Between Skins and 16 & Pregnant, MTV may not be the go-to place for good advice on sex. But the network is enjoying a reboot of its cultural cachet, and might bring sometimes media critic Dan Savage along for the ride. The Viacom-owned destination for slur words has ordered a pilot from Savage, which will follow the advice columnist around as he tours college campuses cashing checks by delivering relationship advice from a podium on a bare stage while underclassmen queue up at the mic stands. While the show, if picked up, could very well adopt the Savage Love column name Dan has already branded, I’m hoping for something with a bit more pop, like: Sex Is For Pleasure. [photo via]
divkid
is dr ruth still alive?
if she is, i’d love to see her take a strap-on to his ass;
if she’s dead…still like to see it.
im a sick, sick, puppy.
ALEX
If 16-year olds take his advice, who will keep populating MTV’s Teen Mom casts? MTV could do much worse than a reality show with Dan. The question should be: Does Dan Savage want a Reality Show so Badly he will Lower Himself to Appearing on MTV??
Jaroslaw
I’ve been reading him for years, he is almost never snarky anymore, he does what all good advice columnists do – gives what should be common sense advice, usually offers nonjudgemental options and he ALWAYS checks with the experts when the question is out of his league. What’s not to like?
If he can make a ton of money AND he helps even a few people by being on MTV, why is that lowering himself?
ALEX
The comment was a slam to MTV, not Dan. I love Dan and can practically quote passages from The Kid and The Commitment. I also subscribe to his Savage Love podcast and listen to it often…I agree with you about his advice and only wish another network would snap him up! Still, his target audience for this show may be the MTV crown, not the ones (like me) who remember three channels and the rabbit ears antenna. Go, Dan, Go…
Jaroslaw
Alex – how could I have misunderstood you?
“…he will lower himself to appearing on MTV?”
(I’m just funnin’ with ya….) seriously, I don’t see how I could take that any other way.
Well, thanks for clearing it up anyhow. Glad we both love Dan.
John
SKINS is a scripted and totally fake show. It is not a reflection of any actual behavior and unlike TEEN MOM or 16 AND PREGNANT, it isn’t possible for a young girl to get pregnant and suddenly be in the running to be cast in SKINS.
jason
Dan Savage is no expert in sex. His view on male sexuality is too restrictive. He tends to see male sexuality through a political lens rather than through a real-life lens. Male sexuality is far more complex than the simple “gay or straight” categories propagated by Gay Inc.
Jaroslaw
Jason – give some examples! Dan is hardly restrictive – what have you been reading?
TheInsider
So this is what has come out of his anti-bullying campaign. I knew it. A higher profile, his own reality show, more bucks for him. Disgusting.
Jay
Savage is highly biphobic, transphobic, and he’s said some racist things against blacks too.
He once said how he thinks that a woman’s vagina (to him) looks like canned ham dropped from the empire state building and I’m not sure how TS or even cis women would find that funny.
Then you have actual gay men and lesbians taking what Savage says about Bisexuality and how in his opinion it does not exist in men at all seriously and thinking that it’s true.
http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/SavageLove?oid=636633
Then there are the racist comments he made.
http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/11/black_homophobia
http://bifurious.wordpress.com/2009/03/27/its-definitely-time-to-find-a-new-sex-advice-columnist/
I am into both leather and BDSM and when I have questions about such things I do not go to Dan Savage because he wants people to stay in the “leather closet” and he does not even practice kink or BDSM at all.
Dan Savage wants gay men to become “good” gays like him and have a husband, adopt kids, stay monogamous, and get a house in the suburbs.
Jaroslaw
#10 – Jay – stop already. Your post looks impressive unless people actually read what Dan wrote.
Link #1 – in the first couple sentences he says “IF scientific research is to be believed….” That means it is not his personal opinion, but based on research.
Racism? One link is to what he wrote and the other is written by someone else, linking right back to the same article. So it is not two separate examples it is the same one. Newsflash- when the media ask for someone’s opinion, such as Dan or whoever, they comment on the latest available info. When Dan wrote those words, it was reported in the mainstream media that African Americans voted in higher percentages FOR Prop 8 than other groups. This would not be a shock on the surface at least – since the Black Church to which most belong is very homophobic. Some reports indicate the info was wrong others dispute it. Either way, proffering an opinion on what is presumed to be objective data hardly makes one racist.
As to the canned ham remark, yeah, I read the column, another Newsflash for you: Most Gay guys don’t like pussy. He probably could have said something nicer than that. But I don’t remember the entire column so I can’t even say “don’t take it out of context” but since I read Dan every week, that is a likely explanation. But even about the unadorned remark – I will say this – writing a column is like the movies. If it was just like your and everyone else’s life, no one would read the column or go to the movies. We could all be columnists.
Lastly, show me the column where he is anti-leather or whatever. That is your own choice and Dan would be the first to say it.
Jaroslaw
Jay #10 – stop already. If people actually click on your links they will see that the first one has Dan’ saying “IF scientific research is to be believed….”
The other two, which are really one since they both link back to the same article written by Dan – well, one is not racist simply be proffering an opinion on what is supposed to be objective data (which was reported in the mainsream media).
The canned ham remark wasn’t very nice, but then Gay men don’t like pussy. Writing a column is just like the movies – if it completely reflected the mass of people’s ordinary lives no one would read it or watch it.
Jaroslaw
Jay – commenting on what were at the time stats posted in mainstream media doesn’t make you racist. I’ve never seen him be anti-leather. The bi issue has been discussed to death here. Lots of guys said they were and they weren’t. That’s a fact. You don’t make your case.
Jaroslaw
one more thing – Dan NEVER said Bi in men doesn’t exist – the question was about a person having a phase – read your own link – the first line was “IF scientific research is to be believed…”
OrchidIslander
@Jaroslaw: Dan Savage did indeed make racist and inaccurate statements about California’s black voters and Prop 8.
“African American voters in California voted overwhelmingly for Prop 8, writing anti-gay discrimination into California’s constitution and banning same-sex marriage in that state.”
Racist and inaccurate. In sum total, the blame for Prop 8 rests solely on California’s African-American voters.
“I do know this, though: I’m done pretending that the handful of racist gay white men out there—and they’re out there, and I think they’re scum—are a bigger problem for African Americans, gay and straight, than the huge numbers of homophobic African Americans are for gay Americans, whatever their color”
Really? Racist gay white men? Only a handful. Homophobic African-Americans? Huge numbers!
Deny, or pretend to not see the biased statements all you like Jaroslaw, but you would have to be pretty dense – and you do not seem dense at all – to miss the inequalities.
Charlie
Dan has said quite often that Bi men do exist. He has also said that we don’t need to take everyone’s word for it that they are bi. He points out that years ago a scientific study in male bisexuality that took bi subjects at their word that they were bi found that the men in the study were all really gay. A later study that was very strict about which subjects it allowed to take part based on an actual history of being bi concluded that bi men exist.
He believes bi men exist. He does not believe every person who says they are bi is bi.