My artist wife had pulled into the minor but bubbling flap over her new Vulva Flying Potholders (Why Flying? Because it represents freedom), they have already sold out twice on Etsy, and there is a waiting list for some more.

I believe she is making some more, they will go on sale next week. She does not have a long attention span but loves to stir the pot. I guess we have that in common.

I’m catching some collateral fire for the vulvas, even I had nothing whatsoever to do with their creation. I did put a photo of that up on my blog and this seems to have annoyed some of the endless legions of grumps and prudes who prowl the Internet for moral turpitude and live to tell other people what to do and think.

I supposed I’m flattered at my age to be immoral, even in the most collateral of ways. I am proud to be an avowed and public supporter of Vulvas, to my knowledge the sight of them has killed or grieviously injured no one.

A dozen women have labeled the vulvas on my blog  “disgusting,” or “revolting” or  “gross,:  I fear they do not care for their own bodies or the bodies of other women.

“Do I have to look at this garbage on your blog?,” asked June from Mississippi?

Absolutely not, I replied. My blog is not, alas, mandatory reading. All you have to do is go away.

Bob L send me a longer comment, he must be retired or unemployed, he said he was concerned about the morality of the people around me. He was unhappy with the explicitness of depictions of sexual activity on my blog:

“At least Etsy has not lost common sense as far as artistic license: “If you are selling mature content, we ask that you understand that there are differing sensibilities around the world and that you try to be respectful… When deciding whether mature content crosses over the threshold into pornography, we take into consideration how realistically mature image or images are portrayed, and the explicitness of depictions of sexual activity or content.”

Q: Do you think the parents of the refugees you are assisting would want their sons “exposed” to this topic about female genitals since you have mentioned in your blog posts the soccer players read your posts?”

Answer: I had the pleasure of answering him, as it happened, I was with some parents and children of the refugees I am assisting the day the photo of the Vulva potholders came out on my blog, and they all got a good laugh out of it.  They all said they wanted to meet Maria, she seemed much more interesting to them than me.

They were much impressed at the idea that people would pay $25 plus shipping for a fiber representation of a women’s vagina, and I sold two right on the spot. I think they wanted to know how she pulled that off.

Perhaps I need my own public policy statement about my blog: “Warning. We think here at times, and in between, we take cute photos of animals. We write pretty much anything we like, and take photos in the same way. We are not responsible for the corruption and moral pollution of any photos of dogs, donkeys, barn cats or vulvas. Come here at your own risk and watch your children. You never know what might happen when a child sees a vulva potholder. They might turn into instant sex maniacs or worse, immoral artists. They might grow weeds out of their ears! Note: We do not photograph the vulvas of donkeys.“

Poor Bob, I hope he never comes across an image of actual sexual activity itself, he might lose it altogether, he seems to think I am a conspirator of Stormy Daniels(no such luck.)

As to the soccer players themselves, they seemed utterly disinterested in the vulva photo or discussion and played games on their smartphones. Two Iraqi mothers clapped in approval when I showed them the potholders on my Iphone.

I wonder who Bob thinks these people are? They have all seen a lot worse, including people who really do get hurt. Is it proper, I wonder, to patronize people?

I think Bob must not get out much if he thinks the Bedlam Farm blog has content so explicitly sexual that  women and teenagers from the Middle East and Asia cannot handle the sight of a Vulva Potholder. He best not go and see the penises and vulvas hanging all over the Vatican Museum, or any good museum, for that matter.

I told Zekra, one of the Iraqi women (she is Muslim) about Maria’s idea that Vulvas were a symbol of femininity and nurture, (I am rather a big fan of them myself) and she was quite puzzled by the idea that any image of them was immoral.

She said they were represented all over the sculpture and vases and paintings displayed in Iraq’s famous museum in Baghdad.

Maria, I said, was doing her bit to show them as art, as something beautiful, as  artists have done for centuries until men like Bob got into it and decided they know better than women what is moral and what isn’t.

Bob did not reply to my comments of course. The righteous rarely stick around to take it.

He seemed  just seemed like another pompous man to me, but the women who felt their vulvas are “disgusting” or “gross” and should be hidden forever from public view seem sadder and more mysterious to me.

Is it a good thing to hate a critical part of one’s body like that? I don’t wave my penis around, but I would never call it disgusting, (just brave and determined and smaller than it once was.)

I love women and every vulva I have had the pleasure of meeting, I don’t mean to glorify or romanticize them, there are plenty of female jerks, but I think the days are fading when people like me can tell them what they can and can’t create or say or write or do with their own bodies.

That it in itself something that crosses into the threshold of hypocrisy and domination, something we might all take into consideration before we speak or send messages online.

And good riddance.

In the meantime, those disturbing Vulva potholders are flying out of here.

if you want to see more disgusting and gross and explicit content, I’d get right over to Maria’s Etsy page or  blog. She is probably cooking up some more mature content at the moment (beware, her fiber goddesses have breasts!).