Lesbian Asterisk Pussy?

Once or twice before I’ve gotten inbound links from the very hip and very cool Autostraddle, which describes itself as “an intelligent, hilarious & provocative voice and a progressive online community for a new generation of kickass lesbian, bisexual & otherwise inclined ladies.”

I tend to take links from sources like this as a sort of “mission accomplished” compliment. Yes, I’m a straight guy who blogs mostly male-gaze porn with male-gaze commentary. Does that mean I have to be creepy and boys-only about it? I’ve never thought so.

But I’ve got to say, this particular inbound link had some curiously prudish and distancing anchor text that’s got me scratching my head.

The post in question was this one, and contained this line:

THIS is how they used to take a photograph of a pussy. (Emphasis and link in original.)

When they linked this post at Autostraddle, here’s the line of anchor text they used:

“This is how they used to have to take a picture of a p*ssy”

Notice what’s different?

First of all, they added the phrase “have to”. Like there was something repugnant about that perfectly delicious pussy. WTF?

And then, they asterisked the spelling of “pussy”. Again, WTF?

I’m not complaining — I’m happy for the link and the attention. But a site like that’s the last place I would expect to be pussy-squeamish. Maybe there’s another explanation I’m not getting?

Update: Riese from Autostraddle explains.