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Turning on the Sex Goddess
Naomi Wolf wants women to have better sex lives, and more empowered lives generally. Vagina: A New Biography seeks to light the way.
Wolf began researching this book after she regained her sexual desire, creativity and passion for life — much to her surprise — when her spinal cord was repaired.
I’ll discuss the larger life issues later. For now, let’s look at how her somewhat controversial book might benefit women with low libido, and the partners who love them. Read the rest of this entry
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Women, Objects of Desire (Even for Women?)
Women bombarded by Victoria’s Secret models
Sexy lady’s bodies have been the focus of pop culture for decades.
Maybe that’s why even straight women were more aroused by a nude woman than by a nude man in one study, when measuring blood flow to the vagina. Some research suggests culture may be playing a role.
Is this true? A student of mine wondered. Read the rest of this entry
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Cindy Crawford Brings Men Pleasure; Women Pain
Cindy Crawford on Playboy cover
Women have mixed feelings about nearly-naked Cindy Crawford.
There is appreciation: “Attractive… sexy… love her!”
But also animosity (“F-ING ANNOYING” anyone?). And she makes a lot of women — nearly half — feel bad about their bodies.
Straight men, on the other hand, felt (no surprise) mostly pleasure.
But not all of them. Read the rest of this entry
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Must Sexual Orientation Be Biological?
Cynthia Nixon of Sex and the City fame announced that she chose to be gay. And she caught hell.
I gave a speech recently, an empowerment speech to a gay audience, and it included the line ‘I’ve been straight and I’ve been gay, and gay is better.’ And they tried to get me to change it, because they said it implies that homosexuality can be a choice. And for me, it is a choice. I understand that for many people it’s not, but for me it’s a choice, and you don’t get to define my gayness for me.
Some critics insist she is a biologically-based bisexual.
Others come to her defense. Read the rest of this entry
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Women Want Emotionally Connected Sex. Why?
Women want emotionally connected sex.
Not all women, all the time.
But University of Texas psychologists, Cindy Meston and David Buss interviewed over 1,000 women around the world for their book, Why Women Have Sex, and here’s what they found:
Both women and men have sex because they are physically attracted, for pleasure, because they are in love, or just because they’re horny… the list goes on. But most women want emotionally bonded sex.
Men prefer emotionally bonded sex, too, by the way. But women are less likely to want it any other way.
Why? Read the rest of this entry
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Women’s Sexuality in Islam
By Dania Jafar
Islam represses women’s sexuality, right? Think again.
We all see Muslim women draped in head-to-toe burqas. Or read about 10-year-olds being married off to 50-year-old men. Or cringe at women being stoned for adultery. Or knifed to death by family members in “honor killings” for such crimes as fornication or being with a man without a chaperone – or for being raped. (The stain of sexual impurity must be removed from the family, it is thought.) In some parts of North Africa and the Middle East women’s genitals are ritually cut or removed in the name of Islam.
In such a world, whose sexuality wouldn’t be repressed?
But nothing you just read has anything to do with Islam. All of the above are cultural practices that are not approved in the Quran. Read the rest of this entry
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Men, Women & Internet Porn
The first time you see Lena Dunham’s character having sex in the new HBO series “Girls,” her back is to her boyfriend, who seems to regard her as an inconveniently loquacious halfway point between partner and prop, and her concern is whether she’s correctly following instructions.
“So I can just stay like this for a little while?” she asks. “Do you need me to move more?”
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Virtually Attack Women, But No Nudity
Boys playing video games.
A gamer creates an avatar resembling himself and plots to kill a three-dimensional, lifelike woman. The avatar grasps an axe and raises it to strike. He hears the thud as the axe slices her head. He hears her cry out in pain. He sees her split skull and feels the sensation of blood on his hands and face.
I’ve just paraphrased one part of Supreme Court Justice, Samuel Alito’s opinion on whether video games of this sort should be protected as free speech in sales to minors.
Yes, he uncomfortably concludes. Read the rest of this entry
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Guys Are Getting More Romantic
Turns out, men like relationships!
Guys are all about getting sex and avoiding love. Right?
Guys want random sex more than committed relationships. Women, the old ball and chain…
That’s what stereotypes say. But that’s not what guys say. A large-scale survey called “That’s What He Said” found that young men between the ages of 15 and 19 are more romantic than past generations. Read the rest of this entry
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Porn Can Cause E.D.?
Porn can cause E.D.
One day I mentioned in class that, strangely, porn can cause E.D.
A male student said he’d thought it was the opposite, that porn cured E.D.
Oddly, both could be true. Read the rest of this entry
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