Can an 11-Year-Old Girl Consent to Sex?
PARIS — Last Tuesday, France woke up to news reports that a 28-year-old man and an 11-year-old girl had had “consensual” sex.
The events, first reported by the website Mediapart, took place on April 24 in the Paris suburb of Montmagny. That afternoon, the child followed a man, who had already approached her twice in the previous days, telling her he “could teach her how to kiss and more.” They went to his building, where she performed oral sex in the hallway. Then she followed him to his apartment, where they had sexual intercourse. Afterward, he told her not to talk to anybody about it, kissed her on the forehead and asked to see her again.
More...
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/10/05/opin ... dline&te=1
Solutions to Sexual Problems.
A Condom-Maker’s Discovery: Size Matters
Condoms get a bad rap for being a bad wrap. Men often complain of discomfort, diminished sensation and poor fit. A recent federal study found only a third of American men use them.
Now, changes by the Food and Drug Administration and industry-standards groups have opened the door to the condom equivalent of bespoke suits. A Boston-based company has begun selling custom-fit condoms in 60 sizes, in combinations of 10 lengths and nine circumferences.
Will the development improve the appeal of condoms, the only birth-control method that protects against most sexually transmitted diseases? Public health experts are unsure.
Many ideas for improving condoms have fizzled, sometimes stymied by the costs of testing required to satisfy the F.D.A., which considers condoms to be medical devices. A competition sponsored by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation sought ideas for more pleasurable condoms in 2013 but has not yet brought one to market. While some winners are still pursuing prototypes, others have given up.
More...
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/10/12/heal ... d=45305309
Condoms get a bad rap for being a bad wrap. Men often complain of discomfort, diminished sensation and poor fit. A recent federal study found only a third of American men use them.
Now, changes by the Food and Drug Administration and industry-standards groups have opened the door to the condom equivalent of bespoke suits. A Boston-based company has begun selling custom-fit condoms in 60 sizes, in combinations of 10 lengths and nine circumferences.
Will the development improve the appeal of condoms, the only birth-control method that protects against most sexually transmitted diseases? Public health experts are unsure.
Many ideas for improving condoms have fizzled, sometimes stymied by the costs of testing required to satisfy the F.D.A., which considers condoms to be medical devices. A competition sponsored by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation sought ideas for more pleasurable condoms in 2013 but has not yet brought one to market. While some winners are still pursuing prototypes, others have given up.
More...
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/10/12/heal ... d=45305309
Untreatable Gonorrhea Is Rapidly Spreading. Here’s What You Need to Know
As drug-resistant gonorrhea rapidly spreads around the world, one team of researchers may have a strategy to combat it, according to a new study.
Gonorrhea is becoming a superbug, meaning the drugs typically used to treat it are no longer reliably effective. Should gonorrhea’s antibiotic resistance continue to increase, the results could be bleak, given that the sexually transmitted disease can cause long-term complications like infertility if left untreated.
In July, the World Health Organization (WHO) reported that around the globe, about 78 million people are infected with gonorrhea each year, and that 97% of 77 countries surveyed from 2009 to 2014 reported the presence of drug-resistant gonorrhea strains. Sixty-six percent of the countries reported the emergence of resistance to last resort drug treatments for the infection.
If a person gets a resistant strain of gonorrhea today, it doesn’t necessarily mean that they won’t ever clear the infection. “At the moment, all cases of gonorrhea are still treatable using some combination of available antibiotics,” says Dr. Xavier Didelot, senior lecturer in the department of infectious disease and epidemiology at Imperial College London. “But at the current rate at which resistance is developing, we could find ourselves facing a situation where no antibiotic works, which would mean a return to the pre-antibiotic era.”
To prevent that from happening, researchers are working to figure out new treatment strategies for gonorrhea. In a new study published Tuesday in the journal PLOS Medicine, Didelot and his colleagues report that relying more on an older drug for the disease may stop it from becoming more resistant to antibiotics.
More...
https://www.msn.com/en-ca/health/sexual ... ailsignout
As drug-resistant gonorrhea rapidly spreads around the world, one team of researchers may have a strategy to combat it, according to a new study.
Gonorrhea is becoming a superbug, meaning the drugs typically used to treat it are no longer reliably effective. Should gonorrhea’s antibiotic resistance continue to increase, the results could be bleak, given that the sexually transmitted disease can cause long-term complications like infertility if left untreated.
In July, the World Health Organization (WHO) reported that around the globe, about 78 million people are infected with gonorrhea each year, and that 97% of 77 countries surveyed from 2009 to 2014 reported the presence of drug-resistant gonorrhea strains. Sixty-six percent of the countries reported the emergence of resistance to last resort drug treatments for the infection.
If a person gets a resistant strain of gonorrhea today, it doesn’t necessarily mean that they won’t ever clear the infection. “At the moment, all cases of gonorrhea are still treatable using some combination of available antibiotics,” says Dr. Xavier Didelot, senior lecturer in the department of infectious disease and epidemiology at Imperial College London. “But at the current rate at which resistance is developing, we could find ourselves facing a situation where no antibiotic works, which would mean a return to the pre-antibiotic era.”
To prevent that from happening, researchers are working to figure out new treatment strategies for gonorrhea. In a new study published Tuesday in the journal PLOS Medicine, Didelot and his colleagues report that relying more on an older drug for the disease may stop it from becoming more resistant to antibiotics.
More...
https://www.msn.com/en-ca/health/sexual ... ailsignout
This Is The Bizarre Side Effect 1 In 100 People Experience During Sex
Sex headaches are no joke. Here, doctors explain why they happen and how to deal.
As your sexual arousal ramps up, pleasure is probably the only thing on your mind. Unfortunately, for some people, pain interrupts the party. At least one percent of adults experience coital cephalalgia, or “sex headaches,” aka head pain that occurs before, during, or after orgasm. Here's what you need to know about this condition, which is basically the unpleasant epitome of a buzzkill.
Mayo Clinic spotlights two kinds of sex headaches. The first is "a dull ache in the head and neck that intensifies as sexual excitement increases," and the second is "a sudden, severe, throbbing headache that occurs just before or at the moment of orgasm."
More..
https://www.msn.com/en-ca/health/health ... ailsignout
*****
Birth Control Your Own Adventure
Excerpt:
It gives me pause to criticize contraceptives. American public discourse doesn’t digest nuance well, and I fear not being heard if I criticize birth control and in the same breath assert my right to it. But these beliefs are not mutually exclusive: I deserve to make decisions about my body, and I deserve a health care system that doesn’t consider what’s unacceptable for men to be the gold standard for me. Yes, I deserve birth control, but I also deserve better birth control.
More..
https://mobile.nytimes.com/2018/01/09/o ... 1&referer=
Sex headaches are no joke. Here, doctors explain why they happen and how to deal.
As your sexual arousal ramps up, pleasure is probably the only thing on your mind. Unfortunately, for some people, pain interrupts the party. At least one percent of adults experience coital cephalalgia, or “sex headaches,” aka head pain that occurs before, during, or after orgasm. Here's what you need to know about this condition, which is basically the unpleasant epitome of a buzzkill.
Mayo Clinic spotlights two kinds of sex headaches. The first is "a dull ache in the head and neck that intensifies as sexual excitement increases," and the second is "a sudden, severe, throbbing headache that occurs just before or at the moment of orgasm."
More..
https://www.msn.com/en-ca/health/health ... ailsignout
*****
Birth Control Your Own Adventure
Excerpt:
It gives me pause to criticize contraceptives. American public discourse doesn’t digest nuance well, and I fear not being heard if I criticize birth control and in the same breath assert my right to it. But these beliefs are not mutually exclusive: I deserve to make decisions about my body, and I deserve a health care system that doesn’t consider what’s unacceptable for men to be the gold standard for me. Yes, I deserve birth control, but I also deserve better birth control.
More..
https://mobile.nytimes.com/2018/01/09/o ... 1&referer=
Contraception for Teenagers
Although teenage pregnancies and birthrates in the United States have been declining steadily since 1990, the nation still leads the developed world in these challenging statistics.
I say challenging because 82 percent of teen pregnancies and births are unplanned and nearly always unwanted. They often disrupt a girl’s education and life goals and sometimes result in shotgun marriages with poor long-term survival.
The falling pregnancy rate is not a result of a decline in teenage sexual activity, which experts say has remained steady for decades. Nor does abortion, which has dropped along with pregnancies, account for fewer teen births.
Rather, the data indicate that more teens now use contraception when they have sex. Still, too many fail to use the most effective methods or use them incorrectly or inconsistently, resulting in ill-timed or unwanted pregnancies. Even informed teenagers may have trouble accessing contraceptives: A new report by the Guttmacher Institute found that 24 states do not allow minors to receive contraceptives without parents’ permission.
Condoms, sold over-the-counter and sometimes distributed free in schools, are the most frequently used contraceptives by teens. But while key to preventing sexually transmitted infections, in practice condoms are among the poorest means to prevent pregnancy — better only than withdrawal. Currently, the most effective methods — so-called long-acting reversible contraceptives — are least often used by adolescents.
More...
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/02/19/well ... dline&te=1
Although teenage pregnancies and birthrates in the United States have been declining steadily since 1990, the nation still leads the developed world in these challenging statistics.
I say challenging because 82 percent of teen pregnancies and births are unplanned and nearly always unwanted. They often disrupt a girl’s education and life goals and sometimes result in shotgun marriages with poor long-term survival.
The falling pregnancy rate is not a result of a decline in teenage sexual activity, which experts say has remained steady for decades. Nor does abortion, which has dropped along with pregnancies, account for fewer teen births.
Rather, the data indicate that more teens now use contraception when they have sex. Still, too many fail to use the most effective methods or use them incorrectly or inconsistently, resulting in ill-timed or unwanted pregnancies. Even informed teenagers may have trouble accessing contraceptives: A new report by the Guttmacher Institute found that 24 states do not allow minors to receive contraceptives without parents’ permission.
Condoms, sold over-the-counter and sometimes distributed free in schools, are the most frequently used contraceptives by teens. But while key to preventing sexually transmitted infections, in practice condoms are among the poorest means to prevent pregnancy — better only than withdrawal. Currently, the most effective methods — so-called long-acting reversible contraceptives — are least often used by adolescents.
More...
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/02/19/well ... dline&te=1
Can There Be Good Porn?
Excerpt:
Still, some pornographers have been taking steps to try to minimize porn’s potential harm to young people and adults for years. And one way we’ve been trying to do so is by putting our work into its proper context.
Context reminds people of all the things they don’t see in the final product. It underscores that pornography is a performance, that just as in ballet or professional wrestling, we are putting on a show. For years the B.D.S.M.-focused website Kink provided context for its sex scenes through a project called Behind Kink, with videos that showed the scenes being planned and performers stating their limits. Their films also showed a practice called “aftercare,” in which participants in an intense B.D.S.M. experience discuss what they’ve just done and how they’re feeling about it. (Unfortunately, the Behind Kink project lost momentum and appears to have stalled out in 2016.)
More..
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/03/04/opin ... dline&te=1
Excerpt:
Still, some pornographers have been taking steps to try to minimize porn’s potential harm to young people and adults for years. And one way we’ve been trying to do so is by putting our work into its proper context.
Context reminds people of all the things they don’t see in the final product. It underscores that pornography is a performance, that just as in ballet or professional wrestling, we are putting on a show. For years the B.D.S.M.-focused website Kink provided context for its sex scenes through a project called Behind Kink, with videos that showed the scenes being planned and performers stating their limits. Their films also showed a practice called “aftercare,” in which participants in an intense B.D.S.M. experience discuss what they’ve just done and how they’re feeling about it. (Unfortunately, the Behind Kink project lost momentum and appears to have stalled out in 2016.)
More..
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/03/04/opin ... dline&te=1
-
FreeLancer
- Posts: 180
- Joined: Tue Feb 13, 2018 12:20 pm
Kmaherali don't you have some decent topics to post. What pornography, contraception, sex have to do with Ismaili Heritage. All Newyork times postings are not healthier for Ismaili youth.kmaherali wrote:Can There Be Good Porn?
Excerpt:
Still, some pornographers have been taking steps to try to minimize porn’s potential harm to young people and adults for years. And one way we’ve been trying to do so is by putting our work into its proper context.
Context reminds people of all the things they don’t see in the final product. It underscores that pornography is a performance, that just as in ballet or professional wrestling, we are putting on a show. For years the B.D.S.M.-focused website Kink provided context for its sex scenes through a project called Behind Kink, with videos that showed the scenes being planned and performers stating their limits. Their films also showed a practice called “aftercare,” in which participants in an intense B.D.S.M. experience discuss what they’ve just done and how they’re feeling about it. (Unfortunately, the Behind Kink project lost momentum and appears to have stalled out in 2016.)
More..
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/03/04/opin ... dline&te=1
Ismaili youths live in twenty first century and are exposed to issues of sexuality. They have to be exposed to different facets of this subject and how to deal with them responsibly. That's why we have sex education in our schools.FreeLancer wrote: Kmaherali don't you have some decent topics to post. What pornography, contraception, sex have to do with Ismaili Heritage. All Newyork times postings are not healthier for Ismaili youth.
-
FreeLancer
- Posts: 180
- Joined: Tue Feb 13, 2018 12:20 pm
You are one sided. Sex education is taught only in western countries. This subject is not taught in Pakistan, Afghanistan, central Asian countries, even not in India. Mostly persons don't know English in these areas, how they will understand your sermons on sex in English. Let me ask you, why not we start this valuable subjects in JKs?kmaherali wrote:Ismaili youths live in twenty first century and are exposed to issues of sexuality. They have to be exposed to different facets of this subject and how to deal with them responsibly. That's why we have sex education in our schools.FreeLancer wrote: Kmaherali don't you have some decent topics to post. What pornography, contraception, sex have to do with Ismaili Heritage. All Newyork times postings are not healthier for Ismaili youth.
Appropriate understanding and responsible practice of sex is a global issue. Irresponsible sex creates social problems such as poverty, diseases, unwanted pregnancies etc. This is what I am trying to highlight in this thread.FreeLancer wrote: You are one sided. Sex education is taught only in western countries. This subject is not taught in Pakistan, Afghanistan, central Asian countries, even not in India. Mostly persons don't know English in these areas, how they will understand your sermons on sex in English. Let me ask you, why not we start this valuable subjects in JKs?
Senegal's innovative approach to prostitution
Its HIV prevalence rate is lower even than Washington, DC
VIOLENCE against women, anti-prostitution laws and poor health-care systems all make sub-Saharan Africa an appalling place to be a sex worker. Criminalised by many African states and exploited by corrupt officials, many women are forced into the world of organised crime. Worse still, they have been at the forefront of the continent’s ongoing AIDS epidemic. One study in 2013 found that in 16 African countries, an average of 37% of sex workers were HIV positive. Yet one African country does things differently. Senegal is the only place in Africa where sex workers are regulated by the state. Identification cards confirm the women as sex workers and give them access to some free health care, condoms and education initiatives. Why is this small west African state so different?
https://www.economist.com/blogs/economi ... m=20180413
Its HIV prevalence rate is lower even than Washington, DC
VIOLENCE against women, anti-prostitution laws and poor health-care systems all make sub-Saharan Africa an appalling place to be a sex worker. Criminalised by many African states and exploited by corrupt officials, many women are forced into the world of organised crime. Worse still, they have been at the forefront of the continent’s ongoing AIDS epidemic. One study in 2013 found that in 16 African countries, an average of 37% of sex workers were HIV positive. Yet one African country does things differently. Senegal is the only place in Africa where sex workers are regulated by the state. Identification cards confirm the women as sex workers and give them access to some free health care, condoms and education initiatives. Why is this small west African state so different?
https://www.economist.com/blogs/economi ... m=20180413
Why STDs are soaring in America
Rates of syphilis, gonorrhoea and chlamydia come roaring back
NEARLY 20 years ago, the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) released an ambitious proposal to “eliminate syphilis from the United States”. The plan seems to have worked rather poorly. Soon after the proposal’s issue, infection rates began to head in the wrong direction and then worsened. From 2000 until 2016, the most recent year for which data are available, the rates of syphilis quadrupled. Congenital syphilis, a nearly eradicated condition in which the infection is passed from mother to fetus, has also sharply increased—by nearly 28% from a low base in one year. That is distressing not only because the disease is easily detected and treated by a course of antibiotics, but also because afflicted mothers have a 40% chance of a stillbirth.
The problem is not only limited to syphilis. Other sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) are roaring back. Rates of gonorrhoea have, after a brief period of decline, surged 46% since 2010. Chlamydia, an extremely common STD which can result in female infertility, has nearly doubled since 2000. Nearly every sort of American has been affected. Even though people under 30 account for a large share of new infections, STDs have also risen among the elderly. Among adults aged 55 or over, chlamydia has more than doubled since 2010, while gonorrhoea has more than tripled. The public-health departments of New York City and Los Angeles County have sounded alarms, as have rural states like Mississippi, where STD rates are among the highest in the country.
More...
https://www.economist.com/united-states ... in-america
Rates of syphilis, gonorrhoea and chlamydia come roaring back
NEARLY 20 years ago, the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) released an ambitious proposal to “eliminate syphilis from the United States”. The plan seems to have worked rather poorly. Soon after the proposal’s issue, infection rates began to head in the wrong direction and then worsened. From 2000 until 2016, the most recent year for which data are available, the rates of syphilis quadrupled. Congenital syphilis, a nearly eradicated condition in which the infection is passed from mother to fetus, has also sharply increased—by nearly 28% from a low base in one year. That is distressing not only because the disease is easily detected and treated by a course of antibiotics, but also because afflicted mothers have a 40% chance of a stillbirth.
The problem is not only limited to syphilis. Other sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) are roaring back. Rates of gonorrhoea have, after a brief period of decline, surged 46% since 2010. Chlamydia, an extremely common STD which can result in female infertility, has nearly doubled since 2000. Nearly every sort of American has been affected. Even though people under 30 account for a large share of new infections, STDs have also risen among the elderly. Among adults aged 55 or over, chlamydia has more than doubled since 2010, while gonorrhoea has more than tripled. The public-health departments of New York City and Los Angeles County have sounded alarms, as have rural states like Mississippi, where STD rates are among the highest in the country.
More...
https://www.economist.com/united-states ... in-america
The Sex Recession Is Here
These should be boom times for sex.
The share of Americans who say sex between unmarried adults is “not wrong at all” is at an all-time high. New cases of HIV are at an all-time low. Most women can—at last—get birth control for free, and the morning-after pill without a prescription.
If hookups are your thing, Grindr and Tinder offer the prospect of casual sex within the hour. The phrase If something exists, there is porn of it used to be a clever internet meme; now it’s a truism. BDSM plays at the local multiplex—but why bother going? Sex is portrayed, often graphically and sometimes gorgeously, on prime-time cable. Sexting is, statistically speaking, normal.
To hear more feature stories, see our full list or get the Audm iPhone app.
Polyamory is a household word. Shame-laden terms like perversion have given way to cheerful-sounding ones like kink. Anal sex has gone from final taboo to “fifth base”—Teen Vogue (yes, Teen Vogue) even ran a guide to it. With the exception of perhaps incest and bestiality—and of course nonconsensual sex more generally—our culture has never been more tolerant of sex in just about every permutation.
But despite all this, American teenagers and young adults are having less sex.
To the relief of many parents, educators, and clergy members who care about the health and well-being of young people, teens are launching their sex lives later. From 1991 to 2017, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Youth Risk Behavior Survey finds, the percentage of high-school students who’d had intercourse dropped from 54 to 40 percent. In other words, in the space of a generation, sex has gone from something most high-school students have experienced to something most haven’t. (And no, they aren’t having oral sex instead—that rate hasn’t changed much.)
More...
https://www.msn.com/en-ca/health/wellne ... ailsignout
These should be boom times for sex.
The share of Americans who say sex between unmarried adults is “not wrong at all” is at an all-time high. New cases of HIV are at an all-time low. Most women can—at last—get birth control for free, and the morning-after pill without a prescription.
If hookups are your thing, Grindr and Tinder offer the prospect of casual sex within the hour. The phrase If something exists, there is porn of it used to be a clever internet meme; now it’s a truism. BDSM plays at the local multiplex—but why bother going? Sex is portrayed, often graphically and sometimes gorgeously, on prime-time cable. Sexting is, statistically speaking, normal.
To hear more feature stories, see our full list or get the Audm iPhone app.
Polyamory is a household word. Shame-laden terms like perversion have given way to cheerful-sounding ones like kink. Anal sex has gone from final taboo to “fifth base”—Teen Vogue (yes, Teen Vogue) even ran a guide to it. With the exception of perhaps incest and bestiality—and of course nonconsensual sex more generally—our culture has never been more tolerant of sex in just about every permutation.
But despite all this, American teenagers and young adults are having less sex.
To the relief of many parents, educators, and clergy members who care about the health and well-being of young people, teens are launching their sex lives later. From 1991 to 2017, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Youth Risk Behavior Survey finds, the percentage of high-school students who’d had intercourse dropped from 54 to 40 percent. In other words, in the space of a generation, sex has gone from something most high-school students have experienced to something most haven’t. (And no, they aren’t having oral sex instead—that rate hasn’t changed much.)
More...
https://www.msn.com/en-ca/health/wellne ... ailsignout
The Huxley Trap
How technology and masturbation tamed the sexual revolution.
Excerpt:
The people trying to argue against porn in Alberta’s article, or the people struggling to articulate their sexual and romantic discontents in Julian’s, are trying to find their way back to a worldview that takes moral virtue and human flourishing seriously again. But they inhabit a society that often recognizes only arguments about pleasure versus harm, and that at some level has internalized the logic of Mustapha Mond, one of the Controllers of Huxley’s world civilization: “Chastity means passion, chastity means neurasthenia. And passion and neurasthenia mean instability. And instability means the end of civilization. You can’t have a lasting civilization without plenty of pleasant vices.”
Pleasant vices and stability: With some technological assistance, that’s the sexual culture we’ve been forging. The only good news, and the best evidence that we might yet escape Huxley’s trap, is that we retain enough genuinely-human aspiration to be unhappy with it.
More...
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/11/14/opin ... dline&te=1
How technology and masturbation tamed the sexual revolution.
Excerpt:
The people trying to argue against porn in Alberta’s article, or the people struggling to articulate their sexual and romantic discontents in Julian’s, are trying to find their way back to a worldview that takes moral virtue and human flourishing seriously again. But they inhabit a society that often recognizes only arguments about pleasure versus harm, and that at some level has internalized the logic of Mustapha Mond, one of the Controllers of Huxley’s world civilization: “Chastity means passion, chastity means neurasthenia. And passion and neurasthenia mean instability. And instability means the end of civilization. You can’t have a lasting civilization without plenty of pleasant vices.”
Pleasant vices and stability: With some technological assistance, that’s the sexual culture we’ve been forging. The only good news, and the best evidence that we might yet escape Huxley’s trap, is that we retain enough genuinely-human aspiration to be unhappy with it.
More...
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/11/14/opin ... dline&te=1
Sex with robots: Will more people turn to advanced technologies, such as robots, VR environments to take the place of human partners?
A second wave of sexual technologies are now starting to appear, and are transforming how some people view their very sexual identity.
Sex as we know it is about to change.
We are already living through a new sexual revolution, thanks to technologies that have transformed the way we relate to each other in our intimate relationships. But we believe that a second wave of sexual technologies is now starting to appear, and that these are transforming how some people view their very sexual identity.
People we refer to as “digisexuals” are turning to advanced technologies, such as robots, virtual reality (VR) environments and feedback devices known as teledildonics, to take the place of human partners.
More...
https://www.cnbcafrica.com/news/technol ... -partners/
A second wave of sexual technologies are now starting to appear, and are transforming how some people view their very sexual identity.
Sex as we know it is about to change.
We are already living through a new sexual revolution, thanks to technologies that have transformed the way we relate to each other in our intimate relationships. But we believe that a second wave of sexual technologies is now starting to appear, and that these are transforming how some people view their very sexual identity.
People we refer to as “digisexuals” are turning to advanced technologies, such as robots, virtual reality (VR) environments and feedback devices known as teledildonics, to take the place of human partners.
More...
https://www.cnbcafrica.com/news/technol ... -partners/
Birth Control Gets Caught Up in the Abortion Wars
The Trump administration’s cruel new family planning rule threatens access to contraception and other health care for poor women.
Excerpt:
Dr. Wen noted, rightly, that the new rule isn’t just about Planned Parenthood. “The harm isn’t to one organization; it’s to people’s health care,” she said. It’s clear, however, that the goal of the rule change is to satisfy Mr. Trump’s supporters by at least partly defunding Planned Parenthood — the boogeyman of the anti-abortion cause.
It’s ironic that a rule change clearly rooted in anti-abortion sentiment will threaten access to contraception — the very thing that prevents unintended pregnancies. But it’s not surprising. The Trump administration has quietly been chipping away at contraception access for two years now — all the while pushing anti-abortion policies and with the president spreading lies about what abortion entails.
With many medical groups, including the American Medical Association and the American College of Physicians, opposing the Title X rule change, it’s clear that the administration is not on the side of science or public health. Women across the nation will pay for it.
More...
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/02/26/opin ... ogin-email
The Trump administration’s cruel new family planning rule threatens access to contraception and other health care for poor women.
Excerpt:
Dr. Wen noted, rightly, that the new rule isn’t just about Planned Parenthood. “The harm isn’t to one organization; it’s to people’s health care,” she said. It’s clear, however, that the goal of the rule change is to satisfy Mr. Trump’s supporters by at least partly defunding Planned Parenthood — the boogeyman of the anti-abortion cause.
It’s ironic that a rule change clearly rooted in anti-abortion sentiment will threaten access to contraception — the very thing that prevents unintended pregnancies. But it’s not surprising. The Trump administration has quietly been chipping away at contraception access for two years now — all the while pushing anti-abortion policies and with the president spreading lies about what abortion entails.
With many medical groups, including the American Medical Association and the American College of Physicians, opposing the Title X rule change, it’s clear that the administration is not on the side of science or public health. Women across the nation will pay for it.
More...
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/02/26/opin ... ogin-email
How to Make Sex More Dangerous
Refusing to provide children with medically accurate sex education isn’t ideological — it’s negligent.
I cried the first time I saw a naked man. As a young woman growing up in a conservative Catholic household, I couldn’t even look at my own genitals, and thought I would go to hell for masturbating. The abstinence-only education I received — at school, at home, in the church — left me with years of shame, isolation and fear.
I’ve watched the recent battles over allowing comprehensive sex ed in Colorado, Utah and Idaho, and I know how much is at stake for children. As a sex educator and entrepreneur, I’ve spoken with thousands of similarly miseducated young people, and I know the mental and physiological damage it can inflict.
Americans laugh at the embarrassment parents face in talking to kids about sex. But it’s not a joke. Fewer students now receive comprehensive sex ed in our country than at any time in the past 20 years. Since the late 1990s, conservative activists — often with the help of conservative presidents — have steadily chipped away at sex education by funding and mandating abstinence-only policies in schools.
Only about half of all school districts in the United States require any sex ed at all. Of those that do, most mandate or stress abstinence-only instruction. No birth control. No sexually transmitted infection prevention. No consent.
More...
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/03/11/opin ... ogin-email
Refusing to provide children with medically accurate sex education isn’t ideological — it’s negligent.
I cried the first time I saw a naked man. As a young woman growing up in a conservative Catholic household, I couldn’t even look at my own genitals, and thought I would go to hell for masturbating. The abstinence-only education I received — at school, at home, in the church — left me with years of shame, isolation and fear.
I’ve watched the recent battles over allowing comprehensive sex ed in Colorado, Utah and Idaho, and I know how much is at stake for children. As a sex educator and entrepreneur, I’ve spoken with thousands of similarly miseducated young people, and I know the mental and physiological damage it can inflict.
Americans laugh at the embarrassment parents face in talking to kids about sex. But it’s not a joke. Fewer students now receive comprehensive sex ed in our country than at any time in the past 20 years. Since the late 1990s, conservative activists — often with the help of conservative presidents — have steadily chipped away at sex education by funding and mandating abstinence-only policies in schools.
Only about half of all school districts in the United States require any sex ed at all. Of those that do, most mandate or stress abstinence-only instruction. No birth control. No sexually transmitted infection prevention. No consent.
More...
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/03/11/opin ... ogin-email
Amsterdam bans 'disrespectful' Red Light District tours as of 2020
Tourists will no longer be able to flock and gawk at the infamous attractions of Amsterdam’s red-light district through any official guided tours, effective Jan. 1 of next year. City officials have moved to end both free and paid tours of the historic area as increasing droves of visitors are reportedly “not respectful” to sex workers on the clock.
The news was announced by Amsterdam’s deputy mayor in a statement earlier this week.
“We are banning tours that take visitors along sex workers’ windows, not only because we want to prevent overcrowding in the red-light district, but also because it is not respectful to sex workers,” Udo Kock, Amsterdam’s deputy mayor, said, as per The New York Times “It is outdated to treat sex workers as a tourist attraction.”
More...
https://www.msn.com/en-ca/news/world/am ... ailsignout
Tourists will no longer be able to flock and gawk at the infamous attractions of Amsterdam’s red-light district through any official guided tours, effective Jan. 1 of next year. City officials have moved to end both free and paid tours of the historic area as increasing droves of visitors are reportedly “not respectful” to sex workers on the clock.
The news was announced by Amsterdam’s deputy mayor in a statement earlier this week.
“We are banning tours that take visitors along sex workers’ windows, not only because we want to prevent overcrowding in the red-light district, but also because it is not respectful to sex workers,” Udo Kock, Amsterdam’s deputy mayor, said, as per The New York Times “It is outdated to treat sex workers as a tourist attraction.”
More...
https://www.msn.com/en-ca/news/world/am ... ailsignout
How fertility apps are changing the way women conceive
When 28-year-old Iryna McVeigh wanted to get pregnant, she turned to her phone.
Using the fertility app Glow, McVeigh plugged in information like the date of her last period and the length of her cycle. The app, which lets women know when to expect their period and when they’re most fertile, also records data like sexual activity and health information.
“My goal was to learn more about my cycle, and in particular, my ovulation days,” McVeigh told Global News. “[The app] taught me about my most fertile days, and provided me with actual percentages of achieving pregnancy.”
Three months after McVeigh downloaded the app, she became pregnant.
More and related videos:
https://globalnews.ca/news/5042947/how- ... -conceive/
When 28-year-old Iryna McVeigh wanted to get pregnant, she turned to her phone.
Using the fertility app Glow, McVeigh plugged in information like the date of her last period and the length of her cycle. The app, which lets women know when to expect their period and when they’re most fertile, also records data like sexual activity and health information.
“My goal was to learn more about my cycle, and in particular, my ovulation days,” McVeigh told Global News. “[The app] taught me about my most fertile days, and provided me with actual percentages of achieving pregnancy.”
Three months after McVeigh downloaded the app, she became pregnant.
More and related videos:
https://globalnews.ca/news/5042947/how- ... -conceive/
-
swamidada_1
- Posts: 239
- Joined: Sun Nov 18, 2018 9:21 pm
Man Sues Parents Over His Massive Pornography Collection
News 6 Hours Ago
FOX News — David Aaro
A Michigan man is suing his parents after they destroyed his extremely valuable porn collection, according to FOX 17.
In a lawsuit filed last week, the plaintiff who FOX 17 identifies as "Charlie" recently moved to Indiana after living with his parents in Michigan for 10 months. He had just gotten over a divorce, and was able to do work around his parents’ home in exchange for rent. A domestic situation forced him out in August 2017.
A few months later, his parents drove to his home in Indiana to give him some belongings he left in their home, only one thing was missing: his gargantuan porn collection that consisted of more than 12 moving boxes full of adult films.
PORN STAR-TURNED-PASTOR SAYS SHE WANTS 'EVERYONE TO EXPERIENCE THE LOVE OF GOD'
Charlie says his parents told him they destroyed his entire collection.
Upset, he called the Ottawa County Sheriff's Office, filing a police report that estimated the value of his collection at $28,940.72. The prosecutor's office decided against filing charges against his parents, but Charlie is still suing his parents for $86,822.16 in damages.
The collection was described by his parents in an email.
"We counted twelve moving boxes full of pornography plus two boxes of sex toys as you call them. We began that day the process of destroying them and it took quite a while to do so," his parents wrote.
A month after he filed the police report, Charlie scolded his father in an email. "If you had a problem with my belongings, you should have stated that at the time and I would have gone elsewhere. Instead you choose to keep quiet and behave vindictively," he said.
According to the lawsuit, his father said he destroyed them for Charlie's own good. "Believe it or not, one reason for why I destroyed your porn was for your own mental and emotional health, his father said. “I would have done the same if I had found a kilo of crack cocaine. Someday, I hope you will understand.”
According to his father, Charlie's addiction turned into a small porn business during his high school and college days
He was reportedly kicked out of high school and college for selling pornography to other students. His son was warned that if he ever found porn in his house again, he would destroy it.
Upset that no one wanted to take his case, the plaintiff reached out to investigators again, allegedly sending one officer 44 emails worth of porn movies he says were destroyed.
/start.att.net/news/read/article/fox_news-man_sues_parents_over_his_massive_pornography_coll-rfoxnews/category/news
News 6 Hours Ago
FOX News — David Aaro
A Michigan man is suing his parents after they destroyed his extremely valuable porn collection, according to FOX 17.
In a lawsuit filed last week, the plaintiff who FOX 17 identifies as "Charlie" recently moved to Indiana after living with his parents in Michigan for 10 months. He had just gotten over a divorce, and was able to do work around his parents’ home in exchange for rent. A domestic situation forced him out in August 2017.
A few months later, his parents drove to his home in Indiana to give him some belongings he left in their home, only one thing was missing: his gargantuan porn collection that consisted of more than 12 moving boxes full of adult films.
PORN STAR-TURNED-PASTOR SAYS SHE WANTS 'EVERYONE TO EXPERIENCE THE LOVE OF GOD'
Charlie says his parents told him they destroyed his entire collection.
Upset, he called the Ottawa County Sheriff's Office, filing a police report that estimated the value of his collection at $28,940.72. The prosecutor's office decided against filing charges against his parents, but Charlie is still suing his parents for $86,822.16 in damages.
The collection was described by his parents in an email.
"We counted twelve moving boxes full of pornography plus two boxes of sex toys as you call them. We began that day the process of destroying them and it took quite a while to do so," his parents wrote.
A month after he filed the police report, Charlie scolded his father in an email. "If you had a problem with my belongings, you should have stated that at the time and I would have gone elsewhere. Instead you choose to keep quiet and behave vindictively," he said.
According to the lawsuit, his father said he destroyed them for Charlie's own good. "Believe it or not, one reason for why I destroyed your porn was for your own mental and emotional health, his father said. “I would have done the same if I had found a kilo of crack cocaine. Someday, I hope you will understand.”
According to his father, Charlie's addiction turned into a small porn business during his high school and college days
He was reportedly kicked out of high school and college for selling pornography to other students. His son was warned that if he ever found porn in his house again, he would destroy it.
Upset that no one wanted to take his case, the plaintiff reached out to investigators again, allegedly sending one officer 44 emails worth of porn movies he says were destroyed.
/start.att.net/news/read/article/fox_news-man_sues_parents_over_his_massive_pornography_coll-rfoxnews/category/news
No sex please, we’re millennials
A visitor from the 1990s marvels at the social conservatism on American campuses
To underline his theory that sexuality is a construct of human discourse, the philosopher Michel Foucault noted that people talk about sex a lot. “We convince ourselves that we have never said enough on the subject,” he wrote in his (four-volume) “The History of Sexuality”. “It is possible that where sex is concerned, the most long-winded, the most impatient of societies is our own.” After a three-hour discussion of sex and dating with 30 students at Northwestern University, on the rainy shore of Lake Michigan, your columnist felt he knew why. Few fields of human behaviour—and none more important—are so hard to explain.
Lexington’s visit was spurred by the latest evidence that young people in America—as in Japan and some other rich countries—are having much less sex. The portion of Americans aged 18 to 29 who claim to have had no sex for 12 months has more than doubled in a decade—to 23% last year. That is, counter-intuitively, despite the removal of many impediments to sex. Young Americans are less religious and more relaxed about sexual orientation than they have ever been. They are also readier to experiment, in part owing to the deluge of free porn they receive on smartphones. “You have access to the entire body of porn in your rucksacks!” marvelled Alexandra Solomon, a clinical psychologist who runs Northwestern’s renowned “Marriage 101” course, in a subsequent lecture.
Her comment elicited hardly any amusement. Indeed, the most striking thing about the students to Lexington—in effect, a visitor from the 1990s—was how frank and unembarrassable they seemed. They were, despite their shared interest in studying sex at an elite university, a diverse crowd: straight and gay, black and white, outgoing and reserved. About half were from religious families; a couple from migrant ones. Yet all seemed willing to discuss their sexual likes, dislikes and anxieties, including use of porn, body shyness, and the possible role of both in fuelling a millennial obsession with pubic grooming. To the extent that they represented their generation, diffidence about sex is not the problem.
More...
https://www.economist.com/united-states ... illennials
A visitor from the 1990s marvels at the social conservatism on American campuses
To underline his theory that sexuality is a construct of human discourse, the philosopher Michel Foucault noted that people talk about sex a lot. “We convince ourselves that we have never said enough on the subject,” he wrote in his (four-volume) “The History of Sexuality”. “It is possible that where sex is concerned, the most long-winded, the most impatient of societies is our own.” After a three-hour discussion of sex and dating with 30 students at Northwestern University, on the rainy shore of Lake Michigan, your columnist felt he knew why. Few fields of human behaviour—and none more important—are so hard to explain.
Lexington’s visit was spurred by the latest evidence that young people in America—as in Japan and some other rich countries—are having much less sex. The portion of Americans aged 18 to 29 who claim to have had no sex for 12 months has more than doubled in a decade—to 23% last year. That is, counter-intuitively, despite the removal of many impediments to sex. Young Americans are less religious and more relaxed about sexual orientation than they have ever been. They are also readier to experiment, in part owing to the deluge of free porn they receive on smartphones. “You have access to the entire body of porn in your rucksacks!” marvelled Alexandra Solomon, a clinical psychologist who runs Northwestern’s renowned “Marriage 101” course, in a subsequent lecture.
Her comment elicited hardly any amusement. Indeed, the most striking thing about the students to Lexington—in effect, a visitor from the 1990s—was how frank and unembarrassable they seemed. They were, despite their shared interest in studying sex at an elite university, a diverse crowd: straight and gay, black and white, outgoing and reserved. About half were from religious families; a couple from migrant ones. Yet all seemed willing to discuss their sexual likes, dislikes and anxieties, including use of porn, body shyness, and the possible role of both in fuelling a millennial obsession with pubic grooming. To the extent that they represented their generation, diffidence about sex is not the problem.
More...
https://www.economist.com/united-states ... illennials
The idea of criminalising prostitutes’ clients is spreading
Prostitutes hate it
“Are you getting enough satisfaction in your bedroom?” purrs the narrator of a recent advert for ikea, a Swedish retailer. If not, the “ikea Kama Sutra” has the solution: loft beds for those who “are not afraid to be on top”; lustrous duvet covers to bring “feelings of ecstasy”. Swedes have a reputation for being pro-sex. Yet Sweden’s prostitution laws are surprisingly illiberal—and increasingly being copied elsewhere. The Netherlands is the latest country to flirt with the Swedish model.
In 1999 Sweden banned the purchase—but not the sale—of sex. A curious coalition of feminists and Christians backed the law. They argued that it would wipe out prostitution by eliminating demand, and that this would be a good thing because all sex work is exploitative. Anyone selling sex is a victim, even if she denies it. As for the men who pay for sex, they are predators who should be punished, campaigners believe.
Over the past two decades the Swedish model has been taken up by nearby Norway and Iceland, and beyond, by Canada, France, Ireland, Israel and Northern Ireland. In 2014 the European Parliament urged eu members to adopt it. Spanish lawmakers are in the process of doing so. In America politicians in Maine and Massachusetts are calling for a similar approach. On July 3rd lawmakers in the Netherlands, where prostitution is legal and highly visible, are to start discussing such a law, as well as whether to ban pimps. As in Sweden, the crusade is cheered on by feminists and Christians with stern moral views. Exxpose, a Dutch organisation led by evangelical students, has gathered 40,000 signatures on a petition to criminalise the buying of sex. Parliament is unlikely to agree, in such a liberal country, but the campaign is spreading and there will doubtless be more attempts.
More...
https://www.economist.com/europe/2019/0 ... a/258830/n
Prostitutes hate it
“Are you getting enough satisfaction in your bedroom?” purrs the narrator of a recent advert for ikea, a Swedish retailer. If not, the “ikea Kama Sutra” has the solution: loft beds for those who “are not afraid to be on top”; lustrous duvet covers to bring “feelings of ecstasy”. Swedes have a reputation for being pro-sex. Yet Sweden’s prostitution laws are surprisingly illiberal—and increasingly being copied elsewhere. The Netherlands is the latest country to flirt with the Swedish model.
In 1999 Sweden banned the purchase—but not the sale—of sex. A curious coalition of feminists and Christians backed the law. They argued that it would wipe out prostitution by eliminating demand, and that this would be a good thing because all sex work is exploitative. Anyone selling sex is a victim, even if she denies it. As for the men who pay for sex, they are predators who should be punished, campaigners believe.
Over the past two decades the Swedish model has been taken up by nearby Norway and Iceland, and beyond, by Canada, France, Ireland, Israel and Northern Ireland. In 2014 the European Parliament urged eu members to adopt it. Spanish lawmakers are in the process of doing so. In America politicians in Maine and Massachusetts are calling for a similar approach. On July 3rd lawmakers in the Netherlands, where prostitution is legal and highly visible, are to start discussing such a law, as well as whether to ban pimps. As in Sweden, the crusade is cheered on by feminists and Christians with stern moral views. Exxpose, a Dutch organisation led by evangelical students, has gathered 40,000 signatures on a petition to criminalise the buying of sex. Parliament is unlikely to agree, in such a liberal country, but the campaign is spreading and there will doubtless be more attempts.
More...
https://www.economist.com/europe/2019/0 ... a/258830/n
Tanzania’s President urges country’s women to “set ovaries free” and bear more children, here’s why
DAR es SALAAM (Reuters) – President John Magufuli urged Tanzania’s women to “set your ovaries free” and bear more children as a way to help boost the economy into a regional powerhouse, a step critics said would instead worsen inequality and poverty.
“When you have a big population you build the economy. That’s why China’s economy is so huge,” he said late on Tuesday, citing India and Nigeria as other examples of countries that gained from a demographic dividend.
“I know that those who like to block ovaries will complain about my remarks. Set your ovaries free, let them block theirs,” he told a gathering in his home town of Chato.
Since taking office in 2015, Magufuli has launched an industrialisation campaign that has helped buoy economic growth, which has averaged 6-7% annually in recent years. But he has said a higher birth rate would achieve faster progress.
Tanzania has sustained relatively high growth, averaging 6–7 percent a year, over the past decade. At the same time, the East African nation of 55 million people already has one of the world’s highest birth rates – around 5 children per woman.
Data from the U.N. population fund UNFPA shows Tanzania’s population is growing by about 2.7 percent a year while most public hospitals and schools are overcrowded and many young people lack jobs.
UNFPA says about a third of married women in Tanzania use contraceptives, but Magufuli has criticised Western-backed family planning programmes implemented by the health ministry.
Last year Magufuli said curbing the birth rate was “for those too lazy to take care of their children”, and the health ministry barred broadcasting of family planning ads by a U.S.-funded project. [nL8N1W64BB]
While Tanzania’s poverty rate – people living on less than $1 a day – has declined to about 26% as of 2016, the absolute number of poor citizens has not because of the high population growth rate, according to the World Bank.
Opposition leaders in Tanzania have criticised Magufuli’s stance, saying the country’s already rapid population growth is a time bomb, and disapproving remarks surfaced on social media.
“As a modern woman I can’t believe this … especially coming from him (the president),” said one Twitter user.
Others said it was simply bad economics for Magufuli to urge Tanzanians to have more babies.
“High population growth in Tanzania means increased levels of poverty and income inequality,” said a rights activist based in Dar es Salaam who asked not to be named to avoid possible repercussions from the government’s ongoing review of registration of non-governmental organisations. “Women’s ovaries should never be used as a tool for seeking economic prosperity.”
Reporting by Fumbuka Ng’wanakilala; Editing by George Obulutsa and Mark Heinrich
https://www.cnbcafrica.com/news/politic ... heres-why/
DAR es SALAAM (Reuters) – President John Magufuli urged Tanzania’s women to “set your ovaries free” and bear more children as a way to help boost the economy into a regional powerhouse, a step critics said would instead worsen inequality and poverty.
“When you have a big population you build the economy. That’s why China’s economy is so huge,” he said late on Tuesday, citing India and Nigeria as other examples of countries that gained from a demographic dividend.
“I know that those who like to block ovaries will complain about my remarks. Set your ovaries free, let them block theirs,” he told a gathering in his home town of Chato.
Since taking office in 2015, Magufuli has launched an industrialisation campaign that has helped buoy economic growth, which has averaged 6-7% annually in recent years. But he has said a higher birth rate would achieve faster progress.
Tanzania has sustained relatively high growth, averaging 6–7 percent a year, over the past decade. At the same time, the East African nation of 55 million people already has one of the world’s highest birth rates – around 5 children per woman.
Data from the U.N. population fund UNFPA shows Tanzania’s population is growing by about 2.7 percent a year while most public hospitals and schools are overcrowded and many young people lack jobs.
UNFPA says about a third of married women in Tanzania use contraceptives, but Magufuli has criticised Western-backed family planning programmes implemented by the health ministry.
Last year Magufuli said curbing the birth rate was “for those too lazy to take care of their children”, and the health ministry barred broadcasting of family planning ads by a U.S.-funded project. [nL8N1W64BB]
While Tanzania’s poverty rate – people living on less than $1 a day – has declined to about 26% as of 2016, the absolute number of poor citizens has not because of the high population growth rate, according to the World Bank.
Opposition leaders in Tanzania have criticised Magufuli’s stance, saying the country’s already rapid population growth is a time bomb, and disapproving remarks surfaced on social media.
“As a modern woman I can’t believe this … especially coming from him (the president),” said one Twitter user.
Others said it was simply bad economics for Magufuli to urge Tanzanians to have more babies.
“High population growth in Tanzania means increased levels of poverty and income inequality,” said a rights activist based in Dar es Salaam who asked not to be named to avoid possible repercussions from the government’s ongoing review of registration of non-governmental organisations. “Women’s ovaries should never be used as a tool for seeking economic prosperity.”
Reporting by Fumbuka Ng’wanakilala; Editing by George Obulutsa and Mark Heinrich
https://www.cnbcafrica.com/news/politic ... heres-why/
Would You Want a Computer to Judge Your Risk of H.I.V. Infection?
A new software algorithm decides which patients are most likely to become infected with the virus. But this is not like other risk calculators, some experts say.
A few years ago, researchers at Harvard and Kaiser Permanente Northern California had an inspired idea: Perhaps they could use the wealth of personal data in electronic health records to identify patients at high risk of getting infected with H.I.V.
Doctors could use an algorithm to pinpoint these patients and then steer them to a daily pill to prevent infection, a strategy known as PrEP.
Now the scientists have succeeded. Their results, they say, show that it is possible to correctly identify men at high risk by examining medical data already stored about them.
But the researchers know they must tread delicately in using the software they developed. It’s one thing to have a computer find a patient who is at risk for breast cancer. But to have software that suggests a patient is a person who too frequently has unsafe sex and risks H.I.V. infection — how should doctors use such a tool?
And if they do, can they initiate a conversation about a patient’s sexual health with understanding and delicacy?
“This certainly could be an aid for providers,” said Damon L. Jacobs, a marriage and family counselor in New York who takes PrEP and educates others about it.
But a lot depends a lot on the doctor: A calculator that says a patient is at risk “doesn’t mitigate the fact that providers are often uncomfortable and clumsy talking about sex,” he said.
And patients — especially those in minority communities who may mistrust doctors — may well bristle. “Who’s looking over my records? You think I’m a slut? You want me to take an ‘anti-slut’ pill?,” said Mr. Jacobs, musing about how patients might react.
More...
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/07/30/heal ... 3053090730
A new software algorithm decides which patients are most likely to become infected with the virus. But this is not like other risk calculators, some experts say.
A few years ago, researchers at Harvard and Kaiser Permanente Northern California had an inspired idea: Perhaps they could use the wealth of personal data in electronic health records to identify patients at high risk of getting infected with H.I.V.
Doctors could use an algorithm to pinpoint these patients and then steer them to a daily pill to prevent infection, a strategy known as PrEP.
Now the scientists have succeeded. Their results, they say, show that it is possible to correctly identify men at high risk by examining medical data already stored about them.
But the researchers know they must tread delicately in using the software they developed. It’s one thing to have a computer find a patient who is at risk for breast cancer. But to have software that suggests a patient is a person who too frequently has unsafe sex and risks H.I.V. infection — how should doctors use such a tool?
And if they do, can they initiate a conversation about a patient’s sexual health with understanding and delicacy?
“This certainly could be an aid for providers,” said Damon L. Jacobs, a marriage and family counselor in New York who takes PrEP and educates others about it.
But a lot depends a lot on the doctor: A calculator that says a patient is at risk “doesn’t mitigate the fact that providers are often uncomfortable and clumsy talking about sex,” he said.
And patients — especially those in minority communities who may mistrust doctors — may well bristle. “Who’s looking over my records? You think I’m a slut? You want me to take an ‘anti-slut’ pill?,” said Mr. Jacobs, musing about how patients might react.
More...
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/07/30/heal ... 3053090730
What Genetics Is Teaching Us About Sexuality
Yes, your sex life is influenced by your DNA. But it’s more complicated than that.
As researchers in biology and sociology who are also gay men, we have long wondered (and debated) whether sexual orientation has any biological basis. We followed the ascent in the 1990s of the “gay gene” finding — which claimed that male sexual orientation was linked to specific DNA markers — and then watched as that result was called into question. We have wondered whether the two of us, who differ in so many ways, could really trace our common identity to a shared biology.
New data are finally giving us answers.
A study published Thursday in Science looked at the DNA and sexual behavior of nearly 500,000 people. It found that the sex of your sexual partners is, in fact, influenced by your genes. But it also found that it was not possible to predict your sexual behavior from your DNA alone. The study suggested, in other words, that while biology shapes our most intimate selves, it does so in tandem with our personal histories — with the idiosyncratic selves that unfold in a larger cultural and social context.
The researchers, who included one of us (Dr. Wedow), analyzed the genetic markers of people who responded to the question “Have you ever had sex with someone of the same sex?” From these data, the researchers estimated that genetic differences account for roughly one-third of the variation in same-sex behavior. The study also identified several DNA sequence variants associated with having had a same-sex experience.
More....
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/08/29/opin ... y_20190830
Yes, your sex life is influenced by your DNA. But it’s more complicated than that.
As researchers in biology and sociology who are also gay men, we have long wondered (and debated) whether sexual orientation has any biological basis. We followed the ascent in the 1990s of the “gay gene” finding — which claimed that male sexual orientation was linked to specific DNA markers — and then watched as that result was called into question. We have wondered whether the two of us, who differ in so many ways, could really trace our common identity to a shared biology.
New data are finally giving us answers.
A study published Thursday in Science looked at the DNA and sexual behavior of nearly 500,000 people. It found that the sex of your sexual partners is, in fact, influenced by your genes. But it also found that it was not possible to predict your sexual behavior from your DNA alone. The study suggested, in other words, that while biology shapes our most intimate selves, it does so in tandem with our personal histories — with the idiosyncratic selves that unfold in a larger cultural and social context.
The researchers, who included one of us (Dr. Wedow), analyzed the genetic markers of people who responded to the question “Have you ever had sex with someone of the same sex?” From these data, the researchers estimated that genetic differences account for roughly one-third of the variation in same-sex behavior. The study also identified several DNA sequence variants associated with having had a same-sex experience.
More....
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/08/29/opin ... y_20190830
There Is a Vagina Museum in London
The world’s first institution dedicated to gynecological anatomy is more of a public health project than a historical tour.
Excerpt:
“The anatomy has such complex politics around it, that we found it was best to first engage people through what they know, so we can teach them things they don’t know,” said Sarah Creed, the museum’s curator. “Menstruation, cleanliness, sexual activity and contraception are things that a majority of people have discussed in some format, or experienced in some way.” The exhibit addresses all of those topics.
“We can talk about cold, hard facts all we want, but that’s not going to change people’s minds. It’s all about unpacking social constructs and changing perspective through engagement,” Ms. Creed said.
More....
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/11/18/styl ... 3053091121
The world’s first institution dedicated to gynecological anatomy is more of a public health project than a historical tour.
Excerpt:
“The anatomy has such complex politics around it, that we found it was best to first engage people through what they know, so we can teach them things they don’t know,” said Sarah Creed, the museum’s curator. “Menstruation, cleanliness, sexual activity and contraception are things that a majority of people have discussed in some format, or experienced in some way.” The exhibit addresses all of those topics.
“We can talk about cold, hard facts all we want, but that’s not going to change people’s minds. It’s all about unpacking social constructs and changing perspective through engagement,” Ms. Creed said.
More....
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/11/18/styl ... 3053091121
Today's message from my colleagues at Nutrition & Healing is an interesting look at the connection between sex and cancer, and is particularly for anybody 60 and over. Check it out below...
-Jeff
_____
A top Ivy League doctor has exposed a shocking link between sex and CANCER in people over 60.
If you make love at least once a month, please watch his urgent warning below...
>>See link between sex and cancer here
https://pro.urgenthealthreports.com/p/N ... 8f8&h=true
-Jeff
_____
A top Ivy League doctor has exposed a shocking link between sex and CANCER in people over 60.
If you make love at least once a month, please watch his urgent warning below...
>>See link between sex and cancer here
https://pro.urgenthealthreports.com/p/N ... 8f8&h=true
A Science-Based Case for Ending the Porn Epidemic
We know what porn does to the brain, because the medical science is solid. Because social science is much softer, we can’t know for certain what causal impacts porn has on society, if any. But once we realize that we have to be much more humble in this area, we can still make prudential judgments.
They say the first step is admitting you have a problem. I think many readers of this article will respond with outrage, and many will see it says things they already knew to be true—and I think these two groups will largely overlap. The most powerful obstacle to confronting a destructive addiction is denial, and collectively we are in denial about pornography.
Since it seems somehow relevant, let me state at the outset that I am French. Every fiber of my Latin, Catholic body recoils at puritanism of any sort, especially the bizarre, Anglo-Puritan kind so prevalent in America. I believe eroticism is one of God’s greatest gifts to humankind, prudishness a bizarre aberration, and not so long ago, hyperbolic warnings about the perils of pornography, whether from my Evangelical Christian or progressive feminist friends, had me rolling my eyes.
Not anymore. I have become deadly serious. A few years ago, a friend—unsurprisingly, a female friend—mentioned that there was strong medical evidence for the proposition that online pornography is a lot more dangerous than most people suspect. Since I was skeptical, I looked into it. I became intrigued and kept following the evolving science, as well as online testimonies, off and on. It didn’t take me long to understand that my friend is right. In fact, the more I delved into the subject, the more alarmed I became.
The central contention of this article is that, however we might feel morally about pornography in general, a number of features about pornography as it has actually existed for the past decade or so, with the emergence of “Tube” sites that provide endless, instant, high-definition video in 2006, and the proliferation of smartphones and tablets since 2007, is fundamentally different from anything we’ve previously experienced.
A scientific consensus is emerging that today’s porn is truly a public health menace: its new incarnation combines with some evolutionarily-designed features of our brain to make it uniquely addictive, on par with any drug you might name—and uniquely destructive. The evidence is in: porn is as addictive as smoking, or more, except that what smoking does to your lungs, porn does to your brain.
The damage is real, and it’s profound. The scientific evidence has mounted: certain evolutionarily-designed features of our neurobiology not only mean that today’s porn is profoundly addictive, but that this addiction—which, at this point, must include the majority of all males—has been rewiring our brains in ways that have had a profoundly damaging impact on our sexuality, our relationships, and our mental health.
Furthermore, I believe that it is also having a far-reaching impact on our social fabric as a whole—while it is impossible to demonstrate any cause-and-effect relationship scientifically beyond a reasonable doubt when it comes to broad social trends, I believe the evidence is still compelling or, at least, highly suggestive.
Indeed, it is so compelling that I now believe that online porn addiction is the number one public health challenge facing the West today.
More...
https://amgreatness.com/2019/12/15/a-sc ... -epidemic/
We know what porn does to the brain, because the medical science is solid. Because social science is much softer, we can’t know for certain what causal impacts porn has on society, if any. But once we realize that we have to be much more humble in this area, we can still make prudential judgments.
They say the first step is admitting you have a problem. I think many readers of this article will respond with outrage, and many will see it says things they already knew to be true—and I think these two groups will largely overlap. The most powerful obstacle to confronting a destructive addiction is denial, and collectively we are in denial about pornography.
Since it seems somehow relevant, let me state at the outset that I am French. Every fiber of my Latin, Catholic body recoils at puritanism of any sort, especially the bizarre, Anglo-Puritan kind so prevalent in America. I believe eroticism is one of God’s greatest gifts to humankind, prudishness a bizarre aberration, and not so long ago, hyperbolic warnings about the perils of pornography, whether from my Evangelical Christian or progressive feminist friends, had me rolling my eyes.
Not anymore. I have become deadly serious. A few years ago, a friend—unsurprisingly, a female friend—mentioned that there was strong medical evidence for the proposition that online pornography is a lot more dangerous than most people suspect. Since I was skeptical, I looked into it. I became intrigued and kept following the evolving science, as well as online testimonies, off and on. It didn’t take me long to understand that my friend is right. In fact, the more I delved into the subject, the more alarmed I became.
The central contention of this article is that, however we might feel morally about pornography in general, a number of features about pornography as it has actually existed for the past decade or so, with the emergence of “Tube” sites that provide endless, instant, high-definition video in 2006, and the proliferation of smartphones and tablets since 2007, is fundamentally different from anything we’ve previously experienced.
A scientific consensus is emerging that today’s porn is truly a public health menace: its new incarnation combines with some evolutionarily-designed features of our brain to make it uniquely addictive, on par with any drug you might name—and uniquely destructive. The evidence is in: porn is as addictive as smoking, or more, except that what smoking does to your lungs, porn does to your brain.
The damage is real, and it’s profound. The scientific evidence has mounted: certain evolutionarily-designed features of our neurobiology not only mean that today’s porn is profoundly addictive, but that this addiction—which, at this point, must include the majority of all males—has been rewiring our brains in ways that have had a profoundly damaging impact on our sexuality, our relationships, and our mental health.
Furthermore, I believe that it is also having a far-reaching impact on our social fabric as a whole—while it is impossible to demonstrate any cause-and-effect relationship scientifically beyond a reasonable doubt when it comes to broad social trends, I believe the evidence is still compelling or, at least, highly suggestive.
Indeed, it is so compelling that I now believe that online porn addiction is the number one public health challenge facing the West today.
More...
https://amgreatness.com/2019/12/15/a-sc ... -epidemic/
Will We Ever Figure Out How to Talk to Boys About Sex?
Teenagers and young men still don’t have the right vocabulary. Can we help them get there?
A while back, during a discussion I was having with a group of high school students about sexual ethics, a boy raised his hand to ask me, “Can you have sex without feelings?” The other guys in the room nodded, leaned forward, curious, maybe a little challenging. Strictly speaking, of course, even indifference is a feeling, but I knew what they meant: They wanted to know if they could have sex without caring: devoid of vulnerability, even with disregard for a partner. To put it in teenage parlance, they wanted to know whether it was truly possible to “hit it and quit it.”
I thought about those boys this week as I watched Harvey Weinstein, in an Oscar-worthy performance of abject harmlessness, hobble on his walker into the New York Supreme Court in Manhattan. The #MeToo movement has exposed sexual misconduct, coercion and harassment across every sector of society. But shining light on a problem won’t, in itself, solve it, not even if Mr. Weinstein ends up with (fingers crossed) the longest prison sentence in history. To make real change we need to tackle something larger and more systemic: the pervasive culture that urges boys toward disrespect and detachment in their intimate encounters.
Despite a new imperative to be scrupulous about affirmative consent, young men are still subject to incessant messages that sexual conquest — being always down for sex, racking up their “body count,” regardless of how they or their partner may feel about it — remains the measure of a “real” man, and a reliable path to social status. As one high school junior explained: “Guys need to prove themselves to their guys. So to do that, you’re going to be dominating. You’re going to maybe push. Because, it’s like the girl is just there as a means for him to get off and a means for him to brag.”
I never intended to write about boys. As a journalist, I have spent over a quarter of a century chronicling girls’ lives — that has been my calling and my passion. But four years ago, after publishing a book about the contradictions young women still face in their intimate encounters, I realized, perhaps inevitably, that if I truly wanted to promote safer, more enjoyable, more egalitarian sexual relationships among young people, I needed to have the other half of the conversation. So I began interviewing young men — dozens, of different backgrounds, in their early teens and 20s — about sex and love, hookup culture and relationships, masculinity and media, sexual consent and misconduct. #MeToo wasn’t the impetus for my work (I began well before the Weinstein story broke) but it quickly underscored the urgency.
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/01/10/opin ... 3053090111
Teenagers and young men still don’t have the right vocabulary. Can we help them get there?
A while back, during a discussion I was having with a group of high school students about sexual ethics, a boy raised his hand to ask me, “Can you have sex without feelings?” The other guys in the room nodded, leaned forward, curious, maybe a little challenging. Strictly speaking, of course, even indifference is a feeling, but I knew what they meant: They wanted to know if they could have sex without caring: devoid of vulnerability, even with disregard for a partner. To put it in teenage parlance, they wanted to know whether it was truly possible to “hit it and quit it.”
I thought about those boys this week as I watched Harvey Weinstein, in an Oscar-worthy performance of abject harmlessness, hobble on his walker into the New York Supreme Court in Manhattan. The #MeToo movement has exposed sexual misconduct, coercion and harassment across every sector of society. But shining light on a problem won’t, in itself, solve it, not even if Mr. Weinstein ends up with (fingers crossed) the longest prison sentence in history. To make real change we need to tackle something larger and more systemic: the pervasive culture that urges boys toward disrespect and detachment in their intimate encounters.
Despite a new imperative to be scrupulous about affirmative consent, young men are still subject to incessant messages that sexual conquest — being always down for sex, racking up their “body count,” regardless of how they or their partner may feel about it — remains the measure of a “real” man, and a reliable path to social status. As one high school junior explained: “Guys need to prove themselves to their guys. So to do that, you’re going to be dominating. You’re going to maybe push. Because, it’s like the girl is just there as a means for him to get off and a means for him to brag.”
I never intended to write about boys. As a journalist, I have spent over a quarter of a century chronicling girls’ lives — that has been my calling and my passion. But four years ago, after publishing a book about the contradictions young women still face in their intimate encounters, I realized, perhaps inevitably, that if I truly wanted to promote safer, more enjoyable, more egalitarian sexual relationships among young people, I needed to have the other half of the conversation. So I began interviewing young men — dozens, of different backgrounds, in their early teens and 20s — about sex and love, hookup culture and relationships, masculinity and media, sexual consent and misconduct. #MeToo wasn’t the impetus for my work (I began well before the Weinstein story broke) but it quickly underscored the urgency.
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/01/10/opin ... 3053090111
The Questions Sex-Ed Students Always Ask
For 45 years, Deborah Roffman has let students’ curiosities guide her lessons on sexuality and relationships.
About 25 years ago, a public school in the Baltimore suburbs invited Deborah Roffman to teach a class on puberty to fifth graders. Roffman, who was known as the “Sex Lady” at the private Park School of Baltimore, where she had been teaching for two decades, was flattered. But she was troubled by the restrictions that the public school’s vice principal had given her: She couldn’t use the words fertilization, intercourse, or sex. And she couldn’t answer any student questions related to those subjects. That wasn’t going to work for the Sex Lady.
Eventually, Roffman reached a compromise with the public school: Students would get parental permission to attend her talk, and Roffman could answer any question they asked, even if it meant using the S-word.
Roffman’s title of human-sexuality educator has not changed since she arrived at the Park School in 1975, but the dimensions of her role there have steadily grown. So, too, has her outside work in consulting and teacher training: Over the years, she has advised at nearly 400 schools, most of them private.
Initially, Roffman taught elective classes in sexuality to the juniors and seniors at Park, but within two years, she had expanded to seventh and eighth graders. In the 1980s, she added fourth and fifth graders to her roster. She also meets annually with the parents of students as young as kindergartners, to coach them on how to talk with their children about sexuality, and she leads summer training for the Park’s elementary-school teachers on incorporating sexuality instruction into their classrooms. “There is this knowledge that we keep in a box about sexuality, waiting until kids are ‘old enough,’” Roffman told me. “My job is to change that.”
More....
https://www.theatlantic.com/education/a ... MDU2NzM4S0
For 45 years, Deborah Roffman has let students’ curiosities guide her lessons on sexuality and relationships.
About 25 years ago, a public school in the Baltimore suburbs invited Deborah Roffman to teach a class on puberty to fifth graders. Roffman, who was known as the “Sex Lady” at the private Park School of Baltimore, where she had been teaching for two decades, was flattered. But she was troubled by the restrictions that the public school’s vice principal had given her: She couldn’t use the words fertilization, intercourse, or sex. And she couldn’t answer any student questions related to those subjects. That wasn’t going to work for the Sex Lady.
Eventually, Roffman reached a compromise with the public school: Students would get parental permission to attend her talk, and Roffman could answer any question they asked, even if it meant using the S-word.
Roffman’s title of human-sexuality educator has not changed since she arrived at the Park School in 1975, but the dimensions of her role there have steadily grown. So, too, has her outside work in consulting and teacher training: Over the years, she has advised at nearly 400 schools, most of them private.
Initially, Roffman taught elective classes in sexuality to the juniors and seniors at Park, but within two years, she had expanded to seventh and eighth graders. In the 1980s, she added fourth and fifth graders to her roster. She also meets annually with the parents of students as young as kindergartners, to coach them on how to talk with their children about sexuality, and she leads summer training for the Park’s elementary-school teachers on incorporating sexuality instruction into their classrooms. “There is this knowledge that we keep in a box about sexuality, waiting until kids are ‘old enough,’” Roffman told me. “My job is to change that.”
More....
https://www.theatlantic.com/education/a ... MDU2NzM4S0