Random links

Susie Bright on XXX Church at Huffington Post:

I prefer to pretend this site is a triumph of satiric performance art, because it's too sad to contemplate that these clever wise-asses, Pastors Craig and Mike, actually believe that masturbation is an offense to God and womankind. Yes, they insist that masturbation is something that guys do to demean the fairer sex.

A fetus Christmas tree (via Feministing.com)

Omg. Feministing also linked to Proknowledge.org, a supposed sex-ed site set up by right-to-lifers that features pretty much ONLY the negative sides to sex:

Sex can damage your self-esteem, sense of worth, and reputation. It can cause regret, stress, pressure, heartache, and vulnerability.

Also, because young women clearly don't deserve not being condescended to:

When you were little, "boys were stupid." Now, thanks to hormones, they don't seem to "stupid."

Because they're guys. And guys can be cool. Guys can be cute. And what used to seem gross doesn't seem that way anymore.

Maybe you're looking for your dream guy, dating someone, or even considering living together or marriage. Whatever your situation, the next few pages contain everything you need to know about developing a healthy, enjoyable relationship.

I don't mind them raising questions for people to consider but if you read all the way through, you'll see that there are no real pros and cons, just cons-to anything but getting married. Don't live together, don't have premarital sex (because - gasp! - sex makes babies). I do think there is balance needed, especially for young women, in terms of building their self-image and self-worth so they have sex because they want to, not just because of peer pressure or some guy wants them to, but this whole "we really care about YOU" attitude disguised as "knowledge" doesn't give young women the full picture. It paints a totally rosy, everything-will-be-perfect guise when that's not true. Life isn't perfect, whether you live or don't live with someone, whether you get married early or not, and if they're not even going to engage the positive aspects of sex or encourage masturbation, I can't even consider this approach possibly valuable, nevermind that the underlying message is: sex is bad, abortion is bad, etc.

The Chicago Sun-Times gives a roundup of the year in books:

PUSILLANIMITY PRIZE. To the New York Times, for refusing to print the title of chess champion Jennifer Shahade's book Chess Bitch: Women in the Ultimate Intellectual Sport in two articles on the same day -- including the op-ed piece she wrote at the Times' request.

RUNNER-UP: The Christian Science Monitor, for refusing to print the title of Jessa Crispin's celebrated Web site, bookslut.com, in an article about literary blogs in which she was extensively quoted. (Full disclosure: Crispin writes the Sun-Times' comics and graphic novels column.)

My friend Joel Keller has a piece in today's Washington Post about his "Encyclopedic Grasp of Hannukah"

I finally got to watch a few episodes of The Post Show and they are SO funny, plus some of my chicas like Alexis and Mindy are in them. I'm gonna check out all the rest and hopefully interview them soon. There's a big DVD release party on January 7th too. I recommend "Fantasy Rape" (totally hilarious!) and "Alpha Kappa Queda."

Greta Christina's classic essay, "Are We Having Sex Now Or What?"

For the dirty birds, "The Sounds of Cumming" from phone sex worker Radical Vixen:

I like to order bondage lovers to use a ball gag when they masterbate. They ‘mmphf’ ‘mmphf’ when the big O hits.

British men sound dignified when they cum, almost poetic.