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Vote Pro-Contraception
We're already gearing up for the 2008 election and some candidates have some rather antiquated views on birth control. That's right, the pill and other routine methods of contraception considered controversial -- at least if you're trying to gain the Republican nomination for president.
An extra toothbrush
An extra toothbrush. Check! Enough underwear to go a month without doing wash. Oh yeah. A bedspread carefully coordinated to compliment your roommate’s? Well, maybe not. In any case, your bags are packed, the family van is heaving under all the weight, and you can’t wait to start a new, exciting phase of your life.
But along with all the material items you’re bringing, don’t forget to prepare for the emotional and interpersonal chances and challenges awaiting you.
Dear New York Times
I sent this in response to the New York Times piece published last week regarding abstinence-only education. Alas, I didn't hear back from them, so I offer it up here instead. I feel it's important to get as much informed commentary out there on this issue as possible right now, especially considering the recent continuance and increases given to abstinence-only funding.
Sometimes, there just aren't words.
When this press release from the American Life League passed by my desk this evening, I couldn't even wave my usual fist, sigh my usual sigh, or give a good barbaric yawp. Screeds like this often leave me in that space, bizarrely feeling like I've been somehow redeposited in time to the McCarthy Era, but this one was a real doozy: I feel like someone dosed my dinner.
"We're Celebrating - And Planned Parenthood Knows Why, Says American Life League
WASHINGTON, July 13 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The following is an op-ed by Jim Sedlak, American Life League:
Teen Birth Rate at All-Time Low Due to Condoms, but Abstinence-Only Funding Goes Up?
"In 2005, 47 percent of high school students (6.7 million) reported having had sexual intercourse, down from 54 percent in 1991. The rate of those who reported having had sex has remained the same since 2003.
Of those who had sex during a three-month period in 2005, 63 percent -- about 9 million -- used condoms. That's up from 46 percent in 1991.
Everyone Loves S.E.X.!
...and we love them back!
We interrupt your regular programming for a little bit of shameless and self-congratulatory self-promotion.
The reviews of our young adult sex guide, S.E.X.: The All-You-Need-to-Know Progressive Sexuality Guide to Get You Through High School and College have been coming in, and we're elated to hear that readers and reviewers of the book seem to think it's just as special and essential as we do.
Here we go... AGAIN.
James Holsinger, a Kentucky cardiologist who President Bush last month nominated as the next surgeon general, might "be headed for a nomination fight," after lawmakers and gay and lesbian advocacy groups raised concern about his position on gay-rights issues, CQ Today reports (Armstrong, CQ Today, 6/8). According to some gay rights groups, Holsinger in 1991 wrote in a report for a United Methodist committee that gay sex is unnatural and potentially leads to serious health issues (Alonso-Zaldivar, Los Angeles Times, 6/9).
Greetings from Bloglandia!
I'm about to take a much-needed week off -- one I've needed for a good year or more! -- but I wanted to hop in and catch all of you up with some recent changes here at the site, some new articles, and a couple pressing issues out and about in the world.
Shameless
When I was a teenager, having sex wasn't really part of my rebellion.
Having GOOD sex was.
Full-Spectrum Choice
I've recently been unable to put down The Girls Who Went Away: The Hidden History of Women Who Surrendered Children for Adoption in the Decades Before Roe v. Wade by Ann Fessler. (It's a tough month for my bedside table, which has had to bear the physical and emotional weight of that book, as well as bell hooks' All About Love: New Visions, Jackson Katz's The Macho Paradox: Why Some Men Hurt Women and How All Men Can Help, and Susan Griffin's Woman and Nature.)