Tag: abortion

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Politics Sex

Teen Pregnancy AND Abortions At All Time Lows

The cause of these welcome changes? Effective and widespread use of contraceptive. Suck it abstinence only education, only the widespread use of contraceptive has been shown to reduce both teen pregnancy, and abortion.

Teen birth rates have dropped yet again, reaching a historic low, and the number of babies being born early or with a low birth weight has also declined, a new U.S. government report shows.

Many factors may account for the improvement, experts say.

“We talk more about teen pregnancy, the responsibility of having a child and how difficult it is to be a teen mom. We also talk about contraception and abstinence more,” explained Dr. Jill Rabin, chief of ambulatory care, obstetrics and gynecology at Long Island Jewish Medical Center, in New Hyde Park, N.Y.

“Adults have to remember we’re fighting the adolescent sex drive that developed as a matter of survival of the species,” Rabin said. “It’s important to remember the three I’s when you’re working with teens. They think they’re immortal, invincible and infertile. We have to convince them otherwise and dispel the myths, and the message needs repetition.”

As for the decrease in preterm and low-birth-weight babies, Rabin noted that “prenatal care is getting better, and the message of the importance of prenatal care is getting out there.”(via)

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After years of holding steady, new Center for Disease Control data shows that the United States abortion rate has fallen to an all-time low. It dropped 5 percent between 2008 and 2009, the most recent years for which data is available, the largest decline in the past decade.
The big question for public health researchers is: Why? What was different in 2008, that might have lead to this downtick in abortions?

The answers seem to have less to do with economic trends, as some have suggested, and potentially more about the more effective contraceptives women are increasingly using.
The CDC data can tell us a bit of this story. Alongside the drop in the overall number of abortions, the agency also found a decline in the abortion ratio. That figure measures the number of pregnancies terminated for every 1,000 live births. That number dropped too, from 232 in 2008 down to 227 in 2009, a 2 percent decrease. That suggests that the story here isn’t just about fewer pregnancies. We can see in the data that the decisions women make after becoming pregnant are playing a role, with more deciding to continue with the pregnancy rather than terminate.(via)

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Booty Politics Politics Sex

Republicans & Rape

Okay this shit is getting really fucking ridiculous. I keep having these waves of anger about politics that make me forget we are talking about rape for a minute.

I really don’t usually listen to the “regular” news, like the ABC, NBC, Fox, CNN sorta news. Mostly I just read the paper. But I fascinated by the politicking in the Todd Akin rape conversation. I went so far as to listen to Hannity interview him.

So yeah, all those major republicans from Romney to Ashcroft to asked him to get out of the race. It’s fascinating that he is hella set on running, saying that the people voted for him and they want him, so he’s going to stick to it and run. If he loses, republicans may not have control of the senate. Which is exactly why they want to distance themselves. They don’t actually believe anything different, they just need to win that seat so they have control.

But the thing is, it’s kind of brilliant that he said it. It’s like one of those brief glimpses into the true psyche of someone who thinks we still live in the 1950’s. It doesn’t matter that he’s since apologized and said that he was in fact medically incorrect when he said a legitimate rape wouldn’t produce a baby. He slipped and said something that people actually think. I kind of love when that happens. Better we know now than when he already was in office. Terrifying, but fascinating. And now all those dudes who totally secretly agree with him, at least in some way are having to denounce what he said.

But just yesterday, the Republican party drafted a platform that includes anti-abortion legislation so strict that exceptions would not be made in the case of rape or incest.

So yeah, the republicans have to distance themselves from him because there has been such a backlash regarding what he said. You know it’s real bad when even Rush Limbaugh says it’s stupid. But it’s all about the politics of it. They just want that seat. They don’t care a hoot about actually protecting a mother who would have the trauma of carrying a baby born out of a rape. A baby is a baby is a baby, and they think that baby should just get born.

To make you feel a little less horrible about the hoopla this week, there is feminist obabma and a beautiful song on how to know it’s legit rape. Okay and here is a clip of true emotion from Biden earlier this year on rape.

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Just like when Obama said “rape is rape” and I felt it was real and good to hear, I really like what Biden says here.

I don’t care that he’s a dude and he’s “in charge” or any of that shit. He actually gets that you can’t just go around saying there are levels of rape. One rape isn’t worse or more rape than another rape. It’s just all around fucked up. Hopefully this will help us understand that.

Categories
Booty Politics Politics

Legitimate Rape

Todd Akin, the Republican nominee for Senate in Missouri seems wicked hella smart having talked to “doctors” who let him know the real truth – that if a rape is “legitimate” the female body will get all fancy and will “shut that whole thing down.” Now it would be lovely if your body would just reject the sperm of a rapist, but that’s sadly not based in anything medical whatsoever.

Then he goes on to say if “maybe that didn’t work, or something” the woman should still not be allowed to have an abortion, because the rapist should be punished, not the child.

Medical nonsense aside, is this man serious? Does he get to decide what a “legitimate” rape is?!

It’s actually kind of chilling.

I’m sure if he had the biological ability to have a child and got raped, he’d totally keep that baby, if his body magically decided that rape was legit, of course.

Fucking sick.

Categories
Booty Politics Politics

Vagina.

Rep. Lisa Brown made me so happy today when I heard she’ll be performing The Vagina Monologues today on the steps of the capital with Eve Ensler.

The general lack of use of the word vagina always blows my mind. People. It’s a body part. For realsies. You are going to discuss and debate abortions on the floor of congress and not say the word vagina?

When I was a day care teacher it always took me by surprise how much penis is said when compared to how little vagina is said. All the kids learn the word penis. Boys have a penis. Dads have a penis. Look at that kids penis. I have a penis. I am learning to pee with my penis. The parents say penis. The teachers say penis. Everyone is talking lots about penises. Especially when toilet training. Girls have not a penis. It’s like why are we indoctrinating them to think this way. So early! When we could be really impacting them, so young. Boys have a penis. Girls do not have a penis. This is NOT how we should be presenting it to kids.

Back to the point. SAY VAGINA. Say it in abortion debates. Say it to kids learning about their bodies. Say it on the steps of the fucking capital. Yeeeeah!

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Booty Politics Politics

Planned Parenthood endorses Obama

Planned Parenthood rarely endorses a candidate, but they just endorsed Obama today.

With all the nonsense we have been up against in the past few months fighting to support very basic things like birth control, the idea of a Romney presidency is terrifying for sure.

Whether or not you feel jazzed about politics, think Obama has been a let down, or don’t think your vote matters, I personally think it’s important to consider the alternative. These are the moments where it actually matters who the president is. No need to go back into the dark ages on birth control, abortion, and access to basic women’s health care.

Categories
Booty Politics Sex

Helpful Sex Resources

I can’t help but directly plagiarize myself, since next to ranting, I think the most important thing about blogging is getting people access to information.
Here is a brief list of links that I think may be helpful.
xox

GENERAL SEX INFO/EDUCATION:
Scarleteen: Sex Education for the Real World.
I can’t really recommend this blog enough. It’s upbeat, thorough and informative. Never judgmental, i wish i had this resource when i was figuring shit out.

Emily Nagoski: Sex Nerd blog
Yeeee, i respect this woman!


SEX/REPRODUCTIVE HEALTH:
Planned Parenthood
Amazing resource. Can’t say enough good about them. Birth control, abortions, health access, etc.

Our Bodies Ourselves.
General Health, woman’s health, pregnancy, sexuality, etc. This book should be in everyone’s library.

Women’s Bodies, Women’s Wisdom
This is a great alternative health resource that i have turned to again and again to take care of myself by Dr. Christiane Northrup. It was recommended to me in a pap smear crisis and i think you need this book.

Orgasm, Inc.
This is a great new flick about the medical industries search for “pink viagra” and the medicalization of “female sexual dysfunction.” Truly fascinating and pertinent.

Cycle Savvy by Toni Weschler. Written for teens but a great way to get in touch with your cycle, track your ovulation, know your body, etc.

SEX BOOKS/GUIDES:
The Good Vibrations Guide to Sex
This book must be bought, so i’m sending you direct to a purchasing source.

Nina Hartley’s Guide to Total Sex.
(And Nina Hartley in general!!) Click this link for porn, sex education, how to’s and rockin feminist sex positive perspective.

Are We Having Fun Yet
If you read this book, you will surely know it’s so dated, but i sort of look at it as a bit groundbreaking for its time.

SEX TOYS:
Good Vibrations.
Sex Toys, sex info, amazing staff, sex positive kick ass mission, amazing museum of vibrators. Condoms, lube, dildoes, vibrators, etc. If you have any fear or questions or hesitation, go to them!

Adam & Eve
Endless supply of adult toys.

Babeland
Seriously, are you getting the picture? Buy some sex toys. It’s worth it. Explore, play, figure it out, enjoy!

HISTORY OF VIBRATORS
And while we are on the topic of sex toys, might as well learn about their history. An all time favorite topic of mine.

The Technology of Orgasm by Rachel Maines.
She is my history superhero. Ever wonder where and why vibrators were invented? Yeah, it’s good.

Passion and Power
Lil’ flick on the topic, featuring Rachel Maines herself. Dated but informative!

OPEN RELATIONSHIPS:
i would start with Tristan Taormino, one of my personal heroes. i have long respected her feminist porn and sex education, and she recently moved into the realm of relationship advice. Her book is called “Opening Up“. She is bad ass and you can sort of skip around this book like it’s a resource. You can read it cover to cover for sure, which i would recommend if you’ve never even considered non-monogamy.

Then there is always the classic, “The Ethical Slut,” which people (including me!) often complain is too hippie, but it’s good if you can get past that. Especially what they have to say about jealousy. It’s okay to be jealous when your partner is on a date with someone else, you just have to fess up to the emotion, recognize where it’s coming from, and get the support you need.

There is a more casual story-like book called “Open” by Jenny Block. This book is a narrative of Jenny’s experiences with non-monogamy. She sort of tells her life story from childhood to being in an open marriage. It’s a quick read and definitely reassuring if you feel like you are alone in your process.

Lastly, and possibly most excitingly, “Sex at Dawn.” It’s my hope and dream that their more scientific approach to questioning whether or not monogamy is natural will open up a whole new realm of investigation on the matter.

PORN
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.

Eros Blog i don’t know too much or have too much to say about this blog. But it has some fascinating historical photos and crazy archives of pornographic photos. Definitely worth a look.

FEMINISM
Cunt has to be one of the best things to read, ever. If you haven’t read it, i highly recommend checking out this little gem by Inga Musico. It would not be an understatement to say it was life changing.

Eve Ensler is a great feminist author, playwright and performance artist. Her most famous work is The Vagina Monologues. It’s an incredibly powerful performance to go check out.

RAPE/SEXUAL ABUSE
Fugitivus blog. This blog is incredibly cathartic to read; it’s rightfully angry, personal, and fearless.

Healing Sex: A Mind Body Approach to Healing Sexual Trauma. This resource is by Staci Haines. It employs a somatic healing approach to overcoming sexual trauma. It is mostly directed at people abused in their youth but is a guide for anyone. I wouldn’t recommend starting to read this until you are ready to address your abuse head on.

Rape Crisis Hotline/Info.

Hope you find some of this information good and helpful!

Categories
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.

Categories
Politics Religion Science

Breast Cancer Doesn’t Care About Your Religion

I have been increasingly frustrated by the right wing “pro-life” religious forces in this country. I understand their imaginary friend wrote a book and that book tells them a bunch of nonsense. I am a firm supporter of their right to think any crazy idea they want. In fact our country was founded on their right to believe that nonsense. Heck, I would even go so far as to fight for their right to believe that foolishness. I think its the American thing to do, fight for everyone’s right to believe anything they want.

However when your imaginary friend tells you to spend your life trying to deny funding to organizations who provide abortions, you are not being American. This country was founded on the freedom FROM religion as much as the freedom of religion. That means you are free to NOT get abortions, you are free NOT to give your money to cancer research, but when you actively work to de-fund these things for others you are imposing your religious views on people who may not share them. Its no different than a Catholic telling you that you are legally prohibited from eating meat on Fridays. It’s not how this country is supposed to work.

Cancer kills roughly half a million men and women every year in this country. There have been roughly 50 million abortions provided legally in this country since 1973, which works out to roughly 1.2 million per year. Roughly 5%-20% of that number were because of risk of health to the fetus or the mother.

Fighting against groups like Planned Parenthood isn’t “pro-life.” If you are really “pro-life” You would also care about the 1 in 2 people who will be diagnosed with cancer in their lifetime, and the 500,000+ of them that die from it every year. I would hope that the “promotion of life” doesn’t end once the baby is born. As such pro-lifers have just as much responsibility to fund cancer diagnosis, prevention, treatment, and research as you do fight abortion providers. All of which are done at places like Planned Parenthood.

It’s a pity that people are unable to understand complex and nuanced issues. They think Planned Parenthood = abortion. Their imaginary friend told them abortion is bad, so they hate Planned Parenthood. The reality of the situation is much more complex. Planned Parenthood also provides birth control (can’t have an abortion if you don’t get pregnant), breast cancer screening, STD tests (HPV causes cervical cancer), and a whole host of other treatments that save lives.

I am not sure one bolsters their “pro-life” credentials by keeping much needed and life saving treatments out of the hands of men and women. It boggles my mind that the major political party in this country that is linked to the pro-life movement, is also the one against HPV vaccines, universal health care, public funding of birth control, and sex education.

What further boggles my mind is that the inspiration for this stance is based on the ramblings of bronze age goat herders that was translated over and over again before undergoing 2000 years of politically based revision, translated a couple more times, and finally spoon fed by the powerful to the weak. We are talking about people who think that human beings can rise from the dead and that virgins can give birth, these are not the kind of people who we should be taking advice from!

The “pro-life” religious right should be regulated to the fringe of this discussion, instead they seem to be at its center. We have a group with a tenuous grip on reality, the constitution, and science trying to dictate what women should do with their own bodies. Any way you slice it they don’t appear to be up to the task of making that decision.