PAPER: because sex rights are civil rights. » sex-positivity

And we’re off!

admin — Sun, 02 May 2010 22:40:02 +0000

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!

Happy Valentine’s Day!

admin — Sun, 14 Feb 2010 06:38:56 +0000

Super Bowl is finally behind us, but here’s some analysis on the Tebow-Focus on the Family commercial: He’s My Timmy, who almost didn’t make it into this world… and from the link in the commercial, DON’T KILL YOUR BABY! Ah, yes, the crazy was waiting in the wings. By the way, don’t fall for the horror movie stylings of Focus on the Family’s description of abortion—try Planned Parenthood’s instead. [And for one last shot of nasty, here's what conservative pundit Erick Erickson had to say. Yet again an anti-choicer shows how considerate he is.]

Meanwhile, the dumb old trope that abortion providers are racist is getting play in Georgia. This stems from untrue accusations that Margaret Sanger, who founded Planned Parenthood, was a eugenicist. [Link is to the preservers and publishers of a new cache of Sanger's papers, which will handily dispel this rumor.]

Terrorist Scott Roeder has no regrets. Why should he, when Operation Rescue has a bounty on abortion doctors? Over in the legislative end of anti-choice bullshit, some states are moving to mandate that abortion insurance can only be purchased as a rider.

If you’re angry about all this—or optimistic!—sign up for the 2010 Southern Reproductive Justice Leadership Institute.

Men and boys can get the HPV vaccine!

If you think you’ve been exposed to HIV [or want to be prepared for that feeling], here’s a video about what to do.

Lady Gaga and Cyndi Lauper are teaming up to fight unprotected sex.

A wonderful essay on why “unnatural” sex acts aren’t just okay, butsome of the most beautiful, honorable, and deeply treasured parts of the human experience.

Dan Choi, one of the most outspoken critics of DADT, is back in active duty. Yay! And, a majority of Americans think gays should be allowed to serve openly. Those who don’t, well, see the following:

Louisvillians sound off on DADT.

Homophobes fail to repeal gay marriage rights in Iowa and New Hampshire. [For true homophobia on display, check this.]

Making a big mockery of straight-only marriage.

In the religious world, pastor Ken Eastburn advocates Christians tending to their own morality rather than America’s, the Archbishop of Canterbury wants to get progressive, and a new religious institute report advises preaching reproductive justice. And in fundie idiocy, a Michigan fundie group has filed a lawsuit against hate crimes legislation, saying it will “eradicate” their religion.

Treatment for gender identity disorder IS medical care!

Should we teach feminism in school? Yep.

Rhode Island has a sex-positivity institute!

Ongoing sagas and local action

admin — Sun, 07 Feb 2010 03:58:00 +0000

First off: the Kentucky House has approved an In God We Trust plate. As you might recall, ROCK’s been at it to get a vanity IGWT plate for years—should this pass, it effectively kills ROCK’s fundraising strategy, and if it doesn’t pass, we’re spared license plate theocracy. A true win-win!

ROCK also got more free press from WAVE-3 this week when their demands weren’t met by the Clarksville Town Council. Not so amusingly, half the very anti-ROCK comments were deleted, but it would seem public opinion actually isn’t so much on ROCK’s side. The WAVE-3 reporter’s email is above the text of the article and Clarksville’s Town Council can be reached at trishAtdigicoveDOTcom. Let’s make our sex-positive voices heard!

Another ROCK member got a letter in the Courier today. She writes,

When I read “A Super Bowl advertisement we can do without” by Timothy Rutten in The C-J’s Feb. 3 edition, I was already nodding my head in agreement to what I was sure was going to be a detractor of Go Daddy’s blatant use of porn culture and sexuality of women to sell its product.

Interestingly, the idea of porn culture is not strictly far right—many very liberal thinkers object to an oversexualized culture. PAPER, of course, advocates not a wholesale condemnation of pornography and sexuality, but striving toward a culture where sexuality is just one aspect of whole, healthy people. What’s more interesting, though, is the idea that sexuality of women is something objectionable. So much of porn’s titillation factor is in seeing women behave in unladylike ways; it might lose its more addicting quality if everyday women weren’t shamed for being sexual entities.

The Courier also printed an editorial on the terrorist Scott Roeder and more abortion-related letters to the editor.

Amanda Marcotte takes down “101 Reasons not to Have an Abortion” spectacularly.

A new anti-choice bill in Utah illegalizes miscarriages. Yeah, the anti-choice movement cares about women. Sure.

And more on Tebow: there are actually TWO anti-choice Tebow ads, both funded by the extremists at Focus on the Family. Unfortunately feminist reaction to the ad has not been received well.

At least there are the following touching and/or funny videos.

Planned Parenthood hired two sports notables–wisely, men, as anti-choicers aren’t going to respect women talking about why abortion is a force for good–to make the official counter-ad.

Florida’s Raging Grannies sing it like it is.

Jimmy Kimmel makes the most biting counter.

On the sad career of choice.

Meanwhile, Kentucky’s own Planned Parenthood and ACLU made a great showing in Frankfort for real sex ed. Real sex ed is getting proper funding again, thanks to Obama–Planned Parenthood’s Cecile Richards responds.

In other sex ed news, a new study said abstinence education works. Huh? Well, it’s not abstinence-only education, it’s sex ed that highlights the positives of abstinence while giving good health and contraception information. More on this here.

Sexting as kiddie porn is nothing short of absurd.

The Courier also opined on repealing Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell and whew, the homophobia came rolling in. It’s not just Louisvillians: Ollie North said repealing DADT will lead to NAMBLA being in uniform, the American Family Association said gayness ought to be illegal, as did the Family Research Council. Remember, the AFA and FRC are two of ROCK and their ilk’s biggest sources of “evidence.” Neighborly, huh?

Although Obama and Hillary Clinton attended the National Prayer Breakfast, put on the theocratic group The Family, they condemned the Family’s work in hate-mongering and would-be genocide in Uganda. In the Courier, another religious GLBTQ-friendly voice was heard–come on, sane Christians, keep making noise.

A top Canadian music magazine named a transman for Canada’s sexiest man. Yay progressiveness!

Another disgusting little ploy: homophobes aren’t content with saying gays are evil, they’re ugly, too.

LA will not make condoms mandatory in porn, for a variety of reasons… link is more NSFW than most.

People always have questions about sex, most of which boil down to, “Am I normal?” Who cares?

Got a painfully curved penis? Help may be on the way.

The anatomy of sperm.

More Kentuckian fun with restricting abortion access

admin — Sat, 16 Jan 2010 19:58:42 +0000

This week the Kentucky Senate passed to the floor a bill that forces women to have an ultrasound before getting an abortion [the webpage has been glitchy, so you may have to refresh to get it to load correctly]. Kentucky law already requires counseling, in case you didn’t know. Find your representative’s contact info here so you can tell him or her to vote against this anti-choice nonsense. The Courier also ran an op-ed on this.

Oh, and here’s The Onion’s take on such terrible laws:

New Law Requires Women To Name Baby, Paint Nursery Before Getting Abortion

Meanwhile, remember how Louisville’s anti-choice protesters have been showing up to the abortion clinic dressed like escorts? The feminist blogosphere picked up on it, and the protesters weren’t happy. Excerpt:

While these escorts may seem to you as brave, enduring, heroes, and more..to me they are individuals who use Saturday mornings as a way to justify being as angry and mean as possible. Who yell insults, profane language, and dance in the streets while women go into the abortion clinic. These insults come after attempts to simply say good morning or hello. We do not hate the escorts, nor believe they are deemed our “enemies” as they do. We are divided on this issue of great importance, yet I do not believe that it means we must hate one another.
These same people who “shelter” the woman going into the clinic barely speak a word to her, and instead focus on telling myself and my friends how stupid we are. In fact, the woman is often ignored. Is that emotional support?

Lies, lies, lies. This anti-choicer has conveniently ignored all the insults, judgments, and sanctimoniousness that come from the protesters. Escorts also don’t scream at the women going into the clinic, so I suppose it could be an honest mistake not to hear their kind words. The best thing is, the anti-choicer who wrote this silly email is in the video shot by escorts. So we know exactly the hatefulness he or she espouses, regardless of what they say later. [More here, including the video.]

Meanwhile, the murderer of Dr. George Tiller may be found guilty of manslaughter instead. This sets a terrifying precedent—essentially allowing lesser sentences for murdering abortion doctors. We can only hope it’s a means to curtail appeals. More here.

Repeal the Hyde Amendment!

On having anti-choice allies.

More debunking of the abortion causes breast cancer lie.

Stupak might run for governor. Well, it’d get him out of Congress at least.

Why the big disparity between states offering anti-choice and pro-choice license plates?

The following is tax-funded abstinence-only education in action:

Because clapping for the clap is so much better at curtailing teen pregnancy than telling teens condoms are effective. Riiiiight.

The Courier also ran an op-ed this week about all the Kurtz homophobia ruckus. More reader response here.

This week the Prop 8 trial began. Evidence will include testimony from gay couples, and a historian’s take on marriage. Meanwhile, the homophobes have demanded not to be shown on camera. Do they secretly know their weak arguments are based on hate, or what?

Always hilarious: prominent Irish homophobe Iris Robinson was caught in an extramarital affair with 19 year old chef for whom she embezzled $50000. Juicy! By the way, did you know divorce rates are higher in states banning gay marriage?

Reluctance may be growing about the Kill the Gays Bill in Uganda.

The Democrats might finally start moving on repealing DADT.

Fun stuff: how gay are Catholic priests… or how many people are into blasphemy play? And, also from The Onion, Gay teen worried he might be a Christian. And yes, it IS set in our own Louisville.

Neither victims nor voiceless: sex workers speaking for themselves. And, America’s first legal male prostitute compares himself to Rosa Parks. Uh, well, we guess it’s good for male prostitutes to be ballsy.

Lastly, one that goes to the heart of what PAPER stands for: breaking the generational shame about sex.

1/9 newsfeed, complete with local drama.

admin — Sat, 09 Jan 2010 19:04:20 +0000

The Courier-Journal drama with Archbishop Kurtz continues to unfold in reader letters, more reader letters, and even more reader letters. And the comments were many.

Make your gay relationship [or gay-friendliness] known in the Census.

The Obama administration has now banned bias over gender identity.

About the Prop 8 lawsuit, which will be televised.

New Jersey rejected gay marriage this week, but the whole country of Portugal legalized it.

The Kill the Gays Bill saga in Uganda gained publicity when the New York Times covered it. More here, and about how evangelicals are trying to distance themselves here. Frankly, this should become the PR disaster for evangelicals that pedophile priests were for the Catholic church.

The AIDS/HIV travel ban has finally been lifted.

The sex addiction model isn’t harmless.

Revisiting purity balls, and yes, they’re still creepy and awful. And a new poll says most parents think their kids are “model citizens.”

Absurd: carrying three condoms in DC could get you arrested for prostitution.

A new study says guilt may lower women’s sex drives. Meanwhile, Amplify points out that when sex is normal, normal people talk about sex.

Did you know some of Toronto’s mental health professionals are painfully sex-negative? Kenneth Zucker is leading the transphobic wing of psychiatry, and the definition of paraphilia may expand so much that everyone is included.

January is Cervical Health Awareness Month.

Why do we forget that abortion is a fundamental right? Here’s Planned Parenthood’s Cecile Richards on reproductive justice around the world.

At our own EMW Women’s Clinic, the anti-choice protesters are now wearing orange “life escort” vests. Also picked up on Feministing.

Guess what? Abby Johnson , the former Planned Parenthood employee scared anti-choice by watching an abortion, is a big LIAR.

Catholic bishops have embraced anti-choice terrorists.

No shit: study says more frequent sex increases chance of pregnancy. Another study reminds us that sex is good for your health.

Alan Moore has just released a paean to erotic history.