CNN.com has a report today about Kirk Andrew Murphy, a man who committed suicide in 2003. His story is especially poignant because he was subjected to treatment when he was younger that was intended to force him into gender conformity. As part of it, he was given blue poker chips for rewarding masculine behavior and […]

As you may have heard, SlutWalk started in response to a Toronto police officer saying that women should avoid dressing like sluts in order to avoid harassment or rape. And what was originally intended to be a local rally has inspired dozens of similar marches around the world. The word “slut” has a rather difficult […]

I’ve been following the current debates about sexualization with a lot of interest, both because I want to live in a sexually healthy world and because these sorts of discussions often have a direct impact on my work as a sex educator. And while I’ve been sitting with the question of what a sex-positive response […]

This showed up in my RSS feed today. If you’re transgender or genderqueer, these lovely people would appreciate your input on trans-inclusive and respectful language. See below for details and pass it on! Greetings! Ten years ago, we conducted a short survey of our community’s reactions to the use of descriptive terminology in the professional […]

Assuming that, despite the billboards I keep seeing everywhere, the Rapture doesn’t come on May 21, I’m thrilled to announce that that’s also the day of the 2011 Masturbate-a-thon! Actually, there’ll be some rapture either way, but I know which one I’m betting on. Solo sex is one of the best ways to learn about […]

From SlutWalk SF Bay’s Twitter feed: and your SlutWalk SF Bay committee is hard at work and we have a date for the event: JUNE 19TH, 2011 @ 12:00 PM!… http://fb.me/QHgOyxou — SlutWalk SF (@SlutWalkSFBAY) May 12, 2011 Click on the links to follow them on twitter or facebook. See you there!

One of the difficulties that those of us who are looking to challenge the Act Like a Man Box (see my post The Performance of Masculinity for an explanation of that, if you aren’t familiar with it) is that the Box itself gets in the way. My observation is that’s because “believes in the Box” […]