[Politics of Intimacy: Margit 1]

This is raw footage of an interview with Margit Gustafson, mother of director Julie Gustafson, for the documentary THE POLITICS OF INTIMACY. In this tape, Margit discusses her sexual and romantic history.

00:10  Two young women are seated. One has short hair and speaks with an accent. The other is reclined on a pillow. She has long dark hair and wears a cross around her neck, and smokes. The short-haired woman is holding a microphone and is a little embarrassed by the request to talk about her first orgasm. “I didn’t have an orgasm the first time I made love, which absolutely freaked my girlfriend out. I felt horrible.” She then discusses her and her girlfriend’s attempts to give her an orgasm, and the experience her first time. 

03:14Copy video clip URL The long haired woman says that she doesn’t remember her first orgasm. She thinks the first time happened when she was making out with a man. The second time was with a woman. The two women continue talking about orgasm and preferred techniques when a power outage stops the recording session.

05:35Copy video clip URL Julie’s mother Margit says that the act of intercourse is a lot of hard work, and that the aftereffects are the best part: the feelings of contentment, the euphoric feeling. She discusses the differences between men and women in lovemaking but asserts that her husband was a “very good lover. “

9:30Copy video clip URL Margit says that she was naive and inexperienced regarding sex when she got married. Her husband was more experienced and she assumed that her friends were all experienced so she didn’t want to embarrass herself by asking them about it. She thinks that lovemaking was the best part of her marriage. 

11:15Copy video clip URL She discusses orgasm in her marriage, which she said came relatively easily. 

12:45Copy video clip URL Margit discusses her first orgasms, when she didn’t know whether she was doing things correctly. The feeling was “fluttery” and “almost as if my body wasn’t there.”

14:50Copy video clip URL Margit talks about what turns her own.

16:05Copy video clip URL She never had to initiate sex because her husband was so sexually active. She discusses the differences between men and women regarding sex drive and arousal. 

19:25Copy video clip URL She sees nothing wrong with masturbation but finds it inferior to intercourse. She finds there to be something missing her life without a sexual partner, but she’s feeling that loss less and less as the years pass. 

21:30Copy video clip URL Margit has not had any sexual contact with a person since her husband died nine years earlier. She recalls her dating life before marriage, when she dated many different men. She found it  very exciting and fun.

25:28Copy video clip URL She talks about how difficult it was to find anyone to date after her husband died.

27:59Copy video clip URL She talks about the difficulties of living alone without a man, and how she deals with loneliness.