrels, it would unleash emotions, bring up powerful thoughts and it would motivate midnight writing. These conversations would ignite so much energy that I wanted it to be written down and kept. Realising sex had little safe, neutral space on the internet without being a sexualised or taboo topic, I began to compile WASITGOODFORYOU. I wanted to make it as energetic as these late evening chats by pushing against a lack of the anonymous and exploring sex through individuals' creative passions.
Who do you admire?
I admire those who don’t just blend in. It is so easy too these days. When I'm saying this I don’t mean ‘don’t dress the same’ or ‘don’t go to the same club nights’. I’m meaning that I admire those that have passions. Right now I’m living with 4 other amazing flatmates who each have some very different passion or goodness that they will stand firm to keep and carry through their life. I admire their bravery.
What do you hope to achieve with this blog?
For people to not view sex as something we shouldn’t talk more about I guess. However as I also have a literary context, I love the creativity the blog shares and so I love being the publisher of all these beautifully talented humans. I want it to get more and more submissions from all kinds of walks of life in the future and then come out with a monthly magazine.
What is the sexiest (best) piece of advice you’ve ever been given?
Fall for that person despite them maybe not being there to catch you.
If you could interview anyone ever, who would it be?
I would interview Mother Mary and hear what it was like being touched by God.
What are your top tips for feeling sexy?
Always start the day right. A good cup of strong coffee, maybe 20 minutes of catch up in bed and putting your clothes on slowly. If this is all fast the rest of the day is always a bit like a shit in the snow. Stiff and cold.
That we should never, when told by our friends that have had sex or have been in love, then have any preconceived notions of what that is or what that means. Sex and love come in so many different forms. Sex is definitely not just penetration and you need to shake this off very quickly if this is all you think it is.
What do you think about the way sex is taught at school?
I went to 7 different schools and I think left at every different level which taught about sex so actually never got taught. I was taught through novels and porn. The most romantic matched with the most unromantic, which is probably why I am so intrigued!
Do you think we should change anything about the way we talk about/view sex?
I consistently have to be thankful that I was brought up having some of the biggest privileges allowed in this society. An open minded family, good education, living in a society where my rights aren’t consistently violated. So I must talk with this in mind as I know being ‘open’ about sex is often not part of someone’s religion or their particular context. So maybe I’m trying to say that saying ‘we should talk more about sex’ is a privileged thing to say and so for those who are privileged enough to be able to open up we must come out and make the thread of stories much stronger. However be really careful that we don’t show sex to be necessary, leaving people out along the way.
What do you think about the way the media portrays sex?
It depends what media. When it comes to Instagram there is a lot to be said about all the new exciting platforms that celebrate it. However advertising is a whole other ball game. It uses sex as an exploitation method and has too often made it about 2 bodies that have to be beautiful and always different sexes. Not the reality. Sex is way more chaotic and ugly, and there we find the beauty.
What is your favourite “movement”? (Political/literary/artistic)
I don’t know if you can call this movement but Bakhtin’s critical commentary on the ‘Carnivalesque’. Makes me want to live every day as if I was in a carnival, he once said; ‘Carnival is a pageant without footlights and without a division into performers and spectators’.
What book would you recommend to the readers of your blog?
‘Ask the Dust’ by John Fante. It is the most real, evocative and fleshy portrayal of a man’s lust and vision of beauty.
What is your favourite love story?
Florentine Ariza is my favourite lover of any novel (Love in the Time of Cholera, Marquez) and although the love story within the novel is obsessively unfulfilled and to an extent unsatisfying, his words do wonders for a hopeless romantic like me.
Go take a look at Eliza's wonderful blog and see for yourself the beautiful and chaotic world of sex!
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