Virginia Democrat Leslie Cockburn is accusing her Republican opponent, Denver Riggleman, of being a “devotee of Bigfoot erotica” based on screenshots he appeared to have posted of a Bigfoot with a large penis.
Yes, Bigfoot erotica is a thing. If you’d like to do a deep dive on the subject, Katie Heaney wrote a piece in 2014 that will explain this subculture to you fairly extensively.
Leslie Cockburn lives in rural Rappahannock County and is running against Denver Riggleman in the state’s 5th Congressional district, which includes parts of Charlottesville.
I am no fan of Denver Riggleman. He is a Trump supporter who has campaigned alongside a white supremacist. He should not be elected to any office in this country.
But if Riggleman is a fan of Bigfoot erotica, I don’t think that has any bearing on his capacity for serving the constituents of Virginia, and I think that Leslie Cockburn’s use of it as a campaign issue is inappropriate, narrow-minded, and stupid.
I don’t understand Bigfoot erotica. It’s definitely not for me, and if I’m being honest, just the thought of Bigfoot erotica makes my skin crawl. But there is apparently a subset of human beings who finds excitement and pleasure in this unusual form of sexualized literature, and if it brings them happiness and hurts no one, then far be it for me or Leslie Cockburn or anyone else to criticize.
Yes, I’m defending Bigfoot erotica. I’m defending a person’s admiration of Bigfoot erotica. I’m defending a person’s right to write and read and fantasize about sex with Bigfoot.
I’ll even defend having sex with Bigfoot if everyone involved is a consenting adult participant.
If we’re going to be a society that stops caring about what people do in the privacy of their own homes, then this must extend to all interests, fetishes, and personal predilections that do not conform with our own. If I want the bigots of the world to stop concerning themselves with the private lives of my gay, bisexual, and transgender friends, then we must extend this desire to the private lives of all people.
As long as no one is being hurt and everyone is a consenting adult, we have no right to judge the multitude of ways that our fellow human beings find happiness, pleasure, and love.
Bigfoot erotica makes no sense to me. It strikes me as the one of the least arousing concepts on the planet. But that doesn’t mean that it’s wrong and that someone should be condemned for finding pleasure in it.
Leslie Cockburn is running against a man who has campaigned with a white supremacist. She is battling a Republican supported Trump’s decision to separate migrant families at the border. He defended a Republican tax cut that sent more than 90% of the money into the hands of the wealthiest Americans. Stood by Trump when he equated torch-bearing Nazis in Charlottesville with counter-protesters. Voted for a man who bragged about sexually assaulting women.
There is plenty of ammunition to use against Denver Riggleman. Plenty of proverbial bullets to fire in this campaign for Congress.
His alleged appreciation of Bigfoot erotica should not be one of them.
