Here’s a little guessing game. This is a salt or pepper shaker: So what do you think its companion shaker might be? I suspect that most people would guess the other part of this pair would be another similarly doughy creature–possibly, in the light of the associations between salt and pepper and black and white,Continue reading “For a Spicy Experience, First Take the Pants Off”
Category Archives: Sex
Bath, Beneath, and Beyond
Continuing on with shaker sets that imply an invisible beneath, there is this pair: Once more, the shakers represent something that is standing in water, this time two bathers. We see only the top third or so of their bodies, but knowledge of the way things usually are allows us to assume that the expectablyContinue reading “Bath, Beneath, and Beyond”
Polyamory
Recently, my friend Joseph Thomas made a comment on Facebook that relates to my interest in salt and pepper shakers: What I think is wonderful about salt n pepper shakers: although they come as a pair, they so often aren’t bound together, save by their maker’s intent or owner’s whim. Thus, even pairs “meant forContinue reading “Polyamory”
Ambiguously Gendered: Batting for Which Team?
This shaker set is not necessarily ambiguously gay–more like ambiguously gendered. Its two baseball players (who each look a little like stereotyped angry codgers wearing too much eyeliner), might be either both male or both female or a combination of one male and one female. The shaker on the left wears a pink hat, whichContinue reading “Ambiguously Gendered: Batting for Which Team?”
Ménage à trois petits cochons
Since I’m on the subject of pigs on top of other pigs (see my last post), consider these: As you can tell from the expression on his/her face, the pig on the bottom either is not happy about being piled on or is so happy about it that it’s put her or him into aContinue reading “Ménage à trois petits cochons”
Bøsse: In Danish, Both ‘Shaker’ and ‘Gay’
Having opened the possible closet of implication hidden in the all-male sets of salt and pepper shakers I’ve been looking at in my last few posts, I’ve found myself wondering if indeed there are any out and openly gay shaker sets in existence. A little bit of Googling led me to this pair: According toContinue reading “Bøsse: In Danish, Both ‘Shaker’ and ‘Gay’”
Ahoy, Maties
Nor, I now see, are the gay sailors I talked about in my last entry the only completely masculine pair in my collection. There are also these guys: It’s interesting that these two, as stereotyped pirates, should also have a connection to the sea, and should also be old and somewhat timeworn, with a whiteContinue reading “Ahoy, Maties”
The News Is a Woman
In the miniverse of salt and pepper shakers, almost everything is either humanized or genderized or both. Most of the apples and bunnies and fire hydrants and yachts have been given some sort of human characteristic–human eyes or mouths or human smiles on non-human mouths. And apparently objects can’t be represented as somehow human withoutContinue reading “The News Is a Woman”
Breeding Like Rabbits
Sometimes sand-and-pepper sets make clear distinctions between the masculinity and femininity of the shakers they contain without having to resort to putting the animal figures they represent into human clothing. You might guess that this particular shaker represents a female rabbit just because she happens to be pink: But if you place her in relationContinue reading “Breeding Like Rabbits”
Underlining Gender Differences–Especially When We Kiss
One of the things I find fascinating about shaker sets is how their basic purpose–to contain two different condiments–becomes the basis of an ongoing confirmation, not only of the difference between salt and pepper, but indeed, of their oppositeness. They’re not just different flavors. One is black and one is white. Black is not justContinue reading “Underlining Gender Differences–Especially When We Kiss”
Perry Nodelman 