sexually overpowers me, attacks me.
Penthouse: Isn’t that supposed to be the male-chauvinist version of a woman’s fantasy?
Summer: Oh, I don’t believe so. This secret fantasy of being raped is a part of women because we’ve been raised that way. I’m not saying that it’s necessarily every woman’s fantasy, because I can’t really relate to every woman. But I like to know that someone is stronger than I am. I want to be able to know that if I get tired, somebody is there to hold up the fort. I like knowing that I can’t pick up a refrigerator alone. God did not make me strong enough to do that.
Penthouse: You prefer to be physically dominated by men?
Summer: There are times I do- absolutely, 100 percent. And there are times when I don’t want to be mentally dominated. When I think of aggression, I think of being aggressed upon rather than being the aggressor.
ON IF SHE EVER HAD A SEXUAL EXPERIENCE WITH A WOMAN
Penthouse: Have you ever had a female lover?
Summer: Never, and I don’t really plan to. I must say I’ve been hit on by a lot of women in my life. But I found that that was not one of the things I wanted to participate in- outside the realm of fantasy.
Penthouse: Does it bother you to have a woman whom you think of as a friend attracted to you sexually?
Summer: No, it doesn’t bother me as long as she doesn’t touch me. It’s a strange thing about me, like a tic or something, but I don’t like to have people touching me at all. I find it an imposition on my person when people put their hands on me.
Penthouse: Where do you think that phobia comes from?
Summer: I just don’t feel secure around women. I guess it comes from the time when I started in show business, when I was around eighteen years old. I was dancing and singing, and it put me around older women a lot- not girls, but women, around thirty, thirty-five. When I was younger, I was very physical, always moving. I was very, very thin and moved around with sort of a snakelike movement. It was obviously very alluring for women. At one point I started worrying, ‘Am I putting this vibe out to women?” I talked to an analyst about it and realized that it wasn’t me. It was them and what they envisioned me to be. It was my mystique.
ON HER INTERRACIAL RELATIONSHIP AT THAT TIME (1979)
Penthouse: Is this same kind of mystique at work in your relationship with your current boyfriend.
Summer: Well, my boyfriend is Italian. I think of him as my Italian stallion, and I’m sure I’m his sex goddess. But I don’t think his feelings about me have anything to do with the myth that surrounds me. It’s because our chemistry works.
Penthouse: Does the chemistry have anything to do with the fact that you’re black and he’s white?
Summer: I’m sure that he’s been with other black women and the chemistry didn’t work like it works with us. I’ve certainly been with other white men, and the chemistry wasn’t like this. You know, what people consider erotic or beautiful has to do with what they’ve been told for twenty or thirty years. I had a problem with one of my boyfriends once. At the moment of the ultimate encounter, he became absolutely frantic and couldn’t get it together, and all of a sudden I became a color to him and not a person. I stopped and said, “Wait a minute. Forget what you’ve learned in the past. You don’t have to prove anything to me- I am me, not a myth. Look me in the eye and deal with me, not with a myth, because I’m not a myth.”
HER THOUGHTS ON WHY OPPOSITE RACES SEXUALLY ATTRACT
Penthouse: What do you think about the fantasies some white women have of black men making the best lovers?
Summer: I don’t know … it’s certainly more than the fact that black men put it somewhere and it feels good. It’s the color, the hair texture, the smell, the difference in the feel. It feels different to make love with a black man than it does with a white man. It’s just a different touch. It’s aesthetics. I suppose for a white woman to imagine a black-skinned man pouncing on her bones… well, the contrast is a stimulation, I think. I know I attract blond men like flies. One of my record company people who was traveling around Europe with me once said, “My God, I never saw so many blond men flock around anybody in my life!” It’s the contrast, the look of it. But, purely sexually speaking, there’s no difference having to do with race. It’s just a fantasy that a black man’s penis is longer or bigger or more potent or anything like that – excuse me for being so technical. And I can’t really say that black women sustain longer. I mean, I really don’t know.
ON WHAT SHE WAS ACTUALLY THINKING ABOUT WHEN SHE FAKED AN ORGASM ON “LOVE TO LOVE YOU BABY” (This might surprise you)
Penthouse: What kind of emotions do you go through when you’re recording or performing your songs and having to exude all that sexuality?
Summer: “Love to Love You” was approached as an acting piece, as what I imagined it to be like for a man seeing his wife for the first time, or for a woman seeing a man for the first time. I’ve been in that situation. There wasn’t anything to say. I was in ecstasy without even being touched. I was breathing heavy just from the thought that my dream was right there, in front of me. Ecstasy comes in many forms; it’s not just physical. But my song conjured up physical fantasies for people. My acting was done well, and people believed the story I was acting.
Penthouse: You did all that heavy breathing, faking that orgasm, without thinking any sexual thoughts?
Summer: I know it sounds funny. During the recording of the record, I had much more romantic thoughts than the record led you to believe. You know, there are ecstatic moments in life that are physical, that are like an orgasm. For a mother, I should think, there are moments – touching her child, realizing that this miracle is hers- that are ecstasy. You know, that record flopped twice in Europe. I was a clean-cut, funny American girl who was in Europe doing top European music. That was my image. They didn’t even acknowledge that record. It fell off the charts twice before it was released the third time and hit. It was hysterical. I just made up the voice for that song. I found a hole in the market. I found a loophole, and that’s how I got my foot in the door. That was a big foot, I’ll tell you that- not your basic, ordinary foot. And it boosted me up a long, long way from my Boston roots.
ON HOW SHE WANTED TO BE REMEMBERED
Penthouse: Do you feel a need to do things for people so that you will be remembered by them?
Summer: This is a strange thing, but I really don’t care if they remember me. I hope they remember my philosophy, as opposed to my person, because I’m actually quite insignificant. People remember Jesus, or they remember disciples. But to remember them as people is not enough. You must remember what they taught you. That’s the important thing to me.
We give Donna Summer props for being so honest. This just goes to show that sexual stimulation is like beauty- in the eyes of the beholder, or should I say, in the loins of the beholder. FYI: If you ever sent a fan letter to Summer back in the day, you might have been more than just a fan to her…hmmm, LOL. Seriously though, reading her interview was refreshing because typically it’s like pulling teeth to get a celeb’ to openly discuss personal, intimate truths like she did. So we salute Mrs. Summer, not only for the incredible body of music she left us with, but for her uncensored honesty.
Donna Summer sadly passed away on May 17, 2012 at the age of 63, after losing her battle to lung cancer. May she continue to rest peacefully.
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