Tag: Sexual Orientation

Asexual?

There is a new sexual orientation that seems to be taking hold….personally I think it is a downer but there are those that seem to want it.

The movement is a testament to how vital sexual identity is to self-worth. But the public emergence of asexuals also raises questions for sexuality researchers — mysteries involving the fluidity of sexual identity and the link between romance, which many asexuals enjoy, and sexual attraction.

“It does raise questions about the nature of love,” said Anthony Bogaert, a sexologist at Brock University in Ontario who estimated the prevalence of asexuality in 2004. He analyzed an earlier survey of Britons and found that 1 percent reported that they had never felt sexually attracted to anyone.

Some asexuals are romantically straight, gay or bisexual, and some aren’t romantic. They date each other, or they go out with “sexuals,” attempting to compromise in bed.

The birth of the asexual movement has been as tricky as the personal stories, involving people whose sexuality is naturally passive. They lack the cultural markers claimed by the gay community — styles of dress, for instance, or bars in which to gather.

Into that breach came the great uniter of obscure groups — the Internet — and Jay, whom many asexuals consider to be an ideal spokesman. Young, charismatic and good-looking, here is a man, they say, who could have sex if he wanted to.

AVEN members have one concrete goal: changing the authoritative Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders to make explicit that asexuality is not a “hypoactive sexual desire disorder.” The next edition will be published by the American Psychiatric Association in 2012.

What a BUMMER!

Is There A Treatment For “Gay”?

I thought that this issue had been settled years ago….but I see the religious people will not accept the findings from the past and still push the opinion that being “gay” is some sort of disease or mental illness.

Plans to promote medical treatment for homosexuality at a religious conference have been criticised by doctors.

The event will hear from prominent American psychologist Dr Joseph Nicolosi who said he had helped many people to become heterosexual.

Dr Nicolosi said he had been helping people to “increase their heterosexual potential” for 25 years, and put his success rate among men at about two out of three.

He said he was offering a choice for people who were unhappy being gay.

The Royal College of Psychiatrists (RCP) said there was no evidence that the treatment worked, and that it was likely to cause considerable distress.

An RCP spokesman said: “There is no sound scientific evidence that sexual orientation can be changed.

“Furthermore, so-called treatments of homosexuality create a setting in which prejudice and discrimination can flourish.”

The Royal College said the American Psychiatric Association had concluded there was no scientific evidence that homosexuality was a disorder and removed it from its diagnostic glossary of mental disorders in 1973.

They are still pushing the possiblity that homosexuality is some sort of mental disorder.

Dangers Of Lesbian Sex

Lesbians are just as likely as heterosexual women to get sexually transmitted diseases such as hepatitis and genital herpes, Australian researchers said on Tuesday.

Women who have sex with other women were thought to have a small chance of acquiring sexually transmitted infections (STIs), but a study by scientists from the Sexual Health Unit in Alice Springs, Australia, showed their risk is just as high as other women.

“We demonstrated a higher prevalence of bacterial vaginosis (vaginal disease), Hepatitis C and HIV and Aids risk behaviours in women who have sex with other women compared with controls,” Dr Katherine Fethers said in a report in the journal, Sexually Transmitted Infections.

The researchers compared the medical histories and sexual behaviour of 1 408 lesbians and 1 423 heterosexual women who attended a sexual health clinic in Sydney between March 1991 and December 1998.

“All women with a history of sex with a woman were compared with women who denied ever having sex with another woman,” Fethers explained.

She and her colleagues said only seven percent of the women who had female sex partners said they had never had sex with a man. But they were more likely to have had a relationship with a gay or bisexual man and to have had more partners than the other women during their lifetime.

“These data argue strongly for increased measures to improve our understanding of the sexual health of women who have sex with women,” Fethers added.

She also called for more basic research into STIs, including the HIV virus that causes Aids, and targeted intervention strategies for women with female sex partners. – Reuters

Watch What You Grab!

I apologize for this story, it just fell into my lap and it just begs to be written.

A decision to allow transsexual men in Sweden to get prosthetic penises free of charge from local health authorities has drawn criticism because the prostheses on offer don’t get erect.

Starting on January 1st, 2009 transsexual men (men who were born as females but have undergone sex-change operations) will, with a note from a doctor, be able to receive a prosthetic penis from a plastic surgeon at no cost, according to Ottar, a magazine published by the Swedish Association for Sexuality Education (RFSU).

The move is meant to correct what has long been considered a glaring case of gender bias against transsexual men when it comes to the support they receive to help them fit into society following sex change surgery.

While transsexual women have long been eligible for publicly funded wigs, breast implants, and hair removal operations, transsexual men have previously been without any corresponding cosmetic adjustment assistance.

Swedish health authorities justify their decision to only fund fake penises for cosmetic rather than functional purposes because of regulations which prohibit the use of taxpayer money to pay for products or procedures considered to be sexual aids.

Because, like Viagra, functioning fake penises help sexual performance, they do not qualify for public funds.