May I please begin by saying I LOVE MADONNA and respect the shit out of her. I’m glad she got what she wanted out of it all - but it really was always the music and dancing I was more interested in.

The provocative stuff was always trying a little bit hard, to my mind. Even this quote: I want to be provocative! I want to be political! Cringe.

The Sex coffee table book was a snooze for me. It had a number of staged tableaus that drew from S&M and other things that, at the time, were “edgy.” But they were hollow and fake. I did not in fact believe I was just looking at a photodocumentary of what she does with a strap-on come Friday night, and I didn’t see any thing that was new to me in there, let alone shocking or provocative.