From the category archives:

abstinence

 Sex, Sex, and More Sex by Sue Johanson

Who doesn’t love Sue Johanson?  I grew up listening to the grandmotherly sexpert talk about every sexual taboo imaginable on CBC Radio, and later tuned into late night TV to watch her Sunday Night Sex Show.  Mostly, I tuned in to laugh, because she is quite a character and very funny.  But, I always learned quite a bit from her shows and perhaps because of her, aspired to study sexology and teach people about the positive aspects of their sexuality as well.

I was hoping Sue’s book “Sex, Sex, and More Sex” was going to teach me something new, and leave off where her shows ended.  The book doesn’t do that however.  It is more of a digest of all her Q & A’s on the shows, written down and explained, with a few resources.  This would be a valuable resource for someone who has never watched Sue’s shows, or for young people who don’t have all the answers.  But, I mainly found it repetitive as didn’t offer me anything new or unique.

The book is easily navigated by topic, put in alphabetical order, with a listing as well in the index.  Each topic has a Q & A format, which Sue answers.  Being a registered nurse, many of the topics pertain to STDs, Aids, celibacy, condoms and safety, which is great.  Sue also demystifies many subjects, which, in her day were much more taboo than they are now such as anal sex, bondage and discipline, abortion, hairiness and vaginal farts. (Well, maybe vagina farts didn’t need to be demystified?)  Sue’s focus is always on safety and health, be it physical, or mental.  She also addresses issues that aren’t necessarily sexual like Anorexia, battering and abuse, Osteoporosis, and body image issues.

The information provided in this book is very useful, especially for teens who want the straight facts and I would recommend it for anyone’s daughter, son, niece, nephew, or grandchild who is becoming curious about their own sexuality and asking questions.  Much of what you will find in the book is the type of info that you’d get from places like Planned Parenthood.  Some of it is a bit dated, and I wonder if Sue has ever used some of the toys she recommends, but overall, useful and accurate information.

I guess I was disappointed in the book because I am no longer a teenager, so much of the information I already know.  And, also, the book cannot capture Sue’s witty, no-nonsense personality that she portrayed on her shows, which was one of the best things about watching them.

Obviously, the intended audience is not myself, or other savvy sexperts, but young people who want to know more about sex but are afraid to ask.  I do highly recommend this book for teens and for parents who don’t quite know all the answers either, or aren’t sure how to approach the subject with their kids.

Sex, Sex, and More Sex | Sex Toys | Anal Toys

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. . .McCain’s record on issues surrounding teen pregnancy and contraceptives during his more than two decades in the Senate indicates that he and Palin have similar views. Until Monday, when the subject surfaced in a deeply personal manner, teen pregnancy and sex education were not issues in the national political campaign.

Palin herself said she opposes funding sexual-education programs in Alaska.

”The explicit sex-ed programs will not find my support,” she wrote in a 2006 questionnaire distributed among gubernatorial candidates.

McCain’s position on contraceptives and teen pregnancy issues has been difficult to judge on the campaign trail, as he appears uncomfortable discussing such topics. Reporters asked the presumptive GOP presidential nominee in November 2007 whether he supported grants for sex education in the United States, whether such programs should include directions for using contraceptives and whether he supports President Bush’s policy of promoting abstinence.

”Ahhh, I think I support the president’s policy,” McCain said.

Link

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If you’re in Cambridge this Thursday:

LENA CHEN VS. TRUE LOVE REVOLUTION: Could opposites attract?
Date: Thursday, October 25th
Time: 5-7 PM
Location: Winthrop JCR, 36 Mils St., Cambridge, MA.

Lena Chen, author of blog ” Sex & The Ivy,” and Janie Fredell, of the True Love Revolution, face off in an open discussion on sex & dating at Harvard. Lena Chen, will be talking sex and dating alongside Janie Fredell, the new president of Harvard’s abstinence group True Love Revolution which was established last year to much controversy.

Lena says “there’s already tons of buzz on campus about the potential for a throwdown. . . Mud wrestling fantasies aside, this should be a really interesting discussion with good turnout, especially among the naive undersexed freshmen.”

Alas, I’ll be in New York, hanging with the perverts and camp friends at the Pleasure Salon.

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Two phone calls pulled a Planned Parenthood message from public radio in Pittsburgh.

A message about abstinence.

Gee, I guess they really listen to the listening public in Pittsburgh. Dial. Say hi to NPR for me.

Jefferson

PITTSBURGH, Oct. 16 — A public radio station here stopped running underwriting messages from Planned Parenthood and returned its $5,000 donation after the station’s license holder, Duquesne University, decided the organization was “not aligned with our Catholic identity.”

The decision by the station, WDUQ 90.5 FM, came in the midst of the station’s fall pledge drive, and it appears to be costing the station contributions.

“The pledge response has been much lower than usual,” said Scott Hanley, the station’s general manager, who also serves on the board of directors of National Public Radio. “It’s going to hurt.”

The decision has also started a heated public debate, which Planned Parenthood has encouraged, over whether the station’s news content is independent and, ultimately, whether the station should separate itself from Duquesne, which founded it 58 years ago.

Bridget Fare, a Duquesne spokeswoman, said, “It’s important to note that accepting or declining money is completely separate from news decisions.”

The debate began on Oct. 8 when WDUQ and other public radio stations in Pennsylvania and New Jersey began running underwriting messages by Planned Parenthood that were part of a large regional advertising campaign.

The messages that ran on WDUQ were written with help from the station’s staff and did not mention the abortion services that Planned Parenthood provides.

One of the messages said: “Support for DUQ comes from Planned Parenthood, providing comprehensive sexuality education, including lessons on abstinence. Planned Parenthood: Their mission is prevention.”

But after the underwriting messages went on the air, the president of Duquesne, Charles J. Dougherty, received two calls of concern about the spots on Oct. 9, one from a member of his cabinet and another from a university supporter.

Mr. Dougherty discussed the issue with his cabinet and then told Mr. Hanley on Oct. 10 to stop running the messages.

“He was concerned and said it was inappropriate for us to accept a gift from Planned Parenthood,” Mr. Hanley said. “And on reflection, I had to respect his opinion.”

The station said it had received hundreds of e-mail messages, letters and calls objecting to its decision to stop running the spots, many of them questioning WDUQ’s editorial integrity, though some of the responses support its position.

After Planned Parenthood of Western Pennsylvania was told, it asked 5,000 people on its “advocacy list” to call and write Duquesne University and WDUQ.

“Our concern is that we didn’t realize to be an underwriter that you had to agree with Catholic doctrine,” said Kimberlee Evert, president and chief executive officer of Planned Parenthood of Western Pennsylvania. “And it raises another question of whether this should be where N.P.R. programming is housed.”

(more . . . )

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By Tremayne Gibson and Rusty Mason

Sex: it is everywhere from magazine covers to television screens to billboards. Though sex has become a major engine of advertisement and entertainment in modern America, how to properly teach children about it remains a contentious debate. There is due cause for urgency in this debate, as the United States has the highest teen pregnancy rate in the industrialized world. To combat this, some propose teaching young people the benefits of “waiting” to have sex. Others take a more comprehensive approach and advocate educating adolescents to make their own, fully informed decisions. Despite its nature as a key public health issue, recently multiplying sex education programs in the United States seem to owe their growth and composition more to political concerns than research-based recommendations.

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abstinencefeelsgood Feel Good Abstinence (via Feministing)Quips Jessica of Feministing.com: “My hymen gives me wings!”

The comments section is particularly hilarious.

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By KEVIN FREKING Associated Press Writer
© 2007 The Associated Press

WASHINGTON — The head of the federal office responsible for providing women with access to contraceptives and counseling to prevent pregnancy resigned unexpectedly Thursday after Medicaid officials took action against him in Massachusetts.

The Health and Human Services Department provided no details about the nature of the Massachusetts action that led to Dr. Eric Keroack’s resignation.

Just five months ago, Keroack was chosen by President Bush to oversee HHS’ Office of Population Affairs and its $283 million annual budget. The pick angered Planned Parenthood and other groups that support abortion rights, which viewed him as opposed to birth control and comprehensive sex education. Keroack had worked for an organization that opposes contraception.

“Yesterday, Dr. Eric Keroack alerted us to an action taken against him by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts’ Office of Medicaid. As a result of this action I accepted his resignation,” Dr. John Agwunobi, assistant secretary for health, said in a terse statement Thursday evening. (more…)

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Hilarious!

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harvard logo At Harvard, Abstinence Only Group Fights "Mindless Sex"Sometime between the founding of a student-run porn magazine and the day the campus health center advertised “Free Lube,” Harvard University seniors Sarah Kinsella and Justin Murray decided to fight back against what they see as too much mindless sex at the Ivy League school.

They founded a student group called True Love Revolution to promote abstinence on campus. The group, created earlier this school year, has more than 90 members on its Facebook.com page and drew about half that many to an ice cream social.

Harvard treats sex — or “hooking up” — so casually that “sometimes I wonder if sex is even a remotely serious thing,” said Kinsella, who is dating Murray.

Other schools around the country have small groups devoted to abstinence. On most campuses, they are religious organizations. Princeton and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology have Anscombe Societies, secular organizations named after an English philosopher and Roman Catholic. True Love Revolution is secular as well.

Some feminists, in particular, have criticized True Love Revolution’s message.

Harvard student Rebecca Singh said she was offended by a valentine the group sent to the dormitory mailboxes of all freshmen. It read: “Why wait? Because you’re worth it.”

(Read more…)

Lena Chen of SexandtheIvy.com, and the editorial staff of H-Bomb… any responses?

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Mike Weiss, Chronicle Staff Writer

There is no good scientific evidence that teaching abstinence to teenagers will by itself prevent unwanted pregnancies and sexually transmitted diseases, say the authors of a recent study. Yet they found that comprehensive sex education is declining and that more youngsters are being taught nothing more than abstinence.

As with similar debates over stem cell research and abortion, California and the Bush administration are at loggerheads over an ethical issue with far-reaching public consequences — in this case, the best approach to sex ed for middle and high school students.

More than $1 billion in federal aid has been poured into state-run abstinence-only programs in the past decade after the Bush administration decided there was an imbalance that favored comprehensive sex education and slighted abstinence. State school systems accepting the federal money are required to teach that sexual activity outside marriage is likely to have harmful psychological and physical effects, and that a married, monogamous relationship is the expected standard. (more…)

[via violet blue]

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