Alan Cumming on "This Thing About Pleasure and Admitting to Desire"

I've got a lot of thoughts on [the Puritan legacy in the U.S. and the resulting confused ideas about the body and sex]. I feel that it's not so much just body image and sexuality, but there's a real problem of letting go. [When I was DJing] I found this really fascinating: how hard it is [for many people on the dance floor] to let go and not feel judged. And I think that's an American thing. Everyone is slightly worried about seeming that they're losing control. So in terms of sexuality and stuff, that's where this comes from. This thing about pleasure and admitting to desire is kind of hard for people.

It terms of my body, I just feel comfortable with it. It doesn't matter what your body actually is if you feel comfortable with it. I love watching people dance. And you can just tell people who are really comfortable with themselves because they're able to move in a way that's kind of idiosyncratic to them, and I think when they're comfortable with their bodies that's really a sexy thing regardless of what they look like.

– Alan Cumming
Excerpted from "Alan Cumming: Living on the Edge"
by John Townsend
Lavender, March 3-16, 2016

Image 1: Alan Cumming (photographer unknown).
Image 2: Subject and photographer unknown.

See also the previous Wild Reed posts:
• Unique . . . Yes, You!
• The Body: As Sacred and Knowing as a Temple Oracle
• Quote of the Day – May 13, 2015
• To Be Held and to Hold
• A "Truly Queer Theory" on Sex
• Sex as Mystery, Sex as Light (Part 1)
• Sex as Mystery, Sex as Light (Part 2)
• Human Sex: Weird and Silly, Messy and Sublime
• Real Holiness
• "Then I Shall Leap Into Love"
• The Most Sacred and Simple Mystery of All