Category: Booty Politics

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Booty Politics Politics Religion Sex

Shame on you, North Carolina.

Oh North Carolina.

You exhaust me.

I am cynical enough that I wasn’t surprised by the news that North Carolina voted for an amendment to their state constitution to ban same sex marriage. As if their law banning it wasn’t enough. Better make it double secret safe.

If you have to defend it that hard, when do you come to the realization that obviously your opinions are getting a little silly and outdated.

30 states in the nation are so afraid that they gays might ruin the sanctity of their god fearing marriages that they won’t allow consenting adults to do what they damn please.

One day we’ll get it right, but until then, le sigh…

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Booty Politics Politics Sex

Republicans in Your Vagina

Republicans, Get In My Vagina! from Kate Beckinsale

I need a republican to get in my vagina.

It is seriously one of those things that you just can’t reconcile.

Alas, there are moments of hilarity.

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Booty Politics Sex

Vag Lightening Cream.

Some things are so rage inducing that they cause you to start a blog.

I’ve been enraged by Fair and Lovely, a skin lightening cream used in Africa and India that bleaches your skin with the intent of making you whiter, and therefore somehow more attractive. I studied abroad in Kenya when I was an undergrad, and I promise you that people actually use this heinous. One of my homestay sisters would very casually apply it, and when I pressed her for details about it, would simply say “oh, it’s just my cream.” It’s so horrifying that we assign so much importance to whiteness that people freely apply this crap to their bodies that there is no way I can address all of the implications in one blog.

I’ve also been equally or possibly more enraged by My New Pink Button. MNPB is a “temporary dye to restore the youthful pink color back to your labia.” It’s apparently supposed to keep your lady bits looking young since as we age we get “genital color loss.” Oh, and when we make babies. Dirty stuff that.

Women don’t need another thing they are comparing themselves to other women about or another way to live up to a non-existent ideal. Especially when inevitable differences like age and race are being fetishized. And when the process of getting there “burns.” I’ve researched a bunch and haven’t found any ingredients yet. But the chemicals that are in MNPB cannot possibly be okay to put anywhere near your vag. (Especially if they don’t even have the gall to list the ingredients on the website!)

And now we’ve really done it by combining the two. Clean and Dry is a great new product that will leave you “fresher, cleaner, fairer!” As if the idea of douching isn’t insane enough already, preying on the most ridiculous of lady insecurities, this product is bleaching while douching, and that’s just perfect.

One of the ads portrays an (already light skinned) couple clearly not having enough sex. But somehow this lightening douche magically makes everything more magical again. How is it possible that we have taken racism and sexism so far and so intertwined as to be disrupting our poor lady bits in such a foul manner? It makes me so sad that in some ways we have come so far, but in the ways that matter, we are still so far from having figured it out.

Everyone has different colored vaginas. That’s fact. Whatever natural stat your labia/vulva/vag/general lady parts are in is beautiful and perfect. Don’t go fucking with products like this to make em more appealing. Gross! There is no normal vag color, and thank god. Yours is right.

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Booty Politics Politics Religion Sex

The (sexist) week in review.

The week in review.

So, this has been an enraging week. On so many levels. I feel like I was so overwhelmed with all the mayhem I couldn’t even bring myself to blog about it every day. So here is the week in review. All of my rage in a quick summary.

We had PETA’s not so surprising ad campaign depicting a vegan boyfriend fucking a girl so good she ends up with a broken neck.

We had the grammys welcoming Chris Brown with open and forgiving arms a mere 3 years after he beat then-girlfriend Rihanna just nights before the grammys.

There was the male dominated birth control hearing, producing the now infamous photo of dudes making crucial contraception decisions.

Let’s not forget Virginia’s new bill that would require women who want and abortion to get an ultrasound.

And finally, we had the charming and quaint declaration of millionaire backer of Rick Santorum that “gals” should just hold an aspirin between their knees as a form of contraception. I had one of those moments thinking that Foster Friess is like your creepy sexist uncle of yours who keeps saying inappropriate shit and you know one day you are just gonna crack and yell at him for being a sexists fuck. Then I realized I actually have that uncle. And he actually said that aspirin thing and old dudes actually think things like that.

Friess is responsible for about 40% of the funds of this super PAC behind Rick Santorum. As if money in politics wasn’t bad enough before, it simply baffles me that super PAC’s ever became acceptable. Can’t we just immediately outlaw shit that insane? Without thinking about it, debating it, or mulling it over? Super PAC’s make it possible for one sexist old man to nearly singlehandedly support one crazy candidate and have it be somehow okay.

I feel like the best option here would just be to embarrass the crap out of the man. “Oh, btdubs, Foster, you could actually still fuck with your knees together. Have you never had sex from behind? Oh, you are totally missing out, you should try it sometime.”

There is never going to be an acceptable contraceptive solution that suggests we all be a little more prudish. So just get the fuck over it. People fuck. They don’t necessarily want babies. This isn’t the 1950’s.

As far as I can tell, this week needs to simply vanish. I mean really.

The one and only moment of sanity in all this madness:

Thank god for constructive comedy.

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Booty Politics Politics Sex

Porn

Ladies and Gentlemen of the world. Porn is fine. It’s okay to watch it. Sometimes it’s even good and healthy and awesome to watch it. Don’t be embarrassed that you watch it. Don’t be jealous that your lover watches it. Don’t be hard on your teenager if you catch them watching it. Sex is fascinating. It’s normal and healthy and good. Watching other people have sex can have a profound and life changing impact. Short of getting to watch your close friends that you are comfortable with have sex, watching porn may be the next best. You can learn from good porn. See something you have never thought of. Learn something new. Become inspired. Be awed by the varied shapes, sizes, wants, needs and desires of different people and bodies.

Obviously there is some debate about the merits of porn re: whether or not it’s a healthy portrayal of women, how they want to be treated (or should be treated), what they should like or want, and what their bodies should look like. I know there are plenty of feminists who will argue that the negatives far outweigh the benefits of the porn industry. But I say this. Just stop watching shitty porn. You have simply got to see good feminist porn.

It’s hard to find, so I’ve sorted a few starting points out for you.

Tristan Taormino is absolutely my favorite porn director/sex educator. She has the most feminist bad ass approach to pornography and hot/sexy/informative sex education. The first film of hers I ever saw was The Ultimate Guide to Anal Sex for Woman. She somehow combines an informative how-to video with some hot damn porn. You can be into anal sex or not, I would recommend checking this out as a good intro to how porn can be more than grody degrading cum shots.

For feminist porn that isn’t instructional in nature, take a look at her Chemistry series. This is a brilliant, hot, unscripted porn series where she hires porn stars, puts them in a house together for a weekend, and films them fucking. It is so good. If you have a hard time getting into the idea of porn but are still compelled to take a look, start with this. Complete with interviews with the actors/actresses; it’s fascinating and hot.

I could go on about Tristan forever, but i will let you do some exploring on your own.

Annie Sprinkle! Goddess of Sex! So her porn is a little dated, but her books are fucking outstanding. It’s a stellar look into her life. Her website is a great resource for a sex positive outlook. One of her best contributions to society was the Public Cervix Announcement. As a post-porn performance artist, Annie did a performance piece where she invited the audience to the stage to take a look at her cervix. Thank you, Annie!

violet blue. Author of The Smart Girls Guide to Porn, violet blue knows her feminist porn. I admit that there was a time in my life I though I needed to be against porn to be a feminist. Fuck that! Porn can be fun if you have a positive approach to it and can feel good about the actors/actresses.

And of course Nina Hartley is simply a classic with a lot of great stuff to say. As a veteran of the porn industry, folks have a lot to learn from her. One of my favorite quotes from her regarding the possibility of men taking a degrading lesson from porn: “Watching pornography to find out about how sex works is like watching a James Bond movie to find out how spies do their job.” (Read the whole interview at Jezebel. Don’t love everything she says, but do love and respect everything about her. Porn is political for sure.)

Also, youporn dot com is fine for some porn access (you can even find sasha grey on there), but it’s best to be selective about what you are watching so you know you are getting the good stuff. I recommend finding what you like and feeling good and healthy about it before going there.

I’m sure I’ll post more about porn someday when the news has lots to say about the porn industry, but this is just a little intro. Porn doesn’t have to be degrading. Watch it alone, watch it with your partner. Turn it off when you don’t like it. Discuss it. Do it. Enjoy! Sex is for fun and exploration. Porn doesn’t have to be a bad place to start.

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Booty Politics

Author Introduction: Sexually Oriented

I spend most of my time getting riled up about gender, sexuality and feminism. When I’m not thinking about or writing about sex, I’m doing it.  Maybe it’s the other way around. if I’m not doing it, I’m writing or thinking about it. Needless to say, sex, sexuality, and sex education are all very important to me. I’ve had phases of my life where I’ve been passionate about things besides sex, but it remains the one constant. Sex can be simultaneously highly political and highly personal.  Given that, most things can be examined through a sexual lens.

Through my experiences, both good and bad, I’ve come to the conclusion that talking about sex and sexuality is of the utmost importance to me. And short of getting a job at a sex toy shop, blogging is my next best outlet.

So hopefully this blog will introduce you and me both to the always new and always changing thoughts on the matter at hand, as well as challenge everyone’s long ingrained thought patterns. I’m very open minded but won’t take any shit.  So let’s do this. enjoy!

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Booty Politics

Author Introduction: Shane

Hi Everyone, my name is Shane.

I guess if we are going to be spending some quality blog time together you might want to know a bit about the guy behind the screen. Lets start with the boring stuff, I am a man, mostly (gender politics is something I think about a lot), in my 30’s, I ride bicycles, I love science, politics, art, technology, am overly logical, and have very little patience for religion.

I have done my fair share of dating, and been involved in a lot of different kinds of relationships. I wouldn’t say I am kinky, but I am not vanilla either. I would like to consider myself open minded, and will try most anything once (or twice, its important to have a good sample size). Human relationships fascinate me, and I tend to approach them from a scientific point of view. I am highly political and would qualify myself as a proud (but cynical) liberal.

Overall I tend to be interested in the science of sex, the politics of sex, gender, and the many different ways people choose to form human relationships. I hope you will enjoy reading my blog posts, and feel free to contact me with any questions.

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Booty Politics

Lets Get This Party Started

Nothing is more fascinating than human relationships. There is so much involved in the complex dance of human interaction. Not just sex, but the politics of sex, a broad array of cultural artifacts that have grown up around sex, the recent science of sex, and so much more. Around here we think its one of the few things worth talking about for hours at a time.

We here at booty politics plan to take a hard look at the entire thing. We are a handful of sex positive folks with a penchant for saying “I wanna write a paper about that!” We don’t like to toot our own horn, but this isn’t our first rodeo. We have some experience with various types of relationships, a good knowledge of sex, and even a smattering of science. We think we have a unique perspective on this stuff, and we hope you enjoy it.