ROCK also got more free press [...]]]> 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.

Locally, an anti-choice rally was held downtown, Kentucky’s numbskulled state Senate passed a terrible bill requiring women to have ultrasounds before getting an abortion, and Louisvillians continued [...]]]> Whew! We’ve seen the anniversary of Roe v. Wade, the trial of anti-choice terrorist Scott Roeder, the Prop 8 trial, the vindication of Theatair X, and plenty more.

Locally, an anti-choice rally was held downtown, Kentucky’s numbskulled state Senate passed a terrible bill requiring women to have ultrasounds before getting an abortion, and Louisvillians continued to duke it out in the letters to the editor. The ultrasound bill is pretty atrocious—it also requires a face-to-face meeting with an abortion doctor 24 hours before the procedure and imposes stiff fines on doctors, among other things. Word has it the bill won’t pass the Kentucky House, but if you are concerned please consider attending the Reproductive Justice Project Rally in Frankfort Thursday, 2/4. The rally was scheduled to demonstrate for real sex ed for teens, but this bill demands some attention.

The Roe v. Wade anniversary prompted much writing, with NARAL declaring it Blog For Choice Day. Amanda Marcotte explains that she’s pro-choice because she loves life, the good Kentuckians over at Barefoot & Progressive weigh in, and this post collects a number of other feminists’ thoughts. Jessica Arons, director of the Women’s Health and Rights Program at American Progress, calls Democrats to action.

The Roe anniversary also marked the beginning of the trial of Scott Roeder, admitted murderer of late-term abortion provider Dr. George Tiller. [Listen to Dr. Tiller here on why he chose this career.] RH Reality Check did a day-by-day account: Days One and Two, Day Three, Day Four, and Day Five. You can watch Roeder’s testimony Roeder was today found guilty of first degree murder and sentenced to life.

Let us remember, though, that Roeder is also a terrorist, not just a murderer. More on anti-abortion violence here [and it is well-documented]. Also, will there be another generation of abortion providers? One must wonder, with the personal safety risks and lack of education.

Meanwhile, also on Roe day, the March for Life descended upon DC. Sarah Palin cooed about this on Facebook, Jezebel responded. There is a bad trend in the anti-choice sphere of appropriating pro-choice language—we’ve got to call this bullshit for what it is. Also, much was made over the youth in attendance of the rally, but that’s not really the feat anti-choicers might like to believe.

Speaking of youth and sex rights, here’s how to train youth to value reproductive justice.

An unfortunate firestorm has flared up as CBS is allowing an anti-choice ad featuring Tim Tebow and funded by Focus on the Family to air during the Super Bowl, which violated its former anti-advocacy advertising policy. In light of the controversy they’ve amended the policy. Pro-choice groups have considered how to respond, and seem to be focused on shutting the ad down. We can also mock it.

PAPER, by the way, proposes a counter-ad with a well-known successful woman or mother of a successful person detailing why her abortion was a fantastic choice. Sadly abortion is so stigmatized in this country no one would want to admit to one on TV, which is yet another problem.

The ad is also controversial since Tebow’s mother’s story sounds a little off, and because CBS is cynically using a serious social issue to get free buzz AND paints the anti-choicers as the better side.

State trends in abortion in 2009.

Reflections on the last decade in reproductive justice.

Two interesting books to look for: Dispatches from the Abortion Wars, and The Means of Reproduction.

Last in the abortion section, a good mockery of Bart Stupak.

In excellent local news… the regulations were unconstitutional. ROCK was predictably petulant, saying what goes on in Theatair X is “unimaginable,” and we enjoyed this. To tell Clarksville not to pass stupid restrictions on adult businesses, call either 812-283-1504 or email Clarksville’s town council at trishATdigicoveDOTcom.

And if you’re still unconvinced that groups like ROCK are harmless, here are some recent stories from around the world of braindead bans caused by sex-negative panic: a dictionary banned from school for containing “oral sex”. Or The Diary of Anne Frank banned in Virginia schools for being “pornographic.” Outside of school, how about banning small breasts and female ejaculation in porn? Or artists stripped of their funding for “indecency”? Such stories proliferate where sex-negativity abounds.

In Indiana, though, not all fronts are so liberated. 2009 saw more pro-GLBTQ bills passed than the last two years combined.

At the Prop 8 trial, religion was mostly absent, ex-gay therapy was discussed, and homosexuality claimed to be linked to pedophilia [by someone Prop 8's backers are distancing themselves from]. The case does seem to be leaning toward repealing Prop 8, thankfully… even Cindy McCain is for gay marriage.

This sounds like an interesting political race.

Oh yeah, despite an anti-choice ad, CBS won’t allow a gay dating site’s ad. Ugh. In other gay dating site news, eHarmony must merge its straight and gay sites. ‘Bout time.

Teen pregnancy has risen in America—thanks, abstinence-only education.

Contraception will be made more available to women in the military.

Study on education and cervial cancer risk.

Americans might soon have another emergency contraception pill, already available in Europe and maybe more effective than Plan B.

A wonderful condom ad:

Lastly, pioneering reproductive justice activist Ruth P. Smith has died. Thank you, Ruth, you will be missed.