This hashtag, this movement, this interactive community of bloggers is the brainchild of @GoodDirtyWoman, creator of the web site "A Good Woman's Dirty Mind", further defined as "erotic stories, pleasures in photography, relationship ramblings, seductive soundtracks & seriously sexy fun." This writer of erotic stories (first book published on Smashwords) and blogger and tweeter extraordinaire, describes herself in her About: "Who am I?"
Me? I could be any woman. Possibly the woman you pass by on the street without giving her a second look or a second thought.
Actually, I prefer things that way.
Why?
I’m a mother. I’m a writer. I have a professional life that’s semi high-profile. I have a deep and sensuous carnal side that few have understood and respected - one in particular - and he’d like to keep his private, too. But I’m an also bit of an exhibitionist with thoughts to share in a way that I hope to change the world in the way we treat women and value sex and sexual relationships.
In her blog posting "June is Adult Sex Ed Month (#AdultSexEdMonth)", she explains this online campaign via the Twitter hashtag:
Hooray! It’s June!
I get especially frisky and I’m always looking for ways to amp up my sexual repertoire and enjoy sex more than usual this time of year.
I also get frustrated when I read a lot of misinformation and lack of information about particular sex topics.
That’s why I’m taking part in an online campaign to promote Adult Sex Ed Month (#AdultSexEdMonth).
She goes on to list the numerous contributors to this June campaign on Twitter. As I scan down the dozens of names, I see numerous people working in the area of sex education including a Ph.D. and a M.Ed. plus a few titles of Dr.'s. This is a distinguished crowd. (I have no idea how my name got on the list.)
During the month of June, it has been fascinating to read the myriad of tweets with 140 characters of facts and opinion about this most primordial and personal of the human experience, sex. As well, there have been links to full-blown articles expounding on theory and practice for the development and perfecting of said experience. Good knowledge leads to good sex. Great knowledge leads to, well, the sky's the limit. It is, in a way, quite startling to see the number of contributions, the level of expertise, and the willingness to share with others what is, for the most part, one of the most misunderstood and vilified aspects of the human condition. America, more so than other countries, is the bastion of all things puritanical and its public persona is one as pure as driven snow, that is, nonsexual. The comedian George Carlin noted decades ago that in media, it is far worse to have sex with someone than to kill them.
A TV network censored a sequence of John Steinbeck's The Red Pony, which showed a mare giving birth, but broadcast the rather hideous sequence from The Godfather showing a beheaded horse.
- Youth, Sex and the Media, CyberCollege
An Example about the Polarization of Sex
@TheCSPH, The Center for Sexual Pleasure and Health, located in Pawtucket, Rhode Island, was founded by Megan Andelloux, a "sexologist and sex educator". I won't go into all of this woman's accomplishments but suffice it to say, she merits an entry in Wikipedia.
On June 18, 2013, @TheCSPH tweeted:
Make a point of teaching your kids about masturbation & genital self-esteem, they'll appreciate it #AdultSexEdMonth http://ow.ly/m9yNB
The link takes you to a YouTube video produced by the CSPH with the description:
Use Your Words! is a Sex Positive series for parents who want to talk with their kids about sexuality in a fun, honest, healthy and comfortable way. In this episode, Melissa provides some conversation starters for talking with your teens about masturbation and shares some masturbation facts.
This all seems perfectly normal as if Melissa was discussing something mundane like don't eat junk food, get plenty of sleep, or exercise regularly.
During the 2011 Republican campaign to select the GOP candidate to run against Barak Obama and during the campaign leading up to the 2012 election, I wrote a number of articles detailing how the far right of political spectrum was promoting a vision of America which was Conservative, anti-abortion, anti-birth control, anti-sex, anti-woman, and patriarchal. I reported on the various candidates and laid out the details of the Republican party platform. With links to my articles, I tweeted more than once, "Ladies, vote Republican and kiss your vagina good-bye."
In my posting "Planned Parenthood: addicting children to sex!!!", I describe how the pro-life organisation American Life League views sex as only for procreation and anything which interferes with procreation such as condoms, birth control, IUDs, etc. is verboten. They have put Planned Parenthood in their sights as enemy number one in their campaign to bring their vision of a moral America back to Americans everywhere. Sex education? Never! Abstinence is the only way.
In direct contrast to the above video about masturbation, ALL published a YouTube video "Hooking Kids on Sex II" comparing Planned Parenthood to a neighbourhood drug pusher trying to get children addicted to sex. PP's "gateway drug" is masturbation and that's how PP gets kids drawn in and hooked.
Are these two videos representative of both ends of the political, social, and sexual spectrums in society? Is this the fight raging in America over the future of our bodies? Is sex a disgusting, vile, sinful weakness or is it a God-given right for every human being? Is pleasure bad or good?
On June 13, 2013, HuffPost Live presented "Ageless Sex" to answer the questions, "Are couples ever too old for sex? If you're healthy and capable, is there any reason people well into their 80's shouldn't have a sex life? How do older couples keep love alive?" (A recorded version of the 20 minute program is still available online) It is thought-provoking to hear a panel of people all over the age of 50 (some over 60) talking about sex openly and freely as a wonderful part of their lives. There is no shame; there is no embarrassment. This is my right and God damn it, I'm going to enjoy myself. In reference to the question of masturbation, Joan Price, author of several books about sex and aging, reminded everyone to "use it or lose it." Yes, even when you're alone, you have to work out. If you don't stay in shape, someday you may not be ready when opportunity knocks.
Final Word
I have always found it odd how we live for the most part alone, not necessarily in contact with the rest of the world. As a consequence, we may not quite know what's normal or not; what's acceptable or not. The "public face" of society is not necessarily what's truly going on in society. Oh, we may get whiffs of other things but we do not know for sure. Then one day, you run into somebody, or a group, or even the hashtag #AdultSexEdMonth and you become startled at an aspect of life you may not have fully appreciated existed.
In 2011, I followed the campaigns of the various GOP candidates vying to become the Republican presidential hopeful. One of them, Michele Bachmann had come out strongly against homosexuality. In fact, her husband ran a treatment facility based on the idea homosexuality was a disease and could be cured.
During a few of Bachmann's public speeches, a young man, a gay young man from her home state, interrupted the proceedings to shout out how Bachmann's ideas were making life intolerable in his own home town. It occurred to me that if this man moved to, let's say, San Francisco, a more gay-friendly community, he could live openly as a homosexual and nobody would look askance. In other words, this man being sick was not based on anything objective, it was based on the company he was keeping. Change the crowd he hung around with and he would became normal.
Hang around in the puritan atmosphere of the far right, follow the ideas of the American Life League, and you are doomed to a life of shame and guilt over a part of the human experience which is as natural as any one of a number of bodily functions. Every month should be #AdultSexEdMonth. (Hats off to Ms. Quote, @GoodDirtyWoman.)
Postscript: 2014
Ms. Quote has been laying the groundwork for the new year and what's looks like will become an annual event. Sign up, follow, like, but stay in touch for an interesting month and an interesting year. Let's collectively work towards making a better society for ourselves. Sex is nothing to be ashamed about. It is an integral and important part of the human experience. Let's make that experience as wonderful as possible for everyone.
blog: Adult Sex Ed Month
Facebook: Adult Sex Ed Month
Twitter: Adult Sex Ed Month
References
I have written a number of articles about politics, sex and relationships, and women's issues. Click on Site Map at the top and bottom of any page of my blog to see a full listing. As an aside, be patient. I like to be detailed and can get wordy.
Specific references for this article? There are a zillion of 'em. But the best place to start is at the beginning and that would be Ms. Quote.
June is Adult Sex Ed Month (#AdultSexEdMonth) by Ms. Quote (@GoodDirtyWoman)
Other writers, bloggers, podcasters, sex professionals and sexual health professionals participating in #AdultSexEdMonth include...
Adult Sex Ed Month Stories by Topic by Ms. Quote (@GoodDirtyWoman)
Twitter: #AdultSexEdMonth
Let’s Talk About Sex … Like This by Ms. Quote (@GoodDirtyWoman)
[Ms. Quote talks about The CSPH and HuffPost Live. I mention above.]
When I came up with the idea for Adult Sex Ed Month (#AdultSexEdMonth), one of the main things I wanted to do was to open up communication about sex … how we talk about it and how we learn about it. What I didn’t expect was to see some of the best examples come from the youngest and oldest adults in online conversations.
Info for Teens: Myths and Facts About Masturbation by Planned Parenthood
[video: 20 questions in 60 seconds: We all should watch this!]
Masturbation. Most people do it — yet so many people worry about doing it! That's because there are a lot of myths out there that masturbation is dirty, dangerous, or something to be embarrassed about doing.
my blog: Michele Bachmann: the next president of the WTH!?! (July 2011)
Ms. Bachmann has now signed a pledge (Washington Post) written by a socially-conservative advocacy group in Iowa called the Family Leader, led by Bob Vander Plaats, an unsuccessful GOP gubernatorial candidate and evangelical Christian leader in Iowa. The pledge “The Marriage Vow: A Declaration of Dependence Upon Marriage and Family” endorses the view that homosexuality is a choice rather than a biological trait. It condemns adultery, “quickie divorce,” infidelity, pornography, cohabitation and Islamic sharia law. It also suggests that more African-American children are born out of wedlock now than they were under slavery. By signing this document, Ms. Bachmann is certainly declaring to the world her stance on a number of issues.
my blog: Whether I'm crazy or not depends on the company I keep
Alan and I spent quite a bit of time together in high school. We chummed around, talked about chicks, did all the normal stuff guys do in high school. We went to concerts, drank beer at pub night and even played in a rock band together. When high school was over, we both went our separate ways. From time to time over the years, we might have caught one another at Christmas but other than that, we never saw each other.
Twenty-five years later I had an opportunity to visit with him just six months before he died from AIDS. He was married. He had children. How? At this time, dementia had partially set in and it was somewhat difficult to talk with him but I did manage to surmise the whole story. Alan and I had grown up in an environment and an era where homosexuality just did not exist. I am convinced he hid this from me, his friends and probably his entire family. He had lived a lie his entire life but sometime towards the end, the repressed part of his life pushed him to be reckless. He paid for it with his life.
2013-06-19
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1 comment:
Every month should be Adult Sex Ed Month--I agree 110%. Great post and acknowledgement of A Good Woman's Dirty Mind. I've enjoyed reading her posts and all the others as the month as progressed! And, more to come.
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