Sex Positive

Guilt and jealousy over masturbating?!

Promoting or at least discussing pleasure has been shown to increase consistent condom use and other forms of safer sex, says Doortje Braeken

It’s important to note that the horrors of the Cleveland abductions had nothing to do with sex trafficking; Ariel Castro’s atrocities were his, the acts of single criminal male.

[This is also something folks would be equally wise to remember when it comes to the use of the word "sadist" in description of his acts; this has nothing to do with BDSM, neither in porn nor practice. Just as whatever religion Castro professes to prescribe to has nothing to do with that faith's real practice, any other associations, assumed or claimed, should not be accepted. Castro's inhumanity is his; to lay it at the feet of some other group, to misrepresent its origins or associations, to pretend it came from some "other" or otherwise purport false dangers, these things create panic and other actions which do not serve public safety or justice. Castro, and those like him, should be held accountable for their actions.]

by TARA CULP-RESSLER

(Credit: Change.org)

On Friday afternoon, the Associated Press ran a story about a young woman in Washington state who alleges that her high school’s officials failed to protect her from a 16-year-old boy who raped her on school property, and even allowed the boy to remain in the same classroom with her after her guardian reported she was being harassed by him. The school continues to deny most of her claims, and she is seeking at least $400,000 in damages.

In its headline about the story, the AP chose to characterize the encounter — which took place in a bathroom at the high school — as “restroom sex”:

[More by clicking the headline]

As a sex worker who has both mental illness(es) and a history of abuse Mia Freedman’s post perpetuates stereotypes and stigmas that harm me. Should my mental illness prevent me from having any agency? Didn’t we do away with locking the mentally ill up and throwing away the key (although this still does happen) because we (as a society) started to recognise the mentally ill as humans with rights? Or do we only have some rights? Like the right to work in a low paying, menial job or the right to exist (not live because let’s face it, it isn’t a living wage) on the disability support pension and that is if you even qualify for it, if you don’t you can always try and get by on unemployment “benefits” while you are made to apply for jobs you will never get. Surely I still have the right to have sex don’t I? I can’t see Mia Freedman advocating for enforced chastity belts for the mentally ill. So, if I have the right to work and the right to have sex, what is wrong with me having sex as my work?

Elizabeth Smart became a household name after she was kidnapped from her home in Salt Lake City, UT at the age of 14 and held in captivity for nine months.

Gonzalez-Navarro, working with researchers at Yale and the University of Ottawa, found that Colombian students in an 11-week online course in safer sex created by Profamilia, part of the International Planned Parenthood Federation, knew more about safer sex practices than students who took the conventional, state-mandated health class. And their knowledge was put into practice. For every 68 students who took the online course instead of the traditional course, researchers estimated by reviewing students’ medical records and comparing them to those of peers who didn’t take the course, up to two sexually transmitted infections were prevented. The students were also 10 percentage points more likely than their counterparts to redeem vouchers for free condoms offered six months later.

Emer O'Toole: Instead of banning the diary from schools, as Gail Horalek would like, we should teach girls not to be ashamed of their bodies

A very importantn distinction is missing from discussions about sexual violence.

As social workers, we were educated and trained to help our clients become comfortable enough with our working relationship and often urge them to discuss the taboo, sex included, yet it appears even in our professional education we avoid these topics. In this case, not only did my education not enlighten me about the works of Dr. Ellis in the taboo field of sexuality, but it also held little discussion of sex therapy outside of the normative discussions of couple’s therapy. How is this helpful to ourselves, our clients, and our profession? How can we help our clients reach this comfortable stage if we cannot even teach our students how to discuss this material in the class room, let alone with their clients or like minded professionals? This remains a hindrance to ourselves and our clients; helping to further the idea that these topics are taboo by ignoring them in our education.

DigitalJournal.com
Op-Ed: The truth about women and pornography — They love it!

Today the Rhode Island Senate Republican Caucus announced its support for a bill that would grant marriage rights for gay and lesbian couples, becoming the first unanimous decision by a legislative caucus of either party in the nation to back marriage equality legislation. The State Senate Judiciary Committee is expected to approve the legislation later today.

Duke University’s decision to include coverage of sexual reassignment surgery in its student health insurance plan starting next year might prompt UNC-system schools to offer the same.

Female porn stars are healthier and happier than other women, according to a new study. The Journal of Sex Research discovered than women working in the adult entertainment field tend to have a better body image, increased self-esteem, and higher energy levels than their non-sex worker peers.

Researchers compared 177 porn stars with a similar sampling of women employed in less erotic careers, according to Now.MSN.com. If the Journal of Sex Research study is accurate, the findings shatter some commonly held stereotypes about adult film actresses.

The study reportedly discovered that female porn actresses were not more likely to have been sexually abused as children than the average American woman. Feminist commentator Dawn Foster warns that the Journal of Sex Research study should not be used as an excuse to “gloss over” the “exploitative aspects” of the porn industry.

An excerpt from the study reads:

“Stereotypes of those involved in adult entertainment have been used to support or condemn the industry and to justify political views on pornography, although the actual characteristics of actresses are unknown because no study on this group of women has been conducted. Some descriptions of actresses in pornography have included attributes such as drug addiction, homelessness, poverty, desperation, and being victims of sexual abuse.”

Merriam-Webster defines feminism as an organized activity on behalf of women’s rights and interests. Instead of porn stars being considered the objects of exploitation, perhaps they should be noted among the ultimate feminists. The adult women who work in the erotic entertainment industry willingly enter a career which pays them a lot of money for doing a task. Since female porn stars are often paid more than their male counterparts, an equal pay argument could be for men in the industry.

On Monday, the Supreme Court hears oral arguments in a case that will decide if recipients of government aid can be forced to oppose prostitution – or potentially any other issue as a contingency of receiving U.S. funds. The case, Alliance for Open Society International v United States Agency for International Development, arises from a controversial policy governing AIDS education, prevention, and treatment, a decade-long fight that's crossed political lines and was kicked off by Rep. Chris Smith as part of a larger conservative attempt to undermine reproductive and sexual health care. With HIV and AIDS projects facing closure if they don't adopt the government's position on sex work, it's sex workers who are paying the ultimate price.

A two-year budget bill advanced by Ohio's state House of Representatives on Tuesday would defund Planned Parenthood, redirect that state money to Christian-run "crisis pregnancy centers," and impose a fine of up to $5,000 on teachers who provide certain kinds of sex education instruction to their students.

Cupcakes only care about their own orgasms. When you see a woman eating a cupcake, you're basically watching her perform cunnilingus on herself. Small and moist and warm and sweet, a cupcake's sole reason for existence is solitary pleasure. Historically, many symbols of female power or divinity involved fertility and/or reproduction: circles and eggs, Mother Earth and Mother Goose. But modern times call for modern branding, and if you're looking for the shorthand way to label something as being of, for or about the essence of a woman, and you have no pictogram of a vagina handy, by all means, slap a cupcake on it.