Tag Archives: Sexuality

Calibrating and Recalibrating Sex Positiveness

Uncategorized, , , , , , , ,

Continuing our discussion (see Making sense of our fights on the Internet, Power and Presence on the Internet and Elsewhere, and A Spectrum as a Slippery Slope and OMG Hitler is a Nazi!!!!) …

I was at a local event recently where a group of sex-positive third-wave feminist women had traditionally used a certain amount of overt sexuality to raise some money. They had been doing it for a few years and had gained a certain reputation and a certain following. A friend of mine who knew of their work but did not know them personally joined in during this most recent event and volunteered to work the door, as it were, to help to relieve some of the visitors and participants of a little cash (this was a fundraiser). I was not present for that part of the event but some of the people involved, who had been involved for several years, later said to me that they felt my friend had gone a bit over the top in her performance. I asked for a description of what concerned them, and when I heard it I had to laugh a little. You see, over the years, these women have changed their own act from a more to a less sexy parody version of themselves, toning it down and calibrating, for a number of different reasons. The young woman who joined them this year had calibrated her own approach to their reputation and not to their current approach. She was a blast, as it were, from the past, and that was a little shocking. Continue reading Calibrating and Recalibrating Sex Positiveness →

Power and Presence on the Internet and Elsewhere

Uncategorized, , , , , ,

… continuing ….

When Rebecca commented about Stef McGraw’s commentary in her talk at a the CFI Student Leadership Conference, at which Stef was in attendance as a student leader, there were those who complained that this was unfair; Rebecca has a big presence and a resounding voice on the Internet and in the Skeptics and Atheists communities, and for good reason. Therefore, when she speaks critically of a person or a person’s ideas, where that person has less of a voice, who is less well known or less well established, that could be seen as somehow unfair, or at least, uneven. Continue reading Power and Presence on the Internet and Elsewhere →

Making sense of our fights on the Internet

Uncategorized, , , , , , , , ,

After the Big Bang, more or less evenly distributed stuff and energy somehow became slightly unevenly distributed, which caused a kind of Universal Angular Momentum to set in which gave early heterogeneity and structure to everything that existed. The lightest elements formed more or less spontaneously, but in order for heavier elements to form matter had to get sufficiently clumped in stars that massive gravitational forces changed light elements into heavy ones. Perhaps if the initial clumping and spinning of stuff in the very early universe was a little bit different, the whole universe would have come out differently, in detail if not in other more profound ways. Or at least, I’d be wearing a blue tee shirt instead of a black one right now and I’d be using vim instead of emacs to type this blog post.

When Elevatorgate happened, the ensuing Universe Known as Rebeccapocalypse was shaped and determined by a number of early events that have caused the final result … well, not the “final” result, but the result that we are stuck with as of this writing … but had those first few days of Internet activity been a little different things might have come out a different way.

Here I would like to do two things. Continue reading Making sense of our fights on the Internet →

“I think I might be a bisexual, what do I do now?”

Uncategorized, ,

This is one of the most commonly asked questions on the internet (judging by it’s position in various search engine listings). The answer of course, is, “be bisexual, then.” But a related question that I used to hear more often a few years back but less so these days is this one: “Is everyone basically bisexual?”

My friend Carol would say that all the time. Her husband would look right at me and say “She’s wrong. Just so you know.” Made me laugh.

Anyway, the question is now both asked and answered in an excellent post by fellow ftb.com blogger Greta Christina. Go here and have a look.

Personally, I think most people are sexual, and then individuals are filtered, and they are filtered to varying degrees and there are times when the filters can change. Somehow, depending on cultural and often linguistic factors, those filters get translated into categories. Did you know that in some cultures a man who has sex with other men as a “top” is considered straight, perhaps even very straight?

Anyway, Greta has what might be a slightly different take, but thoughtful and well informed. Go have a look.