In one of the great euphemisms of our time, an embattled President Clinton admitted to an "inappropriate relationship" with his White House intern, Monica Lewinsky. But what exactly is an "inappropriate relationship?" For that matter, what is an "appropriate relationship?" And how can an understanding of the rules of "appropriateness" help us understand personal relationships in our modern world? Contributors to this book discuss the personal boundaries and taboos of modern relationships. Together they examine the power struggles that can occur when individuals are involved in "inappropriate" relationships, and the ways individuals in such a relationship may attempt to buffer themselves against sanctions--or even embrace this relationship as an agent of social change. Representing work from a range of disciplines, this collection will appeal to scholars, researchers, students, and professionals working on relationships issues in areas across the social sciences, including those working in the fields of social psychology, family studies, social anthropology, cultural studies, and communication.

Short fiction about people on the edge that “masterfully balances the absurd, the horrific, and the humorous” (Booklist). The characters in Inappropriate Behavior teeter on the brink of sanity, while those around them reach out in support, watch helplessly, or duck for cover. In their loneliness, they cast about for a way to connect, to be understood, though more often than not, things go horribly wrong. Some of the characters come from the darkest recesses of American history. In ‘Lubbock Is Not a Place of the Spirit,’ a Texas Tech student recognizable as John Hinckley, Jr. writes hundreds of songs for Jodie Foster as he grows increasingly estranged from reality. Other characters are recognizable only in the sense that their situations strike an emotional chord. The young couple in ‘The Thing About Norfolk,’ socially isolated after a cross-country move, are dismayed to find themselves unable to resist sexually deviant urges. And in the deeply touching title story, a couple stretched to their limit after the husband’s layoff struggle to care for their emotionally unbalanced young son. Set in cities across America and spanning the last half-century, this collection draws a bead on our national identity, distilling our obsessions, our hauntings, our universal predicament. “Gripping and accomplished . . . These stories will be compared with works by Barry Hannah and Denis Johnson.” —Janet Peery, National Book Award finalist and author of The Exact Nature of Our Wrongs

Dry, offbeat, and mostly profane, this debut collection of humorous nonfiction glorifies all things inappropriate and TMI. A compendia of probing essays, lists, profiles, barstool rants, queries, pedantic footnotes, play scripts, commonplace miscellany, and overly revealing memoir, How to Be Inappropriate adds up to the portrait of an artist who bumbles through life obsessed with one thing: extreme impropriety. In How to Be Inappropriate, Daniel Nester determines the boundary of acceptable behavior by completely disregarding it. As a twenty-something hipster, he looks for love with a Williamsburg abstract painter who has had her feet licked for money. As a teacher, he tries out curse words with Chinese students in ESL classes. Along the way, Nester provides a short cultural history on mooning and attempts to cast a spell on a neighbor who fails to curb his dog. He befriends exiled video game king Todd Rogers, re-imagines a conversation with NPR’s Terry Gross, and invents a robot version of Kiss bassist Gene Simmons. No matter which misadventure catches their eye in this eclectic series of essays, How to Be Inappropriate makes readers appreciate that someone else has experienced these embarrassing sides of life, so that they won’t have to.

Charles King is a dedicated and caring teacher who falls in love with a former student and sends her a message expressing his feelings. This leads Charles to face up to a previous tragedy and sets him on a path of self discovery and personal healing. At the same time he finds himself at the centre of an extraordinary witch hunt that leaves him increasingly bewildered and exasperated.

Dry, offbeat, and mostly profane, How to Be Inappropriate glorifies all things TMI. Arguments, lists, barstool rants, queries, pedantic footnotes, play scripts, commonplace miscellany, profiles, and overly revealing memoir-ettes, How to Be Inappropriate adds up to the portrait of a 20-something-become-30-something, bachelor-become-husband, boy-man-about-town who bumbles through life obsessed with one thing; extreme impropriety. In How to Be Inappropriate, Daniel Nester determines the boundary of acceptable behavior - mostly by disregarding it. As a here-to-cut-a-hipster-swathe-through-the-city man he looks for love with a Williamsburg abstract painter who has had her feet licked for money. As a teacher, he tries out curse words with Chinese students in ESL classes. Along the way, Nester provides a short cultural history on mooning and attempts to cast a spell on a neighbor who fails to curb his dog. He fields middle fingers from bratty NYU film students, explores the world of Christian parody bands, befriends exiled video game king Todd Rogers, re-imagines a conversation with NPR's Terry Gross, and invents a robot version of Kiss bassist Gene Simmons. For Daniel Nester, also known as Captain Embarrassment, to be inappropriate is a matter of worldview, a code of behavior. Every moment skews to the profane, inappropriate, and just plain wrong. No matter which misadventure catches your eye, How to Be Inappropriate will make you appreciate that someone else has experienced these embarrassing sides of life, so you won't have to.

This edited collection examines conflicting assumptions, expectations, and perceptions of maternity in artistic, cultural, and institutional contexts. Over the past two decades, the maternal body has gained currency in popular culture and the contemporary art world, with many books and exhibitions foregrounding artists’ experiences and art historical explorations of maternity that previously were marginalized or dismissed. In too many instances, however, the maternal potential of female bodies—whether realized or not—still causes them to be stigmatized, censored, or otherwise treated as inappropriate: cultural expectations of maternity create one set of prejudices against women whose bodies or experiences do align with those same expectations, and another set of prejudices against those whose do not. Support for mothers in the paid workforce remains woefully inadequate, yet in many cultural contexts, social norms continue to ask what is “wrong” with women who do not have children. In these essays and conversations, artists and writers discuss how maternal expectations shape both creative work and designed environments, and highlight alternative ways of existing in relation to those expectations.