Bisexuality Credited as a Real Sexual Orientation
USA Today felt compelled to release a story today on women and bisexuality, saying that it is not just a phase that young women go through.
Being bisexual is a distinct orientation, not a temporary stage, says the study by Lisa Diamond, an associate professor of psychology and gender studies at the University of Utah. It is being published next week in the January issue of Developmental Psychology, a journal of the American Psychological Association.
Well isn’t that shocking!
As a 21 year old bisexual woman myself, I knew that bisexuality wasn’t a phase. However, as young women start exploring their sexuality at younger ages and straight men continue to support the “girl-on-girl action is hot” stance, I suppose it is easy for the media and society to come to this conclusion. However, bisexuality–and not in the “I’m a girl and I kissed my best friend so that makes me bisexual” sense, is not a phase, it is as real as being straight; and now the University of Utah can back up that statement!
Volunteers from other universities to conduct the “Bisexual Men Exist” study?
Medical Accuracy is So Last Year
Uninformed religious fanatics are a dime a dozen lately, especially in politics, as we can easily see from the lineup of Republican presidential hopefuls. However, Indiana is also doubting the intelligence of women seeking abortions, as was demonstrated Thursday.
Life begins at conception, and a fetus could feel pain during an abortion.
Oh wow, that’s a factual statement if I ever heard one!
In a legislation by Sen. Patricia L. Miller, (R-Indianapolis) Senate Bill 146, states that doctors would have to deliver the above statement to any woman seeking an abortion. This legislation was introduced for the second time since it died in the Senate last year, and was debated again on Thursday.
Miller said the bill is necessary to make sure women considering an abortion have all the facts they need to make an informed decision.
I agree with Miller–A woman considering an abortion should have all the facts and she should make an informed decision. However, a woman is entitled to facts based on medical accuracy, not religious propaganda. And the woman, by seeking an abortion has already made an informed (and very difficult) decision before even stepping into a health care facility.
Sue Swayze, with Indiana Right to Life, said she hopes the legislation passes this year.
“We think that it’s important to provide this information, especially in writing,” Swayze said. “An abortion is an emotional issue, and we sometimes may not always remember everything we hear.”
Yes, it is best to give “emotional women” something to read, especially when it contains myths of what religious extremists believe–and nothing else. What about the atheist women seeking abortions? Well, according to the belief system of religious and pro-life extremists, they’re doomed and in need of counseling and prayer anyway. Sigh.
Blog for Choice 2008
January 22 marks the 35th anniversary of Roe v. Wade.
On January 22, NARAL Pro-Choice America is holding the third annual Blog for Choice Day! In years past, this has had amazing success and this year, they are asking bloggers why they vote pro-choice.
This is a tremendously important day, especially for pro-choice bloggers. Every day is a fight for women’s rights as the administration we are under is constantly trying to take a woman’s right to choose away. That, teamed up with anti-choice extremists, makes access to safe health care a never-ending battle. So please join NARAL Pro-Choice America and other pro-choice bloggers this year on January 22.
You can sign up here and download a Blog for Choice graphic here to let everyone know that you are participating. Also, on January 22, your blog post will appear on the Blog for Choice page. Good deal.
As the anniversary approaches, NARAL Pro-Choice America also came out with RoeAt35.org, a website that is increasing the awareness of particularly the state of Wyoming and Bush’s latest effort to completely destroy access to health care for women.
President Bush has nominated Richard Honaker for a lifetime job as a federal judge. Honaker, a sworn enemy of women’s rights has spent his entire career fighting to deny women access to reproductive health services, has publicly and actively opposes abortion and has tried three times to completely ban abortion in Wyoming.
So in your activism efforts, stop by RoeAt35.org and fill out the form that will be sent to the Senate letting them know that you do not support Richard Honaker for a position as a lifetime federal judge.
Purity and Integrity…Balls
I’ve spoken quite a bit on purity balls before, but lets face it, this topic in all of its Nazi-religious and abstinence-only brainwashing glory never gets old. Not to mention, of course, the underlying points of these affairs and how they tend to scream “incest” in not only big, but also bold and red type.
Abstinence-only sex education programs have been swarming the nation not only recently, but have been consistently supported by the federal government since the 1981 Reagan Administration. The federal government has been condoning this ludicrous education program and pouring more than $1.677 billion into it since 1996.
Refusing to accept that abstinence-only education does not work, the religious right had been holding formal events depicting what a traditional wedding would look like for young girls and their fathers. The Father-Daughter Purity Ball, sponsored by the Colorado Springs Generations of Light Ministries, are basically young girls pledging to their fathers that they will remain pure and virginal until the day (or night) they marry.
Making a commitment to yourself to remain a virgin until your wedding day is one thing that I could completely understand. A woman making an informed and personal decision for herself is admirable, especially if that woman is of the mature age to know what she is talking about and making that decision for herself and no one else. However, these balls are not only being targeted towards teenage girls and their creepy fathers, but also to girls that look so young that they were more than likely told “Honey, look at the big, fancy dress you get to wear and there is going to be a lot of cake there!” Hell, if I were 5 years old, I’d be all about going too! And at that young of an age, the aforementioned creepy fathers only seem even creepier. I mean, it isn’t every day you look at your daughter, who is still dreaming about growing up so she can eat 3 bowls of ice cream for dinner and can’t even tie her shoes yet and immediately think about her virginity. Not only that, but to the point where you’re buying a matching cummerbund and taking her to a dance where you then imitate something that also looks like it came right out of a standard, traditional wedding. Right?
The pledge read by the father at a purity ball reads:
I, [daughter's name]‘s father, choose before God to cover my daughter as her authority and protection in the area of purity. I will be pure in my own life as a man, husband and father. I will be a man of integrity and accountability as I lead, guide and pray over my daughter and as the high priest in my home. This covering will be used by God to influence generations to come.
High priest!? It kind of makes you think that while writing this script they were joking saying “I can’t wait to see how many websites jump on this!” But sadly, they are completely serious. Maybe I can try that on the boyfriend while in bed–”Oh high priest…” It certainly appeals to many male egos.
What these events are basically saying is ‘If you really love your father, you will dress up, do an interpretive dance, read words off of a script that is provided for you, so you don’t even have to go through the task of coming up with your own words that describe how you, as a person, feel, and make a commitment you are not yet old enough to understand.’ Most of the girls from the pictures on the website look like hardcore Sesame Street fans and I think that most of them even needed a little help with the big words in their script. And one of the biggest things that I have against these affairs, not including that I think Megan’s Law should keep a close eye on any father bringing his daughter to one of these, is that they are teaching young girls that they should be giving themselves as a wedding present to their husbands on their wedding day. This is saying that we need to backtrack over a few decades to where a woman is only valuable to a man if she is a virgin, making her value as a human being only determined by her sexuality, Or if dad and God have anything to do with it, lack thereof.
The first time I spoke about purity balls I received a few emails and comments turning the tables on the father-daughter event and asking what would one think of when they heard mother-son. Well now we can question no further!
I introduce to you…The Integrity Ball!
Notice that purity was replaced with integrity–Because a man with integrity chooses a virgin to marry! I love how they go hand in hand. The integrity ball also goes on to tell young men more about women and about how they need to be “pure”, by making them think of their mothers. Ew?
Who else thinks these things came about when parents started feeling uncomfortable talking to their children about sex? Now we can just escort our children to balls, make young girls have pseudo-weddings with their fathers on their arm and make young men think about their mothers in a sexual manner.
Bad fetish porn, anyone?
Menstrual Poetry is Back!
As many have noticed, Menstrual Poetry has been down for the last week or so due to a change in servers. Usually, a server change would mean a few hours of down time, however, things can never pan out as ordinary for me as they do for others.
It is officially safe to say that I work one job which easily equals two, or maybe even three regular full-time jobs. That, combined with those pesky human necessities such as food and sleep has made it increasingly hard for me to find time to write or even read up on current events. Luckily, those 14 hour days of looking at code and treating my computer as a physical attachment of myself are letting up and I am again forwarding my attention to this website. The content is still down but I will be diligently working on getting everything back up and in a new, refreshed, and up to date manner.
Menstrual Poetry has officially re-launched!
Sex-Positivity
I'm passionate about sex-positivity and believe every sexual being should have the freedom to explore their sexuality safely and without condemnation. I even lost my ad network after my refusal to censor myself after reviewing feminist porn.So if you're in the market for sex toys, porn, books, etc. take a look at the retailers below, all of which are feminist-friendly.
Out Campaign
The OUT Campaign allows individuals to let others know they are not alone. It can also be a nice way of opening a conversation and help to demolish the negative stereotypes of atheists. Let the world know that we are not about to go away and that we are not going to allow those that would condemn us to push us into the shadows.
