Laurie and Debbie say: Ally Fogg, writing about male sexuality in the Guardian, manages to simultaneously be excessively irritating and make some good points. His article is headlined “Why Are We Afraid of Male Sexuality?” which is, of course, a no-brainer: we’re afraid of male sexuality because of the inordinate amount of harm that is [...]

Laurie says: My friend Tracy went to Thailand and saw the exhibition Picsique at the Numthong Gallery at the Bangkok Art and Culture Centre which featured photographs  by Sirichoke Lertyaso, Tada Hengsapkul, and Supachok Pichetkul. She brought me the brochure from the exhibition because of the photographs by Supachok Pichetkul from his Project of Fashion [...]

Laurie says: This image of Guy Gayle is from Familiar Men: A Book of Nudes, with my photographs and text by me, Richard F. Dutcher, and Debbie Notkin.  Guy’s words below are from the texts on masculinity that frame the photos. … … I remember the cracking sound as his shinguard shattered underneath his sock.  [...]

Debbie says: Laurie and I are contemplating a serious post on masculinity within the next week, but meanwhile, I found this completely irresistible: A researcher in Finland has uncovered a strong negative correlation between average penis size of the men in a country and that country’s economic growth between 1960 and 1985. Yes, that’s right: [...]

Lynne Murray says: I spent a long time crafting a sentence that would introduce the heroine of my mystery series to the world. When I started reading it out loud at signings, people gasped on more than one occasion. Sadly, all these years later, I know it still shocks some people. Larger Than Death begins: [...]

Laurie and Debbie say: Courtney at Feministing has some pointed things to say about Erica Jong’s recent NY Times Op-Ed column decrying Jong’s impression that young people aren’t excited about sex. Here’s Jong: Generalizing about cultural trends is tricky, but everywhere there are signs that sex has lost its frisson of freedom. Is sex less [...]

Laurie says: I was going to write a serious post, but then I saw something that felt truly silly.   And the way things are right now, silly feels good. Copyranter wrote a post, OMG! Blood in American Tampon Ad that pointed me at some European tampon ads with some interesting attitudes.  (The blood in [...]

Debbie says: This post is part of the My Planned Parenthood blog carnival, hosted by What Tami Said. I used Planned Parenthood for gynecological health and birth control as a young woman without much money when I was in my 20s. That’s a long time ago, but what I remember is spartan offices, good service, [...]

Marlene says: Cross posted from Fukshot I love the fourth of July. I’m conflicted about parts of it, but uncomplicated relationships are for uncomplicated minds. I loathe the standard fare patriotism and invented right wing history that this date invokes, but the negatives associated with this date don’t outweigh the positives for me. Historically, July [...]

Debbie says: As Jos at Feministing says, “The Department of Health and Human Services’ (HHS) announcement yesterday that they plan to begin including sexual orientation and gender identity in health data collection probably doesn’t sound that exciting unless you’re a total data nerd.” But it is exciting. Here’s Jos again: There is a lack of [...]