This annotation is a quote from a conversation between Reba Maybury and Lucy Mackenzie, with Marie Canet in Pervert or Detective?

MAYBURY We’ve spoken about Chris Kraus’s book I Love Dick before and that we both take it very seriously. I first read this book in my early twenties when I was infatuated with someone and the book gave me permission to stay in this state. Whether this was healthy or not was irrelevant, it allowed me a space where I wasn’t totally tragic for being alone in my desire for this person. This romantic and erotic longing energised me in a way that before I had only understood was a place for men to retrieve inspiration from and with that, I suppose a sense of shame was lifted within me.

MACKENZIE I admire the way Kraus created, as you say, a kind of universal blueprint that we can all project our own Dick on to. But several years ago, I was the chosen unconsenting Dick for someone trying to do something similar. So I can’t help but have empathy for anyone in Dick’s position, and I can’t reread the book with the same enjoyment. Usually my Dicks are much further removed, which gives me permission to go as far as I want, interfering in their imaginary lives. I’m subject to obsessive attention, online and elsewhere, none of which I want to give oxygen to by discussing it. I’m sure for you there are many instances when your subs’ devotion tips into stalking.