| Friday, June 27, 2008 | ||
| No Need to Know Your Body, as Long as You Smell Good! | ||
Why teach pubescent kids about sexuality and the crazy (yet normal) things that happen to our bodies, when we can send them home with hygiene products and hope that they keep their minds clean.  This is a tale that would have been funny if it wasn't loaded with pathos and opportunity missed. The tone is reminiscent of old Dr. Kellogg and his anti-masturbation inventions. Like it does every year, Otter River Elementary School in Roanoke, Virginia was giving its 5th graders hygiene packets. The boys' packets were provided by Old Spice and contained deodorant and toothpaste. Unbeknown at the time, it also contained a sex education pamphlet, covering topics such as erections and wet dreams. The girls' packets were provided by Always and contained “feminine care products”. The parents, who were not alarmed by the fact that the school was using private advertising to provide lessons in hygiene, WERE horrified by the unwanted sex education. This is a county where parents can opt out of sex education for their children at school. They're probably correct. Why waste good school hours that can be used to teach them about the wonders of consumerism, because the kids can easily find the sex information they need online, that is if they can manage to spell “porn”. Find more on proper sex education |
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| Wednesday, June 18, 2008 | ||
| Dream of Californication | ||
The bride looked radiant and so did the bride. Del and Phyllis, two San Francisco icons, were married this week, making them the first to enjoy the right that was given to them under Californian law.  In the land of San Francisco, which redefined gay culture, marriage has been out of the question (“I do, but I can't”) until this week. The history of the modern struggle for gay rights in America is told by the her-story this couple. The brides have been fighting for lesbian rights since the beginning of the struggle. In fact, they were the beginning of the struggle. They became lovers in 1952 and moved to San Francisco together the next year. Together they founded Daughters of Bilitis, the first national lesbian organization in 1955. They have been activists and creative voices ever since.
This time, though, its for good. And about time too. Phyllis Lyon is 83 and Del Martin is 87. Here's to many more years of love and breaking down barriers. I just hope that the passion doesn't die down now that you are no longer living in sin. |
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| Wednesday, June 11, 2008 | ||
| Cuba Libre, Indeed | ||
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One of the best kept secrets in the West is that Cuba has an incredible public health system where everyone gets all the care they need for free. Actually, up until now they received almost all the care they needed. Now even that is about to get better. The one non-political group that didn't get fairly treated in Cuba is the gays and transsexuals. In fact, they were persecuted and many locked up in sanitoria when AIDS first arrived on the island, in order to control the spread of HIV. This week Cuban officials have approved gender reassignment surgery (“sex-change operations”) within their citizen's health care rights. That means that the complex surgical series is going to be offered free of charge to individuals who qualify. This is a major move of support for the LGBTQ community and it is light years away from, well, everywhere else, where transsexuals can only be undergo reassignment if they cover the costs themselves. In Miami, just 200 miles to the north of Cuba, the full procedure can cost over $100,000. In Cuba, there are already 28 people waiting to go under the knife and set their gender straight. The pioneer of this great leap forward is none other than Mariela Castro Espin, daughter of Raul Castro (and niece of Fidel), who is also the director of the National Centre for Sex Education. She has also been involved in efforts to legalize same-gender union and legal rights.  Here's to the free Cubans. As they (may) say before surgery, “bottoms up!” |
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| Wednesday, June 04, 2008 | ||
| Now Here is Something that Should be Covered Up | ||
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Kudos to Malaysia where condoms and women made the headlines this past week – in the same sentence! Something good seems to be going down in Malaysia because they just celebrated International AIDS Memorial Day, the first time such an event is being held openly in a Muslim country. But the hero of this story is deputy health minister, Abdul Latiff Ahmad, who recommended that every woman carry a condom, for her own protection against HIV.  The tomatoes are already starting to fly at Prof. Abdul Latiff, especially in the blogosphere, by all those people who think that condoms corrupt and such entitlement is going to change all women into prostitutes and promiscuous floozies. The poor guy has now gone under the media radar screen, so we can only hope he won't be taking it all back next week. After all, his original comment was never meant to make him popular but to consider the reality of new HIV infections in his country. And here's another newsflash: we knew HIV/AIDS doesn't have borders or know colours, but it turns out that it doesn't have a religion either. Read more on women and condoms |
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