July 2012

U.N. summit focuses on how to improve global happiness

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News of Note: U.N. summit focuses on how to improve global happiness

The United Nations turned its attention to happiness — and just how it might be achieved on an international scale.

“Conscious that the pursuit of happiness is a fundamental human goal” and “recognizing that the gross domestic product … does not adequately reflect the happiness and well-being of people,” a U.N. resolution invites member states to discuss “the pursuit of happiness and well-being in development with a view to guiding their public policies.”

Tom Barefoot, the founder and co-coordinator of Gross National Happiness USA, an organization that seeks to encourage the use of alternative indicators to measure what matters, thinks happiness is caused by similar activities across cultures…

Despite having the largest GDP in the world, the United States was ranked 16th in a 2008 world survey of national happiness. Barefoot thinks there are some simple things Americans can do to increase their happiness.

“Spend more time on other important things like family and friends,” Barefoot said. “Get out in nature and do something for a cause that’s bigger than oneself, volunteer.”

Are you surprised that America ranked 16th in national happiness? We can’t cover our ears and pretend that we’re perfect. Why not humble ourselves and look at the strengths of other nations? Happiness, while almost vague in its simplicity, is at the absolute foundation of all human purists.

I’m excited to hear the UN is even discussing happiness and only hope that the concept is not swept under the table entirely by nations whose thirst for control supersedes the general well-being of all human beings.

in News of Note  by 16 Jul 2012 0 comments

Introducing Terasem to VenusPlusX—Transreligion for Joyful Immortality

For more on Terasem…

Today VenusPlusX launches a new category of discussion—Transreligion. This brings into focus a topic we have occasionally touched on in the past in our posts such as Do You Believe in Fate? I Believe in Destiny!, Can Atheism be True, Good, Beautiful, and Loving?, Can I Transition to be a Transhuman?, Where Did All This F*cking Evil Sh%t Come From?, and, of course, Transreligion—An Inspirational Framework for Transgender Transhumans.

A transreligion is basically a vision of future eternity and how we could potentially participate in it, now and beyond the limited lifespan of our biohost. You will find extensive presentations on a number of speculative transreligions through the video discussions archived by Giulio Prisco‘s Turing Church Workshop, which can be accessed at http://cargocollective.com/turingchurch/.

In the weeks ahead, we will be publishing a series of commentaries and discussions about specific concepts of transreligion. These discussions are inspired by Terasem, the most conceptually developed of the various vitological visions that have been explored so far by the Turing Church group.

Terasem is a product of the vitological vision of Martine Rothblatt, who, with her “spice” Bina Aspen Rothblatt, has devoted a great deal of effort over the past 10 years to establishing a physical and legal structure for the long term support of programs of Terasem organizations. The social framework this enables will grow to support the social evolution of the ideals of Terasem into activities motivated by a transcendent vision of universal joyful immortality. That vision of an assured destiny will uplift human attitudes and behavior as all come to appreciate the reality of eternal existence.

Key ideas of Terasem include Joyful Immortality, Unity in Diversity, and the essential Goodness of Life. Although we will be discussing these and many other related ideas, if you want to take a look at what the founders of Terasem (Martine & Bina) have to say about what they are doing, you might start here or here or here or here or here.

Since there currently exists no forum devoted to exploration of the specific meanings and implications of Terasem, we begin this project in the hope that others with a personal interest in the evolution and development of a unifying transreligion will share this material with their audiences, so that we can all work towards a broadly distributed multi-person understanding of these emergent concepts.

For an introduction to Martine Rothblatt and her decade-long adventure with Terasem, you may wish to view her recent public presentations on the subject:



(start at 39 minutes)

 

 

 

 

in Library / Terasem  by 15 Jul 2012 0 comments

The Sexual Freedom Project: The Weight of Tradition

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What does repeal of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” in the US military mean to you? To society-at-large? Now lesbian and gay soldiers can serve openly, but what about transgender soldiers as well? Why have lawmakers and the media paid more attention to homophobia to the exclusion of transphobia? How big a role do you think weight of tradition plays in restricting sexual freedom? Can cultural taboos change? How can parents, teachers, and community leaders help create new traditions that allow all of us to be more expressive of who we are?

Your input is needed! Please write to us, make us a short video, create an original work of art, a poem, or a song, and let us know your thoughts about how we can move closer to sexual freedom for all of us. If we feature your thoughts on our site, we will send you a free VenusPlusX t-shirt.

Video by Tiye Massey.

in The Sexual Freedom Project / Videos  by 15 Jul 2012 0 comments

Catholic church abuse: at least one youth castrated for ‘homosexuality’

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News of Note: Catholic church abuse: at least one youth castrated for ‘homosexuality’

At least one boy under the age of 16 was castrated to ‘help’ his homosexual feelings while in Catholic church care in the 1950s, the NRC reported on Saturday.

But there are indications at least 10 other boys were also castrated, the paper said. The claims were not included in the Deetman report on sexual abuse within the Catholic church published at the end of last year.

The paper says the one confirmed case concerned a boy – Henk Heithuis – who reported being sexually abused by priests to the police in 1956. After giving evidence, he was placed in a Catholic-run psychiatric institution where he was then castrated because of his ‘homosexual behaviour’.

The protections given to religious institutions for criminal behavior are absurd. Sure this was 60 years ago, but the Catholic Church’s record of sex abuse has proven rather timeless.

This isn’t one big coincidence; these crimes are the result of the sexually repressive teachings that the Church “infallibly” supports. The Catholic leadership teaches that homosexuality is wrong while preaching celibacy and abstinence, but doesn’t their credibility go to zero by these sex crimes?

When will humanity stand up and say no?

Image by DAVID ILIFF

in Global Sexual Freedom Watch / Key Issues / News of Note  by 15 Jul 2012 0 comments

“Femicidios”: Unsolved Murders Against Women in Mexico and the Caribbean (Part I)

También en español ”Death to the b**ches, I’m back” read a sign found next to the body of one of the nearly 1,700 Guatemalan women who have been murdered in the past five years. Since 1993, some 500 women of limited means have been killed or disappeared from the streets of Ciudad Juárez, Mexico. The authorities have not resolved these female murders. “Women of all ages, educational levels, social-economic backgrounds, races, ethnicities and sexual orientations may be the eventual victim of this extreme form of gender-based violence”, explains the scholar Diana Russell.

While femicide is committed around the world, the border city of Ciudad Juárez’s infamy as the capital of feminicide is by now common knowledge. The term “feminicidio” was first used in the late 1990s to describe a phenomenon of unsolved murders and disappearances in Ciudad Juárez, dating to 1993, the year women’s rights groups first noticed an unusual increase in murders and disappearances of women and girls. It was this alarming rate of violence against women in the border region and the near-absolute impunity for gender crimes that catalyzed transnational activism: the hemispheric “Por la Vida de las Mujeres” (For the Life of Women) initiative launched by the Latin American and Caribbean Committee for the Defense of Women’s Rights (known by its Spanish acronym, CLADEM); research on the subject matter; and, eventually, the elaboration of “feminicide.”

Most of the bodies of murdered women exhibit high levels of sexual violence. The murders and disappearances of women occur within the context of a patriarchal society with high levels of sexism, discrimination and misogyny. Mexico, for example, has one of the highest rates of gender violence in the world, with 38 percent of Mexican women affected by physical, sexual or psychological abuse, compared with 33 percent of women worldwide. Two-thirds of female homicides occur in the home, and 67 percent of women in Mexico suffer domestic violence. For Guatemala, the figure is 47 percent.

In Mexico, women’s human rights groups have long held that police failed to respond to gender crimes because “they feared organized crime was involved, or because they were involved themselves, or both.” Police indifference to gender crimes is rooted in a system of illegality so interpenetrated in the state structure that it blurs the distinction between state institutions and criminal networks, and between government agents and criminal agents.

After Mexican President Felipe Calderon launched Operation Chihuahua in 2008, deploying thousands of soldiers and military police to the region, violence and criminality have reached pandemic proportions, together with a disturbing trend of human rights violations committed by the very same security forces sent to restore order.

Parte 2, to come.

Thanks to Eduardo Carrasco for contributing to this story.

in Global Sexual Freedom Watch / Key Issues / Public Information  by 14 Jul 2012 1 comments

The Sexual Freedom Project: Shockingly Old Fashioned

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In today’s video, we meet several young women at Dupont Circle in Washington, DC who have strong feelings about owning vibrators, judgmental people, religious institutions, and shockingly old fashioned ideas.

What’s your opinion? Can one ever really own too many vibrators? Should marriage be denied to people because of their sexual orientation? And when’s the last time you shoved someone into a room and said “hey, come on, jump in bed with us”?

Send us your video at columbia@venusplusx.org — we want to hear from you!

Video by Tiye Massey.

TRANSCRIPT

VenusPlusX: …In the state of Arkansas, one is only legally permitted to own five vibrators.
Woman 1: Really? It’s bullshit. So…
Woman 2: Yeah I think it’s bullshit too.
[cut]
Woman 3: Who the hell are you to be telling me what I should be doing with my body and my life?
[cut]
Woman 1: There are plenty of non-religious people who are also just… really judgmental.
Woman 2: It’s kind of like the marriage thing; why is it between a man and a woman? You know, it’s like a Christian institution that’s built into our society but it’s supposed to be separate. So like, laws that are supposed to “help” us or whatever, really just tell us what they don’t want us to do.
[cut]
Woman 4: I do find it really shocking that people are against abortion, for example. It feels like you go back in time… It’s just shockingly, shockingly old-fashioned and shockingly short-sighted and it seems very repressive of women to be honest. … It’s not like you’re shoving anyone into a room and going ‘Hey, come on, jump in bed with us!’ Like it’s whatever, you’re just saying what you want!”

in The Sexual Freedom Project / Videos  by 14 Jul 2012 0 comments

The Unwelcome Mat

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News of Note: The Unwelcome Mat: How America Scares Away Tourists

Imagine that you’re the citizen of a prosperous, democratic ally like Britain, Spain or Japan, and you’d like to visit America. Before traveling, you must pay $14 to complete an online United States government form called ESTA, short for Electronic System for Travel Authorization.

ESTA asks for basic personal data, like your name and birth date. It also asks whether you are guilty of “moral turpitude,” whether you’re planning crimes or “immoral activities” and whether you suffer from “lymphogranuloma venereum” (don’t ask). If you’re involved in terrorism or genocide — and for some reason you’ve decided to take this opportunity to inform the United States government — there’s a box for that. And if you’re a spy — a particularly artless one — please let us know.

Naturally, no one with anything to hide will answer honestly. Such purposeless questions recall Thoreau — “I saw that the State was half-witted” — and should astonish Americans, who know better than their government how to welcome guests.

I’m trying to rationalize why the US Government exposes foreign visitors to all this arbitrary intimidation. It’s embarrassing, xenophobic, and only manages to make America look bad to the rest of the world.

I’m not suggesting less security, only practicality. America’s anti-social attitude is bursting out through the bureaucracy and doing more harm than good. How can we eradicate policies like this one, born of the same tendencies that lead to discrimination within our own country?

in News of Note  by 14 Jul 2012 0 comments

The Sexual Freedom Project: It Doesn’t Have To Be A Rigid Thing

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Basking in a park, this young woman shares her ideas about the differences between gender and sex, and how sexual freedom can vary in different environments. She says gender as a continuum, with extremes and many ambiguities in between.

How does locale affect the experience of sexual freedom? What do you think about a continuum for gender as a new way of thinking beyond the binary?

We want to hear what you’re thinking. Send us a video, write us an essay, put your thoughts in a poem, song, or piece of art. To thank you for participating we’ll send you one of our fabulous VenusPlusX t-shirts.

Video by Tiye Massey.

in The Sexual Freedom Project / Videos  by 13 Jul 2012 0 comments

White House Proposes Online Privacy Bill of Rights

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News of Note: White House Proposes Online Privacy Bill of Rights

the Obama Administration released a Consumer Privacy Bill of Rights for online users, including the ability for browser users to opt out of being tracked by advertisers and others.

The proposed document was described by the White House as “part of a comprehensive blueprint to improve consumers’ privacy protections,” while maintaining the Internet’s growth and innovation. The Administration said the intent is to give users “more control over how their personal information is used on the Internet,” and to help businesses grow while maintaining consumer trust.

In the wake of SOPA, PIPA and other bills, I’m immediately suspicious of an online “Bill of Rights.” The proposal focuses on data collection and online privacy. I am totally in support of increased privacy online but I’m totally against enacting new laws to enforce that privacy. This “Bill of Rights” does not protect us from the government, it protects us from commercial websites. Giving the government any more reasons to police the internet, even if under the guise of enforcing privacy, is not welcome or necessary. If you want to browse the internet privately you already can. People everywhere (and in countries like China) use Tor to anonymize their online activity and social networks like Diaspora address privacy concerns related to centralized social networks.

The US Government recently labeled anyone that cares about online privacy suspicious of terrorism. I have no reason to believe this new Bill of Rights is anything but a loss of freedom.

What purpose do you believe this internet Bill of Rights may serve? Would you rather have the government step in and police the Internet for you, or are comfortable protecting yourself with the tools already at your disposal?

in News of Note  by 13 Jul 2012 0 comments

Do We Even Need Gender?

Creative Commons image by: Male-símbolo2

Creative Commons image by: Male-símbolo2

Gender can be a confusing subject for LGBT and straight people alike. Many people often mistake sex and gender to be the same thing, for example, or when a person’s gender doesn’t match the stereotypes associated with his or her sex, the results often include some form or discrimination (though it can be unintentional), verbal challenges or confrontations, and refusal to accept that this person does not want to accept society’s biased demands.

File:Bathroom-gender-sign.png

Creative Commons image: Tombe

This disparity stems from a long-standing tradition throughout the world of assigning how an individual should act, dress, etc. based on nothing more than the genitalia assigned at birth. Not only do these gender ideals change throughout time, but they also vary according to location. If what society wants us to be can be so easily changed, we may wonder how we are supposed to live up to its expectations. A simple, yet often overlooked answer is that we shouldn’t.

 The fight against gender stereotypes is timeless. It has lead to the immersion of new gender idea such as transgender, transsexual, and agender. However, there are many more terms than these many people have trouble wrapping their minds around concepts such as a “male lesbian” or a person having no gender. While it is fantastic that people have fought against oppression and created a new system of self-expression, in some ways, this still plays off of the original system. This is not to say that these people are wrong to assign their own gender; however, it is interesting to think about the concept that this new system would not be necessary if the concept of gender were wiped away entirely.

Although his may seem like a radical idea, but there are still flaws in the current system. A main flaw is that a majority of people tend to think in terms of gender binaries: male or female. This generally leads people to conclude that a person will overall act in a way that fulfills a most, if not all, aspects of a male or female idea. However, there are many people who cannot easily be placed into either category. Their response is often part of the newer system that involves creating one’s own gender identity. Even so, there are people who feel distanced from the terminology that has evolved from this movement. They may not understand what some of the terms mean, or even feel like they can fit into any of these categories, despite there being a seemingly infinite range. Others have no interest in categorizing themselves.

Drawing off of this last group of people, if we were to drop all names for gender, the possibility could exist that people would have the freedom to be who they want to be without worrying about a gender label. People would be able to act in a way that was previously perceived as the way a person of the “opposite gender” would act and not be believed to be homosexual for simply being themselves. This possibility opens the door to question what would happen if we no longer held the belief that gender is a vital part of humanity. What would happen if we all just let it go?

in The Sexual Freedom Project  by 13 Jul 2012 0 comments