Because "Just Say NO!" is not an education

I have probably ranted enough on this blog about sex education and the need for accurate comprehensive info for EVERYONE including kids but unfortunately not everyone is as enlightened as you folks. This month is the Sex Ed Month of Action (It is also still Latin@ Heritage month because we Latin@s are damned sexy!)and there's an online petition out there for people to "sign". In light of the fact that the Senate Finance Committee has voted to re-fund abstinence only programs, it might be a good idea for you to let them know you think that's a really, really bad idea.
SIECUS - Sex Ed Month of Action

Throughout October 2009, young people and their allies are engaging in advocacy efforts in communities across the country to raise awareness for the need for REAL sex education. The Sex Ed Month of Action will engage young people and their allies across the United States in showing their support for comprehensive sex education.

It’s time to get REAL! Young people need access to comprehensive sex education programs that provide them with the information and skills they need to make responsible and informed decisions so they can lead healthy lives.

SIECUS has teamed up with our colleagues to put an end to federal funding for ineffective abstinence-only-until-marriage programs and support the right of young people to receive age-appropriate and medically accurate comprehensive sex education.

Now is the time to act! Please join Advocates for Youth, Choice USA, Law Students for Reproductive Justice, NARAL Pro-Choice America, Planned Parenthood Federation of America, SIECUS, Sierra Club, and Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice to support the work of young people and their allies from a diverse range of social movements in advocating for comprehensive sex education.

As part of our collective advocacy, we will be sending a petition to leaders of Congress urging them to support the Responsible Education About Life (REAL) Act, to create the first dedicated federal funding stream for comprehensive sex education that meets the needs of all young people. Our goal is to collect 10,000 signatures by the end of the month!

Get Involved Now!


* Click here to sign the petition online!
* Click here for more information on the REAL Act.
* Click here for information on the need for comprehensive sex education.

Gassy, crazy old white guys...

Emitting hateful noxious gases. That is what Dobbs, Limgbaugh and their ilk are. Or so goes the theory from Nezua of The Unapologetic Mexican. This is the first good chuckle I've had all day.

Syringe Exchange Ban Moves to Senate

(From the Harm Reduction Coalition)


Needle ban fight moves to Senate

We are too close to lifting the federal syringe exchange funding ban to allow it to fail. Attempts to put it back in after it was removed in House committee were defeated, but by a very close margin. What did stick, unfortunately, was an amendment to deny federal funds to any SEP within 1000 feet of a school, rec center, daycare center, playground, video arcade, or anywhere groups of children may go on even an occasional basis. For almost every existing syringe exchange project, and in most cities overall, this would present a huge barrier.

So, we have 2 important tasks - to get the overall ban removed & to get that amendment removed. The decision will most likely be made in a closed conference between Senate and House Appropriators in early September, and we
need those legislators to walk in there knowing what they have to do. If your program would be ineligible to receive federal funds if this 1000 foot buffer zone is enacted, or if you care about the issue at all, this is a KEY TIME for you to act.

Send a letter directly to your Senator from our Online Action Center and ask that they resist any restrictive amendments from both the Financial Services and Labor, Health and Human Services Appropriations bills, and to leave the decision of how and where to offer services to the local public health and public safety communities. Feel free to use the pre-written one provided or write your own.

SECOND: Although it would be good for everyone to communicate with their Senators, it is especially important for those in states with Appropriations committee members. If you are in one of these states, please follow up with a personal call to the Senator's health advisor and speak to them directly. You can reach them through the Capitol switchboard at 1-800-828-0498, or 1-800-459-1887.

THIRD: We are doing a postcard campaign to Senators as well, to reach out to allies, clients, shoppers, and so on that we don't reach online. We need people who will go out and get some postcards signed by supporters. If you can commit to this, please email us at hrcwest@harmreduction.org and tell me how many you want, and send your mailing address. The following list of Appropriators are the highest priorities.

DANIEL K. INOUYE, Hawaii
PATRICK J. LEAHY, Vermont
BARBARA A. MIKULSKI, Maryland
HERB KOHL, Wisconsin
PATTY MURRAY, Washington
DIANNE FEINSTEIN, California
RICHARD J. DURBIN, Illinois
MARY L. LANDRIEU, Louisiana
JACK REED, Rhode Island
FRANK R. LAUTENBERG, New Jersey
ARLEN SPECTER, Pennsylvania
SUSAN COLLINS, Maine
GEORGE VOINOVICH, Ohio
LISA MURKOWSKI, Alaska

The Postmodern Geek's Guide to Sex #33: What happens when you Google "sex and politics"?

Direct Download of the podcast: CLICK HERE!


So in an attempt to have some red meat for my podcast *nudge nudge* I googled "sex and politics" and here is what I found:

• Sexy Politics: Learn more about the issues and see nearly nakie people!


• Votergasm: Have sex for the cause!

I also rant about Sarah Palin, who has a very special place in hell waiting for her.

Wanna talk to me outside of the podcast?

Email: postmodern.sexgeek@gmail.com
Twitter: http://twitter.com/PMSexgeek
My Space: http://www.myspace.com/postmodernsexgeek
RSS Feed URL: http://marieb.libsyn.com/rss

The Postmodern Geek's Guide to Sex #31: 2nd Show in the 7 in 7 Challenge

Episode 2 in the Sex and Politics themed 7 in 7 challenge via the Freak Network. Today I discuss:

• More about the challenge


• Sex related reasons to vote including this Palin related issue about rape victims paying for their rape kits


• Corrections from yesterday's podcast regarding the case about sodomy in Texas and sextoys in Texas


• ZOMG! The Debate!


• VOTE VOTE VOTE!!!!


• *nudge nudge wink wink* at Nobilis about his political erotic short

Need to contact me? Send me lists??? postmodern.sexgeek@gmail.com

Direct download of the podcast is here!

The Postmodern Geek's Guide to Sex #30: 7 in 7 Baby!

Yes! It's another episode of the Postmodern Geek's Guide to Sex! Crazy Girl that I am, I'm participating in Pizzababe's 7 in 7 podcast week which means I will be trying to get 7 podcasts out each day for the next week. We shall see how well that works!

New disclaimer: If you're not 18, you might want to go visit Scarleteen.com since this podcast can be a bit...adult. ;)

I mention that I am currently working on getting Crista to co-host a few podcasts with me. *nudge nudge* We shall see how that goes.

I mention the insanity that is currently the US economy. Check here, here and here for more info.

I mention the current fight over a draft of an proposed HHS rule that clinics, hospitals etc may not refuse to hire someone who believes that contraception is abortion and that that person may refuse to provide services if it is against their beliefs.

I also mention Jose B's newest podcast on Babalu Bistro: Desi Arnaz vs. Elvis


And the rest is a bit of babble. It's a shorty but then, one can only record one's own voice for so long without going a bit crazy!

Intro and outro music is Filthy Gorgeous by Scissor Sisters. Enjoy!

Direct Download HERE!!!!

I found this on in my email today thanks to the sex workers advocacy email list and thought it was by far one of the better musings on the Spitzer situation.

Up to now it has all been hand wringing and condemnation but, being the sexgeek that I am, I am more interested in the whys and wherefores of why powerful people take such chances with their career and life. After all, men in positions of power have always had access to willing (and occasionally unwilling) women and men for sexual purposes. Why do they need to pay for it? What is that all about? According to the writer, who is also a therapist, they do it because when you pay for it, there is no need to worry about "her" satisfaction because you've already taken care of her therefore, it's ALL about you. Now even though I realize how that may sound, I'd be lying if I said I didn't understand. As someone in a position where I often feel responsible for other people, regardless of whether that's true or not, the idea of being able to have someone else focus on me without my having to expend any emotional energy whatsoever is highly seductive. Now granted, for me that means a professional massage as opposed to sex but the concept is the same. I pay the RMT his/her fee and I can lay back and relax and not worry about trying to engage them in conversation or whether I am being compassionate enough or if I am listening actively enough. It's a nice break from the usual dynamic I have with human beings on an everyday basis.

I can also agree with the writer in that this particular way of seeing the world tends to interfere with one's personal relationships. When you often see interpersonal relationships as one more responsibility, one more life for you to be responsible for, is it any wonder that you might shy away from them? Even the ones you already have?

Yeah, fucked up, I know, but it is what it is. At the very least I acknowledge this and it helps me to stop my "stinking thinking", as they call it in the world of rehab, and start to acknowledge that yeah, most of my loved ones are capable of taking care of themselves. Gee what a thought. :)

At any rate, the article gave a different look at what happened and it was thought provoking, to me. Give it a read and tell me what you think.

I am an idiot

No really, I am. A huge, horrible event occurred in LA this weekend and I was blissfully unaware of the entire thing.

Demonstrators for immigrants rights were at a rally in Macarthur park when the LA police went in and began firing rubber bullets and tear gas into crowds of men, women and children, knocking down people left and right and attacking news reporters.

What is this country coming to? Is this what our country's idea of immigration reform is? Beat up those who speak up and demonstrate for the rights of the people? Of the worker?

I don't know how I never heard of this and I don't remember seeing it on the blogs of any of my friends but do me a favor and pass it on. We all need to see this and recognize that something is very wrong in this country.

It's all about teh pr0n!

According to The Nation, the firings of those 8 US Attorneys may have been because they thought that prosecuting child pornographers was more important than prosecuting legal porn. The following excerpts were in the blog Dispatches from the Culture Wars.


Ward's endless stream of mandates, the source revealed, were a source of frustration to many US Attorneys. "There were countless child obscenity cases crying out to be prosecuted," the source told me, "but [Brent] Ward wanted to focus on cases involving consenting adults. That's just not a good way of dedicating resources. When you have so many children being harmed, why not allocate your resources towards that?"

Ward's heedless prosecutions of legally available pornography reflected more than his ideology; they also defined his power within the Justice Department. Once Bush began his second term in the White House, Gonzales declared the prosecution of pornography portraying sex acts between consenting adults "one of the top priorities" of his department. He signed off on an FBI headquarters memo that recruited agents for an anti-porn task force. That memo stated that prosecutions would focus particularly on material depicting "bestiality, urination, defecation, as well as sadistic and masochistic behavior." These acts, according to the memo, were most likely to offend local juries.

Christian right organizations, from the Family Research Council to Concerned Women for America, lavished praise on Gonzales's anti-porn initiative. "We will watch closely, though with a growing sense of confidence in our new Attorney General, to see who is appointed to direct the effort," said Family Research Council President Tony Perkins.

When Gonzales met with Phil Burress, a self-described former porn addict who directs the anti-pornography group, Citizens for Community Values, Burress praised Ward for an aggressive and single-minded attack on sexually explicit material over nearly three decades, which had earned him the adulation of the Christian right. "He's one of my heroes," Burress said in describing Ward to the Salt Lake Tribune . As Utah's US Attorney during the 1980s, Ward prosecuted phone sex operators, shut down Utah's last two porn theaters by nailing their owner on tax charges, and tried unsuccessfully to force nude art-class models to wear bikinis. When Gonzales tapped Ward as his top porn cop in 2006, the Christian right's confidence soared.

To support Ward's task force, Gonzales and FBI Director Robert Mueller diverted ten FBI agents, four prosecutors and a postal inspector. Ward soon secured his biggest score, the successful prosecution of the Girls Gone Wild series producer Joseph Francis for knowingly including footage of two young women without receiving legible documentation, on paper, of their ages. Francis's company, Mantra Films, Inc., was slapped with a $500,000 fine--a drop in the bucket for an operation that rakes in at least $40 million a year.

Many veterans of the FBI consider Ward's efforts a burden on their ability to fulfill serious departmental priorities. "I guess this means we've won the war on terror," an anonymous FBI agent sarcastically remarked to the Washington Post about agents diverted to Ward's task force. "We must not need any more resources for espionage."

Though his anti-porn crusades rankled the FBI agents and US Attorneys compelled to participate in them, Ward produced an unintended benefit for the White House when it needed to fire politically "chafing" federal prosecutors. Ward's complaint against Charlton, filed by Sampson for use at a later date, was unsheathed by Rove and Gonzales to smear a competent professional prosecutor--and a Republican--for political purposes.

The revelation of Ward's participation in the dismissals arrived as the Christian right clamored that more resources be funneled to him. "Give him some gas and he'll win the war," Burress told the Salt Lake Tribune. "I wish the Department of Justice was full of Brent Wards." The prosecutor purge may have backfired, but Burress and his allies can take heart that the Bush White House is devoted to their culture war, even at the expense of its "war on terror."

My thanks to Violet Blue (not the Porn Star) who blogged it first.