Not quite identical twins.

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From the Boston Globe:

Led by the child who simply knew

The twin boys were identical in every way but one. Wyatt was a girl to the core, and now lives as one, with the help of a brave, loving family and a path-breaking doctor’s care.

Jonas and Wyatt Maines were born identical twins, but from the start each had a distinct personality.

Jonas was all boy. He loved Spiderman, action figures, pirates, and swords.

Wyatt favored pink tutus and beads. At 4, he insisted on a Barbie birthday cake and had a thing for mermaids. On Halloween, Jonas was Buzz Lightyear. Wyatt wanted to be a princess; his mother compromised on a prince costume.

Once, when Wyatt appeared in a sequin shirt and his mother’s heels, his father said: “You don’t want to wear that.’’

“Yes, I do,’’ Wyatt replied.

“Dad, you might as well face it,’’ Wayne recalls Jonas saying. “You have a son and a daughter.’’

That early declaration marked, as much as any one moment could, the beginning of a journey that few have taken, one the Maineses themselves couldn’t have imagined until it was theirs. The process of remaking a family of identical twin boys into a family with one boy and one girl has been heartbreaking and harrowing and, in the end, inspiring - a lesson in the courage of a child, a child who led them, and in the transformational power of love.

Read the rest of their fascinating story here.

Oh Canada!

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From the Vancouver Sun:

Familial Americans, Dejected Britons and Open Canadians: A look at sex education

A recent survey of sex education in Canada, the United States and Britain conducted by Angus Reid Public Opinion provides a stimulating assessment of how the three countries fluctuate in what could, and should, be taught to teenagers in the information age.

[...]

Canada definitely emerges as the most open country when discussing sex. For Canadians, virtually no topic is off limits: homosexuality, bullying and abortion should all be part of the curriculum for more than four-in-five respondents. Two thirds are also willing to converse about pleasure—a decidedly higher proportion than the American counterparts.

Another difference for Canadians is their insistence in starting sex-ed at a younger age, with 57 per cent of respondents saying these courses should begin at age 11 or younger—compared to a low of 40 per cent of Americans. Canadians also show particular breadth, with the highest proportion of respondents who believe venereal diseases and sexual pleasure should both be discussed in the classroom.

Read the rest of the article here.

Teen access to Plan B turned down by Obama administration.

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From Salon.com, and making the rounds on all the news sites (passed along by Jeremy - thanks!):

Obama says no to Plan B for teens

 

Once again, fear of teen sex trumps public health as a Cabinet secretary overrules the FDA

Why does Obama want your innocent little girl to have sex without you knowing?

The fear of an attack ad along those lines must have motivated the Obama administration’s decision today to overrule the Food and Drug Administration’s recommendation to allow emergency contraception to be sold on store shelves, and made available without a prescription to those under 17. There’s certainly no explanation based in science.

In an extraordinary statement, FDA commissioner Margaret Hamburg said she agreed with an internal study that “there is adequate and reasonable, well-supported and science-based evidence that Plan B One-Step is safe and effective and should be approved for non-prescription use for all females of child-bearing potential.” But, she said, the secretary of Health and Human Services, Kathleen Sebelius, disagreed. Sebelius issued her own wishy-washy statement,claiming there wasn’t enough data on the drug’s effects on adolescents.

But there is no honest public-health reason to force teenage girls to see a doctor before accessing emergency contraception. There are only political ones. (The morning-after pill will still be available at pharmacies without a prescription for women over 17.)

Read the rest of the article here.

Now playing: Tomboy.

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Passed along by Setareh (thanks!):

A beautiful movie, and a beautiful actress... Laure is moving into a new neighborhood with her little sister Jeanne. Because she is in need of new friends and does not know anybody, Laure decides to dress and act as a boy. She becomes close to Lisa, who does not know her new best friend is not a boy.

It's been getting excellent reviews!

Unpleasant surprise.

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From Discover Magazine:

An unusual case of vaginal tumour.

“A young unmarried woman aged 24 years, suffering from cancerophobia, came to the clinic in an acute anxiety state, convinced that she had a malignant growth, having, she stated, only that morning felt a hard lump in the vagina.

She was a well-nourished person and there was no history of loss of weight, menstrual iregularity, or vaginal discharge; nor was there any previous history of gynaecological or other relevant disorder. She did, however, exhibit signs of emotional distress with sweaty palms and tachycardia. Examination.

A large, hard, smooth lump filed the vagina. On removal it was found to be a globular circumscribed object, possessing no capsule, and on section was seen to have a laminated structure (Figure). It was identified as a specimen of “liliaceaeoma” or an Allium cepa.

The encyclopaedia defines the Allium cepa as one of the family Liliaceae. It has been cultivated from ancient times and probably originated in Asia. The edible part is the bulb containing an acrid volatile oil, giving a strong flavour. The allium is a bienial, the common species producing a bulb in the first season and seeds in the second. The example shewn is evidently of the first season. Result.

On being informed that she had no cancer, but rather an onion, the patient shewed no signs of pleasure or of gratitude on being so quickly cured of her complaint and relieved of her anxiety. Instead she exhibited signs of anger, the reason for which was the same as had caused the presence of this unexpected vegetable in such an unusual garden. It appeared that her male consort and herself had indulged very freely in alcohol on the previous evening and that he had departed sometime during the night leaving her in a deep sleep on the bed. The removal of the onion from a bunch of its fellows hanging on the back of the door, and its subsequent insertion, had been his parting gesture of affection.”

The original paper was published in the British Journal of Venereal Diseases back in 1961.

Common Hour: The Promise and Perils of Hook-Up Culture.

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From Sociological Images:

Back in the spring, Lisa gave a talk at Franklin and Marshall College about data about the newness, prevalence, and content of “hook ups” on American campuses. Surprise, today’s college students didn’t invent casual sex and there’s no need for their parents to worry about a “bacchanalian orgy” in one dorm after another.  Concluding that the problem isn’t “too much” sex, she argues that the problem is too much bad sex.

In her own research, Lisa has found that students want sex to be pleasurable, empowering, or meaningful.  But, alas, they seem to have difficulty achieving any one of those things in great measure.  The culprit, she concludes, isn’t hooking up, it’s hook up culture.  When a hook up culture dominates, all other ways of being sexual are repressed, and that leaves many students involuntarily celibate or having sex they don’t really want. The solution: an opening up of sexual options that allow students to truly, genuinely explore their own sexualities safely.

Franklin and Marshall College arranged to have the lecture filmed, but Lisa was too shy to post it on Soc Images. But she sent me the link to the talk, and I have no such misgivings. Unfortunately, the camera was set up at an angle where you can’t see the PowerPoint presentation that went along with the lecture, so you’ll have to look through it separately if you’re interested (slideshowand transcript if you’d rather read).  Lisa’s got other talks too, if you’re interested, and I know she loves giving them.

 

And no, this is not an anti-hook-up lecture - it simply outlines some of the challenges and pitfalls associated with hook-up culture.

 

Lisa Wade is assistant professor of sociology at Occidental College. Recorded March 24, 2011 in Mayser Gymnasium.

Pegging.

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Posted in the comments section for last Thursday mail (thanks!):

From Charles Glickman:

It’s a cliche that before you criticize someone, you should walk a mile in their shoes, but that’s because there’s a lot of truth to that statement. After all, once you’ve experienced something from another person’s perspective, it’s much easier to imagine what it’s like for them. That’s one reason why I think pegging can go a long way toward improving things. Pegging is the term for when women use dildos and strap-on harnesses with male partners. (Is there a different term when people of other genders use strap-ons with male partners?) And while the main reason people do it is because it’s lots of fun, I think there’s an added benefit that lots of folks don’t know about.

There have been plenty of books written about how male/female couples can improve their relationships by learning to see things from the other person’s perspective. Of course, that’s helpful for couples of all gender combinations and sexual orientations, but the differences in both biology and experience often create barriers for m/f pairs. Pegging is a surprisingly effective way to find out what sex is like for your partner.

For men who have never been on the receiving side of penetration, sex is something that happens outside the body. And when sex is external to your body, it can be easier to do when you have a headache or you’re not quite in the mood. A lot of men discover than when sex is about catching rather than pitching, their mood, their emotions, and their connection to a partner can often have a bigger influence on what they want to do and how it feels.

Read the rest of the article here.

Paying For It.

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Bumped by Marissa (thanks!), an autobiographical comic about being a John - the reviews have been excellent.

 

From the Globe and Mail:

The book begins in 1996 as his relationship with CBC Radio personality and musician Sook Yin-Lee comes to an unexpected end. While most people would wallow in self-loathing, Brown takes the news as an opportunity to explore his feelings about romance in general. Witnessing his ex’s new relationship bloom, then wither, girds him in his opinion that romantic relationships are inherently destructive.

Fast-forward a couple of years and Brown is resolved to try out prostitution as a means of satisfying his sexual desires. From there, he slowly and methodically lays out his progression through the foreign (to most of us) world of prostitution, chronicling his intimate experiences with more than two dozen prostitutes over a five-year period. Along the way, he presents his case for the decriminalization of the profession to his friends and family, which will seem self-serving to some readers.

But Brown is well aware of society’s attitudes toward prostitution and has built this book with such care and precision that I’d be shocked if even my devout Catholic mother weren’t sympathetic to his world view – at least a little.

This care is evident in the various levels that the book operates on. First and foremost, it’s an exploration and justification of prostitution as a logical option between consenting adults. But it also plays out as a tricky tale of unromantic love: a heartfelt argument against the ingrained cultural trappings of romance, and a fierce defence of the often overlooked joys of other forms of love (such as platonic, filial, interpersonal).

And it’s funny. As is the case in most of his other autobiographical comics, Brown sets himself up as the target of the jokes. Joe Matt, a good friend and recurring character in Brown’s work, gets the lion’s share of the yucks here. I especially liked Matt’s reaction after he learns Brown has visited a prostitute: “This is disturbing, but it’s also good gossip.”

Of course, the art is as idiosyncratic as ever. Brown forgoes the six-panel grid and turns down the cross-hatching that he used in Louis Riel for a small, rectangular eight-panel layout inspired in part by the comics of Carl Barks. These oblong panels house some of the year’s most effective cartooning, capable of lending dignity to even the most awkward sex scenes.

Read the rest of the article here.

And the link for the book on Amazon: here.

Jesslyn.

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Steve, a student from last year, passed this along last night, completely coincidentally (thanks!). The video collage below follows Jesslyn's two-year transition. She's documented and shared the entire process on her YouTube channel. Her videos have had over 2,000,000 views, she has almost 8000 followers, and there are thousands of supportive comments - and that's only since she started posting videos in March of 2010. Check out her YouTube channel for much more: link here.

My Princess Boy.

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As mentioned in class by Brooklyn yesterday:

From Jezebel:

"I like to dress up in different kinda clothes, and jewelry," says Dyson, age 5. He especially likes to dress up like a princess.

Luckily for Dyson, his mom, dad and brother all just want him to be happy — so they don't care that he's into pink, sequins and things that sparkle.

The problem, of course, is at school and at stores. When Dyson goes shopping with his mom, people often laugh when he likes dresses and pink heels. Before Halloween, Dyson's teacher called everyone in the school and informed them all that Dyson would be a Princess Boy. Some of the most "macho" employees at school dressed as ballet dancers, in a show of support for Dyson.

With all the terrible teen suicides and gay bullying around us right now, it's so nice to hear a happy, positive spin on a boy who is different. In the words of Dyson's older brother:"If he's happy, I'm happy."

His mother wrote a book, My Princess Boy, about Dyson. The book, which encourages acceptance and understanding, has gone global. You can find out much more about it, and see other clips of Dyson, here.

Dyson and his mother have made many media appearances, including the following:

http://townhall.com/tipsheet/


Incest.

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A friend of mine passed along the link to this Reddit thread, started by a man who had a long-standing sexual relationship with his sister that began in their early tens. Of course, there's no way to confirm the veracity of the poster's claim, but if we're to take him at face value, what he has to say is pretty fascinating. Here's the original post:

I'm a 26 year old man who up until recently had an ongoing sexual relationship with my sister. Here's some general information:

  • We were both consenting. She was 13 when it began, I was 12. The relationship was ongoing up until last year when she met her fiance. As far as I know, neither of us were abused in anyway when we were young children. Aside from the relationship, we're both perfectly "normal" functioning members of society.

Ask me almost anything. Please refrain from requesting any kind of identifying information, as I'll just ignore the question.

As expected, many of the comments are very juvenile, but some of questions and responses are super interesting. Read it here (NSFW language!): link.

Exploitation and super-skinny porn.

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While many defend pornography, especially ethically produced porn, I can't imagine that anybody would be willing to suggest that anorexia porn is anything but reprehensible and exploitative in the extreme.

From The Guardian:

Anorexic women targeted by 'super-skinny' porn websites

As the use of pro-anorexia websites increases, some vulnerable women are finding themselves the targets of grooming by the porn industry. Nicola Hobbs reports

'As you know, beauty has one name: being thin. Our models are underweight, skinny, thin, bony – just like you. We want you. Regardless of the costs, we want you to join our agency. Let's face facts, on anorexic porn websites, men are masturbating watching your pictures. You are a superstar of starvation and if you were selling and marketing your frame you would be more wealthy than most of us because men would pay any price for watching those pictures."

This was the email Sasha McDonald was sent last year from a pornography agency specialising in anorexic images. McDonald was 15 when she was first diagnosed with anorexia nervosa. "I was very lonely and felt worthless," she says. "I retreated into an online pro-anorexic [pro-ana] community and shared everything. I didn't realise the danger I was putting myself under." Despite receiving professional support, McDonald found herself becoming more entrenched in the online anorexic world. She wrote a blog of her battle with anorexia, recording the small amounts she ate and publishing photographs of herself in her underwear as evidence of her emaciated body.

Read the rest of the article here.

And to see to see an example, click here (WARNING: if you're struggling with an eating disorder, or have recovered from an eating disorder, this site may act as a trigger).