Submissions are starting to roll in. Please please please keep them coming. I appreciate all your effort and creativity, and your willingness to share your experience. More updates soon!
Archive for October, 2008
22
Oct
08
Keep ‘em coming!
Email Service Reports Success in Notification of Sexually Transmitted Diseases
By Caroline Wilbert
WebMD Health News
Reviewed By Louise Chang, MD
Oct. 20, 2008 — It has never been so important to check your inbox.
Four years after the launch of inSPOT.org, which allows people with sexually transmitted diseases to notify sexual partners via email, nearly 50,000 e-cards have been sent, according to an article published in PLoS Medicine.
The site is designed to increase the notification of partners — part of an overall strategy to prevent and control sexually transmitted diseases. In the U.S. there are 19 million new cases of sexually transmitted diseases diagnosed each year, including 900,000 cases of chlamydia, 330,000 cases ofgonorrhea, and 55,400 HIV infections, according to the PLoS Medicine article.
In 2004, the San Francisco Department of Public Health and the Internet Sexuality Information Services conducted research on gay men and men who have sex with men. Researchers concluded that while men are likely to tell their primary partners about diagnoses, they are not as likely to inform casual partners.
The study showed that men overwhelmingly said they would inform casual partners if there were a convenient and anonymous way to do so. The San Francisco Department of Public Health and the Internet Sexuality Information Services then partnered to launch inSPOT. It has since been expanded to other parts of the country and now targets heterosexuals as well.
The email service of inSPOT allows users to choose whether they want to include their own email addresses or not. E-cards include links to information about where and how to get tested. So far, more than 30,000 people have sent over 49,500 cards. In 2007, 28.5% of recipients clicked through the link for testing information.
In 2006 and 2007, e-cards were sent because of these STDs:
- 15.4% of e-cards were sent for gonorrhea
- 14.9% for syphilis
- 11.6% for chlamydia
- 9.3% for HIV
- 48.8% for other STDs (such as trichomoniasis, viral hepatitis, pubic lice or “crabs,” and others)
LONDON (AFP) – A woman who celebrated her 105th birthday this week said the secret to long life was celibacy, adding that she imagined sex was a “lot of hassle.”
Clara Meadmore, who marked her birthday with a drop of wine at the Perran Bay nursing home in Cornwall, southwest England, also received a card from Queen Elizabeth II.
“People have asked me whether I am a homosexual and the answer is no,” Meadmore said.
“I have just never been interested in sex.
“I imagine there is a lot of hassle involved and I have always been busy doing other things.”
Born in Glasgow, Scotland, in 1903, Meadmore lived in Canada and New Zealand as a child before returning to Britain in her 20s to work as a secretary and housekeeper.
She served with the army in Egypt during World War II, and subsequently lived in London and New Zealand before retiring 40 years ago in Cornwall.
03
Oct
08
news on sex education
Some Alaska students seek more sex education
The Associated Press
ANCHORAGE, Alaska — A number of college and high school students in Anchorage are petitioning for better sex education.
University of Alaska Anchorage junior Amber Sawyer heads a group called Vox, Voices for Planned Parenthood. It is circulating a Planned Parenthood petition that has collected 1,100 names since late August.
Chief executive Clover Simon would like schools to provide more than abstinence-only information. She says they should provide sexual function and health information that is medically accurate and age-appropriate.
Alaska now leaves sex ed to individual school districts.
Shirley Holloway of the State Board of Education and Early Development said it has a history of deferring on sex education.
Channel 4 plans explicit sex education show for British teens
London, Oct 1 : The row over sex education in British primary schools is yet to die down, and a private broadcaster now reveals plans to telecast a bare-all series on the subject.
Channel 4 has unveiled plans to broadcast a sex education series in the morning despite the fact that young children could be watching. It is aimed at 14 to 19-year-olds and will be broadcast at 11 a.m. on weekday mornings.
It will tackle issues such as contraception, sexually transmitted diseases and masturbation.
The ‘alternative guide to sex education’ features two animated teenagers from the fictional country of Slabovia, who examine a different topic each week.
The 10-part series, a ‘journey of sexual discovery’, will combine animated characters with footage of comedy clips taken from TV shows.
The series, to be aired later this year, is presented by Kierky and Nietzsche, two animated fictional teenagers from ‘the last remaining Communist state in Europe’.
‘Amazing sex facts’, a look at the ‘inner workings of the reproductive system’ and ‘Operation Penis’ are some of the programme topics, according to Daily Mail.
The series will discuss different ways of having sex, contraception, STDs, bisexuality and ‘coming out’.
Channel 4’s head of education Janey Walker defended the decision to broadcast when young children could be watching, saying school teachers have been demanding more content on sex education to deal with teen and pre-teen pregnancies and other problems.
She said: “Between ourselves and the Channel 4 lawyers, we have been careful …. We feel that we can defend the fact that it is going out in the morning. It might have a mixed audience but we very much aim to make it acceptable to anyone that happens across it….We are erring on the side of caution.”
The broadcaster said the programme would be heavily “signposted” so that parents could make the decision to switch off.
The move comes in the wake of a recent debate on imparting sex education at all school levels, right from the primary. Sex-related problems among school students – pregnancies, abortions, sexually transmitted diseases – are on the rise and the government has expressed concern, saying educating children is the only way out.
Students join to bring mandatory sex ed to schools
‘We were not informed,’ 20-year-old says
Amber Sawyer remembers her classmates, young and giggly and still riding a euphoric teenage high, cutting class and sneaking off with boyfriends to the nearby running trails. In the winter, when the Alaska cold was too much to bear, the same couples, passing on algebra class, would rendezvous at a local theater.
Some girls ended up pregnant. She doesn’t know who ended up with a sexually transmitted infection.
“I know exactly how bad the sex ed was, because I sat through it too,” says the 20-year-old Palmer Colony High graduate. “We were not informed.”
Now Sawyer, a junior at the University of Alaska Anchorage, wants to do something about it. She, with other politically minded Anchorage college students and even some local high schoolers, are banding together to reform the way sex education is taught around the state. They’re reversing roles and telling their parents and school administrators that kids need more safety talk, not less. Their goal: mandatory comprehensive sex ed in high school.
It would be a radical shift from the hands-off approach Alaska takes, which leaves sex ed to individual school districts. The result of the way it is now, Sawyer argues, is hit or miss teaching on the sensitive subject. “I met one girl from the Bush who didn’t even know what a condom was,” she said.
The proposed change raises questions about what role, if any, schools should play in teaching beyond the ABCs, especially in a time of stringent federal testing requirements that are pushing schools to curb electives.
Sawyer, who heads a group at the university called Vox, Voices for Planned Parenthood, is circulating a petition hoping to get attention. Planned Parenthood of Alaska drafted the original petition and has already collected 1,100 names on it since late August, including 300 people under 18, said chief executive Clover Simon.
Simon said they hope to collect 5,000 names and show legislators “that there is general concern in the community that our sex education programs need to be improved.”
She would like to see Alaska adopt legislation similar to what passed in Washington state last year. Schools there that address the topic of sexual function and health must provide more than abstinence only information. It must be medically and scientifically accurate, and age-appropriate.
WILLING TO LISTEN
According to a statewide study, 63 percent of Alaskan high school seniors in 2007 reported having sex. And, while Alaska has about average U.S. rates on teen pregnancies, in 2006 birth rates for Alaskan and U.S. teens rose for the first time since 1991.
This isn’t the first time adults, teachers and administrators have heard from kids who say they need more “real” information. Anchorage high school students a year ago stood up in series of public forums at schools across the city and said they wanted more instruction, said Anchorage School District health curriculum coordinator Sharon Vaissiere.
“It was interesting to me that it was brought up by students themselves,” she said.
Anchorage superintendent Carol Comeau said adding another graduation requirement may not pass muster with parents, teens and administrators. But there might be a way to attach a sex-ed unit to the already required high school health class.
“At this point, there has not been an official request,” she said. But “I am more than willing to have the health curriculum committee look at that issue.”
“It’s a very controversial issue in so many places because a lot of parents don’t want the schools doing it at all, others parents absolutely want the schools to do it. And then you’ve got a lot of people in between,” she said.
Shirley Holloway, first vice chairwoman for the State Board of Education and Early Development, said the department has a history of deferring to local districts on curriculum. “We have tried really hard to be a state that honors local control,” she said.
‘ABSTINENCE PLUS’
Anchorage follows an “abstinence-plus” model, taught in the eighth grade, that parents can opt their kids out of. The program grew out of a task force a decade ago that included a doctor, nurse, religious leaders and educators. It stresses abstinence as the only way to guarantee protection against sexually transmitted infections and unwanted pregnancies. Teachers also teach kids about what to do if they don’t choose abstinence, Vaissiere said.
“We don’t leave anything out.”
The human growth and development unit can last up to four weeks and kids learn about everything from dating to breast self-exams to contraceptives, said Mark Meinen, a Romig Middle School teacher who has taught the course for seven years. “It’s pretty in depth,” he said. “When we get to the sex part of it, the main goal is abstinence.”
But young adults like Sawyer say something is amiss. It’s taught too early, when it’s not relevant. Teachers are embarrassed and race through it. Kids learn statistics of what works and doesn’t, but don’t get practical advice.
Anchorage’s Steller Secondary junior Bryn Winterberger said the way sex ed was taught was biased and skewed. She says the teacher used scare tactics on students and was not straight about the science of it all.
The 16-year-old is asking her student government to allow her to collect signatures for the Planned Parenthood petition in school halls.
Kate Fitzgerald, a 20-year-old student at Alaska Pacific University, said that when she was a freshman at Palmer High School, the contraceptive talk lasted one class period and the kids didn’t even look up from their desks. They snickered and laughed and were happy for it to be over. “We were young and immature,” she said.
Sarah Roberson, a 23-year-old senior at UAA, said it’s naïve of teachers, administrators and parents to think kids aren’t sexually active. She joined the Anchorage public school system as a freshmen at West High, missing the eighth-grade sex-ed class, and “the only thing we learned about is how flowers reproduce.”
“All parents should talk to their kids about sex, but a lot of them don’t. Mine didn’t,” she said.
hit or miss
Nobody is keeping track of what is being taught where in Alaska on the topic. The variance appears to be wide. But it seems most public schools in the state teach some form of “abstinence-plus.” Some invite outside groups to present either side of the controversial topic, like an abstinence-only advocate one day followed by a member of Planned Parenthood on another.
Doug Dye, a counselor at Akiachak high school 20 miles northeast of Bethel, said literature and pamphlets are available for his students. But teachers don’t go into detail in the classrooms. “We basically just make sure they are aware of what the options are,” he said.
Rick Luthi, superintendent of the Nome Public Schools, said students learn the biology of reproduction. “Contraceptives is not part of our curriculum nor is it stressed or talked about.”
Robbie Everett, a science and health teacher at the Kotzebue high school, said he tries to find middle ground between the religious communities he serves and the needs of its teens. “We dedicate just a few days (classes) a year, trying to give them as much information as we can.”
Still, he said, there are kids who graduate high school with sexually transmitted infections, and nearly every year girls fly to Anchorage or Seattle for abortions.
Everett said teens in Kotzebue face all kinds of major life issues — suicide, diabetes, obesity, and alcoholism are some. It would be good to talk about all of those and figure out what role the state should play in those lessons.
He cautions, though, that adding more state mandates would jeopardize time spent on traditional academics in a school that has not passed the standards under the federal No Child Left Behind law since its inception.
03
Oct
08
sex in the news
Man shoots himself in arm after being denied sex
FORT MYERS, Fla. – Authorities say a Fort Myers man shot himself in the arm after his girlfriend refused to have sex with him. The Lee County Sheriff’s Office reported that a 29-year-old man and his girlfriend returned home from a bar early Wednesday morning.
The girlfriend told deputies that her boyfriend wanted to get intimate, but she just wanted to go to sleep. When she refused, he became irate.
Authorities said the girlfriend went to a spare bedroom, and several minutes later she heard two gunshots. She told deputies her boyfriend came into her room and threatened her. He then stumbled into the kitchen before falling into the oven, knocking himself unconscious.
The man was treated for two gunshot wounds to the arm and was taken to jail.
The man was charged with threatening violence and firing a weapon in an occupied dwelling. He was being held on $100,000 bail.
02
Oct
08
topics/ideas..
had a great conversation with a friend recently about sex and sex writing. just pitching ideas and experiences back and forth. a few topic ideas that would be interesting to write about:
-virginity, as in: the taking of. not about losing your own, but being someone else’s “first.”
-eavesdropping roommates/someone overhearing you get it on. turns out that some people like to listen, and that’s okay. in turn, some like to be heard.
-sad sex(i’m not sure what to call it, so there it is: sad sex). as in the sex you have with your ex during a break-up, or the one night stand you interpreted for more, or the one night stand that happens with someone random during said break up. you know..sad sex. the kind that breaks your heart a little.
-biters. the kind that leave bruises.
-dirty talk–the best, the worst..what happens when you draw a blank. what having an orgasm can do to your vocabulary(oh, it enriches!)
-the concept of the quickie, and how it has changed/not changed over time(compare a 1950’s quickie to a 1980’s quickie).
-sex follies. the bumps, the bruises, the pulled groin muscles.
-perfecting the art of outdoor sex
-the confidence of the O — how getting off is a wonderful, uninhibited act. and on the flipside, how being too self-conscious can ruin a perfectly good fuck.
I have big plans to put together a collection of works by individuals commenting on the subject of sex. Yes, sex. Every year I get a little more perplexed in regards to how little adults actually know about the act–in terms of what they like, what they don’t like, how to do it safely, etc. Basically, I want to provide an outlet for people to share their stories–their triumphs and failures in regards to the subject of doing it. Give me first time stories, the-worst-hand-job-ever stories. Give me an essy on why we should teach our youth more than just abstinence. Tell me about getting tested, about not getting tested. Write about safe sex. List turn ons, turn offs. Lots of ways to approach this, my friends. All I ask for is honesty.
I aim for this to be sex-positive and honest. It’s a fascinating subject, one that we all have some experience with(even if you are celibate..heck, you can write about that too). I’m also aiming to educate. Sometimes the best education comes from sharing personal experience.
If you are interested in contributing, please let me know. If you need more details, I can provide them as I figure them out myself. My goal: once compiled, I will look to publish the book through lulu.com and have a release of some sort. Keep that in mind.
If you are interested in contributing, please contact me at:
honeydunce@gmail.com
This site will be used to document the process and progress of the anthology–I will also use the space to post any and all current news on sex education/sexuality that may be of interest.
