I think sex is awesome, as do most people. However, it frustrates me that most Sexual Education programs are based on Abstinence Only, or Disease and Pregnancy Prevention. I've always felt that sexuality is a big part of life, and it's a pity that we can't totally embrace that in most academic settings. Sure, there are non-profits, and other businesses (like Good Vibrations) that focus on the enjoyment of sex and the development of one's sexual being, but they often rely on people to come to them instead of the other way around. 

In class, we discussed briefly the differences between Holistic Sexual Health Education and Pregnancy or Disease Prevention programs. In essence, the former focuses on the whole body being healthy and the part one's sexuality plays in that. The latter tends to be more restrictive and negative because it tends to emphasize the typically unfortunate outcomes that may arise out of sexual activity (like unplanned pregnancies and the spread of STIs).

So why am I such a strong advocate for a Holistic Sexual Education system? When people are more educated, tolerance for variation (both sexual and non-sexual) increases. Deeper understanding of sexuality allows people to make better decisions regarding sexual health. Sexual health also plays a dramatic role in one's overall health. Not to mention, being more...

Coming from a different background and culture, then most people I’m surrounded with in this sexuality program, has taught me great deal about myself, and the world outside of my normal culture. I am able to witness how people, from the outside of my community, view my culture looking in. So far, I have been able to hear, see and learn many things that I have never been exposed to anywhere else throughout my life. But there has been one thing that has stuck out to me while being in this program, NO ONE has any real idea the struggles my community face, in sexual health or in education. I have heard many of talks about the effects of oppression on the Black community, the lack of medical services, and the lack of sex education in schools (all the complex problems), but I’m not sure that people understand that the lack of basic educations (I’m talking elementary school, middle school and high school if your lucky) is the true problem and one of the major reasons why the Black community suffers from so many sexual health issues.

In the Black communities, the truth is, basic education is not a right, it’s a privilege, and if are lucky enough to have that privilege (which usually comes from having some type of constant advocate) then you can think about life opportunities. And if you have the pleasure to think about life opportunities then most of...

I spent a year of my life dieting, telling my students I loved my body, telling my housemates it was for my health- gleefully watching my body disappear in a mirror, celebrating each night I went to bed with stomach pains, knowing I would wake up and be rewarded for my denial by another pound lost on the scale.  The scale- my own personal numeric demon as I obsessively weighed myself after a night of indulging on a slice of pizza…no weight gain!  As I excitedly weighed after a day of eating nothing but salad…I gained a pound?!  Weighing became a ritual…take clothes off…use the restroom so there is nothing left in your body…

3,000 dollars…30 pounds.

It has been four months and I finally gathered the courage to throw the diet food, and the evil scale, out!

It is a typical story.  One I hear repeated constantly by women I meet everyday.  I know the statistics on weight and dieting.  Almost 90 percent of women are effectively on a permanent diet.  My size 2 students who spend every day running nowhere on a treadmill and counting calories attest to this.  The women I work with in community theater who share experiences of thirty to forty years of dieting…one who cheerfully admits she would have snorted cheetos if she could have gotten them into her body fast enough are reminders of a diet and body obsessed culture.  I spent five years secure in my decision to...

This week the NSRC highlighted the California’s Supreme Court’s decision to uphold Proposition 8. However, there are a lot of other important stories happening this week that speak volumes about the state of sexuality in the United States. Here are a few issues we find important, and we hope you’ll read more about.

California’s impending budget cuts literally threaten the lives of Californian’s living with HIV/AIDS.  An East Bay facility that treats low-income people living with HIV/AIDS closed its doors this past week, and it’s likely that impeding budget cuts will threaten HIV/AIDS prevention and treatment through out the state.

Obama’s nomination of federal judge Sonia Sotomayor to replace Justice David Souter has the entire blog world speculating about her positions on numerous issues related to sexuality. RH Reality check reviews her record on abortion, and the Guardian and Pandagon.net...

A recent  summary of a research study on Science Daily used a particularly misleading title:

Frequent Sex And Masturbation In 20s And 30s Linked To Higher Prostate Cancer

The title implies that masturbation in some way causes prostate cancer. Now, when one actually reads the article, the message is quite different. Frequent masturbation is a potential indicator of increased sex hormones, and increased sex hormones potentially lead to higher prostate cancer risk. So please, do not stop masturbating for the fear of getting cancer.

But then again don’t take this finding at face value. On the same page, in the Related Stories category, you will see two contradicting links. One claims that “High Ejaculation Frequency May Be Linked To A Decreased Risk Of Prostate Cancer”, and another “Sex Hormones Unrelated To Prostate Cancer Risk, Report Shows.”

So to summarize – masturbation may or may not be an indicator of increased sex hormones levels; ejaculating frequently may or may not be an indicator of increased risk for prostate cancer; and sex hormones may or may not cause prostate cancer.

My advice to you: have healthy sex (with yourself and/or others)...

The 21st National Conference on LGBT Equality—Creating Change—convenes next week in Denver, Colorado (January 28-February 1) and NSRC once again plans to be there in support of placing sexual literacy at the very heart of the movement where it has been conspicuously downplayed or disappeared altogether in recent years.

So what does sexuality literacy have to do with achieving LGBT equality?

Everything. And the grassroots LGBT movement is now beginning to recognize and act on it.

This year, the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force’s commitment to...

When I came out to my very loving, supportive and well-intentioned parents during my youth, they were worried that I would have a harder life because of being gay. They had no clue where to turn for accurate, dependable information, resources and research that would help them in their journey to understand and support me. They were terrified and felt alone. They didn’t understand that how they reacted to me (with acceptance, tolerance, rejection) would have a direct impact on my future health and mental health.  They couldn’t then realize that how they reacted would directly impact my ability to live, thrive, merely survive or even consider suicide. They were never trained in how to deal with my developmental needs. They couldn’t make recommendations about doctors and therapists appropriately trained to work both with me and with them. They never learned how to address the social/peer victimization I was facing and they never learned how to talk about my being gay with our ultra conservative family members. To this day, they still struggle with how to maintain loving relationships with their own friends and our family who reject me and their acceptance and support of me.

Shout-out to all the females who want to step up and take control of your protection; your moment in the sun has finally arrived!  The Female Health Company has developed a new version of the female condom made of synthetic latex in a considerably less expensive manufacturing process--and it was approved this week by the FDA Advisory Panel.  FC2  prevents the transmission of STIs and prevents pregnancy, allowing women not only the opportunity to be in charge of their contraception, but their overall health as well.  Plus, the new device has the potential for wider acceptability and utilization since it is expected to be more affordable for individuals and programs, the latter of which might actually push it this time around.  Oh, and did I mention that it feels and sounds slightly less like a Ziplock sandwich bag?

Our own Dr. Colleen Hoff, director of the Center on Research on Gender and Sexuality, co-authored a study on the OG female condom...

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,...