The One Taste Urban Retreat Center in San Francisco has a daily 7AM ritual called orgasmic meditation. Each morning, the group assembles in a community room. The men in the commune massage the women’s sexual organs until they reach orgasm. The men do not climax. In this country where women are seen as sexual objects and dozens of ads for Viagra appear in my email everyday, I loved reading about a place where the emphasis is on women and achieving orgasm.

-Beth

Ed. Note: Around the office, we discussed whether the stimulation was manual or oral. The NYTimes indicates that the commune members, or "research partners" as they call themselves, practice manual stimulation (Hand Jobs to you laypeople). Regardless, it's hard to believe this doesn't break down into an occasional one-sided oral sex party. Here we feel compelled to remind readers of the CDC study showing that the leading cause of throat cancer is Human Papillomavirus (HPV), which is transmitted through unprotected oral sex. Pick your partners with care!

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Yesterday, the FDA approved the FC2, a new, cheaper version of the Female Condom. This is good news because a large percentage of FC users are very poor women in Africa who receive contraceptives through the UN. If the UN gets condoms cheaper, then they can provide more condoms to more women. This development is a great advancement towards reducing AIDS in Africa, as well as giving all women one more option in preventing pregnancies.

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Ah, Michael Steele, we hope you last.

No other chairman of the GOP has captured headlines like Michael Steele. From questions over the motive of matching the race of one party leader with another, to being featured in Stephen Colbert Rap Battles, this is political entertainment at it's finest.

Unfortunately, we don't think it's going to last. Steele did something that GOP honchos are normally prohibited from doing: he made comments in favor of allowing women to make decisions about their reproductive rights. To a reporter.

Steele appeared in an online blog run by GQ. (Embarrassing full disclosure: I'm a subscriber.)

In the interview with Lisa DePaulo, Steele said this:

Q: How much of your pro-life stance, for you, is informed not just by your Catholic faith but by the fact that you were adopted?
Oh, a lot. Absolutely. I see the power of life in that—I mean, and the power of choice! The thing to keep in mind about it… Uh, you know, I think as a country we get off on these misguided conversations that throw around terms that really misrepresent truth.

Explain that.
The choice issue cuts two ways. You can choose life, or you can choose abortion. You know, my mother chose life. So, you know, I think the power of the argument of choice boils down to stating a case for one or the other.

Are you saying you think women have the right to choose abortion?
Yeah. I mean, again, I think that’s an individual choice.

You do?
Yeah. Absolutely.

That's right: the head of the Republican Party, which has an official anti-choice platform voted by their members, thinks that abortion is a personal choice for women to make. He said it in a very wishy-washy way that's sure to annoy individuals on both sides of the issue, but these comments are clear. Steele believes in individual freedom in making personal medical decisions.

We give him three months.


-Gabriel

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Anti-choice activists like to deny it, but everyone that works for abortion providers wants to reduce the number of abortions that happen. How and why that happens is where pro-choice and anti-choice activists part ways.

One method of reducing abortions in teens, Parental Involvement laws, were recently proven to be ineffective. The Guttmacher Institute announced a study (.pdf) that shows that requiring parental approval of abortions for minors actually places many of those girls at a greater risk of assault when forced to tell their parents.

"Most teens—regardless of whether or not they live in a state with a parental involvement law— do involve their parents when deciding whether to have an abortion. But the reality is you can’t legislate good parent-child communication,” says Amanda Dennis, project manager at Ibis Reproductive Health and lead author of the review. “If we want to protect young women’s health and safety, access to confidential reproductive health services—both contraception and abortion—is critical."

The study also explains that most teens who seek abortions do involve their parents in the decision, regardless of legal requirements.



-Gabriel

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College women have long developed the opinion that guys will find them more attractive if they drink more. A new study (.pdf) by the American Psychological Association finds this isn't the case.

Nobody needs a study to know that drunk men find women attractive. However, no one should assume that a drunk girl will impress a sober guy, unless he's looking to take advantage of her inability to say "no."


-Gabriel

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We're looking at two video examples of how advertising affects girls' body image and boys' expectations of sex.

Slate.com examined a commercial for 6 Hour Power, a caffeinated energy drink. It focuses tightly on a very busty secretary in a shirt that's apparently missing several buttons and a large belt that she's wearing as a skirt.

The New York Times looked at how magazines retouch pictures to eliminate the smallest flaws on even the most attractive models. According to a professional photo editor, every single picture they publish is retouched to some degree.

As we spend increasing hours watching TV and seeing ads online, it's important to maintain some level of awareness of what we're seeing.


-Gabriel

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Something happened in post-war Japan where men in that country became obsessed with pornographic cartoons. Unfortunately, that obsession sometimes gets very ugly. Enter RapeLay, a video game based on the real-life sexual assault rate on Tokyo subway cars.

Ultra-violent video games are a growing technology area. I've never played RapeLay (and I don't intend to) but I have played Grand Theft Auto. That game allows the player to kill pedestrians at will. Prostitutes are prevalent throughout the game, available to service your character or as a target for homicide.

After a few hours of playing any video game, scenes from the game usually stick in your brain. Even with a harmless game, like Tetris, I can close my eyes and see the game screen. It's difficult to describe, but it's not like I'm remembering the game. I'm actually seeing it.

This is no different with violent games. Engaging in violent acts releases chemicals into your brain. As video games become more realistic, the brain doesn't distinguish between real violence and simulated violence. After playing Grand Theft Auto, I had vivid dreams replaying homicidal scenes from the game.

Essentially, deep in your brain, being able to rape video game women is the same thing as raping live women. Slate.com asks "Should the United States ban RapeLay?" I agree with Slate's Leigh Alexander that legislation isn't necessarily the best solution. Asking retailers to ban the game is more successful. Like most things of a sexual nature that teens and children may have access to, parental awareness and guidance are the best defense.


-Gabriel

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Apparently someone over at the Vatican thinks that the single most liberating development of the twentieth century for women is the washing machine. The Vatican newspaper (sorry, no link!) claimed that the pill is responsible for polluting the environment and contributing to male infertility. The washing machine, however, freed women from having to beat clothes against rocks in the stream.

I'm not sure how much I agree with this. On one hand, yes, we do all have more free time now that cleaning clothes is a simple matter of pushing a button.

On the other hand, I haven't had a woman do my laundry in more than 10 years. And I'm married. Why isn't this the most liberating development for all people? I think there's some folks over in Vatican City who could use some time with a washboard to bring them back down to Earth.

As far as the pill causing pollution? It seems that the EPA is more concerned with the pollution generated by the laundry industry than women releasing birth control chemicals into our water stream.

Anyway, this whole thing brings to mind the episode of Mad Men when Betty Draper gets a little cozy with the spin cycle. Draw your own conclusions.


-Gabriel

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