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* My Sex Professor’s Debby Herbenick on a condom-distribution program at a Provincetown, Mass. elementary school.
The new policy allows for the distribution but apparently requires that children/young teenagers speak with a school nurse or counselor before they can receive a condom, an aspect of the policy that not everyone agreed with due to concerns that the conversation may be a barrier for some to asking for a condom. However, as their elementary school education class does not instruct on how to use a condom, this aspect of the policy may provide that type of information—-and other types of conversations/counseling that I would hope any concerned adult would ask someone who is that young and either sexually active or thinking of becoming sexually active.
* Alyssa Rosenberg takes a hard line on actresses who coast on an “America’s Sweetheart” reputation when dabbling in terrible and misogynistic dreck: “there ought to be genuine penalties for making rotten movies, particularly ones in which smart actresses debase themselves to turn in rotten portrayals of their fellow women.”
* Via Holla Back DC!, former Holla Back intern and D.C. 11th grader Brittnie Smith has written an op-ed at the Examiner on sexual harassment and assault on public transportation:
Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA) doesn’t do a good job on meeting the needs of women’s safety. From April 2009-March 2010 Holla Back DC! has received thirty-two reports of verbal sexual harassment, twelve reports of groping, (four of which were thigh grabs), four reports of physical assault, four reports of stalking, and three reports of public masturbation on public transportation. There were five incidents that were reported to either WMATA officials and/or the police. Out of the five cases, there was only one positive response, which led to the perpetrator’s arrest. This incident causes women to feel more fear than security when taking public transportation in DC.
* s.e. smith at FWD/Forward on the limitations of anti-discrimination legislation.
* Cara Kulwicki at the Curvature questions the U.S. government’s reluctance to bankroll an end to prison rape:
the answer to the supposedly burning question isn’t difficult—-the federal government needs to give prisons more money to specifically address this problem. Though not up to wardens to address, I think it’s worth pointing out that we’d have lots of money to spend on the issue if we stopped senselessly incarcerating people like non-violent drug offenders. And it’s definitely worth mention that we don’t have a big issue with spending money on prisons to begin with. The prison industrial complex is big, big business—-and while $1 billion sure is a lot of money, it’s chump change compared to what we pour into incarcerating people every year. At around a mere 2% of what is being spent already, a whole lot of people—-who we insist on locking up against all logic and reason—-could be a hell of a lot safer. So what, exactly, is the problem?
Photo via Augapfel, Creative Commons Attribution License 2.0