Gloria's Oversexed Mind

GLAD needs your help: tales of gender discrimination

From this morning's mail.

GLAD is collecting stories about people’s experiences with health insurance coverage related to gender transition, to help us determine how we can best address legal concerns in this area.

If you have a story to share, please complete our brief survey at:

http://www.glad.org/health

Please note: because GLAD's work is focused in New England, we are specifically interested in stories from people in the six New England states. If you know of others who may have a story to share, please feel free to forward this post.

All information will be kept confidential.

Health Tip for Women: don't wait till your vagina falls out

I posted this on FaceBook over the weekend, and people are still queasy about it.

I'm posting it here now because it's such a strange story that it begs to be shared; but also, because, HOLY CRAP, what was she thinking to let her vaginal health decline to this point?

Women, read the whole story and you will see that if she had taken as good care of her own sexual health as she likely takes of her children's health, this medical catastrophe probably would not have occurred. If you notice your vagina's missing in action, for pete's sake get your pussy to a doctor post haste!

Allison Henry isn't the first to suffer from a horrifying medical condition that few women talk about. But her case was particularly bad, and she's just one of the few brave souls willing to come forward so that others will have the courage to seek help.

To put it bluntly, as Henry does: "My vagina fell out of my body."

read the full article on www.sphere.com

Fellating fruit bats

My buddy Mike finds the most interesting things. For example, this article about a study of the blowjob habits of the fruit bat.

It raises numerous sexological questions. Do they like it here or there? Do they like it anywhere? Do they like to make a sound? Do they like it upside down?

Read on, me batty ones.

Why do you think blow jobs happen?

This is not a trick question.

Most of us would probably go for the, "Hey, that feels nice," theory of oral sex. But researchers Min Tan, Gareth Jones, Guangjian Zhu, et. al., think there may be more to it than simple pleasure. As part of their attempt to prove a practical function for oral sex, the team conducted a study of the fellatio habits of fruit bats. The paper was published October 28 in the journal PLoS ONE.

via www.boingboing.net

Read the study @PLoS ONE

Abstinence Ed: Good Riddance to Bad Rubbish

Thanks to Mitch for sending me to this Newsweek article heralding the demise of ignorance-based anti-sex non-education.  If Obama's policies can indeed cripple and ultimately dismantle the web of fierce stupidity that's shrouded sex ed in America, it will be a monumental victory for sexual freedom. 

It's been a mainstay of sex ed for more than a decade. Now, as the Obama administration cuts off federal funding, the movement scrambles for money, determined to continue its mission.  

read The Future of Abstinence

Patriarchy stinking up the liberal blogosphere

I often complain about the right wing, so I'm happy to report that I have a major problem with the adolescent attitudes towards sex that are just as popular on the left side of the blogosphere.

Yesterday, snickers were heard throughout liberal quarters with the news of a study which demonstrated that male voters on the losing side of the presidential elections experienced a drop in testosterone. "Oooooh!," squealed Wired,"Obama's win turned Republicans into girlie-men, haw haw haw." (Ok, I added the haw-haws.)

Soon every liberal blogger was jumping all over the story. It was such a great excuse to mock their political opponents, how could they not?

I'll tell you how: BY GROWING THE FUCK UP!

Twisting science to have your fantasy pissing contest with political opponents is inexcusable, no matter where it's coming from.  In fact, scientists are studying the correlation between mood and testosterone in an effort, of course, to improve the emotional and reproductive lives of men. They are gathering data (thus far inconclusive but very promising) to demonstrate that emotional reactions to events directly impact hormone production.

It was awfully clever for scientists to select voters in a national election for study because they knew, going in, they could count on an entire group reacting powerfully to a single event, and it would be a fabulous way to see what, if any, effect it had on testosterone levels. The results  showed that testosterone levels dip when men experience feelings of loss, defeat, grief.  This correlates to earlier studies showing spikes in testosterone related to feelings of victory and dominance, which are also in line with studies of other species.  It's a magnificent piece of data which will, in years to come, contribute to drugs and treatments to  assist men in maintaining better emotional and physical health.  It's endocrinology, baby.  It's the real shit.

Meanwhile, another fact: lowered testosterone doesn't make a man less of a man.    It doesn't make you a "girlie-man," which is patriarchal code for gay.  Lower testosterone can, however, make you a man with dampened energy and diminished appetite for life.  Getting fired could lower your testosterone.  Losing a ball game too.  And, after age 40, testosterone levels naturally begin to drop in a significant percent of men -- including, probably, some of the ones who were giggling over this yesterday.

Seeking sound sex information?

My friend and colleague, "Dr. Dick," recently launched a sex-positive portal which offers links to a selection of the best of the best sites for everything from informative sex blogs, sex-positive porn, sex-positive feminists, and more. Every link on his list is worth visiting.

sexpositiveportal.com

Did the Army spin the AIDS vaccine story?

Big and little media, including this blogger, welcomed recent news from Thailand that trials of an AIDS vaccine were very promising. Today, word in the scientific community is, sadly, that this drug is not nearly as promising as the U.S. Army led the public to believe, and that the US and Thai officials created false expectations at their press conference. Army spokespeople are denying they rushed to announce but scientists are fuming.

When the U.S. Army and its collaborators in Thailand announced at press conferences on 24 September that a large clinical trial of an AIDS vaccine had lowered the rate of new HIV infections by about one-third, researchers were surprised and encouraged. Although it was only a modest reduction, it was the first positive result from any AIDS vaccine trial.

Now some researchers who have seen more of the data in confidential briefings are complaining that a fuller analysis undermines even cautious claims of success, and they are raising questions about the way the results were announced.

“The press conference was not a scholarly, rigorously honest presentation,” said one leading HIV/AIDS investigator, who like others asked that his name not be used. “It doesn’t meet the standards that have been set for other trials, and it doesn’t fully present the borderline results. It’s wrong.” Two biostatisticians who specialize in HIV prevention trials and have not seen the data, said that the results from all participants are the more important data, but they were puzzled that the press conference did not include the analysis that excluded those who didn’t follow the protocols. “I think if people saw [the two analyses] diverging in a vaccine study, they’d have a lot of questions,” says David Glidden, a biostatician at the University of California, San Francisco.

Unrevealed Analysis Weakens Claim of AIDS Vaccine "Success" : ScienceInsider.

Acrux: Roll on a better libido (men)

A new testosterone treatment to restore libido in the aging male population may be coming to a pharmacy near you in the next year or two.  Australian company Acrux has announced trial results of its new drug, Axiron, which offers both a great delivery system (you apply it like roll-on deodorant in your armpits) and very promising results.  Currently, transdermal testosterone delivery is a bit of a mess, discouraging many potential users from trying it.

It's good news for baby boomers.  According to Bloomberg news, "More than a third of American men over 45 years suffer testosterone deficiency, U.S. researchers found in a 2006 study. It can sap sex drive and cause impotence, osteoporosis and memory loss, according to the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota.

Bloomberg estimates that Axiron could be BIG (as in VERY profitable to its manufacturer): "The global market for testosterone treatments was worth $1 billion in the year ended March and grew more than 20 percent in the U.S."   Not surprisingly, while Acrux has yet to make a profit, their shares have tripled in anticipation of this drug's market potential.

Here's the scientific scoop:

Acrux has developed a delivery mechanism for its testosterone treatment that is applied to the armpit using a device that is similar to a roll-on deodorant. Clothes can be put on immediately after application and there is little chance of transferring it to another person.

Patients in the Axiron trial reported improved mood, a fall in negative mood, increased sexual desire and increased sexual performance.

The FDA has agreed to Acrux submitting a new drug application in America with Acrux targeting submission by the end of 2009.

Hopes Rise for Acrux Testosterone Treatment.

A glimmer of an AIDS vaccine

MUCH too soon to celebrate but an exciting new step towards prevention and ultimately a cure.

A new experimental AIDS vaccine was tested on 16,000 volunteers in Thailand and the results are that the vaccine was able to lower the risk of infection by about a third, according to Reuters.

U.S. and Thai government researchers said that the volunteers were all heterosexual, and they did not have any special risks of AIDS infection. Dr. Jerome Kim, an Army doctor who helped lead the trials, said that the placebo group had 74 infections, while the vaccine group only had 51.

New AIDS vaccine shows successful results

A brief evolution of bra ads: 1900-1970

A very brief glimpse into radical shifts in advertising (and cultural thinking) about brassieres in the 20th century.   I'm arranging them chronologically (from 1902 up to the 1970s) so you can see trends in attitudes about what bras do and how they do it.

---

Although women have worn one form of breast support or another for well over 2000 years, Victorians seized on the contemporary health crazes by advertising brassieres as medical devices.

Sometime in the 20s and 30s, bra ads stressed their value as beauty enhancers.

By the 1940s, it was all about the sexy busty sweater girl.

In the 1950s, the bra came out of the closet. Women were allowed to be overtly sexual.

Those old bras were uncomfortable as hell.

In the 60s, manufacturers found an exciting new marketing angle: preying on the insecurities of small-breasted women.

And in the 1970s, well, what can I say? Everyone was doing a lot of drugs.

---

Visit All about vintage bras for basic information on the history of brassieres, along with super-helpful information on how to get the all-important right fit for your body (whether buying a vintage bra or a new one).