This news story just amazes me. I'm completely baffled that a bunch of high school girls would make a pregnancy pact. There are 17 girls expecting babies at Gloucester High School in Massachusetts, more than four times the number of student pregnancies last year. The kicker for me (aside from the part about making a pact to have babies together when you're sixteen years old) is that the city of Gloucester still "isn't sure it wants to provide easier access to birth control."
I'm not sure that having access to birth control would have stopped these girls from making the pact - but the city's attitude in not allowing easier access to contraceptives kind of makes you wonder what the teens are being taught, and what might have influenced their desire for babies of their own. None of the girls or their parents were willing to give interviews - it would be fascinating to find out the details behind the pact - but a recent grad of the school hinted that it was unconditional love they were seeking.
I spent this past Father’s Day weekend with my step-dad, not my real dad. My real dad had spontaneously left to Mexico the day before with his girlfriend, which - at least for this year - solved the problem of figuring out how to divide my time between two people who call me ‘daughter’.
I find my ‘real’ parents, especially my dad, occasionally need to be reassured that they can never be replaced with someone new. I’ve never felt comfortable calling my stepdad “Dad” because it seems like I am betraying my “real” Dad. Since referring to him as “stepdad” is formal and just weird, I’ve always just called him “Bob”. This works fine most of the time - until it comes to picking out a Father’s Day card. I recently came across an article in Salon.com that addressed the same awkward, guilty feeling I get when it comes to celebrating the father figures in my life.
Posted by Layal Thursday, June 19, 2008 10:32pm
Worst Ever Sex Scenes
I just came across this list of Worst Ever Sex Scenes in film. Highlights include scenes from the Beniffer-bomb Gigli, David Cronenberg's Crash and Vincent Gallo's The Brown Bunny. Check the list, and see if you agree with their assessments.
I was surprised to find that my all time favourite "worst sex scene" was missing from the list. And that's the marionette sex scene from Team America World Police. It's the worst/best thing ever!
Posted by Chris Monday, June 16, 2008 3:30pm
The Life Swap
When Nancy Weber was 16, her beloved Grandmother Rosalee developed Alzeimers. Nancy watched as her Grandmother disappeared in front of her eyes and yet, somehow, remained exactly the same. At that moment, she began to struggle with the idea that there was such a thing as a single self. It seemed to her that she was a comprised of "lots of different selves and there was an imperative to let them all live and sing and dance no matter how contradictory they were."
Many years later, Nancy sauntered down the streets of Manhatten in the early 70's and the words "Life Swap" came into her head. Wife swapping was a popular activity in those days, but this was different. "I just became possessed," she said, "that little phrase was so resonant for me that I knew it was going to lead to a major adventure." On February 8th 1973, she placed an ad in the Village Voice that read:
And so after three months of arduous preparation, Nancy Weber switched lives with Micki Wrangler -- a psychologist in an open marriage who was the dean of a small experimental college in New York City. And Nancy Weber became Micki Wrangler. She stopped using deodorant, embraced her friends, enjoyed her job, had great sex with her gorgeous young lover during the week and adored her leftist leaning husband at their country house on the weekend.
And then things started to go wrong...
That's the story I'm working on... so you'll just have to watch Sextv - the show -- to see when it will be airing!! I went down to NYC to interview Nancy, meet Micki's lover and had a little "Life Swap reunion."
Posted by Michelle Thursday, June 5, 2008 3:03pm
The Last Taboo?
What is taboo anymore? In our ‘see-everything-and-anything-instantly-over-the-internet’ culture, sex and porn seems to have lost much of what makes it appealing. Porn was always considered to be taboo, and while you can argue it still is taboo for many people, today you can see pretty much anything you want to, whenever you want to. All you need is a computer and internet connection. And you don’t even have to pay for it!
I recently did a story on a photographer who photographs women masturbating. He describes masturbation as the last taboo, because it’s the one thing that nobody really ever gets to see someone else doing. Most people experience masturbation as a solo act. The presence of another person alters the experience, changing it into something else. In most pornography, masturbation is at best exhibitionism, and at wost, acting. It never really feels ‘real.’
So he tried to capture it as best he could in his work. He photographs in low light, with no flash and does his best to minimalize his presence and influence on what he is trying to capture. And he does a pretty good job. See what you think.
