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The Sexual Freedom Project: The Future Depends On Us

As 2011 draws to a close, it is a natural time to pause and reflect on the year that is ending, and look forward to the new year that is opening up before us. What sort of future do you envision, next year and beyond? Do you think things will get better in terms of our politics, our economy, our sexual freedoms? What do you want to change about the future? What role will the Occupy movement, taking place across the country, play in making a better future? How are you personally going about effecting the kinds of changes that you hope to see?

Let us know what you think. Make a video, write a poem, song, or an essay — or even create an original work of art — and express your thoughts on these topics. If we feature your contribution on the site, we will send you a free VenusPlusX t-shirt to thank you.

in The Sexual Freedom Project / Videos by Tiye 25 Jul 2012 0 comments

Net Neutrality and Internet Freedom: A voice for the voiceless

In preserving all human rights, especially those having to do with privacy of person and sexual freedom, free access to the unfettered communications of the Internet is crucial. The Internet is the circulatory system of the body politic, and the world’s only hope for true pluralism.

Any and all attempts to restrict or dismember the Internet and its uses must be met by an army of us willing to lay down our lives to make sure these attempts fail. Think of young Bradley Manning, who thought that transparency to bring alleged government corruption to the attention of a whistleblower was something he was willing to go to prison for. Very unfortunately, he has been in solitary confinement and suffered other loathsome, cruel, and unusual punishment at the hands of the U.S. government (latest updates, plus).

The hackerverse is populated with tens of thousands of young people like Bradley who are the world’s free speech heroes. They are not letting lawmakers interfere with Internet freedom with flawed legislation such as SOPA, PIPA, or the White House’s proposed Online Privacy Bill of Rights, or let stand any restrictions on constitutional freedoms on religious grounds. (Here is more information on the Stop Online Piracy Act/SOPA, the Protect IP Act/PIPA, and more.)

Most important, the freeway of the Internet is the only mechanism whereby the voiceless have a voice, and for that reason alone, all of us must keep a watchful eye on anything that would interfere with the free flow of information.

The reasons that politicians try to interfere with Internet freedom are not very pretty, and are often stupid. For example, christianists in Congress want to invade the privacy of everyone who views pornography. Others would like to see all pornography removed from the Internet.

Ironically, that very industry, pornography, made possible the early exponential growth of the Internet that turned out to have been instrumental in fueling the rapid expansion of the technology throughout the world. These self-appointed politicians think that all adults shouldn’t be allowed to view porn, but again ironically, these very politicians represent their own personal statistical cohort group in the American South, the so-called “Bible Belt,” a population which watches the most pornography and breeds America’s backward abstinence-only sex education leading to the highest rates of STDs and teen pregnancy. The Bible Belt has the highest divorce rates in the country, too, despite its “religiosity.” That has to tell us they are doing something wrong, but it doesn’t penetrate because their minds because they are so busy condemning the rest of us. Sad, sad, and sadder.

Will this opposition ever abandon their egocentric greed for personal and institutional power? Will they ever choose to live and let live? Or will they be content to be known for all time as just another bunch of ignorant and backward yokels who arrogantly assume the name of god in vain, as they try and fail to put freedom in a corner under their control?

Help us watch these people like hawks and make sure they keep their creepy hands off our inter webs.

Editor’s note: This is one of a series of position papers Dan Massey and I are creating and will soon index on our home page. They briefly explore the evolution of our points of view about a range of issues related to sex, gender, and racial freedom. Your feedback is always welcome.

Creative Commons image: Source

Taking exception to the concept of ‘American exceptionalism’

(También en Español)

News of Note: Taking exception to the concept of ‘American exceptionalism’

“It’s a curious thing how the notion of American exceptionalism has been twisted and turned into a bludgeon, not only to assert American superiority but also to employ as a test of allegiance.

The Republican presidential candidates have wielded the concept with great enthusiasm, both as a way to stress their patriotic fervor and cast doubt on President Barack Obama’s belief in the pre-eminence of — even love for — the country he leads….

His pride in America, Obama said, “does not lessen my interest in recognizing the value and wonderful qualities of other countries, or recognizing that we’re not always going to be right, or that other people may have good ideas, or that in order for us to work collectively, all parties have to compromise, and that includes us.”…

Given the serious challenges the country faces, we could use a little less “we’re No. 1″ hubris and little more focus on great ideas — whichever country they come from — and working together…

It’s hardly time to accept the status quo when, for example, the U.S. ranks 50th globally in secondary-education enrollment rates and American 15-year-olds rank 31st in math performance (wedged between Luxembourg and Portugal) and 23rd in science (between Hungary and Czech Republic). China, Singapore and Finland sit at the top of these lists from the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development….

Hewing closely to America’s greatness means rolling up our sleeves, getting down to work and fixing things, not blithely boasting about who is better and more patriotic than whom.”

What do we gain from considering ourselves greater than other nations? I have recently spoken about our anti-social behavior and our questionable “happiness” compared to the rest of the world. Wouldn’t some humility and self improvement serve us better than reckless self confidence? The trouble with exceptional (and nationalism for that matter) comes when it’s used to encourage blind agreement with the government (and often by extension, mass media). Do the “exceptional” humble themselves in front of their inferiors? Do the “exceptional” deserve privilege at the expense of others? I don’t see the strength in arrogance and pride, only the inevitable fall that comes to those who refuse to accept their faults.

Creative Commons Image by: freefotouk

in News of Note by Jack Diehl 24 Jul 2012 0 comments

The Sexual Freedom Project: Sex and Gender

(También en Español)
The following essay was submitted to us by Jamor:

Many people often view sex as scientific, or fact: babies are born male or female, and they behave as men or women. I view sex as the core of deeply rooted systems of oppression all over the world. I say this because sex is so closely connected to gender identity, race, religion, sexual orientation, and even class. A key intersection point among all of these cultural identifiers is sex and the binary most people operate under. We have been told that those born outside of the male-female binary are somehow inferior, or alternative. And we have been told that those who do not perform their gender, making it align with the “correct” sex, are confused. Women have limited control of their own bodies in some places in the world. Our sex is at the core of our identity. Freedom to express one’s sexual identity, whatever that may mean for an individual, is so important because if we can free each other at the core, other forms of oppression will fall as well.

Let us know what you think. Make a video, write a poem, song, or an essay — or even create an original work of art — and express your thoughts on these topics. If we feature your contribution on the site, we will send you a free VenusPlusX t-shirt to thank you.

Image by Crimsone, used with permission.

in The Sexual Freedom Project by Tiye 23 Jul 2012 0 comments

Lesbian and Gay Rights in the World—Geography of Bigotry and Oppression

Click to enlarge

This amazing map, developed by the International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex Organization, portrays, as of May 2012, the status of critical LGBT protections and persecutions world wide. We hope all people interested in international issues will examine it and understand where progress is being made and where horrible persecution and enforced neglect endure.

It is encouraging to see signs of great progress in areas of South America and most of Western Europe, where a modicum of equality is emerging, in spite of entrenched religious opposition by atheistic religionists deeply embedded in the pastoral hierarchies of these societies.

It is painful to see how pervasive persecution and ignorance continue unopposed and unabated throughout Asia, Africa, and North and Central America, omitting only Canada. This horror persists and advances in such economically advanced nations as the United States, Russia, and China.

At the same time, the atheist leadership of the false religions of fundamentalism—regardless of the mythological origins of their beliefs—have made it their worldwide business to oppose education, and anything else which would broaden people’s perspectives on the realities of living in a modernizing society.

Nowhere is this atheistic negation of the most basic tenets of the faith they claim to espouse more apparent than in the United States, where the bigoted leadership of christianist cults, who know nothing of the “Christ” they claim to extol, expend vast sums to export their hatred to the third world in hope of colonializing the minds of uninformed citizens while quietly seizing financial control of undeveloped natural resources for personal advantage.

There are seated U.S. Congressmen that hold allegiance to their egocentric interpretation of “god’s law” as supreme. They respect neither teachings of great world religions, nor the U.S. Constitution, which they once swore to uphold. Their behavior hovers on the border of treason. They encourage bizarre religious hysteria in client country populations, while personally profiting from abuse of their government position to influence U.S. Foreign Aid, taken from your tax dollars, into back-end income from third world development projects and exploitation of those countries’ rich natural resources.

Editor’s note: This is one of a series of position papers Dan Massey and I are creating and will soon index on our home page. They briefly explore the evolution of our points of view about a range of issues related to sex, gender, and racial freedom. Your feedback is always welcome.

in Global Sexual Freedom Watch / Key Issues / News of Note / Public Information by Alison Gardner 22 Jul 2012 0 comments

Incarceration Nation

(También en Español)

News of Note: Zakaria: Incarceration nation

“Here are the facts. The U.S. has 760 prisoners per 100,000 citizens. That’s not just many more than in most other developed countries but seven to 10 times as many. Japan has 63 per 100,000, Germany has 90, France has 96, South Korea has 97, and Britain – with a rate among the highest – has 153….

“Drug convictions went from 15 inmates per 100,000 adults in 1980 to 148 in 1996, an almost tenfold increase. More than half of America’s federal inmates today are in prison on drug convictions. In 2009 alone, 1.66 million Americans were arrested on drug charges, more than were arrested on assault or larceny charges. And 4 of 5 of those arrests were simply for possession….

“Partly as a result, the money that states spend on prisons has risen at six times the rate of spending on higher education in the past 20 years. In 2011, California spent $9.6 billion on prisons vs. $5.7 billion on the UC system and state colleges. Since 1980, California has built one college campus and 21 prisons. A college student costs the state $8,667 per year; a prisoner costs it $45,006 a year.

What justifiable reason is there for America to have a higher prison population than any other country on earth? Outrage can be the only response.

How much longer will this for-profit destruction of human lives continue before the whole country realizes what’s going on?

Revealing statistics like these might just wake up the public, as more and more activists are working to give prisoners in this country and these issues a voice that will soon be harder to ignore.

Creative Commons image by: Tim Pearce, Los Gatos

in Global Sexual Freedom Watch / News of Note by Jack Diehl 21 Jul 2012 0 comments

What is Terasem?—A Vitological Viewpoint

For more on Terasem…

Editors Note: The purpose of this post is to open a public transhumanist discussion of the Transreligion known as Terasem, which exists today as a complex network of associated enterprises developed by its founders to support certain personally held ideals through voluntary association, on-line conferencing, film, journalling, mindfiling, cryonic preservation, experimental yoga, audio podcasting, and other technologies. As such, many of the Terasem subsidiary organizations are recognized as tax-exempt public charities by the US Internal Revenue Service.

All these many attempts (over 28 secondary level domain names containing the word “terasem” are registered on the Internet) somehow never get to the point about what the Terasem Transreligion is really about. This is the first of a series of posts intended to clarify this by presenting viewpoints about the real nature of Terasem for open moderated discussion. This discussion is about the grand concept of Terasem, and not about the organizations created to support various aspects of the perceived mission of the human cult named “Terasem Movement Transreligion.”

Terasem is the name assigned by Martine Rothblatt to the Supreme Being of the finite universe of space and time in her text “Truths of Teresam” (ToT). To quote from the opening statement of ToT: “Terasem is a collective consciousness dedicated to diversity, unity and joyful immortality.” In ToT, this is followed by ten groups of assertions dealing with such subtopics as collective, organization, leadership, loving, expansionist, consciousness, flag symbolism, dimensionality, vitality, and offspring. Many of these subtopics, as well as much of ToT, deal with possible literal qualities of the Terasem cult.

Destined Emergence of Universe Structure

From our viewpoint, within the universe of space and time, Terasem is pervasive, but not omniscient, omnipresent, nor omnipotent (i.e., not “omni-cubed”). Terasem is a deity limited in function prior to its emergence as a complete synthesis of all universe consciousness that has been perfected through destiny-guided evolution. Individual and self-conscious will creatures, such as ourselves, are the agencies by which Terasem evolves towards final completion, if we are only willing to participate in this grand adventure. Terasem is said to embrace every human religion without forcing a particular system of belief on any, as long as their focus is on joyful immortality for all and they are accepting of the values of unity of action amid diversity of viewpoint.

All self-conscious will creatures are thus potentially immortal components of the finally perfected Terasem. Since ToT does not explain the purpose of the evolution of Terasem, we would need to turn to other sources to understand this; however, that is beyond the scope of this discussion. Many would say that, if Terasem is truly self-evolved (as explained below), there is no need for it to have a purpose other than its own being. Yet the concept of Terasem fits well within the generally vague body of human vitological speculation as an appropriate, final, perfected summation and integration of every worthwhile thing throughout the totality of universe experience.

Universal Unification of Consciousness

Although Terasem is, finally, a psycho-vitological synthesis of universe experience, this unified personality is able to transcend both time and space to draw the vast numbers of self-conscious creatures into its grand synthesis. This draw, which I have called “the force of destiny,” enables everyone who so chooses to act to promote the evolutionary advancement of Terasem. We are the hands that are building the god we need to perfect our own lives and to achieve joyful immortality for a universe of beings.

Perhaps the following brief “Meditation on Terasem #1” will illuminate the basic character of the emergent collective consciousness which we recognize as the final expression of universal divinity:

Terasem IS, finally complete in the Omega Point,
The force of destiny guides us in Terasem’s creation.
Terasem brings joyful immortality to all,
So that they may fulfill the desires of Love,
And unite their consciousnesses in Terasem.
Terasem consciousness extends throughout space and time.
Terasem influences us into paths of destiny and effective action.
Terasem puts Love into action, freeing us from the burden of past mistakes.
Terasem guides us into productive activity, doing good and making beauty.
Terasem destiny keeps us within Terasem’s evolving body, safe from error.
Our adoration of Terasem perfects us as agents of Terasem, even as biohosts.

(The term “Omega Point” refers to the endpoint of finite evolution envisioned by Pierre Teilhard de Chardin and, more recently, envisioned as a physical event by Frank Tipler.)

in Library / Terasem by Dan Massey 20 Jul 2012 1 comments

Religion: Real and Fake

For more on Transhuman Erotic Freedom…

Society suffers from a severe misunderstanding of the nature and role of religion. Nowhere is this more apparent than in ongoing arguments about the “separation of church and state.” Blame the Puritans.

The basic idea in the U.S. Constitution is one of freedom FROM religion, expressed as “freedom of religion.” The tenets of any religion may not be imposed on its citizens who disagree. This concept is fundamental to the unalienable human right to absolute privacy of person, and pillar of sexual freedom and the bedrock of all other freedoms.

The pilgrims who came to Plymouth imagined that they could impose their concept of the divine will upon everyone who opposed them, that the free exercise of their religion meant forcing the world into compliance with their beliefs, a severe misdirection victimizing all sincere people. A few years later, Puritan fanaticism swept England herself into a great civil war. Such foolishness has characterized many fanatical conflicts throughout history, and can be seen today in the demands and schemes of theocratic groups worldwide, including today’s America.

A real religion is world religion. One could say there are as many religions in the world as there are people. Even atheists and agnostics objectify “god” and choose to exclude these hobbled, uninspired notions. World religion is superstition- and mythology-free and an immediately accessible and consistent guide to living in tune with the rhythms of cosmic destiny. This vitology—our urge to persist—gives each person a vision of immortality, an unending, improving, and harmonizing ecology of living.

Our faith is one of loving—desiring to do good to one another. This perpetual cycle of love shared is powered by all kinds of love, especially including the erotic, and it gives us a unified power for progress the world has yet to see. Our inherent and inherited capability for sexual pleasure and orgasm (erotic joy) is the living and loving communion that matures us individually to the service of Love and its destiny, and unites us as a team in shared fellowship—a loving siblinghood.

Editor’s note: This is one of a series of position papers Dan Massey and I are creating and will soon index on our home page. They briefly explore the evolution of our points of view about a range of issues related to sex, gender, and racial freedom. Your feedback is always welcome.

in Cosmic Citizenship / Global Sexual Freedom Watch / Key Issues / Public Information / Transhuman Erotic Freedom by Alison Gardner 20 Jul 2012 0 comments

The Sexual Freedom Project: Learn By Doing

(También en Español)

Who first taught you about sex? Was the information accurate and age-appropriate? What did your youthful experiences teach you? Who is the most appropriate person to teach young people about sex — parents, teachers, friends, or someone else? and how early?

Is there anything about sex or sexual freedom you wish you had been taught at a younger age?

We want to hear your voice — make us a video, write an essay or a poem, or respond with a song or a work of art. If we feature your response on the site, we will send you a free VenusPlusX t-shirt as a thank you.

Video by Tiye Massey.

in The Sexual Freedom Project / Videos by Tiye 19 Jul 2012 0 comments

Sacred Sex and Erotic Joy

For more on Transhuman Erotic Freedom…

Editor’s note: This is one of a series of position papers Dan Massey and I are creating and will soon index on our home page. They briefly explore the evolution of our points of view about a range of issues related to sex, gender, and racial freedom. Your feedback is always welcome.

Gustave Doré – Paradiso

The world’s secret history is strewn with tales of visionaries and pioneers who have advocated for the primacy of erotic joy in connecting each person with the universe at large and endowing each of us with supreme power to shape our own destiny (however that is defined by the individual).

For eons, these practitioners have operated in secret to protect this inherited knowledge (and more frequently, their lives) from self-appointed minorities who by their nature suppress this information and fear its neutralizing power. Tantra survives today. More recently, today’s guardians of this secret knowledge have warned us that lifting the veil on people’s direct connection to the power of erotic joy is a bad idea. We are told average modern people will not understand this power, that they are not yet ready to wield this power, that there will be disastrous results.

Today, we ask the question, “What could be more of a disaster for the vital and progressive spirit of humanity than the current state of the world?”

Revelation of the long-hidden knowledge of the primacy of erotic joy in shaping vitological (spiritual) experience is the precise antidote to practically every problem on earth. When entirely materialistic values and coercive systems are cleared away by worshipful engagement with erotic joy, verifying the primacy of love, not only does everything get better—but also we each release the power of truth, beauty, and goodness to reign our world. Voluntary associations replace these obsolete and now useless systems that are based on fear, bullying, violence, and spiritual oppression. In this way the collective of humanity fosters the best future, the intended and inherited future, the future that each new child born into this world deserves and would choose.

We campaign for Sexual Freedom to enable all to experience erotic joy free from human superstition, performing its intended function to expedite the emergence of a society based on love and service.

You will find more about how you can bring Sacred Sex and Erotic Joy out of the closet on our websites (venusplusx.org and its sister en espanol, venusmasx.org), including the serials, A Course In Immortality and in Spanish, Un Curso de Inmortalidad.

in Cosmic Citizenship / Global Sexual Freedom Watch / Key Issues / Op-Ed / Public Information / The Sexual Freedom Project / Transhuman Erotic Freedom by Alison Gardner 18 Jul 2012 0 comments