April 2012

The Sexual Freedom Project: That’s a Good Question!

(También en Español) What does sexual freedom mean to you? Do you think it is fundamental human right? something we are born with? something worth fighting for? Leave a comment and let us know what you think, or make your own video or blog to share. We will send you a free VenusPlusX t-shirt or slap bracelet to thank you. Video edited by Tiye Massey.

Facebook privacy protection law shot down by Congress

(También en Español)

News of Note: Facebook privacy protection law shot down by Congress

The US House of Representatives has shot down proposals which would have prevented businesses from collecting Facebook log on credentials as part of their employee vetting procedures.

The law had been proposed by Colorado representative Daniel Perlmutter.

Perimutter suggested that the proposals would have given an important measure of privacy to end users.

“No American should have to provide their confidential personal passwords as a condition of employment,” Perlmutter said.

“Both users of social media and those who correspond share the expectation of privacy in their personal communications.”

We can’t expect job seeker’s private lives to meet the same neutral and public-friendly image that businesses try to maintain within the public sphere. Honesty and authenticity are endearing human traits yet these businesses are not concerned with living truthful lives. When you exist for profit it is both unfair and hypocritical to impose that lifestyle on those that depend on you for survival.

While mega-corporations (looking at you Google) continue to combine every strength the internet has to offer into one all-encompassing hub, culture is being condensed. With the judging eyes of our peers (and employers) sharpening focus everyday, will humanity become less progressive, even mundane?

Creative Commons image by: BlakJakDavy

The Sexual Freedom Project: Wellness

(También en Español)

How does exploration of sexual freedom affect you and help you ask for, and get, what you need? Is it a feeling of wellness that can’t be denied?

Leave a comment and let us know what you think, or make your own video or blog to share. We will send you a free VenusPlusX t-shirt or slap bracelet to thank you.

Video edited by Tiye Massey.

Censorship in Egypt: From online porn to hugging on television

(También en Español)

News of Note: Intimate scenes to be banned from Egyptian public TV

(AGI) Cairo – A group of Islamic supervisors of the Egyptian Public Broadcaster will be in charge of removing ‘immoral ‘ footage from films the network has in its archives. The ban will apply to scenes featuring hugging, kissing and belly dancing. As reported by the daily Kuwait al-Anba, which quotes sources from inside the Network, such a decision could bring about either the removal of important scenes from movies that are an integral part of Egypt’s cinema or their complete ban from any TV programming.

Anyone that bans hugging from television really needs to get their priorities straight. I didn’t even realize it was possible for a culture to be so sex-phobic that they would consider the most rudimentary forms of human touching “immoral.”

While slightly less shocking (yet still completely counterproductive), the fate of online Pornography in Egypt is also looking grim.

When are people going to realize that a society thrives when people are free? Telling someone that they cannot do something they enjoy does not deter them from doing it, just look at any form of prohibition, or abstinence only education, it just doesn’t work.

I get it, they’re censoring sex because their religious views shun human sexuality, but that’s unacceptable in a free world. Simply put: Intimacy (hugging included) is an inherent need for all human beings and it is disgusting and embarrassing to see countries on this earth treating themselves this way. What is it going to take for all of us to acknowledge and accept sexuality as an essential part of everyday life?

Philo’s Manifesto from Venera Plus Iks by Teodor Sterdžen now in Serbian

In recognition of the SHARE2 conference in Belgrade this weekend, and the hundreds of attendees who have received bracelets and books from our good friend Khannea Suntzu, we have made a translation ofthe central statements of Sturgeon’s novel available here. We apologize that none of the rest of the web site is in Serbian; however, we felt this excerpt would give you a foretaste of what VenusPlusX is about.

Click here for an excerpt from Venera Plus Ikx by Teodor Sterdžen (in Serbian)

Click here for the same excerpt in English

Click here for our earlier post introducing this book in English

Depending on how you space it, VenusPlusX or Venus Plus X, it’s no accident that you may have stumbled over a novel by Theodore Sturgeon of the same name. Since first reading Venus Plus X in 1960, it has invoked a strong resonance with my own inner truth even though it was Sturgeon’s creative imagination, a perhaps fantasy. It is our namesake because it stands as the earliest and still clearest exposition of the world’s essential ideas and ideals in the world of sex and gender, and guides the our work as advocates, educators, and activists.

 

The Sexual Freedom Project: SMYAL

(También en Español)

Have you heard of the Sexual Minority Youth Assistance League (SMYAL) in Washington, DC? Issues of homelessness, employment, and access to medical and mental health services inordinately affect LGBT youth, in particular transgender youth, and SMYAL is a model for other programs across the country.

Does your community have something similar? If not, the folks at SMYAL can help you get started.

Leave a comment and let us know what you think, or make your own video or blog to share. We will send you a free VenusPlusX t-shirt or slap bracelet to thank you.

Video edited by Tiye Massey.

The Sexual Freedom Project: Quad S

(También en Español)

It’s mutual admiration because VenusPlusX finds The Conference for the Society for the Scientific Study of Sexuality (known as Quad-S) and its resources to be invaluable to activists promoting sex science as a tool of social justice.

Advances in sex science convey more humane, fair, and intelligent law and policy, and bring about a more tolerant and just society.

Leave a comment and let us know what you think, or make your own video or blog to share. We will send you a free VenusPlusX t-shirt or slap bracelet to thank you.

Video edited by Tiye Massey.

Christian Groups Take Issue With Anti-Bullying Laws

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News of Note: Christian Groups Take Issue With Anti-Bullying Laws

Focus on the Family is planning to counter the “Day of Silence,” an annual event to protest LGBT bullying set for April 20, with its own “Day of Dialogue”. The evangelical organization’s aim is to muffle an effort that “crosses the line in a lot of ways beyond bullying into indoctrination, just promoting homosexuality and transgenderism.”

The group has been advocating an anti-anti-bullying message for years. When a California school adopted an anti-bullying rule that mentioned gays and lesbians in 2010, backlash ensued.

“The school introduced anti-bullying lessons, but really they’re teaching elementary school kids about gay marriage,” Candi Cushman, education analyst for Focus on the Family, told ABC. “We think parents should have the right to teach kids about it in their own way.”

Hate groups like Focus on the Family, including Family Research Council (FRC) and Parents and Friends of Ex-Gays (PFOX), have a sickness, a disease that continues to infect American schools, politics, and public opinion. They offer nothing more than religiously motivated intolerance and hate. How are such poisonous and miserable ideas able to spread? How and why are they able to relentlessly pursue the condemnation of their fellow Americans, even themselves?

As religious fundamentalists try to drag America back into the dark ages, they are only delaying the inevitable. Truth and reason can not be stopped. I feel some satisfaction knowing that these kids probably have internet access, that somehow they will learn that human sexuality is natural, inherent, and wonderful. While Focus on the Family tries to chain our future generations to the church, through sexual repression and self loathing, their religion will be inevitably remembered for what it is, a disease.

Creative Commons Image by: jglsongs

The Sexual Freedom Project: A Personal Journey

(También en Español)

Was your own coming out gradual? Or have you always known? Were you out to other people before you fully realized you were gay? Has coming out changed the direction of your life or not? Has coming out changed your sense of social justice or another aspect of your life.

Leave a comment and let us know what you think, or make your own video or blog to share. We will send you a free VenusPlusX t-shirt or slap bracelet to thank you.

Video edited by Tiye Massey.

The Sexual Freedom Project: Porn Education

(También en Español)

Is there such a thing as good porn and bad porn? What about hetero-male-produced porn vs women-, LGBT- amateur-produced porn which is just as enticing? Will universal replete sex ed in our schools change the face of the male-dominated porn industry, which mostly objectifies and exploits women?

Leave a comment and let us know what you think or make your own video or blog to share. We will send you a free VenusPlusX t-shirt or slap bracelet to thank you.

Video edited by Tiye Massey.