Happy New Year!
Taking off on a flight from Las Vegas to Florida at 11:45 this evening… will look out the window to see if there are fireworks to be found. Meanwhile, wishing everyone out there a happy, healthy, and pleasurable new year!
… to not be blogging
I've been busy with other things (including some exciting new writing projects) and just generally relaxing, so blogging will likely remain light. Sex, of course, stays in the news. You can learn how sex education helps teens delay having sex, why it's healthy to have sex, or, on a negative note, the extreme tactics of the anti-abortion movement.
Some have asked what my favorite news sites are, so here are three I heartily recommend, especially for their focus on the political/cultural climate around us:
Happy reading, and hope everyone's enjoying the holiday season…
As abstinence-only education fails
For the first time since 1991, the CDC is reporting a rise in teenage births. More information here, including a link to state-by-state figures.
This news is relatively unsurprising as students are subjected to abstinence-only education throughout most of the country. With little information about sexual responsibility and decision-making made available to them (replaced by misinformation about condoms and sexual health in general), it's no wonder that students are in the dark when it comes to sex. The "just say no," sex-as-danger approach dates back to Ronald and Nancy Reagan – but even the Democrats are to blame, caving in on their earlier threat to put an end to abstinence-only education, instead gifting Bush a budget which, if passed, will actually increase funding for education that fails our students educationally and morally.
GOP leader admits to sex with boys
The GOP parade of pedophiles continues. This time around it's Jeffrey Ray Nielsen, a conservative Christian activist and head of the Orange County (CA) Republican Party, pleading guilty to having sex with boys aged 14 and 13. More here.
The frequency of these incidents could almost be funny if they weren't so sad and tragic.
Video for WAD
Keeping with the international theme this World AIDS Day, check out this video about the development of spray-on condoms in Germany. Great potential for a perfect fit – and possibly some artistic creations!
… but parts of the world are still backward (but changing?)
This article caught my eye this World AIDS Day: Women in China have been arrested and sent to labor camps simply for getting caught carrying condoms. Fortunately, the times, they are a-changin’ (albeit slowly).
