An economic analysis of the relationship between pre-marital sex and its destigmatization.

Study from the National Campaignt to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy finds unprecedented vast ignorance about reproduction and contraception among American youth. Thanks, abstinence-only and sex-negativity!

What an anti-teen sexting bill ought to look [...]]]> Happy post-Derby recuperation, and here’s a [very distilled] round-up from the interim.

An economic analysis of the relationship between pre-marital sex and its destigmatization.

Study from the National Campaignt to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy finds unprecedented vast ignorance about reproduction and contraception among American youth. Thanks, abstinence-only and sex-negativity!

What an anti-teen sexting bill ought to look like. Take heed, Kentucky legislators.

Advice to a twentysomething raised by sex-negative religious parents… who now feels terrible guilt about sex, even while married.

ROCK’s been endorsing this stupid effort by the Family Foundation of Kentucky to make all strippers keep distance from clients and wear pasties.

More investigation into the fundies with too much power in this country, from Rachel Maddow:

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Well, what do you know? Strip clubs are safer than churches! At least in Australia.

Next Saturday is the day before Mother’s Day, and that means we ought to help EMW out. [And, you know, call our moms and such.] The protesters continue to get coverage, especially after anti-choice starlet Lila Rose leaked a heavily-edited two-year-old attack video about EMW. [See Planned Parenthood's response to such attacks here.]

Meanwhile, a ten-year-old Mexican girl is being refused an abortion. Maybe this will be the tipping point for Mexican abortion rights–we can only hope.

A woman live-tweeted her abortion.

Abortion and contraception aren’t new–they have a 4000 year history!

Pro-Choice Public Education Project: education about abortion-related SCOTUS cases.

Gallup finds that education “trumps” gender in predicting abortion rights support.

Now this is the sort of class homophobes can proudly claim: after a Mississippi lesbian student, Constance McMillen, asked to take her girlfriend to the prom [while dressed in a tux, *gasp*], the school canceled the whole prom. You can picture how much this pleased the rest of the students. After the school was forced to hold the prom, however, McMillen and her date and some disabled students were the only ones who attended. It was a decoy prom. The real prom had been held elsewhere, and kept secret from McMillen and the others.

Well, at least DC passed a resolution against the Uganda kill-the-gays bill.

More science shows that the Pill won’t kill us.

What does porn for women really look like?

A bunch of fundies got Morrison’s Song of Solomon banned from a school. ROCK frequently endorses this tactic–what did you read in school that someone objects to?

A cornucopia of climaxes: the language of orgasm.

Also, we’re updating, adding, and tweaking throughout the site. We’re also planning some new post features. Stay tuned!

And on to the news. The drama continues to unfold regarding Louisville’s own Archbishop Kurtz, who donates to homophobia: the director of the Fairness Campaign responds, and so [...]]]> Your intrepid webmistress’ schedule is awry, so bear with us for the next couple of weeks. We may be making some big changes to the site, too!

And on to the news. The drama continues to unfold regarding Louisville’s own Archbishop Kurtz, who donates to homophobia: the director of the Fairness Campaign responds, and so do readers. But best of all was Kurtz’s own response to criticism:

Unfortunately, the editors of The Courier-Journal characterized the support for marriage as bigotry. As archbishop, as a former social worker and as a citizen, I write to express my objection to referring to the church’s efforts, as well as those of countless citizens throughout the United States, in such derogatory terms. In fact, the majority of voters in more than 30 states have supported marriage as the union of one man and one woman.

As a good citizen, I do not seek to impose assent to religious truths, such as those regarding Baptism or the Holy Eucharist. Marriage, however, as the union of one man and one woman is not only a religious conviction … it is a time-honored, classical norm recognized in almost every civilization. The church supports marriage for the same reason it supports laws against stealing. We oppose stealing not only because of the seventh commandment, but because of the natural moral law regarding the good of private ownership. The seventh commandment confirms with special clarity and authority what anyone of good will may discover by the application of reason.

It never ceases to amaze me that people can be genuinely uncomfortable with being called bigots, but have no discomfort at all with their own actual bigotry. Kurtz says he’s not, and “supporters of marriage” are not, bigots, but equates gay marriage with theft. He misrepresents marriage by implying “almost every civilization” treated marriage as Catholicism does, and relies on the old trope that homosexuality is somehow unnatural, because he can’t say the only reason he opposes gay marriage is because Paul and Moses told him so. Given that homosexuality is wholly natural, that gay families can be healthy and happy families, that gay marriages involve consenting adults, and that marriage has indeed been different culture to culture, there’s no conclusion except that Kurtz and his ilk are bigots. [Also let's remember that gay marriage laws come with clauses saying no church must perform/recognize gay marriage.]

Meanwhile, such homophobia’s real ramifications continue to play out in Uganda, where life imprisonment for gays is gaining more support than the death penalty. In Malawi, a gay couple got married in protest of the Ugandan bill and were promptly arrested. In happy news, however, Argentina has its first married gay couple, and Obama has appointed transwoman Amanda Simpson to the Department of Commerce.

A map of the world by gay rights:

Fun: daytime TV’s first gay love scene.

Should unmarried straight couples get benefits?

The abstinence-only clowns are hoping healthcare reform will save their lies. See also: the new paperback version of Jessica Valenti’s The Purity Myth.

More on abortion compromise from a Senator; response here. Locally, our own ACLU sent representatives to protest Stupak-Pitts, as well as condemn Rep. Chandler’s vote for the amendment.

Happy update: the military dropped the ban on pregnant soldiers.

On red and blue family values, and realities.

On men who fake orgasms.

And, where science gets really stupid: a new study says the g-spot doesn’t exist. [Another study recently confirmed its existence.] Sigh. Why was this even questioned?

Lastly, if a product relies solely on sex to sell while having nothing to do with sex, it’s probably a mediocre product.