Public health professionals are now texting with teenagers to communicate sexual health information, answer questions, and direct youth to services. Follow the link to read the NYT article.
Welcome to the MyPleasure Sex & Disability Guide, your complete resource for education, information and sexual enhancement products and sex toys for people who have various disabilities or health-related conditions that might otherwise limit…
The new edition of Our Bodies, Ourselves has some good resources (their website has lots of links too, if you don’t have or want to buy the book) on sex with a disability or chronic illness, including a super-helpful chart on pages 194-195 which discusses the effects of different disabilities and chronic illnesses on sexuality, as well as considerations relating to birth control, pregnancy, and childbirth.
Even more great info!
Hey guys. Let’s talk about purity. I was raised in a Baptist church in the Deep South. I had a purity ring, and most of my bookshelf was stuffed with titles about “wearing white” and…
Evolutionary Pop Psychology Strikes Again
The Vitals health blog at MSNBC reported earlier this week on a new study out of Williams College which shows that straight men tend to overestimate their chances of pairing up with women, and their estimates become less realistic the more conventionally attractive the woman is. Interestingly, more conventionally attractive men have a more realistic view of their chances than less attractive men. At the same time, women across the board tended to underestimate how much the men in the study were interested in them.
It’s an interesting study that says a lot about our social interactions and how we perceive flirtatious behavior. But the authors of the study go way off track in their interpretations of the results. As is the fashion in behavioral research these days, the scientists invoke the almighty evolutionary explanation to explain behavior that is much more likely to be socially constructed. And it’s the kind of explanation that reinforces slut-shaming and rape culture.
I just came across another post similar to the one that inspired me to write this. So, give it a read again if it didn’t sink in the first time.
I’ve been wanting to talk about STIs for awhile.
I figure now is a good time, since I’ve recently talked a little bit about my struggle with HPV and this horrible image popped up on my dashboard.
Here’s the thing: STIs happen. STIs happen to most of us (75-80% of all genders will have HPV in their lifetime). STIs happen to a lot of us and we’re never even aware of them (1 in 5 Americans have herpes, but about 80% are unaware of it). If you’re sexually active, it’s likely you’ve had, or will have some kind of STI in your life.
So, why is there such a stigma around it ? Why do we chastise those who have/had them ? Why do we wish them upon those we don’t like, when they’re such a common thing, we’ll like be affected by them at some point, too ??Talking about STIs is important. Education about STIs is important. Protection from STIs is important. Fighting the idea that having a STI makes someone less worthy of respect or affection is important.
Next time you think about wishing herpes on someone you don’t like, think about your life 10 years down the road. Maybe you’ll have herpes. Maybe your best friend will. Maybe your partner will. Maybe you shouldn’t have contributed to the stigma, because now you and those you love are affected. And no one should ever feel shame about their health. We shouldn’t be afraid to go to the doctor to talk about bumps or burning sensations or discharge, because we fear we’ll be thought less of.
Be supportive and kind to others. It’s not that difficult. I promise.
Interesting, terrifying, and in a way not that surprising, when you look at some of the trash lads mags out there, e.g. Nuts and Zoo.
Rape.Culture
Female horniness in the popular imagination is rare. Admittedly our idea of male horniness is pretty scrambled too, but we have some concept of it as a near-universal male experience. On the rare occasion a woman is horny in the mainstream culture, usually it’s comical or even threatening. This is getting better over the years. Slowly. But it’s still not an accepted thing that a woman can just plain want to get her grind on.
