Archives for April 2009

I woke up Monday morning as sunlight filtered through new spring leaves and fell on my window and the tiny chapel below my room. Springtime on the East Coast is striking to someone who lives in California and never witnesses such a verdant rebirth. Spring is often associated with youth and innocence, but in reality it is dramatic resurgence of life, reproduction, and vitality that is neither innocence or inexperienced. In fact Spring should be a celebration of sexuality and passion. After all, those flowers on the trees and the songs bird sing are all advertisements for sex.

Looking out my window still foggy from sleep and a little jet lagged, I started to think about sexuality and new beginnings.  I realized that the tranquil and blossoming landscape I was gazing upon is home to rebirth of sexuality research, after all I’m in Bloomington, Indiana home of Alfred Kinsey, the Kinsey Institute, and the Center for Sexual Health Promotion.

It’s my first time here, and it feels like a pilgrimage. Walking around a campus and a town that has not changed much since Kinsey worked here, I wonder if the abundance of Spring in this sleepy Indiana town inspired his sexuality research. While he may have lived during a moment in American history where human sexuality was silenced, the natural...

Last week I interviewed one of the greatest sexuality educators and lifelong learning experts of our time, Peggy Brick.

For over 10 years, Peggy has trained thousands of educators, health care professionals and community advocates about sex in mid and later life and the importance of expanding our concept of “sex ed” to include the entire life-course. She's been teaching sex education across the lifespan since high school over 3 decades ago. Founder of the Consortium on Sexuality and Aging, Peggy is a pioneering, visionary leader whose passion and remarkable ability is revolutionizing sexuality education itself.

In 2003, Peggy, Jan Lunquist and SIECUS produced the groundbreaking book New Expectations: Sexuality Education for Mid and Later Life. I’ve used this book and recommended it for years as one of the most well respected and...

Congratulations to Meg of PA, who joined our Facebook page this week, and was randomly selected as the winner of The Body Shop Gift Bag. Meg says she joined the NSRC Facebook page because,

"I am a Program Coordinator for a harm reduction organization that distributes safer sex supplies, bad date alerts and safer drug use equipment to street-based sex workers. I am always on the lookout for resources related to sexuality, gender, and social justice! "

Great work, Meg--and thanks to the "Yes to Safe Sex" campaign from The Body Shop/MTV, and to all of you for your support of the work of NSRC.

If you haven't joined our Facebook page, you missed the gifts--but it's not too late to feel the satisfaction of amplifying our work to everyone you know, like that Facebook friend you haven't seen since fifth grade. Plus you get to see links, comments and posts from our growing Facebook community that you won't see here. Join already.

Official: FDA to OK Plan B for 17-year-olds

The Food and Drug Administration, reversing field, will now let 17-year-olds get the 'morning-after' birth control pill without a doctor's prescription, a government health official said Wednesday.

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Transgender murder, hate crime conviction a first - CNN.com

A Colorado man was convicted of first-degree murder and a bias-motivated crime and sentenced to life in prison for killing a transgender teen he met on an online social networking site.

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www.feministing.com

Thirteen-year-old Savana Redding of Safford, Arizona, was strip searched by middle school administrators, on a tip from another student who claimed she had contraband Advil hidden in her bra. Her lawyer ...

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"10 Years" - Judy Shepard Calls for Hate Crime Law

http://www.FightHateNow.org Judy Shepard lost her son Matthew to an anti-gay hate crime more...

Last week, the Sexuality Information and Education Council of the United States (SIECUS) released the 2008, 6th edition of its SIECUS State Profiles: A Portrait of Sexuality Education and Abstinence-Only-Until-Marriage Programs in the States. 

SIECUS is the convening body of the National Coalition to Support Sexuality Education (NCSSE), a coalition of over 140 national organizations committed to medically accurate, age-appropriate comprehensive sexuality education for all children and youth in the United States. NSRC became an active member of NCSSE two years ago. Since that time, we have attended and presented at biannual NCSSE meetings, signed on to dozens of letters urging states to reject abstinence-only funding and thanking them when they did, and recommended NCSSE coalition membership to some of our national organizational partners and allies.

Today I had the opportunity to partake in an NCSSE coalition conference call, to learn more about this truly paradigm shifting, 700+ page report. During the call, I was reminded by just how...

I think most of us could agree that the New York Times has set the bar fairly high as far as reporting goes.  Most of the articles and columns they publish are thought-provoking and fairly well-balanced (okay, the opinion section leans a little more than slightly left, but I would argue it's a result of intellectualism rather than party affiliation).  I also generally agree with the NYTimes endorsements, and the writers seem to take an informed and progressive stance on most issues.  So, could someone please explain the piece about hooking up for sex on craigslist that was published this past weekend?  Even the title reeks of bias (and is not even factual!) Recklessly Seeking Sex on Craigslist.  The author, Douglas Quenqua, relies on a few antidotes anecdotes, selects a couple of instances solely for the purpose of sensationalizing, and perpetuates myths and lies about internet sex that does nothing more than demonize people and use...

Here is a listing of the upcoming presentation I will be doing:

May '09, Phoenix, AZ. AASECT Conference. Gender Identity Disorder: What is in the Diagnosis

June '09, Philadelphia, PA. Philly Trans Health Conference. GID & the DSM: Academics to Advocacy. With Dan Walinksy, Michele Angello, and Kate Richmond

June '09, Oslo, Norway. World Professional Assn. for Transgender Health. Sexual Identity Development in Female-to-Male Transsexuals. With Anneliese Singh & Theo Burnes

August '09, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.American Psychological Assn. The Intersections of Transgender and Racial Identities. With Shana Hamilton, Anneliese Singh, Barry Chung, Vic Munoz, and Seth Pardo

Another GLSEN Day of Silence has come and gone. I went to work on Friday morning at the University Counseling Center. I had warned my supervisor that I was not going to talk that day. Fortunately, I wasn't seeing clients!

I was especially moved to participate this year following Carl Joseph Walker-Hoover's suicide. You can read more about his tragic death on the Advocate web site - there is an interview with his mother. Carl would have turned 12 on Friday, April 17! But, he had been subjected to ridicule and harassment from fellow students at his middle school since the beginning of the year. School administrators turned a deaf ear - and chose not to intervene on Carl's behalf.

I am angry! While I believe in self-determinism, and the right to commit suicide, Carl's death was preventable. No one should be tormented in the ways that Carl was - to the point where he turned the hatred on himself and took his own life.

Please stand up for those who are silenced. We supposdely live in a free country - but it hardly seems free when people are allowed to harass others. This must stop!

Originally posted on RH Reality Check

By Heather Corinna

Maya asks:

It seems as if girls at my school are very experienced sexually. They all talk about hooking up, giving head, getting head, getting fingered, and all that sort of thing. I, having never even kissed a boy or had a boyfriend, feel a bit left behind. I wanted to know if most girls my age, 15 (like on average), have had sexual experience like this.

Heather replies:

Maya,

I think it's so important to try not to get hung up on the idea that what other people are doing (or not) sexually has any relevance to what we do or don't do. I completely get wanting to have some idea of where we're at with where others are at, but with something as personal and diverse as sexuality, it's a good idea not to put too much stock in the sex lives of others when it comes to our own sex lives and how we feel about them.

One thing anyone who works in the study of sexuality or sexual health knows is that self-reporting (what people anecdotally say to others about themselves, rather than what we can find out based on measurable things like pregnancy or STI rates) when it comes to sexuality is notoriously unreliable, especially between young people. So often,

April 15 was tax day, and believe it or not, there are many ways that sex and sexuality relate to taxes.  Here are two that made the headlines:

Maryland gives tax breaks to gay couples who own a house together. While the law is well intentioned, it only helps gay couples who are wealthy enough to buy a home; leaving the single gay person or gay couples with the least economic resources with the greatest tax burden.

Staging a Boston Tea Party style protest against tax increases = clever. Calling the protest 'teabagging' without the slightest clue to the sexual implications of that word = desperate need of sexual literacy.

Notice the awesome double entendre in this MSNBC video piece.

Paying taxes wasn’t the only painful thing that happened this week. The entire sexuality world is mourning the lost of Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick to breast cancer. But Richard Kim’s obituary for her in The Nation reminds us that we can celebrate her indelible contribution to queer theory and that her intellectual contributions will live on her books, most notably Epistemology of the Closet and Between Men.

Also, April is Sexual Assault Awareness...

Support safer sex and win a sexy gift bag from The Body Shop? We say yes, yes, yes!

The Body Shop has joined with MTV for the 'Yes to Safe Sex' campaign--and all the proceeds from their Tantalising Lip Butter go towards HIV prevention.But there's more:

The Body Shop called us yesterday to offer us one of their gift bags with over $100 worth of sexy, fun-for-all-genders schwag: condoms, limited edition Tantalizing Lip Butter, Sensual Massage Oil, and Deep Sleep Dreamy Pillow & Body Mist.  Like you'll want to go to sleep.

Wanna get your hands (or, you know, some other body part) on it? Easy. All members of the NSRC Facebook group page will be entered into a...

Everyone loves to see an underdog come out on top. This week the world got a particularly sweet taste of that: Susan Boyle, a homely, forty-seven-year-old contestant on Britain’s Got Talent wowed the audience and judge Simon Cowell by singing “I Dream a Dream.” So far, a YouTube video of that performance has been viewed close to 16 million times.

As if trying to cement her dark horse status, before Ms. Boyle stepped on stage she described herself as living alone and having never been kissed. So she’s a virgin, too!

While some adult virgins choose their status, many don’t, and that probably includes Ms. Boyle. She called her situation a “shame”. And most of us would probably agree. In general, virginity after a certain age loses its allure and becomes a curse. Anyone who hasn’t “done it” by twenty-one is generally seen as an oddball.

A bit surprising, though, is that Ms. Boyle is far from alone. In fact, there are an estimated 228,000 adult virgins in the United States. And here and there on the Internet, they have broken their silence. They are men and women from all backgrounds. Some suffer from social anxiety. Others say once they passed a certain age, dating became awkward and so relationships never got off the ground or fizzled early....

I know what you are thinking. Cocktales? WTF is Cocktales? Please let me explain. Cocktales is not some new gay club opening in the Castro that centers on men’s cocks with hella cheap happy hour specials. There will be no Black Supermen or Asian Hotties being served at the bar—if you never had one, please speak with your bartender IMMEDIATELY cause you missing out. Cocktales, my friends is something completely not alcohol related. KEEP READING! Cocktales is really apart of a new men’s social campaign, The Men’s Story Project, that provides a forum for men to share their personal stories about social ideas of masculinity, gender socialization, and how they navigate their journey to manhood. In a society where men are constantly inundated with ideas and values that suggest the only way to be a man is to fuck bitches and get money, the Men’s Story Project says NO. For all my academics out there let me spit it to you like this- Cocktales is a social project that provides a forum for all men to share stories that highlight the intersections between race, gender, sexuality, religion, and class. It questions hegemonic notions of masculinity while simultaneously agitating normative and hetero-normative beliefs and ideologies that have been strategically created and deployed to police...

UPDATE: April 14th

Dear friends,

Thank you for your e-mails to me and Amazon and letting people know about what is now being called a "glitch" at Amazon. I believe the national outrcry about removing the rankings from books with "gay" content has sent a wake up call to Amazon that they need to pay more attention to the books they are labeling "adult themed." I must tell you it was quite a shock to see my ranking removed because it was considered "adult themed" and Henry Miller's Tropic of Cancer was not considered "adult themed." Anyhow, my ranking for Why You Should Give A Damn About Gay Marriage is back and Amazon has apologized and promised to "implement new measures" to keep this from happening again.

Thank you again for standng up for LGBT people.

Davina

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Dear Friends,

My heart is beating so fast as I share this extremely upsetting news with you.  Amazon just stripped the sales ranking indicators for all books with anything that has to do with gay content and they are calling it "adult" material. On 1/3/09, the last time I checked my Amazon book ranking, for Why You Should Give a Damn About Gay Marriage,  it was 91,602. I was horrified when I received an e-mail today telling me about Amazon's new policy and went to...

A friend just emailed me a recently released commecial by the National Organization for Marriage calling for greater opposition to the legalization of same-gender marriage:

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The group, founded in 2007, seeks to combate marriage equality initiatives at the local, state, and national level.  In addition to their anti-same-gender marriage commercial, they are also leading a "BUYcott" to counteract the boycott that LGBT people are leading in California against those businesses that contributed to the pro-Proposition 8 push (the side that successfully outlawed same-sex marriage in the state).  You can see more about the National Organization for Marriage on their website.

Besides the obvious, the organizations plight to strip away the rights of an already marginalized group, I am disgusted by the group's use of diversity rhetoric to garner greater support.  In their commercial, one person even notes that they are a "rainbow coalition" of people from all different racial and ethnic backgrounds.  The irony of the "rainbow coalition" language is that the Rainbow Coalition, led by Jesse Jackson, sought to include LGBT people and advocate for sexual equality, as well as gender, race, ethnicity, religion, and class.  NOM is using liberal rhetoric of diversity and inclusion in their fight to marginalize...

How do you know an issue is serious and deserves greater attention? Well, when Jon Stewart makes fun of it on the Daily Show, of course. This clip is hilarious, and it also goes a long way towards recognizing seniors as sexual beings, showing that some aging adults are already getting involved in promoting healthier behaviors--and exposing that some elders definitely need some educational advice (especially when it comes to the dreaded disease cunnilinguism), before they die from herpes.

This spring, the National Sexuality Resource Center is delving into an exciting new project, rounding out our commitment to healthy sexuality throughout the lifespan by examining the sexuality needs of aging adults. A fantastic team of MPH interns from SF State's Health Education department are right now developing a pilot needs assessment looking at how elders in assisted living programs are or are not supported in terms of sexual health.

Seniors are having sex: as Stacy Lindau’s groundbreaking 2007 study(published in the New England Journal of Medicine) revealed, most people ages 57 to 85 think of sexuality as an important part of life and the frequency of sexual activity, for those who are active, declines only slightly from the 50s to the early 70s (Lindau , 2007). According to the CDC, the proportion of older HIV-positive individuals in the US has climbed...

True or False: Young people in the United States are more likely to learn about sexuality sitting in classrooms than anywhere else. If you said true, think again. Mounting evidence from researchers, media professionals, service providers and policy advocates suggests otherwise. Are we now experiencing a paradigm shift in the geography of "sex ed"? Absolutely, and thankfully, there's no going back.

Yesterday I attended a Guttmacher Institute webinar entitled, "Where Do Young People Learn About Sexual Health?: Education Beyond the Classroom." Panelists included Guttmacher Institute's own Senior Research Associate, Dr. Rachel Jones; Dr. Kate Ott, Associate Director of the Religious Institute for Sexual Morality, Justice and Healing; Jennifer Weidenbaum, Associate Director of Girls, Inc NYC; and William...

A couple of weeks ago, I attended the Sex::Tech Conference sponsored by the Internet Sexuality Information Services (ISIS), Inc. that focuses on youth, sexuality, and technology; one of the more innovative and amazing conferences I've ever attended.  I've gone both years that this conference was convened and have learned more in a couple of days than I learn in most single months (sometimes longer) and have been consistently impressed with the incredible work being done around the country with youth, sexuality, and technology.  At the same time, there seemed to be a disconnect between the academic presentations, which were not nearly as cutting edge and exciting, and the more innovative and interesting technology and community presentations, which often lacked the  scientific evidence and theoretical framework to support the programs.  To me, this speaks of the greater need for  collaborations between academic institutions, community organizations, and technology companies, both large and startup.  Let's save this issue for a rainy day.

Today, I want to start a conversation about what I experienced in some of the more academic-focused presenations, mostly presentations of epidemiological data and behavioral research: an overarching theme...

I recently had the pleasure of attending the GAYVN awards in the Castro theatre. It was an amazing experience. Aside from being a porn aficionado (yes, I am not ashamed to say it, you probably are as well!!) I was delighted to be at the actual location, as I had never seen the inside of this historic theatre.  Amongst the flurry of stars, I managed to get a few of my favorites to be in a picture with me. It was interesting to get to see them up close and here what they had to say, some are actually really nice people. I must say, I need to brush up on my porn viewing, as I knew very few of the winners for this year’s awards. I did come across a performer I did not know (Dean Flynn) and will probably be checking out soon. Some of the highlights included Margaret Cho and Janice Dickinson co-presenting in a couple of categories. I’d like to thank a very good friend for having me as his guest at this exciting event! Pictures coming soon!

Only a few days after the Iowan state supreme court found legal limits on marriage to heterosexual couples unconstitutional, the Vermont state congress overrode the state's governor, Jim Douglas, to legalize same-sex marriage.  See the full story here: http://www.365gay.com/news/gay-marriage-legal-in-vermont/

This now brings the total count to Vermont, Iowa, Connecticut, and Massachusetts.  Of course, bills are being considered elsewhere, including New Hampshire and Maine, and the constitutionality of Prop 8 is being challenged in courts currently in California.  We're beginning to see progress for the "Six by Twelve" campaign for marriage equality in the New England region (a goal set for 2012).  Woo hoo!

Update (1:15pm EST): As of today, Washington, DC recognizes same-gender marriages from other states.  See here for the full story: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/04/07/AR2009040702200.html?hpid=topnews

This summer, Dr. Héctor Carrillo joins the 2009 Summer Institute as featured faculty.

The majority of research that discusses HIV risk, sexuality, and race seems to follow a linear formula that connects one’s sexuality and race to risky behaviors and subsequent vulnerability to HIV. Dr. Héctor Carrillo’s research however, adds an understanding of cultural context with regards to sexuality in Mexico that complicates the idea of what labels like ‘gay’ or ‘risk’ mean in different environments. What happens when men who have sex with other men, and because they are not gay or bisexual, do not believe themselves to be at risk for HIV because they do not claim a gay identity? One of Dr. Carrillo’s recent studies ‘Trayectos’, which means trajectory or path, follows the ever-changing context of sexuality as individuals move across the Mexican-US border in what he and others call...

The Iowa Supreme Court became the fourth state supreme court in the United States to overturn laws against same-sex marriages. The decision, which passed unanimously, means that gay couples in Iowa will be able to marry in 21 days.

The justices said in their decision, “We have a constitutional duty to ensure equal protection of the law...If gay and lesbian people must submit to different treatment without an exceedingly persuasive justification, they are deprived of the benefits of the principle of equal protection upon which the rule of law is founded.”

The justices acknowledge a possible backlash by marriage equality opponents based on their religious beliefs, and the justices included language addressing those concerns. They maintained that marriage is a civil contract and should not affect religious freedom of Iowans that object to marriage equality based on religious beliefs.

Marriage equality opponents will likely try to overturn the decision in the legislature and by popular vote. But according to The New York Times the attempt will take at least two years. Iowa's laws requires the state legislature to vote to reinstate the ban in two consecutive sessions before it can go to popular vote.

Be on the look out for a special season of June...

This week getting around the web was framed by April Fools Day. Whether we were reading stories that were actually jokes, or seemed like jokes, or we wished were jokes, foolishness abound. Here are some of the best…

Two stories that are actually jokes…

A renowned hoo ha doctor wins a Nobel Prize for Medical Advancements Down There.

Rick Warren comes out and throws a circuit party.

A story that is happily, not joke…Spanking brings couples together. 

A moral panic absurd enough to be a joke…Teenage “Sex Criminals” on Bilerico.

And finally an email from Focus on the Family about transgender rights which we wish was a joke.

Happy April!

No April fools here today.  IU’s Campus Coalition for Sexual Literacy pulled off its first major event today: Sexual Literacy Fair.  With 50 or so attendees and 15 on- and off-campus groups represented, I’d say the day was quite a success.  Attendees had a chance to find out more about CCSL and the sexual literacy movement, as well as about information on sexuality research, education, advocacy, and resources and services at Indiana University, as well as in the city of Bloomington.  A number of attendees were students who attended for extra credit in one of their courses, many who had questions about the paths they should follow to realize their dream of making a difference in the world and/or individuals’ lives with respect to sexuality.

And, without skipping a beat, we’re now turning our attention to our April 27th regional training: Transcending Boundaries in Sexuality Research: Bridging Disciplines & Communities - http://nsrc.sfsu.edu/article/nsrc_regional_training  I recall a certain post back in January that is filled with pessimism.  Now, we’ve really gained momentum! Up until today, I’ve been concerned about the sustainability of the group, but I discovered today a number of...

In Judaism, there is a tenant called ‘”Tikkun Olam”, which translated from Hebrew means “repair the world”.

Last Thursday, eighty high school sophomore students from Emery/Weiner, a Jewish Community School in Houston, Texas descended upon the San Francisco LGBT Community Center to hear a panel of local community activists talk about social and health issues impacting LGBT people. The goal of the panel was for students to learn about issues facing LGBT people as well as to begin to develop tools they could use to promote greater equality for LGBT people back home.

When the Youth Program of the San Francisco LGBT Community Center called me to see if I would be interested in representing NSRC on the panel, I was thrilled (and a bit surprised too) to hear that an event like this was even...

I am alive and well in Rio de Janeiro (after a few setbacks) and haven't forgot to continue my previous conversation about the case of the 9 year old girl that was raped, impregnated with twins and was able to obtain an abortion in lieu of the Catholic Church, principally the Archbishop of Recife/Olinda, trying to stop the process.

Whew, my friends, that is a mouthful and the case continues to be seen that way in Brazil, and I imagine, the world around.

I hate even saying this, but if there is one thing that has come from this tragedy it is that this one hit home for a lot of Brazilians...including my "brazilian mom" who is against abortion in most circumstances, and the very nice Frei, a Catholic priest at her church. For those against abortion...they...just...can't...grapple...with this one. How could a 9 year old girl, who barely weighs 80 pounds carry this pregnancy to term? Like my "brazilian dad," who has been an OB/GYN doctor for more than 20 years in Brazil, said, it just wouldn't have been possible.

So when I asked the Frei about abortion he told me that he is in the position to always favor life. In this case, the 9 year old girl could have very well died and so he agreed that in this case an abortion was necessary. "But what about the other lives at stake?" I asked, thinking about what "life" in the abortion debate in America means. To the Frei (and my "brazilian mom" sitting beside him shaking her head in agreement), the health and...

When I think back on my favorite teachers, I realize they all share one trait in common – they listen. Summer Institute featured lecturer Cathy Cohen has made listening a radical methodology for studying sexual attitudes and behaviors, so know doubt she will be a great teacher who you won’t want to miss this summer at the Summer Institute on Race, Gender, and Sexuality! Dr. Cohen is perhaps most famous for her books The Boundaries of Blackness: AIDS and the Breakdown of Black Politics and Women Transforming Politics: An Alternative Reader, but her research illustrates that she will be an excellent teacher because she listens, and most importantly she listens to youth and young adults of color.

Dissatisfied with popular perceptions of Black youth and concerned by they way those perceptions were employed in outreach programs, Dr. Cohen tried something radical. She started the Black Youth Project and set out to listen to young adults, allowing them to express their own opinions. She wanted to understand young adults’ attitudes, their experiences, and learn how they understand the world around them.  By asking youtn of multiple racial identities about their beliefs she shattered myths about Black youth and empowered young adult voices to drown out the stereotypes.