Amen, Sister: Joycelyn Elders' Call for More Sexual Frankness

One lesson I've learned: When people feel repressed -- when they feel sex is shameful -- an underworld of sexual activity bubbles below the surface of society.

Many best remember Elders for how she lost her job: she was fired by President Clinton in 1994for voicing her politically explosive opinion that masturbation should be taught to children.
"Hiding from sexuality is not realistic when we know that humans are inherently sexual beings," Elders more recently wrote. "A sexually healthy society must be our new goal for the 21st century."

Amen, sister.

Elders is absolutely right when she says this country has a long way to go before it becomes honest about sexual topics, especially where politicians and politics are concerned.  (Politics Daily)

 

Between The Sheets

A new sex study indicates unmarried boomers behave more recklessly than teens.

As far as sexual behavior goes, we may be worrying about the wrong people. The kids, it turns out, may be all right. It's the boomers who are being all, like, irresponsible and stuff. At least that's the finding of the largest nationally representative survey of the sexual behavior of Americans ever undertaken, published in the Journal of Sexual Medicine on Oct. 4.  (TIME)
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Statement by Leslie Kantor, National Director of Education, Planned Parenthood Federation of America, on New CDC Report Showing Disparity in Teen Birthrates by States

The full CDC report can be found HERE.

“This new CDC report makes it crystal clear that the teen birthrate is lower in states that provide students with comprehensive, evidence-based sex education.  The report demonstrates that the surest way to reduce teenage pregnancy is to provide young people with comprehensive, medically accurate sex education, and doing so is especially urgent for African-American and Latino teens, who are getting pregnant more frequently than other young people.  (Common Dreams)

 

Intercourse and Orgasm

Most women don’t have an orgasm from intercourse alone                       

You’ve heard me say it again and again… there is nothing “wrong” with you if you can’t have an orgasm from intercourse. It puts you squarely with 70% of women. And if you are someone who is able to have orgasms from a hand,  a mouth or a vibrator, you don’t have a problem with orgasm!  It just has to do with where your clitoris is positioned, the shape of his penis and how you initially learned how to have an orgasm.  (The Medical Center for Female Sexuality)

 

Americans are Branching Out Sexually, Survey finds

Condom

Sexually speaking, Americans are mixing it up a good deal more than they have in the past.

The first comprehensive snapshot of Americans' sexual activity in almost two decades suggests a social landscape changed by HIV and AIDS and by an increasingly open national conversation about sexual acts other than plain old intercourse.

"The sexual repertoire of Americans has sort of expanded," said Michael Reece, director of Indiana University's Center for Sexual Health Promotion and a leading author of the National Survey of Sexual Health and Behavior, published in a special issue of the Journal of Sexual Medicine. Though vaginal intercourse is hardly on its way out, the practice has declined as other sexual acts have gained ground.  (LA Times)

 

Oral Sex Cancer Risk to be Tackled by Documentary

Jaime Winstone Images

One of the last taboos in sexual health is to be tackled by the BBC in an hour-long film presented by the film star Jaime Winstone.

The investigation tackles the link between oral sex and rising numbers of mouth and throat cancer cases among young Britons – described this weekend as "an emerging epidemic" by a Cancer Research UK expert.  (The Guardian)

 

South Africa: Condoms Star in a Sex Film With a Message

With three goals in mind — to score a political point, to convey a safe-sex message and to make money — a South African producer has made that nation’s first all-black pornographic movie.

In a departure from the norm for such films, the male cast members wear condoms. Also, the entire cast was tested for H.I.V.  (New York Times)