“First-person sex — real sex as Chelsea insisted on calling it — was an acquired taste: jagged breathing, the raw slap and stink of sweaty skin full of pores and blemishes, a whole other person with a whole other set of demands and dislikes.” (p. 209)
This quote is not the most important or pivotal line in Blindsight. However, ]this societal perspective is intriguingly accurate while at the same time is perverted, literally and figuratively, from our cultural perspective on sex. This line can be broken down to display the intentional and unintentional information that Siri passes along to the reader.
Primarily, the fact that he labels it as “first-person sex” displays the alternative situation that is available as an alternative. Which incidentally, is basically virtual reality porn and I could create an entirely different blog regarding its societal acceptance in the novel (contrary to our world where at least most people like to pretend they have never seen any such thing… ok). Therefore, Siri calls it “real sex” at Chelsea’s insistence (Another possible blog topic… the difference between feminine and masculine opinions regarding first-person sex). As an acquired taste, this real sex would have to differ from virtual sex, aside from the conversational and emotional aspects, would infer the physical interaction would not even resemble the physical interaction. So what is Siri imagining?
Based upon the final message implied by Siri, “a whole other person with a whole other set of demands and dislikes” regarding Chelsea, the aspect of sex as a personal interaction as opposed to a connection between two different individuals instituted an assembly line for sexual recluses. This single line of text gives the reader valuable insight into Siri and society as whole which drew my interest over many of the others in Blindsight.