2. I don't know if anyone has gathered together a full anthology, but a large number of British writers (as far as I know all male) have written about the hold Margaret Thatcher had on their erotic imagination.
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3. A few examples. J.G. Ballard: "I believe in the mysterious beauty of Margaret Thatcher, in the arch of her nostrils and the sheen of her lower lip…”pic.twitter.com/9vKH3Jvtb6
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4. In 1982, Anthony Powell attended a dinner where he was seated between Thatcher & V.S. Naipaul. In his journals he wrote, "I continue to find Mrs Thatcher very attractive physically. Her overhanging eyelids, hooded eyes, are the only suggestion of mystery..."pic.twitter.com/YEMWkvSw7w
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5. In his memoirs, Kingsley Amis said he dreamed about Thatcher more than any other woman. Elsewhere that she was ‘One of the best-looking women I had ever met." He and Larkin shared such thoughts in their letters.
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6. Hitchens, in his memoirs, is the writer who goes into this subject at the most length, retelling with relish an anecdote about Thatcher whacking him on the bum with a copy of Parliamentary orders of the day and saying "naughty boy."
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7. Hitchens account emphasizes the element of sadomasochism play in these fantasies, suggesting that Thatcher's hold on the "political libido" (CH's phrase) was about her power, the thrill of submitting to her dominance so to speak.
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9. There is an element of truth to this. Kissinger's "power is an aphrodisiac" can apply to powerful women as well as men. But it also plays out different in the two genders.https://twitter.com/PallasTweet/status/1065408246276481026 …
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10. I don't think I'm over reading these sexualizing comments as showing the need of many men, even those who supported her politics, to try and contain her, to foreground her gender broke gender barriers and triumphed in a male field.
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11. This makes sense. Thatcher was a hugely disruptive figure, not just as first British Prime Minister but also a particularly transformative leader. The sexualization had an element of diminishment, saying in effect, "she's still a woman"https://twitter.com/WilfridPinkPig/status/1065409097313517568 …
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