America's War on Sex, Or is it Women?

Kaitlyn Solotes

Why is it that society feels comfortable practicing the kama sutra in their bedrooms but wince at the thought of legalized abortion? [1] From the liberal Colonial era to the conservative Victorian and back again, our society is swinging once again towards conservative reform. Which way the pendulum swings is a direct result of America’s sensitivity and apprehension towards sexuality. Although most people would think that our society is making progress towards more liberal rights, politics say otherwise. There is a double standard in our political system today where those who support Viagra for men do not support birth control for women. The most prominent question should not be whether or not the ACA should cover contraceptives, but rather why are male politicians making these decisions about women’s bodies? This has been the unfortunate consequence of male dominated political parties, especially the Republican party. Lawmakers are turning to sly and complex methods of outlawing abortion. Instead of listening to the women who would have to forfeit their bodies, legislature chooses to undermine them and slowly take away available abortion services. By creating a nearly impossible requirement for abortion clinics, they have no option other than to stop operating. 

 

[2] In March of this year a law was passed in Michigan that states abortion of any kind is no longer covered by insurance companies. This means that even if a pregnancy is a result of incest or rape, an individual will not be able to obtain coverage for abortion services unless they purchase "rape insurance". Even though seven in ten Americans said they stand by the Roe v. Wade case which legalized abortion, legislature still feels the need to attack a legal practice. Not only can this be seen as a war on sex, but also a war on women by punishing them for inadvertent pregnancies. This ongoing war is affecting sexuality today by leading parents to not properly educate their children; these are the children who will grow up looking at advertisements of a woman's open legs and think to themselves "That's okay". After all, isn't sexual objectification what we are promoting? Looking back on the history of pornographic images in advertising, it is obvious that magazine covers and commercials are only getting riskier. From the first photograph of a semi-nude woman in 1838 to practically every page in a current magazine, it is women who suffer from the never-ending war on sex.

          

                1. Crystal Moore, "Contemporary Crisis in Sexuality" (lecture, Cameron Hall, Charlotte, NC, April 29, 2014).

2. Louise Knott Ahern, “Abortion insurance law taking effect in Michigan,” Detroit Free Press, March 12, 2014, http://www.freep.com/.

Did J. Edger Hoover's Have A Little Secret???

Andrew Nakamura

4/29/14

During the presidency of President Eisenhower, Eisenhower issued barring that any homosexual from all federal job positions.  The president appointed Mr. J. Edgar Hoover in charge of the investigation of the order and would keep homosexuals off of the federal payroll. [1] However Hoover had a possible secret that he lived with during this time that he himself was actually homosexual. 

Hoover was a lifelong bachelor who never married, never fathered and children and lived with his mother till he was forty years old.  Hoover spent an untold amount of personal and professional time searching and gathering information about federal workers like politicians, government leaders, and coworkers and so on to find out if their sexual orientation was homosexual or heterosexual.  There is also an account of Hoover monitoring John F. Kennedy’s heterosexual affairs in supposedly-failed attempts to black mail him.

There is a lot of speculation whether or not Hoover was truly homosexual. Some historians claim he was truly homosexual. They have gone back and found that he and his FBI associate were extremely close.  The two were seen close all the time, going out to eat going out to night clubs and even going on long vacations just the two of them.  Just like Hoover Tolson never married or had children.  After the death of Hoover in 1972, Clyde Tolson, his close associate, inherited close to $551,000 and his Hoovers house.  Still, historians questions if they were just close friends or homosexual partners.  If Hoover was in fact gay, he was quite good at covering up his homosexual behavior and covering up his homosexual personal life, while maintaining a heterosexual persona.[2] There also some extreme rumors that have been passed through history.  For instance some believe seeing Hoover dress as a cross-dresser and seeing him in a dress at homosexual parties in the 1950’s. 

However all these are just rumors and there were never a confirmation of him being homosexual.  Simply not coming out and being open about it was important to keep his high federal job position and not being kicked off payroll.  I suppose that J. Edgar Hoover mystery of being homosexual will remain a secret and that people throughout history will question his sexual orientation.

[1] Crystal Moore, “Beyond Reproduction” (lecture, University of North Carolina at Charlotte, Charlotte, NC, April 2013)

[2] J.Hoover. "Hoover Gay Rumors" http://johnedgarhoover.com/gay-hoover/536/ (accessed April 29, 2014).

Hoover Gay Rumors

Hoover Gay Rumors

The Origins of Homosexuality

The Origins of Homosexuality

Gay Men vs Lesbians

By: Bre-Ann Werner

 

            From as far back as I can remember I was always taught in my younger years of school that Homosexuality was wrong. Expression of love, relationships, or marriage amongst two people of the same sex was known to be absolutely unacceptable throughout my childhood. I grew up listening to one derogatory term and discriminative saying after another. But why? Why is this unacceptable? As years went on and I saw life through my own lens, I learned to develop my own opinion, which was that Homosexuality was 100% acceptable in my eyes. Love is love, whether you fall in love with someone that falls under the “same sex” as you, it does not matter in my opinion. In American society, Homosexuality is becoming widely accepted, but there will always be those people who fight against gay pride and find a way to discriminate. With all of the progression that America has made over the years with the acceptance of homosexuality in public, why is one gender more accepted than the other?

            Dating back to the origins of homosexuality during the late 1800’s, public administrators took notice of a significant amount of people who were slowly deviating from the traditional “perfect family.” A lot of people were no longer basing their early life off of family, marriage, and reproduction, but more around fun and sexual pleasure[1].  It wasn’t until about the first half of the 20^th century where people migrated to cities to find work and a better life. In this time people of America were moving to three of the largest cities in the US; New York, Los Angeles, and San Francisco where they found their freedom of expression[2]. At the same time when freedom of expression was vastly growing in these areas, the coming of homosexuality was now on the rise[3]. As homosexuality started to publicly be introduced to the American society, their chances of acceptance were quickly disappearing. Expression of freedom amongst homosexuals was thought of to be wrong in the religious eye, and families were no longer supporting their children who had feelings for someone of their same sex. The disapproval of homosexuals was not only within family life or in the local church, it quickly moved into the military and work force as well. Post WWII, thousands upon thousands of gay, lesbian, and even bisexual men and women were discharged from the armed services, and dumped into port services. Local police and businesses were brutalizing the homosexuals, along with ostracizing them in public and leaving them jobless[4].

            In hope of solving this problem, Harry Hay and Chuck Rowland founded the Mattachine Society in 1950 with another founder Dale Jennings in mind; a homosexual that was arrested for “illegal activity,”[5]. The Mattachine Society was created for social and moral support for all homosexuals that have been put down by society. They organized meetings and publications, reaching out to thousands of people that have been hurt[6]. As time went on, it was like the coming of homosexuality got stuck in its time zone. People were still discriminating, gay bashing, and losing family over personal life choices. Fortunately, things started to slowly progress as the years went on, there is still and always will be some sort of discrimination amongst homosexuals as there are in our current society.

            Taking a look at America today, homosexuality is becoming more and more accepted by the day; gays, bi’s, and lesbians are now openly affectionate in public. Whereas before they couldn’t even walk near each other on the street. As good as this all sounds, discrimination still exists amongst us. Surveys and questionnaires amongst people all over the United States have proven that people tend to enjoy watching two women engage in a passionate relationship rather than watching two males[7]. Has anyone ever wondered why there is such a difference between the two? In our society we see all kinds of “lesbianism” whether it is passionate or just an act for money. For instance, millions of people in American enjoy watching two women engage in lustful behaviors with one another on pornographic videos, but if two males were to do that it would be “disturbing.” But why? Just like everything else in society, the different between lesbians and gay men is just sexist. People find reasons why one thing is acceptable and have no reasons to back up why the other is not. We see women engage in sexual behaviors on the street all the time and we just ignore it. Do we accept lesbianism more than we do gay men because we have just normalized it? Studies show that people would rather see two lesbians making out than see two gay men holding hands[8]. The American Society has normalized the look of lesbianism through things like pornographic videos, or two young teen girls making out because their drunk; making it the only “plausible” reason why one sex being homosexual is more acceptable than the other. But has anyone ever looked deeper into what people are looking at for entertainment and considering normal? What people watch on TV or on pornographic videos have no love or passion behind them, it is all about the money and the lifestyle. The true beauty and love behind two homosexual women should not be based off of what we find more attractive to look at. No matter what we do in society, discrimination against anything; race, culture, religion, boys, girls, gays, lesbians, or bi’s will always be there. Hopefully over time, things will fade and people will learn to accept themselves and not ruin the lives of others because of their own insecurities. I am a strong supporter and believer of Gay Pride and I support anyone who is living the life they were born to live.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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[1] Ford, Milt. "Allies & Advocates." A Brief History of Homosexuality in America. http://www.gvsu.edu/allies/a-brief-history-of-homosexuality-in-america-30.htm (accessed April 30, 2014).

[2] Ford, Milt. "Allies & Advocates." A Brief History of Homosexuality in America. http://www.gvsu.edu/allies/a-brief-history-of-homosexuality-in-america-30.htm (accessed April 30, 2014).

[3] Ford, Milt. "Allies & Advocates." A Brief History of Homosexuality in America. http://www.gvsu.edu/allies/a-brief-history-of-homosexuality-in-america-30.htm (accessed April 30, 2014).

[4] Ford, Milt. "Allies & Advocates." A Brief History of Homosexuality in America. http://www.gvsu.edu/allies/a-brief-history-of-homosexuality-in-america-30.htm (accessed April 30, 2014).

[5] Ford, Milt. "Allies & Advocates." A Brief History of Homosexuality in America. http://www.gvsu.edu/allies/a-brief-history-of-homosexuality-in-america-30.htm (accessed April 30, 2014).

[6] Morris, Bonnie. "History of Lesbian, Gay, & Bisexual Social Movements." http://www.apa.org. http://www.apa.org/pi/lgbt/resources/history.aspx (accessed April 30, 2014).

[7] Zdrok, Dr. Victoria . "Why Lesbianism Is Widely Accepted." AskMen. http://www.askmen.com/dating/vanessa_100/121_love_secrets.html (accessed April 30, 2014).

[8] Zdrok, Dr. Victoria . "Why Lesbianism Is Widely Accepted." AskMen. http://www.askmen.com/dating/vanessa_100/121_love_secrets.html (accessed April 30, 2014).

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Sexual Revolution

by Stefanie Testa

      The Sexual Revolution was a time in U.S history that is distinguishable by the significant change in sexual liberalism. Though there was prevalent uproar in sexual liberalism in the 1920s, the years prior to 1960 proved to be much more conservative. Even Hollywood implimented a code for moral standards called Hay’s Office. You can already assume that Hugh Hefner’s Playboy was not glowing in the eyes of conservative reformist.These views made it a prevaling occurrence to seize and burn books of any kind of obscene nature. [1] However, in 1960 the Pill is first introduced. This new form of birth control gave women control over their own lives, and allowed sex to no longer be viewed as only a means of procreation. This challenged traditional views of sexuality and marriage. [2] 

      After WWII, GIs returned, moved to suburbs, got married and started a generation known as the Baby Boomers. In a brief period of time, 77 million were born to this generation. As young adults, they grew rebellious of their parent’s conservative views of how they should live. The Free Love Movement protested against marriage and wanted the government to be separated from sexual matters. With this movement, homosexuality became more accepted. The Gay Liberation Front fought for sexual liberalism for all people. [3]

In 1967, the Sexual Revolution was in full swing. In San Francisco, a protest broke out because California banned LSD. Thousands flocked the streets of Haight and Asbury, where there was a psychedelic market of marijuana and LSD, and this became known as the “summer of love.” [4]
There, a new hippie culture began. People started wearing flowers in their hair, dressing how ever they wanted, and having sex with whoever they wanted. The music, the sex, the drugs were all a part of the experience. Some stated that sex on LSD was an enthralling, whole body experience that could not be match. [5] When the summer of ’69 ended, the streets of Haight and Asbury were left with major drug problems and high crime rates. [6]

Throughout the United States, we saw more and more people expressing their sexual liberalism in music, media, and theatre. In fact, the Living Theatre, based in New York, was an experimental threatre group that expressed their messages about our heirachal society with nude interpretations. [7] Other media outlets, like film, became more engrossed with sex and now pornography was easier to get than ever before. With the creation of the VHS, people now rented porn and took it home to watch. [8]

In conclusion, the Sexual Revolution of the 1960s and 1970s changed American life for the long haul. People married later and fertility rates dropped profoundly. Because of the liberalization of laws, we saw a high increase in divorce rates. During this time, it jumped by 90 percent. [9] All of these things were very significant changes to the traditional family. 

Dominique Spence

Crystal Moore

History of Sexuality in America

29 April 2014

What is rape culture?

Rape Culture is an environment in which rape is prevalent and in which sexual violence against women is normalized and excused in the media and popular culture[1]. Today, some examples of rape culture can be seen through degrading lyrics, movies and explicit jokes. Through rape culture, American values have shifted from very conservative to more liberal and in turn, as a society, we have become accustomed to this objectifying views on women. Women are now seen as objects for sexual pleasure and delight and aren’t fully respected. Society has an expectation of what women should look like and to men this view displays that women are “asking for it”. No matter what a woman says or does it does not mean that they are openly asking for men to take sexual advantage of them.

Gender roles and sexuality for both men and women changed drastically starting in the 1930s with the crisis on masculinity and the ending of different spheres. Men were now expected to be sexually aggressive and forceful[2]. On the other hand, women were expected to be submissive and passive to males when it came to sex. This idea is still very prevalent today. Men believe that all women want to be dominated and they are in fact “doing their job”.  By the 1950s, pornography becomes more popular and risqué which leads to the further objectification of women and their individual body parts. Men are seen as a full being while women are limited to parts like breasts, butts and legs. This shows the disregard that people have for women’s feelings in the media. Ads for perfume, clothing and even food all contain some sort of sexual innuendo that has no prevalence to what they are advertising. This is basically saying that people, men in general, like sex and it sells even at the cost of respect for women.

Even if we don’t notice it, rape culture is very prominent in media and the society we live in. In order to combat rap culture it is important that we realize how serious the situation is. As a society, we should avoid using language that objectifies women, speak out about offensive jokes, and be supportive of rape victims. Women need to be viewed as an equal to men and society often forgets that women are affected by this explicit image that is commonly shown.

 

 

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[1] Marshall University. "Rap Culture." Womens Center. http://www.marshall.edu/wcenter/sexual-assault/rape-culture/ (accessed April 29, 2014).

[2] Crystal Moore, “Civilized Morality Under Stress Leads to Crusades for Sexual Order 1880-1930” (lecture, University of North Carolina at Charlotte, Charlotte, NC, April 2013)

Playboy Vs. Penthouse

Rachel Valle

LBST

April 25, 2014

Playboy vs. Penthouse

            The very first playboy was published on December of 1953.[1] It was written by Hugh Hefner who did not claim the magazine on the first issue.¹ It was forty four pages long and sold 54,175 copies on the first run at .50 cents each.¹ It was so popular due to Marilyn Monroe being on the cover, on the first page Hefner jokingly wrote, we aren’t a “family magazine,”… it was strictly made for the men of the world.¹ Hefner showed pictures of naked women that still remained covered in some other form, while being called more of a lifestyle magazine than a porn or explicit magazine.[2] People referred to his magazine in this light because to cushion these pictures of naked women, Hefner included very well written articles about the events taking place around the world written by very well respected people in society at the time.²

            Penthouse, was founded by Bob Guccione in London in 1965.[3] It was originally only in the UK but eventually spread to the States in 1969.³ Guccione’s work was the first work in the United States to show pubic hair and change the porn industry forever.² Penthouse took on and led more toward the magazine style of Maxim, or a high XXX style magazine, where people were basically turning to it for the soul purpose of the nude girls they would find inside.³ Guccione stated, “that the point of the magazine was to see the girl as though she was not being seen, that was the sexy part.”³

            Playboy differed from Playboy magazine in many ways. The magazines went through what was called a pubic war in the early 1970’s.² This began due to the arrival of Penthouse in the States from London in which they began showing pubic hair in their magazines and challenging playboy as the top selling magazine.² Playboy magazine fought back by not being such a explicit porn magazine and maintaining it semi-classy image as more of a lifestyle and R-rated magazine rather than a XXX hardcore porn magazine like Penthouse.² Penthouse became more popular in Vietnam because the guys fighting in it said if they were going to die over there anyways they would rather look at something that showed it all, therefore this made the sell of playboy go down just a little bit not a lot.² Playboy always rose back up by putting more famous actresses in it, creating TV shows and writing articles such as The Playboy Philosophy.²

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[1] "When Did the First Playboy Magazine Go to Print?." About.com 20th Century History. http://history1900s.about.com/od/1950s/qt/Playboy.htm (accessed April 29, 2014).

[2] Sex in “69.

[3] "Bob Guccione, 'Penthouse' magazine founder, dies - USATODAY.com." Bob Guccione, 'Penthouse' magazine founder, dies - USATODAY.com. http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/life/people/obit/2010-10-20-bob-guccione-dies_N.htm?csp=34 (accessed April 29, 2014).

The Free Love Movement: Good or Bad for the Country?

By: Allyson Wiggs

During the 1960’s, a huge liberal change happened in response to the war that was occurring. There was a war in Vietnam as well as a war on poverty going on and the government could not afford to pay for both. The government put all their efforts into the war in Vietnam which led to the draft being started as well as a divide in the country. The divide mainly occurred in the younger generation because people either fled the country in order to avoid the draft, or held rallies in the streets to protest the war. The younger generation was also irritated by the constant racial issues and the materialistic ways of the country.[1] All of the anger that this generation felt led to what was known as the free love movement.

                The free love movement was an extremely liberal idea that occurred among the younger generations of the 60’s. This movement completely went against the normal culture by changing their hair, clothes, and interests. People started growing out their hair and wearing it all down rather than keeping up with it by fixing and/or cutting it. The clothing choices also changed by going from traditional to very brightly colored and carefree. Although these changes seemed drastic, the biggest change of all was the new interests of this generation. They began to get heavily involved with drugs and began to do as they pleased when it came to sexual partners. During this period LSD became a very commonly abused drug. This drug caused people to have hallucinations which enhanced all aspects of life. People’s sexual preferences also changed to being very liberal. People began realizing that they can have multiple sexual partners rather than just having one. They also realized sex was not only for marriage, but could be for anyone. Many people in this movement were known as hippies and accurately portrayed the stereotype of hippies that we have today.[2] Many of these rebellious activities that occurred on Haight and Ashbury Street in San Francisco, California seemed like fun at the time but they ended up causing serious consequences.

                Although these activities seemed like a great way to get the governments attention at the time, they ended up not being the best decision for many of the people involved. The drugs caused huge issues for the people taking them and all of the free sexual activities caused even bigger issues. These sexual activities caused venereal disease among people as well as other sexually transmitted diseases that had not been identified at this time. There was an also an issue with women performing their own abortions. With all of the sexual activities that were going on, very few women used protection and in turn became pregnant, but they did not want the child. This resulted in self-given abortions which cause even more problems for the women.[3]

                Even though this movement was a huge shock to many people and some of the consequences were not ideal, it is a time that can be reflected on and learned from. If all of these sexual encounters had not happened, we may not have learned about all of the sexually transmitted diseases that we know about now. So many diseases occurred during this time period that seemed unfortunate at the time, but now doctors have been able to learn from them and now know about much more than they did in the 60’s. This movement also showed the government that they have to take into consideration everyone’s concerns because if they don’t, a liberal backlash could occur. Overall, this time period of free love and peace seems like chaos to us now, but during the 60’s it was done for something they strongly believed in and it is now something that we can learn from and use to our benefit when it comes to understanding love and war.

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[1] “The 1960s,” History, accessed April 28, 2014, http://www.history.com/topics/1960s.

[2] “Summer of Love and Woodstock,” The Civil War Museum, accessed April 28, 2014, http://www.coldwar.org/articles/60s/summeroflove.asp.

[3] Brian Alexander, “Free Love: Was There a Price to Pay,” NBC News, accessed April 28, 2014, http://www.nbcnews.com/id/19053382/ns/health-sexual_health/t/free-love-was-there-price-pay/#.U14e8RbD-P8.