US Military Promoted Condoms In WWII

Via the Questionable Authority.

Would it really be so hard just to put up posters like that throughout the nation's middle and high schools? It certainly wouldn't do any harm.

Are you qualified to talk about sex?

Via U-Wire:

A University of Montana law professor who opposes the content of the Kaimin’s weekly sex column could eventually take the issue to the state legislature unless the newspaper establishes written policies for hiring columnists and reviewing content.

Since February, assistant law professor Kristen Juras has made clear to the Kaimin her opposition to senior Bess Davis’s “Bess Sex Column” by writing a letter to the editor as well as e-mailing and meeting with Kaimin editor Bill Oram. Juras said the material in the column is inappropriate for college students and reflects poorly on the university’s School of Journalism and UM itself.

...

Juras said someone writing a sex column should have a background in sexology, just as someone writing a column about the environment should have an environmental background.

Juras said she’s concerned because the Kaimin appears to have no set criteria for giving someone a job as a columnist writing in an area of “alleged expertise” or for reviewing objectionable material. She said that if these policies were put in place, the problems she has with the content of the sex column would correct themselves.

I'm sorry, but a sex column isn't legitimate only if the author is a trained sexologist. A human being doesn't need advanced degrees in psychology, biology, anthropology, or criminology to speak on sexual intercourse or sexual relationships. Unlike a column on the environmental hazards of "clean coal" which requires specific knowledge and training, sex is an act that any human being who has engaged in sexual intercourse should be able to write about.

A newspaper doesn't require a humor column writer to have a degree in rhetoric and psychology so as to understand the human mind's reaction to humorous speech. The humor writer need only understand humor and how to be funny. A sports writer doesn't need a degree in actuarial science or statistics to be able to analyze box scores and trends. As a lawyer certainly Juras is familiar with the threshold for expert testimony; training, education, or experience can qualify one as an expert. The weight attached to that opinion is obviously affected by the amount of each element, but nevertheless the opinion can be stated.

The fact that the column is in a student newspaper indicates that the majority of the articles are written by authors that have no degree at all. Juras might as well require the entire paper be shut down if her argument is that a lack of credentials bars one from using free speech.

I would rather read about sex or sex-related topics from a source that is experienced in the subject matter they speak about than from a scientist who is trying to remove all subjectivity and the humanity from the act. It's the same justification for why women make better gynecologists and why male doctors are better suited to handle prostate ailments. Personal experience and familiarity with the subject matter makes for a better source than books, diagrams, and other pedantic reasoning.

Twitter-ready Sex Advice From Dan Savage

Summarizing a Q&A session he just held at the University of Michigan, he writes:

Some of the questions asked by the students at UM tonight...

My really unpopular sexblog only gets hits to one obscure post on armpit fetishes. How popular is this fetish?

Is monogamy "normal"?

Fisting: Yes or No?

I'm a lesbian and my girlfriend is bisexual and wants to have a threesome with a man. This makes me nervous. What should I do?

When my boyfriend goes down on me, he leaves behind copious amounts of saliva. Could this be bad for my vaginal health?

There's this guy who likes me and I have no interest in him. I had a talk with him to let him know but he cried when I told him. How can I get him to stop?

Some of my answers: if there were tons of stuff online about armpits then your unpopular sexblog's single obscure post about armpit fetishes wouldn't get any more traffic than your other obscure posts, so we can infer that it's not too popular; normal, yes, natural, no; not now, I'm giving a talk; take a Xanax or date a lesbian; saliva is acidic and could dissolve your vagina; he's still crying?

Masturbation Improves Personal And Public Health

From Slog:

The Passion 4 Christ Movement is proudly anti-gay (naturally), anti-fornicators (straight ones too!), anti-players (they tend to fornicate a lot), anti-divas (who do you think players be fornicating with?)—P4CM is even proudly anti-masturbators. And they're selling the t-shirts to prove it:

Yeah we said it... Nobody talks about it, but most people have done it or are still doing it. It's seems to be a rite of passage for both girls and guys into the world of sex. Some say masturbation is not a sin, some say that it is. But is it really okay in the eyes of God?

Arguing against sex before marriage is silly enough, but arguing against masturbation is just ridiculous. Masturbation is the best way for people to fulfill our sexual needs with no risk of disease or pregnancy. Any moral system that disapproves of masturbation is fundamentally flawed--it harms no one and benefits everyone.

Update:

This is just extremely sad:


(Via Towleroad.)

Attempting to convince people that their innate sexuality is sinful is a great way to get them to kill themselves. Studies show that familial acceptance is key to gay young people's mental health. Any policy that encourages families not to fully accept their gay members when they come out is quite literally promoting situations that lead to suicide.

Update II:

From DASOUTH.com, via a friend of mine:

Most people who have engaged in masturbation know that the culmination of this sexual act ends in shame. I don't have to share with you the thousands of emails of the admittance of this shame because you know all too well since you have experienced it yourself. Curled up in a fetal position, crying, because your bed is even more empty and you're lonelier than you did before you violated yourself...Because God never created sex so that you could gratify yourself. The dictionary defined masturbation as self abuse...the miss use of yourself. The mistreatment, the manipulation, the exploitation of YOU.

My friend comments:

I think he's doing it wrong.

Yeah, I can't think of a single time one of my masturbation sessions ended with me curled up in a fetal position and/or crying. Anyone who has had that happen should almost certainly seek professional counseling. Probably from a secular therapist.

Science Saturday: The Artistic Animal

(http://bloggingheads.tv/diavlogs/17452)

Topics covered:

Denis’s new book, “The Art Instinct”... The sexual origin of peacock tails and human creativity... Why isn’t smell an art form?... Where Stephen Jay Gould went wrong... The painting that people of every culture like... Understanding why we love Duchamp, Jane Austen, Ren & Stimpy...

American Family Association Monitors UK TV

Towleroad reports:

Earlier this month, Donald Wildmon's American Family Association announced a boycott of Pepsi for its support of LGBT causes but they've recently become even hotter under the collar over an ad the company is running in the UK which features a guy in a bar who gets hit on by several women but passes them up for a hunky guy on the other side of the room.

Here's the ad, which is stupid (but that only makes the AFA's tantrum that much more absurd):



And here's what the AFA has to say about it:

Pepsi is now using its TV spots to promote the gay lifestyle. AFA asked Pepsi to remain neutral in the culture war. Pepsi refused. The company said it will continue major financial support of homosexual organizations seeking to legalize homosexual marriage.

...

Pepsi also forces its employees to attend sexual orientation and gender identity diversity training, where they are taught to accept homosexuality.

First, promoting the "gay lifestyle"? Really? Does the AFA seriously think the rate of homosexuality in the population can be increased through advertising? Sexuality is an integral part of people's identities. It's not the sort of thing that can be influenced by TV spots--like, for example, people's choice of sugar water brands.

Second, would the AFA rather that Pepsi employees not be taught to be kind to their LGBT coworkers? What ever happened to that whole do-unto-others thing? Apparently, they don't think Jesus was serious when he taught that people should love their neighbors as themselves. I never ceased to be amazed by the scope of fundamentalists' perverse obsession with gay sex.

Savage Announces Saddlebacking Definition

The prodigious Dan Savage writes:

And now... without further delay... the winning definition of "saddleback"... by a gaping margin... definition number 5: "Saddlebacking: the phenomenon of Christian teens engaging in unprotected anal sex in order to preserve their virginities." After attending the Purity Ball, Heather and Bill saddlebacked all night because she's saving herself for marriage.

Here's why this definition is perfect: Saddlebacking, like barebacking, involves one person riding up on another's backside. But in this case, it's not the bare-naked cock-in-ass that's the most important feature of the ride, but the fact that the person being ridden has been saddled—thanks to the efforts of the Rick Warrens of this world—with religious hang-ups and serious misconceptions about sex. Like the barebacker who casually tosses away his health—or his partner's health—because he believes, quite erroneously, that "risky = sexy," the saddlebacker offers up her ass because she believes, quite erroneously, that she can get fucked in the ass—vigorously, religiously—and still be considered a virgin on her wedding night.

I've set up a website—www.saddlebacking.com—to popularize the new definition. (Get to work, Google bombers!) Now let's get this term into common usage as quickly as possible.

Race, Sex, And Other Exciting Issues

(http://bloggingheads.tv/diavlogs/16747)

Topics covered:

Richard says Obama isn’t black—he’s brown... Prop 8’s real purpose: denying the possibility of homosexual love... Why are Americans so sad? Why are Mexicans so happy?... The angry young men who could destroy the world... How the Catholic view of sin engenders sympathy for immigrants... Will the Internet ruin or rescue American letters?...

Have Any Sex Or Relationship Questions?

I've recommended Dan Savage's sex and relationship advice podcast in the past, but I just wanted to bring it up again. It's truly excellent.

Check out episode #112, which includes discussion of the following:

Drunken hookups—they’re so wonderful when you’re drunk. How can you keep up the casual sex sans alcohol?
Mother, here’s my wife… now meet our girlfriend. Please pass the turkey.
A young man recalls a bad party one year ago, when his friend had sex with an unconscious woman. Was it rape? Can they still be friends?
A foot fetishist isn’t satisfied with just his girlfriend’s feet. He needs more and more toes.

Disgusting Commercial Of The Day

(Via Slog.)

Just because I'm a libertarian and think people should be able to air gross ads like this doesn't mean I have to like them. My solution: don't eat at Arby's. Although it's not like that's too hard for me anyway.

But, after having viewed that disturbing video, you can easily repair the brain damage it caused by checking out this characteristically brilliant Bill Hicks commentary on pornography, advertising, and sex (contains explicit language and gestures--which is, of course, why it's funny):

Opponents Of Gay Sex Should Favor Gay Marriage

I really wish I'd been the one to create this meme:

Socially Conservative Parenting Fail

Apparently Palin's 17-year-old daughter Bristol has been following some parts of the Bible more closely than others.

In top form, Dan Savage pounces:

I’m sorry, but if abstinence education can’t keep the daughter of the evangelical governor of Alaska off the cock, what hope is there for the daughters—and sons—of average Americans? Seriously: The GOP has poured hundreds of millions of dollars into abstinence “education” programs over the last 10 years (with an assist from Democrats terrified of appearing “soft” on teen sex). This public investment of funds gives us the right to ask why Palin’s daughter, despite this massive outlay on the part of the American taxpayer and the example of her married heterosexual fundy parents, nevertheless become sexually active while still in high school.

In a follow-up post, he continues:

Yes, ordinary American families face this situation all the time. Fewer would face this situation, however, if we had comprehensive sex education in the United States, and teenagers had access to accurate information about birth control methods and contraceptives were made easily available.

And it’s great that Bristol is choosing to keep this baby. As the adoptive parent of a child born to a pair of unwed teenagers, I’m certainly not in favor of abortion in all circumstances. But it’s a choice that the teenagers should be able to make with, whenever possible, input from their families.

Adding insult to injury, CNN offers up this gem:

In a 2006 Eagle Forum questionnaire, Palin indicated that she supported funding abstinence-until-marriage education programs instead of teaching sex-education programs.

"Explicit sex-ed programs will not find my support," Palin wrote in the conservative group’s questionnaire.

Perhaps "explicit" sex-ed (you know, the kind that actually talks frankly about sex, its dangers, and how best to manage them) wouldn't have been such a bad idea for Bristol to have received in school after all.

Truly, this incident is worthy of the fail blog.

But will this injection of empirical reality into Palin's life cause her to reconsider the effectiveness of the right-wing social policy she champions? I'm not holding my breath.

"Don't Ask, Don't Tell" Madness

This video shows just how silly our military's current policy really is:


(Via The Daily Dish.)