Two recent quotes:

From “All Headline News” – “Los Angeles, CA – Angelina Jolie’s lesbian ex-lover says the stunning actress was very provocative and raunchy before settling down. She even claims the two visited dominatrix dens together, which Angelina” loved”.

From “The New York Daily News” – “At a celebration for President Bill Clinton’s 50th birthday at Radio City Music Hall in 1996, Simon, terrified of following Smokey Robinson, invited the entire horn section to perform. let him,” writes

John Lahr in the New Yorker. “‘They all took turns spanking me,’ she says. ‘During the spanking the curtain went up.'”

What are these two random news clips (there are many, many more every week) telling us?

Well, first of all, celebrities have sex lives too (duhh).

Second, that some celebrities like kinky forms of sex. No wonder, 30 percent of the adult population in the Western world at least has fantasies about alternative lifestyles and kinky sex, so statistically one in three celebrities is likely to be into that sort of thing.

The question is, is this really news? Well, while a more or less public spanking, especially in front of a former US President, will certainly grab the headlines, that doesn’t mean it qualifies as “news.” If it had been Jane Doe, singing at her grandmother’s birthday party, no one would have bothered. So just because it happens to celebrities, it causes media attention.

Let’s not forget that, again according to the statistics above, one in three reporters also has such fantasies, or is actually actively involved in some form of alternative sexuality. We don’t hear that, of course.

From a simple, basic journalistic point of view… if 1/3 of the population does it all the time, it’s probably very common. That is why no one denounces that people go to soccer or baseball stadiums to watch their favorite team play. That’s why watching a sitcom won’t land you on the front page of the New York Times. That’s why eating a piece of pizza won’t make you famous. Simply because these are activities that almost everyone does from time to time. And actually, “kinky sex” is no different.

The United States is by far the largest producer of pornography. However, the country wants nothing to do with it. A survey by the Powerotics Foundation revealed that no mainstream soap opera can succeed without the occasional “damsel in distress” action. Actresses are tied up, kidnapped, gagged or caged all the time on daytime TV. Several years ago, a collector had no problem finding thousands of whipping, spanking, lashing, and whipping scenes from thousands upon thousands of Hollywood movies.

And here we come to the real point: kinky sex, or hints of kinky or alternative sex, SELL! It sells newspapers and magazines, movies and TV shows. It even sells entire runs, like those of Madonna and Billy Idol. it’s a big part of what makes Bill Clinton’s recent autobiography sell. If it’s such a powerful sales pitch, why not use it, rather than condemn it?