My American Prospect piece on the college abstinence movement was included in Friday’s edition of the Women’s Health Policy Report, which is published daily by the National Partnership for Women & Families. I’ve been a long-time subscriber to this amazing resource on women’s health policy and reproductive health, so the mention is very exciting!
I can’t count the number of times reporters have approached me hoping for a juicy sound bite about what the hook-up culture is really like, only to instead encounter a barrage of facts about the great majority of Americans having had premarital sex for, um, generations. Mainstream reporters either have a major aversion to peer-reviewed studies, or they don’t like being told that their granny probably didn’t keep her legs closed, because time and time again, they’ve dropped all communication the second I dare to question the phenomenon of college kids gone wild. The story becomes a lot less salacious when you realize that the so-called “hook-up culture” is just a new alarmist name attached to behavior in which young people have engaged for decades.
In which I debunk the myth of the college hook-up culture and its consequences. It’s all made-up, kids. Don’t be fooled by the abstinence-only nuts.
Few side effects and affordability are just a couple reasons why more women (and yes, even young women) should look into the IUD as an alternative to the more commonly used birth control pill. To learn about the other pluses, read my full article on YourTango.com.
My op-ed in tomorrow’s edition of The Harvard Crimson discusses how the campus organization, True Love Revolution, lacks a consistent mission and misapplies feminism in defending abstinence and the “traditional family”.
I had a lot of fun writing this piece, in part because it was an opportunity to debunk a common misinterpretation of Ariel Levy’s Female Chauvinist Pigs as a treatise on the consequences of feminism. Levy, who identifies as a feminist herself, does not blame second-wave feminism for vulgar music videos and crude lad mags emblematic of modern “raunch culture”. Rather, she argues that women who express their sexuality in a manner obviously conforming to the male gaze (straight women kissing in night clubs, for example) are falsely invoking feminism in justifying their decisions.
Levy herself has gone on the record as stating in an interview with sex-positive feminist Susie Bright:
OF COURSE I don’t think [sex radicals] are responsible for this…the whole point of sex radicals is to explore new and different and more creative ways to represent— and to have— sex. I’m all for creativity. I’m all for exploration. I’m just not for the incessant reiteration of this one incredibly dull shorthand for sexiness… Wet t-shirt contests! Implants! Brazilian bikini waxes!
…
You have always been about encouraging women to investigate what they really and truly want from sex. Raunch culture, on the other hand, is about performance, not pleasure. That’s my objection … As I say in my book, the women for whom this is *genuine* — the women who authentically get their kicks from flashing for GGW or stripping or whatever— have my best wishes.
It’s a shame that Levy’s work has been so often misinterpreted as it offers a rare, nuanced examination of how the male-dominated entertainment and pornography industry have hijacked “sexual liberation” for profit. This isn’t because feminism went too far; it’s because it didn’t go far enough.
The Harvard Voice has just come out with the first installment of an educational series on sex products. I’ll be co-writing this all fall with my friend Christine, who writes the sex column, Talk Nerdy To Me, at MIT. Check out our article, in which we review insane amounts of lube, from drugstore standbys like Astroglide and KY-Jelly to exotic varieties suitable for vegans.
My write-up of the Boston-area nail salon MiniLuxe, whose über-sanitary practices has made me a LOT more paranoid about mani/pedi hygiene at your typical salon.
My write-up of Pawsh Dog Boutique for luxury lifestyle e-zine julib.com. On Thursday, I’ll be moving into the Back Bay, where Pawsh has become the go-to store for pet essentials. Hamlet will surely be a regular.