See film XXY at the Hipp until today only

xxy poster
XXY, an award winning film about an intersex child, is playing downtown at the Hippodrome now through Thursday, October 30th.

“For just about everybody, adolescence means having to confront a number of choices and life decisions, but rarely any as monumental as the one facing 15-year-old Alex who was born an intersex child. As Alex begins to explore her sexuality, her mother invites friends from Buenos Aires to come for a visit at their house on the gorgeous Uruguayan shore, along with their 16-year-old son Ãlvaro. Alex is immediately attracted to the young man, which adds yet another level of complexity to her personal search for identity. This sharp directorial debut by Lucia Puenzo treats the challenging subject of intersexuality with intelligence and sensitivity. 91mins/ 2007/ Spanish/ subtitles”

Sexy Song of the Week: I touch myself

divinyls

In honor of your reading on solitary sexual practices, the sexy song of the week is “I Touch Myself.” This 1991 tune, turned perennial karaoke favorite, launched the Australian group, the DiVinyls, into one-hit-wonder fame. The video was very popular.

Masturbation goes by many descriptive, often funny, names. As discussed in Carroll Chapter 10 and in lecture, the practice is a safe release for (sexual) tension. However, many people choose not to experiment with masturbation for reasons such as religious or cultural prescriptions and personal guilt or embarrassment. This is especially the case with women. Your textbook reports that college men masturbate 3 times more than college females. Tell me: Is this a shocking find given a 95% success rate in women reaching orgasm via self-stimulation as opposed to a much lower chance of orgasm during intercourse?

This is your chance to comment on this sexy song, of course, but I am more curious about your thoughts on masturbation. Why is it still considered secret or taboo to some, especially for women? Is it a more accepted practice for men?

What in our cultural world informs our norms about masturbation? Why is it often used as a comical device in media as in American Pie? How is masturbation presented in church or in school? What myths do we have (like it will cause blindness)? How did your peers or parents talk about masturbation to you? Was your experience at all similar to this interesting lesson given by the ne’re-do-well uncle on Weeds involving a banana?

Finally, how important do you think masturbation is to a healthy sex life? Is there a place for masturbation in relationships or is it a secret to be kept from your partner?

South Africa: How Safe is Traditional Circumcision?

maleIn South Africa, a debate about the practice of male circumcision provides a thought-provoking addendum to this week’s assigned reading. In certain groups, such as the Xhosa, South African men around 18 years of age enter into a month of seclusion with other members of their age group for an initiation consisting of traditional method circumcision and the imparting of teachings. Participation is prevalent among both rural and urban dwellers as this is the critical step in being considered a man and readied for marriage. Although defended for cultural significance, male circumcision practices are contested publicly for health concerns such as irreparable damage to the penis, infections leading to death, and the transmission of HIV via the cutting instrument.

Insightful participants’ points of view are on-line as are photos. One Xhosa man writes: “The option of staying uncircumcised is impractical if you live among Xhosas because they won’t take you seriously. Even in his book Long Walk To Freedom, Nelson Mandela comments on how a Xhosa man who has not been circumcised is a paradox, because he is still viewed as a boy.”

In recent articles, Lousie Vincent reports:

“Ritual male circumcision is among the most secretive and sacred of rites practiced by the Xhosa of South Africa. Recently, the alarming rate of death and injury among initiates has led to the spotlight of media attention and government regulation being focused on traditional circumcision. While many of the physical components of the ritual have been little altered by the centuries, its cultural and social meanings have not remained unchanged…”
Vincent, L. “‘Boys will be boys’: traditional Xhosa male circumcision, HIV and sexual socialisation in contemporary South Africa.” Culture, Health & Sexuality 10.5 (June 2008): 431-446.

“Since 1995 more than 6,000 boys have been admitted to Eastern Cape hospitals, more than 300 have died and 76 have had their genitalia amputated due to botched circumcisions. The state has responded by putting in place a variety of mechanisms to regulate the practice, most recently in the form of the 2005 Children’s Bill which gives male children the right to refuse circumcision and makes those who circumcise a child against his will guilty of an offense punishable by imprisonment. Attempts by the state to regulate traditional practices have been met with outrage and resistance in some quarters.

Rituals are commonly identified as mechanisms contributing to social order in all societies, maintaining the organization of groups into hierarchies, specifying the performance of roles linked to factors such as age and gender, renewing group unity and a means for the transmission of values across generations. But in a society so deeply penetrated by colonialism, apartheid and industrialization, as South Africa is, what role do these rites play in the contemporary context?…”
Vincent, L. “Cutting Tradition: the Political Regulation of Traditional Circumcision Rites in South Africa’s Liberal Democratic Order.” Journal of Southern African Studies 34.1 (Mar. 2008): 77-91.

Notably, other southern African tribes do not have a tradition of male circumcision at any time in the life cycle. And it is recently announced that male circumcision may reduce the transfer of HIV from women to men by 60%, an important finding for a global area with extremely high infection rates.
Discussion: Considering the particpants’ and scholar’s comments, what is your take on this issue? How should one (or the state) balance concerns for human welfare with respect for critical traditional practices? What if you were the parent of a boy of Xhosa heritage, how would you decide whether to go through with this ritual?

Sexy Song of the Week: I just want to make love to you

waters Sometimes love gives you the blues. Growing out of regional traditions of African-American slave music, the blues has greatly impacted musical sound in the last century. With a minor tone and heavy guitar, blues tunes just stir something deep down in your gut. Blues harmonies can make you mournful or fire you up and turn you on.

This week we focus on a classic: I just want to make love to you. The song was first performed in 1954 by Muddy Waters. (Here is a later video made of the song featuring the very sexy Kate Moss.) It has since been covered by numerous artists. My favorite version is by the untouchable Etta James. She recorded the song in 1961 for her very first album and still performs it today. You can read about her tumultuous career and private life in Rage to Survive: The Etta James Story.

Both James and Waters worked with the famous Chicago-based company Chess Records and both are members of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. The history of Chess will be depicted in an upcoming film, Cadillac Records, starring Beyonce Knowles. I encourage you to check out these featured artists and other greats of the post-war blues era. Maybe you have some suggestions for your classmates. What are your impressions of this song and the sex appeal of the blues?

For further discussion, from last week’s comments on Britney’s video there appears to be some disparity in the class concerning exactly what is sexy. And some of you have offered suggestions of sexy songs, but you haven’t explained why you chose them. This is your time to speak up and clarify. What is really sexy to you and why? Is sex appeal something tantalizing left to the imagination or does it need to be more overt? Do you need explicit lyrics to get the idea? Or can a song like “I just want to make love to you” grab you?

Sexy Song of the Week: I’m a Slave 4 U

britney Before the babies, the baldness, and the breakdown, no one can deny Britney Spears was the Princess of Pop. If there was any modicum of girlhood innocence in her early hits, all the, uh-hm, gloves came off with her 2001 Britney album. The frustrated pop star was publicly and professionally articulating that she had matured into a self-assured woman. The first single off the album was the dance track “I’m a slave for you.”

Spears opens the song with “I need to do what I feel like doing, so let me go.” She croons about being unable to control herself around her paramour and expressing her sexuality through dancing. The chorus extols: “I’m a slave for you. I cannot hold it; I cannot control it. I’m a slave for you. I won’t deny it; I’m not trying to hide it.”

The original video is set ambiguously at sunset or possibly at dawn in a very steamy, urban high rise building. Britney, glistening with sweat and wearing a pink thong on the outside of her leather pants, dances suggestively with a scantily clad, equally sweaty troupe. However, it was Britney’s unforgettable 2002 VMA performance that took the primal theme of “I’m a slave” to the next level. Repositioning the setting from the urban jungle to the tropical jungle, the stage production features a lion, dancers in tribal costumes with body paint, and, at one point, Britney gyrating with a giant, yellow anaconda.

Aside from being visually and audibly sexy and sensual, this song can be linked to the themes in this week’s readings. In your textbook Carroll describes a number of theoretical approaches to understanding human sexuality, from social learning to psychological to biological. (You can refer to the chart on pg 38). And de Waal and Diamond interestingly compare the sexual habits of non-human primates.

Discussion: Use this blog post to comment on the content of the song and videos, but also ponder themes in the reading. Why is the nature-based, primal analogy Britney presents so convincing and pervasive? (Think Duran Duran’s “Hungry like the wolf?”) Are we a slave to our biology? To our needs for reproduction and resources? Why are we attracted to certain types of partners? Or are we a slave to something else that is culturally learned or cognitive? Which of the theories examined do you find most interesting or convincing and why? (Also, aren’t you just pulling for Britney to finally make a great comeback?)

David Duchovney in rehab for sex addiction

In Friday’s class we viewed clips from the popular TV show “Californication.” But also yesterday, in a real-life twist, the show’s star, Duchovney, checked into rehab for sex addiction. The Reuters news story likens sex addiction to alcoholism:

Duchovny’s announcement on Thursday that he was voluntarily going into rehab for sex addiction after years of denying he had a problem, threw a spotlight on a disorder that few celebrities, and even fewer ordinary men and women, admit to.

Often likened to alcoholism, drug addiction or gambling, sex addiction is a form of compulsive behavior which is sending growing numbers of people into therapy but which is not formally recognized as a “diagnosable disorder” by the American Psychiatric Association. “The concept of sexual addiction is a controversial one and that’s because it is difficult to define,” said Dr. Steve Eichel, an addiction specialist who works in Delaware. “There are a lot of people who are critical of the concept because we live in a society that tends to over medicalize and which makes every behavior, which deviates from the norm, an addiction or a disorder,” Eichel said. Sexual health experts estimate that about 3-5 percent of Americans have the disorder, including women.

The full report from Reuters raises several important issues we will cover later in the semester. What are your initial thoughts about sex addiction? Do you consider it a serious disorder similar to alcoholism or gambling addiction? When does enjoyment become addiction? And what do you think the expert quoted in the story meant by the suggestion that our society tends to treat deviations from the norm as medical disorders?

Sexy Song of the Week: “I Want Your Sex”

Released in 1987, the album “Faith” was George Michael’s killer solo release following the break-up of the British pop duo Wham! The title track begins, “Well I guess it would be nice, if I could touch your body….” and was Michael’s first solo Billboard #1. The very sexy album sold over 7 million copies in the USA, produced 6 chart toppers, and inspired some of the most memorable and controversial music videos ever played on MTV.

The vibey R&B track “I want your sex” unleashed an extreme storm of criticism for Michael. On the one hand, the song is an exploration of the human need for sex. (“It’s natural, It’s chemical…”) And Michael begs for it. (“Every man’s got his patience, and here’s where mine ends…” The song was banned on many radio stations and the video could only be played after- hours on MTV. The video features celebrity make-up artist Kathy Jeung scantily clad in lingerie and a crimson blindfold. Michael, however, was adamant that the controversy was misplaced. In a spoken addendum to the video he states that the song is not about promiscuity and casual sex. Rather the song is intended to be about the beauty of monogamy. In a steamy video scene, Michael writes the word monogamy on Jeung’s back and the video ends with “Explore Monogamy” on the screen. The original liner notes for a 9-minute version of the song are titled “Monogamy Mix.”

Arguably, the controversy and popularity surrounding “I want your sex” was a sign of the times. By the 1980s, the sexual revolution in the popular media had been a raging battle for over two decades. Liberal movers and shakers raged against the anxiety and loathing associated with overt sexuality. This song and video resurfaced the (often moral) debate about what counts as pornography and obscenity. More importantly, the late 1980’s marked the time when the world was just beginning to understand what HIV/AIDS was, how it was contracted, and its magnitude. Prejudice in the media was rampant. In 1985, the AIDS related death of iconic actor Rock Hudson spurred the Reagan White House out of silence. In 1987, AZT became the first FDA approved drug for treatment. By 1988, our first national campaign against HIV was launched.

At the time, Michael’s own homosexuality was not so publicly known. As a friend of mine remembers, the song fueled talk that Michael was overcompensating, being “over-sexualized for his inability to come out of the closet.” The song erupted in night clubs at a moment when casual sex was frightening. However, it was overwhelmingly popular in gay bars for years to come. My friend comments, “It became a caricatured way for people, at least in the gay bar scene, to sexualize their bodies through dance and music and not necessarily sex, but made the body sexy again, instead of a disease vector…I tell you, when that song came on, the boys went absolutely crazy. It was a whole choreography of simulated sex.”

Questions for discussion

Sources: Amazon, Wikipedia, Avert.org, VH1’s Sex: The Revolution.

Blog Feature: Sexy Song of the Week

Attention super students of Human Sexuality and Culture: Rachel Harvey (one of your TAs) here. As a feature on our class blog, each week we will post about the life and times of some very sexy songs. Let’s face it, R&B, rock & roll, hip-hop, jazz—there’s sex in all of it. You cannot deny the innuendo in the heavy drum lines of popular artists from Led Zeppelin to Britney Spears to Prince, not to mention the lyrics, the choreography, the album art, and on and on.

We invite your responses and participation. Each post will offer information on the song, artist, and historical time period as well as some questions for discussion. We will endeavor to touch on as many decades and genres as possible. Over the course of the semester we look forward to exciting debates on why music is so evocative. Why is sexuality such a common theme in so many genres of music? When does music carry the sexual metaphor too far and when it is just for fun?