Dear A.,
The University of Western Australia (UWA) is in the news ('The West Australian' - and online). Apparently these days UWA orientation camps are fuckfests. There has been a scandal this year about a 17-year old woman possibly being raped, and multiple reports of sexual harrassment. It confirms what I suspected about contemporary youth sexual culture - there are many categories on the web (erotic sites) depicting freestyle sexual behaviour (sex parties, etc.) among student youth in many countries.
I came across a special issue of 'Scoop' magazine (WA's main glossy) a few weeks ago. It is a run-down on the local bourgeois elite for 2012. It is divided into three categories: (a) corporate functions (b) private parties (c) weddings. I only had time to glance at this publication. I have been trying to trace it at newsagents since, without success. I might ask if it is available through this library when I have finished this message. This particular magazine issue would, I should think, be a useful guide to some aspects of the structure and functioning of the local ruling class in Western Australia. I discovered accidentally (although with no difficulty) on the web a year or so ago that many internet sex networking sites certainly extend to Perth. I haven't investigated this situation very far, but on only one such site I found references to over a thousand people registered with that particular site in the Perth suburb of Nedlands alone. The entire population of Nedlands would be what? No more than several tens of thousands, I would say. The picture that emerges is clear enough. The international bourgeois ruling class is engaged in a gigantic fuckfest. Don't get me wrong; I'm not a wowser, as you know. But it is a fuckfest only for the ruling class. The student youth (mainly bourgeois - and these days also generally politically conservative) reflect the general trend. These 'private parties' among the local bourgeoisie, mentioned by the 'Scoop' supplement, could well often be sex parties in the main, or parties where partner-swapping is the rule. There was an article in 'Scoop' some years ago about partner-swapping, and also orgies, in the Western suburbs mainly. The essential requirement for participation seemed to be middle-class/affluent status. Single and/or working-class men not generally welcome.
Sociological surveys of sexual culture tend to be dated as soon as they are published. One has to position one's ear to the ground to keep up with trends.
All the best to you,
Love,
Graham (Milner)