Sexual Intelligence Blog

Bill Baird: Birth Control (& Abortion) Hero Turns 90

If you’ve ever used birth control, or if you cherish Roe v Wade, you are in debt to Bill Baird. Today is his 90th birthday.

Do you remember when it was illegal to send condoms through the U.S. mail? Do you remember when all forms of contraception were illegal for unmarried people?

Baird personally changed this.

And paid a huge personal price—including imprisonment 8 different times.

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Mental Health, Masturbation, & the Church

The Southern Baptist Convention has finally released a report detailing the decades-long child sexual abuse by its clergy.

Of course, this hands-on abuse is horrific. But for more children have been damaged by the church’s explicit teaching that masturbation and children’s sexuality is sinful. This form of child abuse goes on every day in every orthodox religious institution–in plain sight.

Why don’t medical & psychological professionals speak out about this? Why don’t the rest of us?

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“Sex is the Peasant’s Opera”

Many of my patients feel powerless around sexuality.

In fact, psychological risk-taking is one of the greatest gifts sex has to offer.

Most of the judgements that we fear from others (“she’ll think I’m a pervert”) we actually fear from ourselves. Most of our fear about “failing” sexually is a response to arbitrary standards that we could actually break with impunity. And limiting sex to what’s “dignified” or “manly” or “feminist” or “anti-racist”…

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