National Sexuality Resource Center is pleased to announce a fabulous new resource, the Black Youth Project Website. Here is some info about their work:

Black Youth Project Website

Our goal for the site is to generate new media information, blogs, art, conversations, webinars, data, research, policies and movements that will expand the human and social capital of young black youth, facilitating their empowerment through highlighting their voices and experiences.

We hope you’ll visit and use the site today and frequently in the future. And please let others know the BYP site . It’s truly a first-of-its kind online resource that explores the attitudes, actions and decision making of black youth by including their lives, ideas and voices.

There are a number of features on the site that we invite you to explore:

• Black Youth Blogging – daily blogs by black youth on important and controversial topics and links to black youth bloggers
• Rap Lyrics Database – the first public searchable database of rap music lyrics based on Billboard charts
• Curriculum Workshop – teachers, social workers, community activists, and artists can download and add to curriculum centered on the experiences of black youth and use data from the Black Youth Survey.
• Black Youth Create! – uploaded...

Yesterday I sent out an appeal on behalf of the National Sexuality Resource Center, asking our community to call in to reject Orrin Hatch's sneaky attempts to add $250 million for abstinence-only education into the health reform package. Thanks to all of you who made calls.

Today, I came in to work to find this email in my in box:

"Hi - I just had to comment about your cheesecake photo that went out with a letter urging people to reject abstinence-only sex education.  While I agree with the philosophy and am familiar with the research documenting the failure of that type of sex education, the style of photo you chose to include with the email was overtly sexual and undermined your message. I agree that 'sex sells' but this seems, to me, to set the wrong tone for an important issue.  A more business-like image would have convinced me, but I don't feel comfortable forwarding the letter to other friends to request their support."

I was dumbfounded. And saddened. And disappointed, that a woman anthropology professor--one who probably considers herself progressive on gender and sexuality issues (she is on our mailing list, after all)--would not take me seriously because of the way I looked. And even worse, that she would try to shame...

The Centers for Disease Control is considering promoting routine circumcision for baby boys in the US as a means of decreasing the spread of HIV, says the NYTimes.

Not only is this ignorant; it is dangerous. To women, and to people of color.

Public health policy makers have been talking up circumcision as a way to reduce HIV transmission ever since data first showed that it could reduce infection rates by up to 50-60% among African men. PEPFAR, UNAIDS and others jumped on the surgical bandwagon, ramping up efforts to promote circumcision in Africa. Family Health International even created a Male Circumcision Clearinghouse with the latest information on research and intervention.

And no wonder the joy. 50% reduction of transmission is fabulous. Unless of course, you knew that there was another way to reduce transmission by close to 100%, called... condoms. The fact is, promoting condom use in Africa has not been super-effective, and often because the public health officials...

When I was nine, I was pretty sure that “oral sex” meant talking about sex out loud. When I was ten, I didn’t get kissing so I tried it with a girl from Baptist church camp. And when I was fourteen, I argued with my friend Molly about what exactly you blew on during a blow job.

I looked for the answers to my questions about sex in Penthouse forum and Judy Blume books – but I sure could have saved myself a lot of confusion and contradictions if I’d known just one person who wasn’t afraid to talk straight to me.

Now that I’m all grown-up, I’m absolutely resolved that the young people in my life – my kids, my friends’ kids, my nieces and nephews – will know that at least one person in their life is there for them. Me.

I’m not alone. Maybe you’re like me – the “Cool Aunt” – or perhaps you had someone while you were growing up who wasn’t ashamed to have frank, open conversations about sex, and was happy to give you honest answers to questions you were embarrassed to ask other people.

So – we’re launching our First Official Cool Aunt Count to help us find out how many there are, what role they play, what resources they...

From our friends at Asian Communities for Reproductive Justice:

Have you ever wondered how communities of color can be more deeply engaged in the fight for comprehensive sexuality education?

Have you been interested in how a reproductive justice approach to sexuality education justice can broaden the movement for comprehensive sexuality education?

Asian Communities for Reproductive Justice (ACRJ) is excited to release our brand new toolkit:  Transforming API Communities: Tools for Sexuality Education.  While numerous toolkits provide the nuts and bolts of developing and implementing local comprehensive sexuality education campaigns, what’s lacking are resources aimed at getting parents and caregivers in communities of color and immigrant communities to a place where they feel inspired and prepared to engage in campaigns.  In our work at ACRJ, we’ve found that API parents are especially in need of useful and concrete tools to transform their beliefs about the benefits of comprehensive sexuality education into action for change.  By meeting API parents where...

National Sexuality Resource Center Advisory Board Member Bishop Yvette Flunder, head of the City of Refuge Community Church UCC and outspoken national proponent for the acceptance of same-gender loving people within communities of faith, heads to the White House today. Bishop Flunders is part of a cadre of national LGBT leaders who will meet with the Obama administration at an LGBT Pride Reception to honor pride month, and will be joined by representatives from Lambda Legal, SAGE, the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force and other groups.

And, many say, the meeting couldn't come at a better time. Many gay and lesbian activists have been disappointed--to say the least--by the Obama administrations failure to keep campaign promises to the LGBT community. From using humiliating language (comparing same-sex marriage to incest and bestiality) to bolster the evil Defense of Marriage Act, to failing to intervene in the dismissals of hundreds of queer military personnel since his inauguration in spite of guarantees to overturn Don't Ask Don't Tell, the administration has showed a shameful lack of leadership and interest in supporting the rights of GLBT persons. And GLBT folks aren't the only...

Statement by Friends & Family of Rodger McFarlane on his Death

New York, Monday, May 18, 2009 – It is with deep sadness that we announce the death of our friend, colleague, and hero, Rodger McFarlane. A pioneer and legend in the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) civil rights and HIV/AIDS movements, Rodger took his own life in Truth or Consequences, New Mexico last Friday. In a letter found with his remains, Rodger explained that he was unwilling to allow compounding heart and back problems to become even worse and result in total debilitation. We know that Rodger was in a great deal of pain. Already disabled in his own mind, he could no longer work out or do all the outdoor activities he so loved. He was also now faced with the realization that he could literally not travel, making employment increasingly difficult. As his friends and family, we thought it was important that we communicate to the world that it has lost an amazingly wonderful individual who contributed so mightily to our humanity.

Rodger approached every aspect of his life with boundless passion and vigor. While many people go their entire lives wanting to be good at just one thing, Rodger excelled at virtually everything he did. Brilliant activist and strategist, decorated veteran, accomplished athlete, best-selling author, and...

Kudos to President Obama for walking the walk. His 2010 budget, released yesterday, makes good on his promise to re-assert the role of science and evidence in policy, by zeroing out all Title V abstinence only funding. As study after study has shown (including our own Sexuality Research and Social Policy issue dedicated to the topic), abstinence only education policies are at best a dismal failure, and at worst dangerous for the healthy sexuality of teens. Even better, the proposed budget includes renewed funding--173 million--for more comprehensive sexuality education. Here's a clip from p. 491 of the budget:

We will be interested to see how this part of the budget plays out in Congress--or if legislators will finally acknowledge that it is time to move beyond moral agendas, and back to what evidence and research shows. We couldn't have wished for a better beginning to a re-invigorated conversation about supporting healthy sexuality. We also hope that as the President moves forward, his efforts don't focus narrowly on teen pregnancy prevention, but look at all the factors that influence, inform and shape whether or not teens are sexually healthy--a

Today marks the eighth annual National Day to Prevent Teen Pregnancy, and 2007 marks the first increase in the total annual number of teen pregnancies after fourteen years of decline.

Why the increase? In a media call hosted yesterday by RHReality Check, Bill Albert from The National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy chalked it up to these main factors:

• The 'magic formula' of less sex+more contraception that drove down rates in nineties is slowing or reversing,
• There is less concern among teens about HIV now than in the past--Albert pointed to Kaiser Family Foundation data released last week that shows show dramatic decline in concern about HIV in young adults,
• Greatest increase in teen pregnancy is among those 18 and 19 years, and few prevention messages are geared towards them,
• Prevention fatigue—nothing but good news for fourteen years has contributed to less dedicated resources,
• Our overal culture contributes to and shapes teens’ social scripts.

Whether you agree with the framing or not, there is general agreement that reducing teen pregnancy is a laudable goal. The National Day was originally conceived to call attention to the need for 'comprehensive' sex ed, but the rallying call has been taken up by the ab-only folks as well. And in that spirit, it is Bill...

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...

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...

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...

The National Abstinence Education Association has picked today as "2009 Abstinence Day on the Hill." Abstinence on the Hill? That'll be a trick. As organizers bring carloads of youth to the Capitol, to sing the praises of abstinence (literally--there will be dancing, bands and some sort of 'drama teams'), a few thoughts:

On Monday, Barack Obama issued a Presidential Memo to  restore scientific integrity in governmental decision-making. He decried the past goverment's "false choice between sound science and moral values" and said that science must inform our policies. Barack Obama has made the connection; now it is time for the ab-only folks to make it, too: science shows that abstinence only education doesn't work. Want proof? Read the overview from our Fall 2008 Sexuality Research and Social Policy issue, which published articles from Doug Kirby, John Santelli and others showing that abstinence programs have been a failure. Can I boil it down for you?

If science must inform policy, and science shows that abstinence-only education doesn't work, then our abstinence-only policies must be defunded and something new put in their place. So stop right now and

On Monday, we launched our petition to protect sexuality studies and the vital role that sexuality research plays in contributing accurate, scientific evidence to policy and interventions. In 36 hours, we've collected over 1,000 signatures from students, researchers, advocates and others across the country. Sign it now if you haven't already. And forward it to five friends.

This afternoon, two of the researchers targeted in the GSU probe will testify before the Georgia State Senate Committee on Higher Education--Mindy Stombler, whose research on oral sex informs our understanding of what oral sex is, and thus can contribute to STI prevention and adolescent health interventions, and Kirk Elifson, whose work on male prostitution has improved the efficacy of HIV interventions.

It is offensive, first, that academics and universitives must defend their right to perform rigorous scientific inquiry in any field. It is also offensive that legislators have cloaked their moral agenda as a fiscal one. But what is most offensive is how both the media and the legislators are misrepresenting the researchers and GSU in their efforts to stoke a moral panic.

Have you heard enough yet, about Nadya Suleman and her hatchlings? You know, single mom, six kids through in vitro fertilization, now has eight more? Here's what they were saying on the view this morning:

There are, admittedly, a bunch of problems with the entire process. Why any conscientious doctor would implant more than two embryos is definitely a question--but that responsibility lies with the doctor, not with the recipient.

I have to wonder, though, are we holding Nadya Suleman to a higher standard than other moms--and if so, why?

We have blogged extensively about the brood of 18 (and counting) propagated by the Duggars. And it is controversial to have so many kids--for environmental reasons, financial reasons, and for the simple ability to parent without hitting one of them over the head.

The fact is, we don't get to judge opposite sex couples on how and why they make reproductive health decisions. Even when they have six or seven or eight, we wax sympathetic and figure out how we can get behind them. When married couples get reproductive assistance--whether it is surrogacy, IVF or fertility drugs--we assume it is because they are desperate to parent, have tried for years, and that these assisted technologies are righting some great injustice. We don't ask...

It may be old news to you, but way back in September when I was paying attention to things like a crashing economy and the horror of Sarah Palin, I missed the story about a San Diego woman who was auctioning off her virginity for a good cause. Nope, she wasn’t wanking for world peace, getting it on for a greener world, or any of the other host of great causes out there, she was trying to finance her master’s degree.

hymen intactThe 22 yr old co-ed (who was described by others as ‘not looking like a virgin’ in this creepy video clip...

For those of you who haven’t heard, facebook has joined the rank of the ‘Your breasts are there just for me to look at” club, whose members ‘til now included airlines, malls, nude sunbathing opponents and a bunch of teenage boys (sorry boys, I know you are well ahead of airlines and Facebook when it comes to the fine details of anatomy, biological function, and voyeurism).

It turns out that Facebook has been quietly removing the photos of breastfeeding women from their site—if they are obscene, of course, which only involves any sighting of that oh-so-erotic nipple that their baby is impudently hanging on to in order to, you know. eat and live.

On December 27th, Facebook members held a virtual nurse in, uploading breastfeeding photos to their pages, and updating their status to ‘Hey Facebook, breastfeeding is not obscene,”--also the name of the online group.

I joined. I breastfed my son to the elderly age of 16 months, enduring...

On an online site dedicated to having sex, nothing deserves a second look like a survey that asks folks to choose between internet access and sex. Intel and Harris Interactive polled more than 2000 folks about their habits and priorities, and released the results December 15, 2008.

The data, as quoted by CNN, showed that, when having to choose between giving up sex or internet access for two weeks, that 46% of women chose the internet, versus 30% of men.

Random. Apples and oranges. Poor survey design, I say. I mean if you were choosing to be stranded on a desert island for two weeks with a computer and free wifi versus a hottie, maybe that would be a realistic question. And maybe people would have a different answer. Or maybe they wouldn't, but it would certainly be more meaningful if they preferred to chat online versus interact with a real human while on a desert island.

But who has to choose between sex and the internet--especially when you can combine the best of both worlds? What do polls like this--and polls that ask whether we have more sex than say, French people, or penguins, or how many people really do such and such--really show? That we have no idea, as a people, of what normal regular, healthy sexuality looks like--first. And second, that there is always some...

Tracy Clark-Flory wrote an eh article on upskirting for salon.com a few weeks back. downblousing self portraitUpskirting is the tech-enabled 'art' of sticking your cell phone up a oblivious woman's skirt so you can catch a snap. You can figure out the definition of downblousing for yourself.

Clark-Flory's article was a rather surface glossing of the subject that had about.com's editor (and NSRC friend) Cory Silverberg lamenting the death of sex reporting. And I agree--Clark-Flory's article could have gone more in depth about how the distinctions between public and private are being erased by technology-- and by the big brother eyes of the homeland security folks-- and how sexual rights (and citizenship) are shifting.

But I was deeply disappointed by the extra-short shrift given to the topic by another NSRC ally, Dr. Marty Klein--who calls the 'controversy' a big yawn:

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Are you surprised to see yourself here? We've re-launched NSRC and welcomed Dialogues back into the fold--now you can use even more great Dialogues community features, and access the resources at NSRC at the same time.  Log in here (or in the upper right hand corner of this page) to update your profile and explore.If you're new to Dialogues, sign up here or find out more about us.

Dialogues has added new features, including more picture and video upload options, easier to use working groups, and the option to add your own events, workshops and opportunities to our community boards.

And your community is our community—now, while you're blogging and connecting with friends and colleagues, you're just a click away from accessing the cutting-edge features and content on the NSRC site. Read and comment on new stories in American Sexuality, browse and add sexuality resources as we Map the Movement together, or view videos from sexuality heavyweights including medical anthropologist Richard Parker, sociologist Carole Joffe and sociologist Pepper Schwartz (plus some fluffy folks like Perez Hilton, Ally Sheedy and John...

I believe in sexual pleasure—yours and mine. From hawking sex toys to telling teens about the clitoris, I have spent my adult years proselytizing on the subject of pleasure. And no wonder; desire and pleasure--especially for women--are the stepping stones to sexual knowledge, rights and justice. For teen women, as Deb Tolman revealed in Dilemmas of Desire, knowing when you want to have sex is the pre-cursor to knowing when you don’t, and helps women assume self-protective behaviors. For adult women, desire and pleasure allow for a more equitable and satisfying relationship with self and others.

So let me say it again. I want you to get off, I encourage you to get off. In fact, go get off right now and get back to me.

Hi. Feels good, right? Which is why it might come as a surprise that I am so angry about a recent study looking at sexual dysfunction in women. Decreased libido=decreased pleasure=not so good, right? Sometimes, but that’s not where the real problem lies.

The study, published in the November 2008 issue of Obstetrics and Gynecology, aimed to examine self-reported sexual ‘problems,’ such as decreased desire, arousal and orgasm,...