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Sex & Politics

Singer Stefani Censored In [where?]

by on ·Sex & Politics, Sexual Intelligence Blog

Quiz: Where did this happen? You may know Gwen Stefani’s music. Formerly with the group No Doubt, she’s now a huge pop star. Incredible voice. Powerful stage presence. Movie-star face. Gorgeous body. An altogether thrilling artist. Quiz: Where did this happen? Stefani’s local stadium concert is announced. A religious student group demonstrates, demanding that the sexy star dress more modestly and turn down the heat on her stage show. Conservative critics chime in, claiming that her typically revealing costumes corrupt the country’s youth. Stefani agrees to make changes. In a magazine interview, she says she’s making a “major sacrifice,” mourning…

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Sexuality—Missing in Action At the Iowa Caucuses

by on ·Sex & Politics, Sexual Intelligence Blog

Everyone who wants to be president of the most powerful nation on Earth has to go to Iowa. Candidates go to local diners, nursing homes, and high school gyms for weeks, telling hundreds of people every day why they deserve a seat on Air Force One. Iowa. In a few months, a half-dozen candidates from each major party will fold their tent because they didn’t get enough votes in Iowa. If New York or California had this much power, people would complain bitterly. Like Putney Swope, Iowa is no one’s first choice for anything, and so it gets to decide…

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Americans Search for a Sexual Center

by on ·Sex & Politics, Sexual Intelligence Blog

People in the media ask me all the time—sexually, is the country getting more liberal or more conservative? This is similar to the question George Lakoff discusses about politics, most recently in his article in Truthout. In it, he says there are no “centrists,” because “There is no left-to-right linear spectrum in American political life.” Instead, Lakoff talks about “biconceptuals”—“progressive on certain issue areas and conservative on others.” The importance of this, says Lakoff, is that progressive values—“protection and empowerment”—are simply American values. The idea that there is a ‘center,’ he says, “marginalizes progressives and sees them as extremists, when…

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Caution: Karl Rove Was Hazardous To Your Sex Life

by on ·Sex & Politics, Sexual Intelligence Blog

Karl Rove has built his career on terrifying people. An equal-opportunity offender, he has directed our government’s successful attempts to panic Americans about terrorism, international diplomacy, taxation, mainstream media, and the judicial system. And homosexuality, stem cell research, promiscuity, pornography, teen sexuality, and naughty words on TV. Karl Rove has reminded us that very little can motivate people more than fear. Those of us who believe in sexuality—and democracy, reason, and science—haven’t found a reliable alternative yet. Karl Rove conceived the brilliant strategy of putting “gay marriage” initiatives on state ballots to drive conservative voters to the polls—who then voted…

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I ♥ First Amendment Lawyers

by on ·Sex & Politics, Sexual Intelligence Blog

I’m in Chicago this week, speaking again at the semi-annual meeting of the First Amendment Lawyers Association. I love going to their meetings. They’re an inspirational, funny bunch of men and women. When the ACLU takes a case, or an individual or group fights for its most basic rights, it’s a First Amendment Lawyer who typically challenges the government. Various attorneys outlined their current work: * The continuing fallout from the Janet Jackson Superbowl nipplegate; * An Ohio “decency” group’s attempt to eliminate strip clubs from the state; * A Kansas county’s effort to zone adult bookstores out of existence;…

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Senator Stevens Doesn’t Know %*&@# About Morality

by on ·Sex & Politics, Sexual Intelligence Blog

Is it too much to ask–for decency crusaders to be decent? To ask those obsessed with morality to be moral? “Indecency” and “morality” are not America’s real problems. Rather, we clearly have an intolerance problem, a church/state convergence problem, a losing-our-right-to-privacy problem, a SexPanic problem. But when people in power (elected or otherwise) fear our indecency or immorality, the rest of us are made to suffer. Recently, the FCC gave itself the right to decide that one-time uses of common cuss words on TV or radio were “indecent,” subjecting a station broadcasting such a word to enormous fines. Excuse me,…

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