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I don't know. Maybe there are elite journalists who have trouble understanding that it is actually possible to put the words "Lutheran" and "libertarian" -- with a small "l" -- in the same sentence? Maybe that is why M.Z. "GetReligionista emerita" Hemingway is a bit of a mystery in some blue zip codes.
Anyway, it was fun to read what amounts to the CliffsNotes edition of the "Talk" interview -- "Mollie Hemingway Hates How Feminists Talk About Sex" -- that Ana Marie Cox of The New York Times Magazine did recently did with the one and only M.Z.
Via email, I asked M.Z. if there was any way that the public might be able to see a full transcript of this affair. Alas, she only has her half of the 90-minute talk, so that's a "no." But what we have here is lively enough.
The interview, as you can see in the screenshot above, starts with the obligatory question about Hemingway being a conservative who doesn't think highly of one Donald Trump. What a shock. All conservatives are alike, of course, and if you've met one then you've met them all. I mean, how can anyone follow M.Z. on Twitter for, oh, an hour and not see the Grand Canyon that yawns between her cultural and moral views and those of Citizen Trump?
Anyway, GetReligion readers will want to read this interview for themselves. However, I will offer this slice as an introduction, for obvious reasons:
You identify as a libertarian, right? The national convention just happened at the end of May. I’m probably best described as classically liberal, which is neither libertarian nor conservative. Frankly, I find some of the antics that were on display down in Florida to be utterly delightful. I don’t really think they’re behaving that much worse than either the Democratic Party or the Republican Party.
I haven’t actually heard that before: They’re not behaving any less immaturely than the other parties. I will point out that someone did a striptease onstage. In libertarian circles, you can almost present any idea, and people will let you make your case. There is a spirit of debate that is really healthy.
You used to write a sex column for a libertarian magazine, which is a little unusual, but you did it while you were writing for GetReligion.org, a site that focuses on how religion is covered in the mainstream press. For someone on the right, you talk pretty openly about sexuality. I could blame everything in life on my parents. They raised us to think of sex as a positive thing. We were raised Lutheran, and I think there’s something about the Lutheran tradition that is much more open to talking about things.
Folks, I have searched all over the manifesto that we published on Day 1 here at GetReligion. You know what? I can't find anything anywhere in that text that says a pastor's daughter from a Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod parsonage couldn't grow up to be an outspoken voice on Christian orthodoxy on sexuality, while also having strong opinions about the state of mainstream, American model of the press religion-news coverage.
Whatever. But with that twist in the plot, you just knew that M.Z. was going to face a question resembling this one:
You occasionally refer to “natural marriage” in your political writing. What does that mean? I’m referring to the idea that marriage is the union of a man and a woman in sexual congress.
By all means, read it all.
Oh, and a crucial final point. That thing about M.Z. praising "Showgirls" as a classic sexy movie is a joke.