With all the media attention going to the Anthony Weiner case, it’s an opportune time to think about the relationship between public and private sexual acts, and where beliefs about appropriateness fit into all of this. My atheist partner sent me some pieces by Richard Dawkins that address these issues (though not in the context of the Weiner case), so I’m using current events as a leaping-off point to discuss how people’s beliefs about sex play a role in their actions and responses. In an essay on the sexual lives of political figures, Dawkins writes: “A censorious culture in which public figures are forced to answer impertinent questions about their past, or their private affairs, would lead to open season on everybody. Who, if challenged with a point blank question, could honestly deny some secret from the past that they know society would condemn?” The interesting point here is that our society has so many hang-ups about sex that we’re practically responsible for creating an environment in which any sexual expression could potentially be deviant. Continue Reading →
privacy
Recent posts
Fixing The Visual Strip Search
For a while it seemed like stories about the TSA body scanners and the “enhanced pat-down” procedures were in the news everywhere. The body scanners create 3d images of the body using either Millimeter Wave Technology or Backscatter Technology. Some travelers object to what is described as a “visual strip search” and do not want to be scanned. Continue Reading →
Q&A: Why Does He Let The Dog Watch Us Having Sex?
I get mad because my partner wants to let the dog stay in the room during sex. He minds his own business, but still! There’s a difference between him being okay that the dog is in the room during sex and actually wanting the dog to be in the room during sex. I’m assuming he’s just cool with it, right? I mean, he doesn’t actually go and get the dog and bring him or her into the room when you have sex, right? Because that’s a whole separate issue. Continue Reading →