Real Change has a lively, entertaining interview with cartoonist Ellen Forney, whose book Lust: Kinky Online Personal Ads from Seattle’s The Stranger will be out soon:

You say this work reflects you, and you’ve got a book coming out called Lust. [Pause.] You’re infusing these comics, this art, with sex. Do you think that’s dangerous? Easy?

Actually, I think it’s important. I think that most people in life want to get laid. And I think that so many people have grown up with negative attitudes about sex— whether from their parents or from school, from culture. I think it’s really clear from Lust, and the kind of questions that I ask, that I’m comfortable with whatever, like flogging. As a sex-positive woman, the more I can inspire other people to become comfortable with their own selves and their own desires and pursue them, I think that’s really healthy and important. Insecurity and sexual frustration are big problems for a lot of people, and stifle their ability to really express themselves in a positive way. That may sound really Northwest, but I think that those are the kinds of things that really weigh people down. And, I don’t know… there are only so many political causes. This is the area that I can help.

I did a comic called “How to **** a woman with your hands.” I’ve seen that on a few different refrigerators — there are two big places of honor: on the refrigerator and next to the toilet. It’s true! And some woman told me that it completely turned around her sex life, which was just great. What a big honor that is. Somebody told me that one of my illustrations helped him come out. Things like that. Even if I can help in those ways, it just makes me feel like what I’m doing is really worthwhile.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, November 13th, 2007 at 8:30 am and is filed under Creators, Fantagraphics, Interviews, News & Views. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.