Archives for March 2009

In past summers, we've had participants attend our annual Summer Institute from just about every state in the U.S. and from a number of countries around the globe. And every year, we hear all sorts of stories about why they decided to attend, and we hear even more stories about what they got out of the experience once they've returned to their homes.  We decided to put together a compilation of the top ten reasons you should consider attending this year's Summer Institute on Race, Gender, and Sexuality in the United States.   

10. Spend a month in San Francisco! Often touted as one of the most beautiful cities in the U.S., San Francisco is a cosmopolitan city with never a dull moment.  From the world-class restaurants, incredible museums, eclectic and diverse neighborhoods, walking tours, Victorian and Edwardian architecture, Golden Gate Park (and all the smaller parks throughout the city!), lectures, screenings, and the infamous club and nightlife scene, you'll never have a hard time finding something to do anytime of day or week.

9. If you do find yourself bored with life in the City, the rest of the Bay Area will surely have plenty to offer to keep you occupied.  Scout a tech job in Silicon...

Quite an interesting article on the science of sexual identity in Mother Jones. 

I’m a little disappointed that I’m just now seeing this article, but the timing is great – I just found out that I’ll be teaching Sexual Diversity in the fall!  The article, a little long and slow to load, is well worth the read.  It speaks to the ambivalence I believe many sexuality scholars, advocates, and just everyday people have about our understanding about the origins of sexual orientation.  We have moved away from “sexual preference”, dismissing any allusions to choice, toward “sexual orientation”.  We’ve all heard the anti-choice argument: “Why would anyone choose to be gay, putting up with all of the homophobia and other nonsense.”  It’s a valid point: most of us are simply “oriented” toward certain people romantically and/or sexually.

However, there are some competing claims that we must reconcile.  Sexuality is fluid.  Sexuality is innate.  Sexuality is socially constructed.  Before the creation of the “homosexual” and “heterosexual”...

As the deadline for the NSRC Summer Institute approaches, NSRC staff and interns are going to write about our featured Summer Institute lectures each week and tell you why you want to spend a portion of your summer in a classroom with these talented scholars. To kick off the series, I’m pulling out all of the stops and throwing down this ever-convincing gambit – if you love Oprah, you should come to the Summer Institute.

No, Oprah is not one of our featured scholars, but Lisa Diamond is and on Wednesday, March 25, 2009 she will be on The Oprah Winfrey Show discussing her research on women’s sexual fluidity. So if you want to know more about Oprah and what she is really like in person, the NSRC summer institute with Dr. Lisa Diamond is the place to be! But seriously, Oprah may have revolutionized daytime television, but she's got nothing on Lisa Diamond when it comes to revolutionizing the way we think about sexuality.

Students interested in identity, attraction, and sexuality must meet Dr. Diamond because she is doing some of the most innovative research in the field. Her book, Sexuality Fluidity, takes a critical look at gender, sexual attraction, and systems of categorizing sexual...

I pride myself on being an open-minded individual. But I just don’t get the folks who tout their “traditional values” on issues related to reproductive health.

On one hand, their passionate stance against abortion is gutsy and even admirable. Where others hedge, they believe unequivocally that life begins at conception and that abortion is murder. In their protests and rhetoric, they are not just looking out for their own. All life is precious is their mantra. 

Given that, however, I would think one of their objectives would be to prevent unplanned—and unwanted—pregnancies in the first place. Their actions, though, suggest otherwise. To wit, they discourage women from taking the birth control pill, prevent teens from learning about contraception, and make Plan B unavailable to young women.

Then they the condemn those who do get an abortion.

Isn’t that kind of like withholding food from a child and then blaming the starving kid for swiping a candy bar (or a bowl of gruel)?

Luckily, we see options becoming available for people with dissenting viewpoints. Today, in opposition to Bush, the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York rejected the FDA’s decision to limit over-the-counter access to emergency contraceptive Plan B to...

UPDATE: The 18th child was born on Dec 18th 2008. Jordan-Grace continues the fine tradition of J names.

Jim Bob and Michelle Duggar have done it again, and again, and again - 17 times so far. The latest baby daughter Jennifer (7th girl) is healthy and so is the mother. Some pregnant trivia include: every siblings' name starts with a J; a baby has been born in every month except June; the Duggars have gone through an estimated 90,000 diapers, and Michelle has been pregnant for 126 months — or 10.5 years — of her life.

The Duggars, however, are far from reaching the world record in births: Mrs. Feodor Vassilyev holds that since 1700's with 69 children!

"We are just so grateful to God for another gift from him," said Jim Bob Duggar, 42, a former Arkansas state representative.

What do you think of this large family?

This blog was written in September 2007

Although we can count the number of states that grant legal marriage to same-gender couples on one hand and still have fingers left over, legal marriage between people of the same gender exists in the US.  However, the US Census has announced that, for the 2010 census, it will list all same-sex couples as "unmarried partners" regardless of their marital status.

The justification for continuing to make same-sex marriages invisible is the 1996 Defense of Marriage Act (signed by then-President Clinton) that allows, or really mandates that the federal government ignores same-sex marriages sanctioned by states.  Can you believe this political discrimination has continued for 13 years now?  Well, considering Clinton signed it in, and then we had 8 years of Bush, I suppose that's not really all that surprising.

Visibility or invisibility in the Census has great political and social consequences.  For example, the 2000 census has made visible the large number of people that are multiracial/ethnic - a known fact, but the statistics of just how many people identify as such is powerful.  Although the count of the number of same-gender partnerships is helpful, namely for LGBT groups like HRC and the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, as well as for research...

In preparation for the NSRC live blog on the state of transgender rights taking place on Monday, March 30th at 11 am PDT, this week’s edition of “We get around the web” highlights the best blogs and news stories related to transgender rights published this week.

Legislators in New Hampshire battle over non-discrimination bill aimed at protecting transgender individuals. While, Hijras in India are organizing to demand rights. And  a GLSEN  report on transgender students in the United States found that transgender students face more discrimination by their peers than lesbian, gay, and bisexual students, they also reported that transgender students are resisting discrimination by making their voices heard in classrooms. 

Racialicious re-posted three articles by TransGriot. One article examines the contradictions involving representations of transgender people in Japanese culture

The Responsible Education About Life (REAL) Act sponsored by Senator Frank Lautenberg, D-NJ, and Representative Barbara Lee, D-CA, was reintroduced recently to the applause of pro-sexuality education organizations across the nation.  Originally introduced in 2007, the bill proposes to provide funding for "medically and scientifically accurate information" as part of "comprehensive sex education" that is "age-appropriate" and promotes "abstinence as the only 100% effective way to prevent sexuality transmitted diseases and unwanted pregnancy."  Of course, I am not against these things and support any kind of funding that allows states and organizations to choose alternatives to abstinence-only programs.  However, I hope the sponsors, co-sponsors, and committee members seize this incredible opportunity and encourage the use of language and frameworks that go beyond merely preventing disease and unwanted pregnancy to promoting healthy sexuality across the lifespan. 

In reading some of the blog reactions and news posts regarding this Act, I was struck by a couple of similarities between the anti-sex ed groups (or "pro-abstinence-only" depending on who you ask) and the pro-comprehensive sex education folks. The most common issue I noticed was the use of the word abstinence. On one side, we are told again and again that the only...

Obma Administration to Support UN declaration decriminalizing homosexuality. 

Today, news was released that the United States would join 66 other countries in signing a United Nations declaration to decriminalize homosexuality.  This declaration goes further to endorse support for human rights protections along the lines of sexual orientation and gender identity. 

This declaration was proposed in December 2008, but, at that time we were still under the Bush Administration.  Not surprisingly, the US withheld its endorsement of this declaration; Bush indicated that he opposes discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation, but felt that the declaration would interfere with states laws.  Oddly enough, Obama fully endorsed the declaration, noting that this policy would not actually change any laws in the US.  (Lawrence v. Texas in 2003 already overturned sodomy laws in the United States.) 

I am very enthusiastic about this move and see this as a sign of genuineness of Obama’s promises to support and protect human and civil rights for all.  But, I am concerned about the number of counties that refuse to sign on – using excuses...

This is a response to an article posted on Washington Post.com.

Pope Benedict XVI, during today's visit to Africa, announced that condoms are not the answer for containing the global HIV/AIDS crisis, particularly in Africa, and they actually make the situation worse.  It is assumed that his suggestion is similar to that of his predecessor, Pope John Paul II; to avoid risk of HIV/AIDS transmission, abstinence is offered as the best solution: “the pope said a responsible and moral attitude toward sex would help fight the disease.”

This position is not new – it is simply a reiteration of the abstinence stance and now an explicit opposition to condoms as a strategy to reduce the spread of HIV/AIDS.  I must say, I am not surprised by this position, but I’m aggravated that religious dogma that has devastating effects is still being pushed around the world, particularly in areas where few alternative messages are pushed.  Beyond the rigidity of the Church’s position on condom use, I see a number of very problematic flaws with its stance.

Condoms make the situation worse:  The rationale for this statement is the assumption that condoms give a false sense of security and that they are ineffective against the transmission of...

In yesterday's New York Times, Frank Rich gave us a great piece about the current state of the culture wars and how we Americans don't have the time or patience for these arguments over "moral" issues (that the right has used quite effectively to keep us divided over the past thirty years or so). When you think about it, it was rather impressive that they were able to mobilize and had such stamina to keep folks fired up on both sides of issues like reproductive choice, gay rights, and abstinence-only education for so many years.

Over the past few months, we've watched as the result of years of greed, fiscal irresponsibility, and unnecessary risk-taking on Wall Street have nearly completely collapsed the global economy. In the back of our minds, we knew this would happen someday; it was impossible that such a level of grotesque consumption and consumerism could sustain for the long-term.

If you think about it, this is very similar to what has happened to the social conservatives as well.  We all knew that their holier-than-though messages regarding their version of "family values" stank to high heaven of...

Hi there,

My name is Kelly McDonnell and I am currently completing my Masters in Forensic Sexology through Curtin University in Western Australia. I am located in Waterloo Ontario and I am interested in exploring the lived experience of the affects of cancer and its treatment on the emerging sexual self during adolescence.

By gathering this information I hope to gain insight of services that were found helpful during this time and what should be provided in terms of being more helpful.

In order to do this I am asking for your help to find people I could possibly interview. The interviews will take approximately 30 minutes consisting of open ended questions.

I would be needing people who are currently 18-25 years of age who had/has cancer and under went treatment when they were between the ages of 13-18.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Please feel free to contact me if you have any questions or would be willing to talk.

Thank you

Sincerely,

Kelly McDonnell

kmcdonnell@hotmail.com

kellym.mcdonnell@postgrad.curtin.edu.au

Hand jobs are funny.

I remember one lover asking me for a hand job and there was a hint of shame and excitement in his voice that'd I'd never heard from him before. While Men are rarely shy to ask for a blow job, there's something about asking for the "hand treatment" that inevitably feels forbidden and slightly juvenile. It's like "third base", just one step away from finally getting to "do it."

In some ways it's the least intimate and clumsy of the sex acts: lot's of flopping and fumbling, searching for that sweet spot: finding her clit than losing it, hitting that moan-worthy part of his head and having a carpal tunnel moment and losing the momentum and starting all over again-NO!!!!!! Must...achieve...happy...ending....

But while hand jobs do seem very middle school, it can also be a very grown up challenge. Foreign hand vs. native hand...Native hand knows the territory and has lot's of experience but foreign may have some tricks up it's sleeve: covert tactics such as sucking, kissing, biting.

Place your bets folks! It's a tough call. What do you think about hand jobs?

this blog was originally written by Anna Rose Steiner

Maybe it’s because it’s women’s history month or maybe it’s because they wanted to spite the lobbyist in DC for National Abstinence Lobbyist Day this week, but the new administration and newly elected Democrat controlled Congress made tremendous strides this week enacting legislation that will substantially improve women’s health (and everyone’s sexual health for that matter).

The omnibus spending bill that the Senate passed this week not only increased Title X funding and decreased funding for abstinence-only programs but it also put more money into international HIV prevention than ever before. And feminists throughout the US should celebrate because the omnibus bill also includes provisions for reducing the cost of birth control.

Not to be out done by the Senate, President Obama announced the White House Council on Women and Girls. Autumn...

Part of my work at the NSRC yesterday involved answering some questions from the Golden Gate Xpress, the student newspaper at SFSU.

I was intimidated at first with the idea of actually having to answer someone's questions about sex, but as Chris (my NSRC boss) explained, this was part of the future that I wanted working in sexuality. The piece for the newspaper was on the benefits for a college student to have a healthy/active sex life. With all the work I've done in the MA program so far, of course my first thoughts turn to, what students? Are we talking about the middle class majority able to afford college? Are we talking about students that are sexual minorities? Are we talking about the ablebodied definitions surrounding what it means to be active and healthy?

I didn't have the answers to these questions so, I tried to apply the holistic sexual literacy message I embrace here at the NSRC. I tried to the answer the questions with a sense of humor, figuring the audience would appreciate a laugh. However, upon receiving feedback, I was hit with a reality check which I greatly appreciated. It seems I have a thing for exclamation points. Guilty as charged. 

I'm not the one writing the column, the journalist is. He came asking questions, looking for expert opinions, and I was meant to supply that. I was essentially doing the job for him, writing up a cute little college sex column, when all he wanted were answers to his questions...

Pulitzer prize-winning reporter, Chris Hedges' article, "We are Breeding Ourselves to Extinction" succeeds in articulating exactly what most of us humans avoid these days, the inevitable pink and blue overpopulation elephant in the middle of the room we call planet earth. Population control is not only unpopular in general, it is something we seem to go out of our way to avoid. Even environmentalist Al Gore's "An Inconvenient Truth" does not address the issue of of overpopulation and its painfully obvious impact on global ciimate change, at all. Perhaps the truth of overpopulation and its impact on the environment and the future of humanity is the ultimate and unspeakable inconvenience. 

Citing the work of scientist James Lovelock, Hedges argues that unless we begin to practice vigorous population control, all attempts to stop environmental degradation will be futile. 

My grandmother used to teach me that the questions and issues people avoid most are EXACTLY the ones that should be answered and addressed....and usually immediately if not sooner. 

So where in the world does this leave us as sexuality educators,...

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

Last night, Jessica Valenti, founder of feministing.com, graced Indiana University with her presence giving a brief talk about her two books, and the third, forthcoming book The Purity Myth.  To an almost-full auditorium of young people of all genders, races, ethnicities, and sexualities, Jessica offered her take on the continued importance of feminism, especially among our youth.  Although rather subtle, one key point of her talk was that today’s feminists must continue to fight the same issues of their foremothers – sexual double standards, misogynistic representations of women, perpetual exotification and infantilizing of women of all ages, etc, etc.  But, these old issues (and many new) are tackled with new strategies – blogging.  Her website, feministing.com, has grown from a individually-led project to a blogosphere community of young feminists.  Again, though not an explicit point, Jessica highlighted that blogging and other advances of today are great ways for our rising generation to educate others and themselves and to create change.  Given the depressing decline of feminism in the US, or at least the number of people willing to identify themselves as feminists without the fear of being labeled a hairy, man-hating lesbian communist (what labels are there for men who identify as feminists?),...

I started writing this blog post by talking about all the anti-sex, negative, hateful rhetoric poured out and leaked onto all of us on a daily basis and decided that was too depressing.  We hear enough of it every time we turn on our televisions or open a newspaper.  Instead, I want to talk about how wonderful it is to be a homosexual!

I adore being gay.  Have you ever been to a gay pride celebration?  There's glitter and wigs.  Dykes on bikes. OVer the top flaming fags.  Hot L-Word femme lesbos.  Queer moms and queer dads. Baby gays.  Leather-clad homos of all types.  Old Lesbians.  Muscled beefcake guys in tight Levi's and t-shirts squealing and screaming like little girls. Drag queens, trannies, and dogs in suggestive t-shirts.  It's fabulous!

I feel as though we gay folks have been given a wonderful gift that needs to be shared with our straight brothers and sisters.  At young ages, we were faced with very serious and deep issues that forced us to struggle through some very rough and dark passages, but we emerged on the other side with a deeper understanding of who we are and what we want in our sex lives and in our relationships.  Because we had to face our own sexuality, we are now much more at ease in facing our current and ongoing sexual issue.  We are able to speak more openly with our partners about our wants and needs.  We construct new types of relationships...

Yesterday my "brazilian mom" called me into the living room and told me watch the news with her. "You know what's happening?" she asked, her eyes heavily focused on me. "No what?" I mumbled to her in portuguese. "A nine year-old girl in [the state of] Pernambuco was raped by her step-father and impregnated with twins. She was granted an abortion yesterday and now the archbishop of Recife Olinda has called for the ex-communication of her, her family and the doctors that performed the abortion."

I am currently in Rio de Janeiro on a Fulbright scholarship studying development and it's relationship to reproductive and sexual health and rights in Brazil. I was an exchange student here 10 years ago and had no idea I'd be back hanging out with my host family for awhile before I begin my project. I must say that I really hate the fact that this is my first blog post on this journey.  This is the kind of story that makes you feel like you have a big black hole where your heart used to be, which automatically gives you indigestion. I really wanted my first post to be about my struggle hating and loving the rigid gender roles here in Brazil. (Yes, I admit it. I love getting my nails done evey week and buying shoes like they just might be the last pair on earth. However, I'm not sure I can handle the braziian bikini (who knew I had all those stretch marks stripped across my ass?) or the brazilian bikini wax, and I can't believe I actually thought about getting botox...

This morning I spent the better part of 3-4 hours putting Marriage Equality USA stickers on people attending the Repeal Prop 8 rally at the California Supreme Court here in San Francisco. I stickered 7th graders, seniors from senior centers, drag queens, parents, children of gay parents, teachers, even a few unsuspecting pet dogs from the Marriage Equals One Man and One Woman "Traditional Marriage" camp.

I've been a marriage equality activist since 2004 and have participated in rallies throughout the nation, have spoken to the media, convinced conservatives to change their mind etc... But this rally was perhaps the hardest yet. This time, there were just as many as "them" as there were "us". And their signs were MUCH larger.

As we watched the court proceedings, it occurred to me that there were no groups there called "sex educators/researchers for equality". We need that in a really bad way. Lifelong sex ed has the potential to radically transform how all Americans see gender and sexuality. So this is what I came up with:

SAFE or Sex-Ed Advocates For Equality: A national movement of sex educators and researchers in coalition with one another to actively support LGBT equality. Naturally, NSRC is a great place to start this....and we have a work retreat this afternoon. Perfect timing.

The Institute for Welcoming Resources (IWR), a program of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, recently released transACTION: A Transgender Curriculum for Churches and Religious Institutions. This is the very first curriculum of its kind aimed at helping inclusive religious institutions to arm their congregants and members with training on how to welcome, understand and recognize the contributions of transgender persons within their faith settings. 

According to Reverend Rebecca Voelkel, IWR's Faith Work Director, "Of the 3100 or so welcoming congregations we list on our website, somewhere between 75% and 90% are welcoming of lesbian, gay and bisexual (lgb) people but haven't done anything on transgender work. This is true in non-Christian settings too. So, both for the intra-religious world and for any hopes to help religious folks advocate for a trans inclusive ENDA, this curriculum in crucial." 

Barbara Satin, a transgender Christian and IWR Faith Work Associate has had first hand knowledge for decades with regard to the lack of congregational resources addressing transgender inclusion. Barbara is the author of the curriculum and is now working with pro-lgbt religious organizations, particularly Christian ones, to get...

I must have picked up a bug or eaten something that had gone bad during my recent trip to Austin, Texas, for our first regional training and conference on sexuality research because I've been sick as a dog for the past two days.  To top it off, the cable is out, and there is no worse time for the cable to be out than when you're taking a sick day and you're actually sick!  Sitting around with my diet of malt-o-meal and ginger ale, I was trying to think of things to watch on dvd or to download and started thinking about that fairly recent drama about teen pregnancy, The Secret Life of the American Teenager, on ABC Family and sponsored by the National Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy (check out www.stayteen.org).  So, I downloaded episode one, season one, and curled up on the couch to watch it.

First, why didn't anyone tell me Molly Ringwald was on this show?!?  As a teen of the 1980s, Ms. Ringwald was a bit of an icon in all of those John Hughes movies (more on these later).  It kind of made me sad to see her playing the middle-aged mother of two teenage girls (yes, I know it's because it made me feel old); still, isn't she pretty in pink?

The show centers around a group of students at fictional Grant High School and instead of representing a diverse high school population...

Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer (LGBTQ) and immigrant rights are two hotly contested areas of policy advocacy and community organizing in the United States today. Millions of immigrants marched on streets of large and small cities of the US in spring of 2006 in their opposition to draconian immigration bills, and demanding legalization for all immigrants. While Gay marriage, Employment Non-Discrimination, equal treatment in the US military, and Hate Crime legislation has been the clarion call of the LGBTQ movement in the recent years.  LGBTQ immigrants find themselves uniquely positioned on the boundaries of both these movements. Voices of LGBTQ immigrants have often been on the margins of these movements.

There is little discussion of how immigration is also an issue for LGBTQ people, and even less analysis of the structural similarities between queer and immigrant struggles. LGBTQ immigrants are marginalized or invisible at the intersection of two identities. As a whole, more complex family structures -- such as those of binational...