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It was a great pleasure to learn about Sally Mann for the first time through your article, Nicole. I have a couple of reactions, (which are entirely unrelated to to one another). 1) The confrontation of commonly-held notions about childhood innocence is fascinating to me because I have at least one distinct personal memory of experiencing, as a child, a sense of latent sexuality that I did not understand. 2) I find myself comparing Mann’s art with Nick Ut’s 1972 Pulitzer Prize-winning photo of the napalm girl. Interesting that it was not deemed necessary to black-out her nipples and genitals.

Thanks for your article, Meghan. The prospect of ‘new doors opening’, which your conclusion indicates, is heartening and exciting to me. My imagination teems with writing ideas for female antiheroes!

To describe Brienne in “Game of Thrones” as ‘non-sexual’ is to misread her portrayal. She does not conform to Westeros’ idealized concept of femininity, which is why Jaime Lannister’s mind tells him he should not be attracted to her; his body tells him something different! Jaime’s sexual arousal in the presence of Brienne is perhaps more clearly defined in the books than in the TV show. Their relationship is intimate and highly sexually-charged, (think of the scene in which they swordfight, the scene in the bath at Harrenhal, the scene in which Jaime rescues Brienne from the bear). In “Game of Thrones”, (as in life), the act of sexual intercourse does not define romance. Sansa and Ramsay have plenty of intercourse; Brienne and Jaime have none, but their relationship is the more sexually romantic one!

Stephanie M., your statement that “there are almost no representations of disabled females having/enjoying sex in the media” made me think of one: Svetlana in “The Sopranos.” She’s pretty hot!