Lets talk about sex: 2014

Tuesday, April 29, 2014

Attack on Sexual Liberalism??

BY Janae Clark
Sex sells is what they say. We see this all over the media, ads that are consumed with sexual images and body parts. Sometimes you get so distracted by the sexual images that you’re not even paying attention to what’s actually trying to be sold. While sex may indeed sell it seems to be that only one particular sex sells and that seems to be the female body. 96% of ads that use sexual images are of women and only 4% are made up of sexual images from men. The statistics while maybe not surprising should be at least slightly alarming to you. The ads never focus on the woman as a whole, they only focus on certain body parts of women making them into parts and not an entire person.(1) Some may say “oh well women do the ads so it must be okay“, well if this is what our culture says its okay for women to be than that’s very well all we will become. I believe that this is something our society needs to work on changing. We need to start seeing women as a whole and not as simply whatever body parts males find attractive at the time. A man gets viewed as a whole person and I believe that women should have that right too. I do however foresee problems with accomplishing this goal. Our sex culture is so tied into what we see on the media that I wonder how our society would view it if we try to remove women and men from being used as sexual objects on ads. Sex is everywhere we go so that makes it easy to believe that our sexual liberalism is tied into the women that we see being objectified on the TV ads. If most of society see these ads and the objectification of women as our sexual liberalism than a lobby to try to change this could easily be seen as an attack on our sexual liberalism and could be part of the conservative backlash that comes with said sexual liberalism. I don’t want to see us back in that 50s’ state of mind because we tried to promote women as a whole and it got mistaken for conservatism. Conservatism is always going to be there it is around during every sexually liberal era and I don’t want to give the conservative nature that I see subtly taking over in our laws become a more open and dominate way of thinking. I for one believe that sexual liberalism is important to have because I think it promotes a safe and healthy culture that realizes that sex is a natural thing that we shouldn’t have to hide or be ashamed of, but I also believe that we aren’t going about it the right way right now. What we should be thinking about as a society is the right way to go about changing what we see on the ads without it being mistaken for an attack on our sexual liberalism. I believe that we need to educate ourselves on what sexual liberalism really is and how it’s supposed to look like. I feel that once we do that we as a whole country will be better able to meet the needs of everybody and we will understand that what we see on the TV ads is not sexual liberalism and it is not what our sex culture should be based around.

1.
Moore, Crystal . "The Contemporary Crisis in Sexuality." Lecture, April 29, 2014.

The War on Sex

Linnea Hoops

April Blog

19H

The War on Sex

The time period that we are now living in has taken a spin to a more conservative viewpoint when it comes to sex in America. Hugh Hefner says that we have a “War on Sex” (1). Hefner has seen a lot when it comes to sex and sexuality since the 1950’s when he first published playboy. Hefner believes that fifty years of sexual freedom vanished in a sound bite (1).

It is said that private sexual matters are more liberal, but everything that is public such as birth control, abortion, pornography and homosexuality are conservative and this is causing the War on Sex (2).

Many politicians from the right side feel that women shouldn’t have access to Birth Control (2). I don’t agree with this what so ever and either do most Christians. Birth Control is used for more than just preventing pregnancy. Birth Control can reduce a heavy cycle, regulate a cycle, and even do things to help with ovarian cysts. Without birth control I believe that pregnancy in all ages would sky rocket and people who don’t want to get pregnant any maybe cannot afford a child at this time would get pregnant. If someone doesn’t have a lot of money or access to birth control, that person and all their children would have to be on welfare, which just adds to all the other people that are already on it. I think it is very interesting that republicans don’t want birth control in our society, but things like penis pumps and Viagra have been covered by Medicaid for a while (2). I think this is particular interesting because the ratio of men to women in politics is a lot to a little. If there were more equal representation for women in politics then I think more people would be on board for birth control.

Another matter that has been hot with this conservative viewpoint that has taken over again is abortion. Roe v. Wade mad abortion legal as long as the fetus was not able to live outside of the fetus in 1973 (2). I think if you make abortion illegal it will cause many more lower class births and those people and their children would be added to welfare just like the people who would lack birth control.

The third topic that has been in the spotlight is the outlaw of pornography. The Republican Party has tried to outlaw this as well (2). I personally don’t really have an opinion about whether pornography should be legal or not. I do believe that it degrades women and makes men think that all sex should be what they see in porn, which is wrong.

The last topic that has been viral in politics lately is perhaps my favorite: homosexuality. Obviously conservatives will fight until their death to not let homosexual relationships become marriages. I think that everyone should have the right to marry anyone they want regardless of the gender of each persons involved in the relationship. I also think that the people who think homosexual marriages ruins marriage for them, are to put it blunt, ignorant. The only person ruining your heterosexual marriage because homosexual marriage is legal is yourself. Many people argue that homosexuality is against everything in the bible, but premarital sex and divorce is as well. So what makes premarital sex and divorce allowed to republicans, but not homosexuality?

Overall I really hope that this conservative viewpoint in America can switch to a liberal viewpoint.

11. “Hugh Hefner blast the GOP’s war on sex.” Last modified October 2, 2013, http://www.msnbc.com/the-last-word/hugh-hefner-blasts-the-gops-war-sex

22. Moore, Crystal. “The Contemporary Crisis in Sexuality.” Class Lecture, April 29, 2014.

Sex in '69 by Danny Karrs

Danny Karrs

Sex in ‘69

4/29/14

Sex in ’69 was a documentary about all the changes happening in the year 1969. There was a big push for sexual liberalism in the late 60s. After the super conservative, perfect picket fence, living in the suburbs life of the 50s and early 60s. I feel that one of the main contributors to this push for liberal ideas was a man named Alfred Kinsey. Kinsey did a lot of anonymous research about sex and how it was being done and who was doing it. When his two books hit the public there was a bunch of controversy regarding the content and the detail that he used in them. This is a forerunner as a catalyst for the Free Love Movement. The Free Love Movement was a main cause of the sexual revolution; it was a bunch of rebellious young people defying what society deemed to be normal. This got very extreme in some cases but it simmered down and the true meaning behind it all was a more liberal view of relationships, marriage, youth culture, and sexuality. [1]

Breaking conservative barriers was a theme throughout the movie. Whether it was doing LSD and having sex, going to a resort and having sex with someone next to your husband or wife who was doing the same, Jim Morrison pulling his penis out on stage, the rise of playboy, the push for gay rights, or the black man white woman relationship that were “oh so taboo”. Some of these trends died out kind of quickly, others transformed as the time changed, and others we’re still fighting today. Things like playboy and gay rights are still controversies today, they just transformed into what’s relevant today. For example we shouldn’t be objectifying women and using them in objectifying ways. Gay rights have changed into marriage and not being judged whereas in 69 they were just fighting for a place for them to hang out and meet other gay people. [1]

There’s a lot of changes in views of sexuality in sex in ’69, I feel the biggest was the thought of a black man having feelings for a white woman and the fact that she has feelings for him too really broke down barriers in the public eye. This really caused uproar with black females and ultimately caused them to worry more about how they looked to try and compete with the white women. This really interests me cause the same thing is occurring today, and I feel it will keep happening more and more until we are all then same color in which people will want to be different and separate themselves to accomplish this. [1]

References

1. Page, Mark. Sex in '69. 2009. History Channel, Film.

Porn and relationships

Porn and relationships Courtney Holland

Porn has become so popular that it makes billions of dollars each year. “Porn revenue is larger than all combined revenues of all professional football, baseball, and basketball franchises (57+ billion dollars annually).”1 Porn can do damage to a relationship especially for those people who abuse porn and watch it every day. Porn can create false expectations that one may want their partner to have when in reality the people in the porn videos do not even look like that their selves. Porn shows these air bushed and perfect bodies but in reality nobody is perfect. People go searching for women who are just as perfect as what they see on the TV screen and that is not going to happen unless they are air brushed. Nothing authentic exists as such perfection. Porn is simply fantasy. Porn gives off the perception of long stamina when in reality; men reach climax a lot quicker. There are porn videos that last and hour or two but in reality men typically do not last that long. Porn also has effects on the brain and your body. “Some report that the average time for men to have intercourse before ejaculating is 4 minutes, while a recent article in Men’s Health says 8-12 minutes. The Penguin Atlas of Sexual Human Behavior says it lasts about 15-20 minutes. The Kinsey Institute reports that 75% of all males reach orgasm within 2 minutes of penetration; thus pushing the average down to 3-5 minutes. In other words, men differ from one another sexually (especially through nature and nurture) to be able to pinpoint any true average.” 2 You do not have to live up to these false expectations. “Watching degrading porn increases users’ dominating and harassing behavior toward women and give them less compassion for rape victims. They often have increasingly hostile/aggressive sexual fantasies.”1 This can cause unhealthy desires and standards wanted from a partner. The more frequent you use it the more money you send and the more depressed and lonely you can become. “Clinical research shows pornographic images create chemically encoded messages on the brain that can remain through adulthood. Human memory is formed in part by the release of the chemical epinephrine, which, upon emotional arousal, leaves behind an imprint on the brain.”1 This shows the psychological and physical effects it has on the brain. It is health to stay away from porn. Not only can if damage your pockets as far as money but it can be abusive to you and your relationship.[i]

1Moore, Crystal. Sexual Commerce in Contemporary America. 2014.

2"Sexual Health - Men Message Board ." Health Boards (blog), october , 2002. http://www.healthboards.com/boards/sexual-health-men/128736-average-ejaculation-time.html (accessed April 29, 2014).

Larry Flynt and his sexual revolution by Lewis Jones

Larry Flynt is the founder and creator of Hustler magazine. Mr. Flynt was got into the porn publishing business when he was 32, after opining a successful chain of high end nude bars. Hustler was the first magazine to show open vulva while other magazines like Playboy and Penthouse were only showing pubic hair. His idea to show open vulva in his magazine wasn’t received well by Americans. Along with the vulva showing Mr. Flynt was also able to acquire nude photos of first lady at the time Jacqueline Kennedy. His first year issuing the magazine sales were around $375,000 in 1976 which is $1,514,236.60 in 2014. With the showing of his very vulgar pictures of the time Mr. Flynt faced and beat many lawsuits by standing and pushing the first amendment to its brinks. Larry Flint was also known for his wild antics in the court room. For instance during one of his trials h wore and American flag as a diaper and said “if you’re going to treat me like a baby I’m going to act like one”[1]. On another occasion he would have his models and prostitutes come into the courtroom carrying huge bags of cash for no reason. Larry Flynt was so important to the sexual revolution and sex history in general is because he broke down many obscenity laws and even to this day he fight and find controversial topics to put in his magazine. To this day Mr. Flynt puts an ad in the New York Post that gives a million dollar reward to anyone that has scandalous information on any politician. He even offered Cassie Anthony half a million dollars to pose for his magazine[2]. She declined but everyone from the inside of his organization begged him not to do it. Also from the very beginning Hustler never had the same type of girls as Playboy or Penthouse did. In Hustler he gave a wide variation of races and body shapes and sizes. The reason Mr. Flynt had an attempted assassination on his life which left him in a wheel chair was because they showed an interracial couple in his magazine in 1978. Mr. Flynt was also a visionary he saw the rise of the internet and decided he had to be different from other free sight so he decided to publish porn parodies of popular movies. Over the years Larry Flynt has built the most powerful and successful business in porn. While Hustler magazine may be dying Mr. Flynt is always evolving and changing.

[1] YouTube. "Larry Flynt's latest gamble." YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VJRA73SOtaQ (accessed April 30, 2014).

[2] Magazine, Vice . "Larry Flynt and His Porn Empire." YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uSuwzawP5gI (accessed April 30, 2014).