World O'Crap Book Club: Sleazy Summer Reading
Frederick, who knows what we like, informs us that The Smoking Gun has the lawsuit that Robert Steinbuch filed against "Washingtonnienne" Jessica Cutler. In it, he demands a jury trial, and seeks "compensatory and punitive damages" for how Culter invaded his privacy and intentionally caused him emotional distress.
The document includes all the posts from Cutler's blog that mention a certain "crazy hair-pulling, ass-smacking dude" referred to as "RS": reading them, one agrees that Cutler did subject him to humiliation (and possibly some anguish). However, I don't know if it's "beyond that which any reasonable person should be expected to bear in a decent and civilized society," because in a decent and civilized society you don't engage in kinky sex with a coworker before you know her well enough to realize that she's psycho (unless you LIKE psychodrama, in which case you don't later sue her for the humiliation and anguish she caused you).
See, Steinbuch claims in the suit that while he was having a relationship with Cutler, he didn't know that she was sleeping with five other men, that she was taking money from some of them for having sex, and that she was blogging about her experiences with him. Guys, let this be a lesson to you: don't jump into an evening of hair-pulling and spanking with a wanton young coworker before you've spent enough time with her to get some clues about how she spices her boring job, and how she makes ends meet on her entry-level salary.
Anyway, from reading the blog entries included in the suit, one does feel properly humilated for Steinbuch. However, one also feels sorry for Cutler: one day she's telling her coworkers about having sex with RS and "about the spanking ... So they were shocked. Not sure I should have told them." A day or so later, she and RS have sex "every which way," and then he tells her that he's heard she's been "spreading the spanking rumor around the office." Per her, he's not mad though, and they continue to bonk each each other every night. A couple of days later she writes, "I like him very much, and he likes me. But can it go anywhere, i.e. marriage? I don't know." One has to pity somebody who thinks that spreading spanking rumors around the office can possibly lead to marriage. (And if Steinbuch really did know about her "spreading the spanking rumor" and he continued to sleep with her, then it kind of undercuts his lawsuit, because it sounds like he was willing to forego his privacy for the kinky sex.
And frankly, if he is so humiliated and anguished by the stuff Cutler wrote about him, why is he taking action guaranteed to get everyone talking about it all again? Is he trying to help her flog her book, as some have suggested? (Her novel, which is scheduled for release on 1 June, is mentioned in the suit: "Cutler signed a book contract, and received a $300,000 advance, with Hyperion Press, a divison of Disney Corporation, to write a thinly disguised novel, of the roman a clef genre, in which the contents of her blog, including her relationship with Plaintiff, are described in graphic detail"). Does he just want some of her advance money as compensation for his shame? Or is the suit merely his chance to tell his side of the story (that he is handsome and virile, not pathetic; that he never knew that she was a slut; and that the spanking was all her idea).
Consider the following:
The suit claims the Cutler revealed "private facts" about Steinbuch that violated his privacy and which were designed to cause emotional distress. "The private facts revealed include such facts as the number of times he ejaculated." In the next paragraph, this is revealed to be two times during one encounter. So, Steinbuch is quite the stud, per Cutler. Man, the humiliaton!
Another private fact: "spanking and hair pulling during their sexual activity (but conveniently leaving out Cutler's request of both)." So, when you read the novel, keep in mind that all the S&M that occurs between the heroine and the RS character was really HER idea!
The suit also cites the "private fact" that Cutler revealed to the world "physical descriptions of his naked body" -- the example provided was "has a great ass." Oh, the shame, the shame!
Other private and personal facts were scandalized to attract more attention; For example, Plaintiff's response to Cutler's question "am I too lazy in bed?" of "I don't mind passive" was presented as "he told me he likes submissive women."
So, even if this case never goes to court, remember that Steinbuch doesn't really like passive women, he was just trying to make Cutler feel good.
Anyway, let's look at the book:
The Washingtonienne : A Novel
by Jessica Cutler
Product Details Publisher: Hyperion (June 1, 2005) Reading level: All Ages
Um, while I'm sure it's written at a level that all ages CAN read, should we really be letting innocent grade-school children such as the Gurdonettes learn about butt sex for money?
Editorial Reviews From Publishers Weekly
Cutler, the lowly Senate staffer who rocked the Capital last year with her salacious online diary, rehashes her ride into infamy in a tart, shallow tell-all that begs off as fiction.
Tart and shallow is as a shallow tart does.
Smart but spoiled Jacqueline heads for the Hill after a broken engagement in New York. [...] She mines her dizzying array of casual sexploits, dished in callous, raunchy detail, for a blog to keep her friends in the loop ("I was a bitchy slut and so were all of my friends. Why not put it out there?"). Jacqueline winds up on D.C. gossip site Blogette—prompting her abrupt dismissal, an underdeveloped bit of soul-searching and lots of media attention.
Of course, this is just fiction -- the real Washingtonienne didn't do any soul-searching after being spotlighted by "Blogette," and catapulted to fame and notoriety -- she just did some body-baring for Playboy.
Anyway, while you read it, remember that the studly Jewish guy who looks like George Clooney is really Robert Steinbuch, and that Jacqueline made him spank and get spanked.
4:56:43 AM
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