The novel was published shortly after an anti-pornography ruling by the Supreme Court; Vidal responded by replacing the profanity in his novel with the names of the Justices involved (e.g., "He thrust his enormous Rehnquist deep within her Whizzer White", etc.)

Myra Breckinridge, the transsexual who terrorized Hollywood with dildo-rape and lesbianism, has transformed back into her former self, the literally and figuratively castrated Myron.

While Myron desperately searches for a way off the set (running into Richard Nixon along the way, who is considering taking up residence in Siren of Babylon in order to escape the Watergate hearings), Myra wants to stay permanently.

The changes wrought by Myra's running amok on the set of Siren of Babylon continue to influence the present and the book ends with a former cowboy actor in the film, now a transsexual, being elected Republican governor of Arizona.

In his introduction to the novel, Vidal mentions the Supreme Court decision Miller v. California, which in his words "leaves to each community the right to decide what is pornography."