Changing the Way People, Politics & the Media Look at Sex

Sex Around the World

India’s Ancient Erotic Sculpture

by on ·Sex Around the World, Sexual Intelligence Blog

I’m still in India, now in coastal Orissa state. Today we went to a world-famous 1,000-year-old Hindu temple. It was enormous, gorgeous, spectacular. Every inch of the stone exterior was carved with scenes from local and palace life from 10 centuries ago. And so today’s visitor sees wonderfully-preserved scenes of battles, animals, musicians, families…and sex. Lots of sex, in just about every position. Same-gender sex, threesomes, group sex, oral sex–you get the picture. Well, perhaps not. Here, sitting in a park, is this display of explicit erotic behavior bigger than the Lincoln Memorial. And people from across the country come…

Continue Reading →
0 Comments

My Work In Delhi

by on ·Sex Around the World, Sexual Intelligence Blog

Surprise! I am in India lecturing and vacationing. Yesterday I lectured to the staff of an international NGO on challenges in sexual and reproductive health, a great experience. Monday and Tuesday were my days to meet with the executives and staffs of various NGOs promoting sexual and reproductive health. The work they’re doing in both urban and rural settings is inspirational and instructive. They deal with challenges both similar to and beyond the ones I and other American professionals deal with. These Indian programs are often tied to work in women’s rights; reducing domestic violence; HIV prevention; and promoting the…

Continue Reading →
0 Comments

Cheerio From London and Charles Darwin

by on ·Sex Around the World, Sexual Intelligence Blog

I just returned from 4 days in London. Great monuments. Lousy food. Charming people. How do they stay so charming eating that lousy food? Say what you will about the Brits (the food isn’t their only fault), they gave the world parliamentary democracy. Not to deny their imperialism and funny hats, but they have often been an island of sanity (literally) in a world gone mad. And every day of my visit last week, I had some of that sanity in my hand. Their 10-pound ($20) bill features a picture of Charles Darwin on the back. Can you imagine that…

Continue Reading →
0 Comments

Is A Good Mortgage Like Geriatric Sex?

by on ·Sex Around the World, Sexual Intelligence Blog

As if dealing with the awful sight of model Heidi Klum’s boobs in a Jordache ad isn’t painful enough, Americans also have to deal with that little mortgage thing that threatens to eat everyone’s home. Apparently, Australia can discuss both—sex and mortgages—at once. Local lender Virgin Money’s new print and TV ads show a naked old couple being very, very affectionate. In America, the response would be, ‘how do we keep men, women, and children from contracting polio, HIV, and permanent brain damage from this lascivious ad?’ In Australia, by contrast, the question is, “will these lascivious ads help sell…

Continue Reading →
0 Comments

Ancient Greeks, Modern Romans

by on ·Sex Around the World, Sexual Intelligence Blog

I’m in Rome, Italy—combination holiday and teaching for a week. No complaints here. Inside the huge Coliseum there are large corridors (as in any big stadium), and this month they’re being used for an exhibit of Grecian pottery and statues—about the god Eros. I’m not generally a pottery or statue kind of guy, but while I was at the Coliseum I did take a look. As cool as the ancient artifacts were, what blew me away was the exhibit’s narrative. The theme of the exhibit was understanding Eros as an expression of human emotion, power, drama, society. And so the…

Continue Reading →
0 Comments

Sexual Hypocrisy—When the Personal is Political

by on ·Sex Around the World, Sexual Intelligence Blog

Randall Tobias abruptly resigned as head of the Bush administration’s foreign aid programs Friday after he was implicated in an investigation of high-priced call-girls. Ho-hum, another married Republican outed as—gasp—participating in non-marital, non-monogamous sex. The moral failure of yet another Bush appointee would hardly be worth mentioning, except that Tobias directed the Agency for International Development (USAID) and America’s global AIDS relief programs. In those capacities, he was personally responsible for implementing a condom-is-the-last-resort policy for AIDS prevention. He implemented America’s shameful international blackmail scheme–you want family planning money, you have to vigorously oppose prostitution, while promoting abstinence & monogamy.…

Continue Reading →
0 Comments