Sexual Affairs are down: what impact on Crime Plots?

[Newt Love]

Here is an interesting societal change that may have an impact on how folks react to our plots, and may bear rethinking some aspects of plots in books under development.
"I only know what I read in the funny papers." -- Will Rogers

""Gay or straight, male or female—everyone is having fewer affairs now than they were in the 1970s. According to a new study presented here today at the annual convention of the American Psychological Association, extra-marital (and extra-partnership) sex is way down, and discussion about the topic within couples is way up..."
Monogamy Is All the Rage These Days
By Karen Schrock in 60-Second Science Blog
http://www.scientificamerican.com/blog/60-second-science/post.cfm?i...

[Dan Coleman]

Well, maybe folks are reading so much they don't have the time and inclination to bang each other at every opportunity. Must be damn good reading, though. I don't think I'll ever see the book that's as attractive as a pretty woman. Not saying I'm out there banging, of course. No, not me. At my age, I'm just lucky to be out there.

[Jon Loomis]

Not so--Adso, William's young apprentice, has an affair with a local girl who ends up being burned at the stake. Also, at least a couple of the murders are thought to be God's judgment on monks who've committed the sin of buggery.

[I. J. Parker]

The awareness of sexual behavior and sex as sin aren't quite the same as a sexual relationship that leads to murder.

[Jon Loomis]

Now you're moving the goal-posts. Before you said there was no sexual tension, now you're saying the sex has to lead to murder or it doesn't count. Which it does, or at least it appears to, in the case of an affair between two monks.

[I. J. Parker]

Okay, I grant you the two monks. Had forgotten them. But generally tension, sexual or otherwise, should relate to the plot. Too often mysteries waste pages on detailed accounts of torrid love-making that is unrelated to the book's objective. If it's character-related and within reasonable length limits, that's fine, but too often it's there without purpose, or to draw out the solution a while longer. I don't even much like it as a red herring.

[Dan Coleman]

I can believe buggery and monks.

[p. b. smith]

Why is it always the woman who gets burned at the stake?

[Jon Loomis]

I'm pretty sure it happens to men, too; the book incorporates a fair amount of medieval history, and talks a lot about the fates of various famous heretics. All wonderfully gruesome.

[I. J. Parker]

It absolutely happens to men. The auto da fe in Spain appeared to involve more male victims than female. And Hus and Savonarola were burned at the stake. Galileo escaped barely.

[p. b. smith]

Jon and I. J., I should have been more specific. I'm well aware of the history you mention; as a terrified Catholic schoolgirl, it was drilled into my head relentlessly. I meant to say, why is it almost always the woman who gets burned at the stake in fiction?

I'm aware my perception could be skewed, that a careful scientific analysis of the known literature could prove more men than woman die this way, or an equal number, but my tender-hearted perceptions lead me to believe there were more female victims, even in history. How else could the priests justify getting women naked, torturing and sexually abusing them, unless it was in the name of God?

And yes, I eventually got over the Catholic schoolgirl thing and apparently just in time, too. I saw a news story last night about how the Catholic and Methodist Churches are spending millions and millions trying to get more people going to Church on a regular basis. Don't suppose it occurred to either Church how many hungry people could have been fed with all that advertising money.

Apparently the fastest growing segment of religious belief in America is people who are spiritual, believe deeply in God and find religion of any flavor divisive. I'm joined that category about 20 years ago, unaware it was even a category.

But the Catholic Church has it all figured out. Their spokesperson talked with great excitement about their recruitment program, which he claimed would put butts in seats (not quite so inelegantly) for just, and I quote, "Two dollars a soul!"

Had no idea before that our struggling economy had driven the cost of souls down so far.

Disclaimer: Nothing in this post is meant to be offensive to anyone. If you're offended, just click off the page, and please don't email me or try to do anything with or to my immortal soul. And also, please don't arrange any auto da fé for me. I'm fine just the way I am, thank you.

[Dan Coleman]

Just an aside: Have you ever read a copy of the American Psychological Association bible. I did in graduate school a few years back, where I went just before retirement. It was a required text for a course. It was the most ill-written book I have ever read in my life. Don't think it was edited for English usage, mechanics, etc. Absolutely horrible.
But on your subject, whether true or not, the suggestion of such a phenomenon should offer a multitude of plot possibilities. The fact that people bang one another all the time, throughout history, then they don't so much. Jeeze, what a can of wonderful worms.

[I. J. Parker]

Was that last a metaphor?