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Volume 12 Number 3 Issue #47 Fall/Winter 2002-2003 ISSN 0740-8307 Established in 1984 Founder/Publisher/Editor: Brenda Loew e-mail: eidos@eidos.org Website: http://www.eidos.org ____________ In This Issue:
New Democracy World Dot Org: Making Patriotic Americans Aware of Marxist Subversives Masquerading as Members of the Establishment. Erotic Carvings on the Nepalese Temples
Two articles forwarded from the Safe Schools Coalition (Washington State): BOOK REVIEW: "Harmful To Minors: The Perils Of Protecting Children From Sex" by Judith Levine OUT ON THE SCREEN: A Monthly GLBT Movie and Video Article/Column Guest Essay: FOOT WORSHIP © 2002 David Steinberg Letters to EIDOS
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Our Pro Se Lawsuit Is Now in the MASSACHUSETTS Appeals Court --
I am a pro se plaintiff-appellant in a civil action that began some time ago when myself and one other individual filed a complaint in the Middlesex Superior Court against the Mayor of the City of Newton, the Superintendent of Newton Public Schools, Newton School Committee and a Newton High School principal alleging their failure to comply with a one hundred year old Massachusetts General Law requiring American Flags be displayed in every classroom in every public school and an opportunity for all public school students to recite the Pledge of Allegiance, by choice. in their classrooms at the start of each school day.
When the Superior Court judge threw our case out for lack of standing and granted summary judgment to the defendants, we appealed. Since then, the Massachusetts Appeals Court has accepted for filing both the brief and the reply brief we submitted.
In our reply brief, we cited the Newdow case, decided in June 2002 by the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, as a new authority, the pro-“Under God” position the Massachusetts Attorney General’s Office has taken on the saying of the Pledge of Allegiance in the public schools, the pledge of allegiance policies followed by the Boston Public Schools and the Westford Public Schools and public statements made by the Superintendent of Schools and published in the Boston Globe that clearly demonstrate non-compliance by the Newton Public Schools with this law. On Friday, August 16, 2002 the Appeals Court informed us that now we will have to wait several months before a three judge panel decides our appeal.
Although the anti-Pledge/anti-God Newdow case does not directly affect us here in Massachusetts at this time, in our opinion, radical far left anti-American godless extremists throughout the nation including here in Newton want their opportunity to challenge local Pledge of Allegiance statutes and public school policies. We eagerly await further developments.
The following story appeared in The Globe Online: Date: 9/15/2002
The radical socialist Marxist left is comprised of revisionist America-haters who are dangerous anti-American subversives. These fascist hate-mongers have no respect for the U.S. Constitution and Bill of Rights and disdain competition, accountability, and capitalism. They discourage individual achievement and despise what the American flag and Pledge of Allegiance symbolize. These anti-Israel, pro-Palestinian Holocaust revisionists go to any extreme to get what they want. Marxist Fascists ignore the concepts of right or wrong. Morally and ethically, they have no consciences.
In Massachusetts, we find these Marxists subversives linked to the following two organizations: These racketeering ideologues have seized control of many school systems across the nation. They conspire to break laws they disapprove of, censor those they disagree with and must be exposed for the vermin they are at the local level and ultimately stopped across the nation. Their radical socialist Marxist influence can be traced all the way up to the agendas and activities of state teachers organizations and the national agenda of National Education Association. If you've been wondering why the USA is going to hell in a hand basket, it's because the Marxist left is the Trojan Horse that's infiltrated our Nation's public schools. Check out these two sites, then take action against these lunatics in your community.
on the Nepalese Temples
Erotic carvings on the temples have been an age old fashion in Nepal. They are very attractive and charming. They are artistically carved on the wooden struts of the temples. Most of the temples are made of wood of shorea robusta (Sal of Shishum). The famous temple of the Kathmandu Valley Kastamandap is made up of a single tree. The very name Kathmandu has been originated from this temple. According to London, "Nowhere else in the world, wood is so exquisitely treated as adjuvant to architecture. Temples have tiers above tiers of gilded mantels. The multi-roofed pagodas are the unique and original architecture of Nepal." Ronald Bernier has the right opinion about the carvings on the Nepalese temples. In his words: "These are the carvings so often referred to in the popular literature and so often sought out by tourists because of their explicit depictions of sexual practices involving two or more people in unusual and often gymnastic poses." Famous scholar on Nepal Dr. D. R. Regmi writes that "erotic figures at the bottom beams supporting from below the roof of a temple are a common sight." The worship of Shiva Linga is customary in Nepal. The famous Linga (Phallus) in that of Lord Pashupatinath, the guardian deity of Nepal who is worshipped on the auspicious occasion of Mahashivaratri every year with respect and renervence by all sects of the people. This is considered a sacred act by the devout devotees of Pashupatinath. Naked Nagas are seen in these Pashupatinath premises on the same occasion. So this tradition clearly shows that this is not an obscene act. This symbolises the power of procreation. Thus a sect of Linga worshipper has been already in vogue since time immemorial. The followers of this sect believe that it is the Linga of Lord Shiva. It is stated in the epic of Ramayana that Lord Ram also had worshipped this Linga before going to Lanka for his victory. Shiva-Linga is considered all pervading, creative and a cosmic power Especially barren women worship it for being blessed with sons and daughters and later or sooner it is believed their wishes are fulfilled.
(1) Mormon Family Values
(2) Brand New War for the Army of God? *********************
(1) Mormon Family Values David and Carlie Hardy were the perfect Mormon couple building the perfect Mormon legacy in their mecca, Salt Lake City, Utah. It was 1995 and David, then 42, received simultaneous boosts in his professional and religious life: As an in-house attorney, he had taken a private startup company public so successfully that he was now able to open his own solo practice. At the same time, he had been called to serve as a bishop for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, whose ministry is drawn from its membership. Carlie, 41, was fulfilling her religious destiny as well by giving birth to and then raising six children strictly within the LDS's rules. To affirm the family's devotion to the church before David's new hectic schedule began to keep him from home, the couple took a pilgrimage with their three eldest children. Mom and the kids retraced the footsteps of Jesus Christ in Jerusalem as described in the Scriptures, and then met Dad in France, the country where he as a young man had served the two-year proselytizing mission required of all devout Mormons, and more recently had spent countless days lobbying to bring the 1998 winter Olympics to Salt Lake City. The trip culminated in Austria, where Carlie had studied on an exchange program from Brigham Young University. There, in a garden in the hills above Salzburg, the family's bliss was shattered. Judd, the Hardys' 13-year-old son, confided to his father that he feared he was "same-sex attracted," the LDS euphemism for homosexual. In Mormondom, homosexuality is literally unspeakable; there is no greater taboo in this institution, in which even relatively benign substances such as caffeine are forbidden. "My world just caved in," David recalls. He told his son what he had been taught by the church--that same-sex attraction was infinitely "curable," merely a phase. Upon returning to Salt Lake, David drove straight to his church office. By this point in his life, he well understood that the church often preached to its members through speeches long ago delivered and transcribed into LDS-issued pamphlets--many of which are actual doctrine. He needed to find the instruction regarding same-sex attraction. At the office, he located a handful of pamphlets addressing the issue, all of which contained fire-and-brimstone language like "Homosexuality Is Sin: Next to the crime of murder comes the sin of sexual impurity." David had read the pamphlets many years back, but rereading them while conjuring the image of his devout son, he became increasingly upset. He shoved the pamphlets deep into a drawer and focused on "curing" Judd. That was seven years ago. Since then, David and Carlie Hardy have gone from being obedient, God-fearing church members to vocal, angry gay-rights activists who have willingly ostracized themselves from the only community they had ever known. In opening their house to outcast gay teens, and their mouths to the media, they have risked their relationships with their friends and relatives, and--if it is "God's one true Church," as LDS members believe--their eternal souls. Publicly, the church loves the sinner but hates the sin. "People inquire about our position on those who consider themselves so-called gays and lesbians," remarked LDS president Gordon B. Hinckley. "My response is that we love them as sons and daughters of God." As former insiders, the Hardys contend that the church establishment is obsessed with good press and intent upon creating an image of a mainstream Christian religion--a goal it plans to pursue as the television networks cast their soft-focus lenses on Salt Lake City during the winter Olympics this February. The Hardys, meanwhile, are determined to let the world know what lies behind the church's rhetorical niceties. David Hardy scoffs at Hinckley's profession of tolerance. "We were forced to make a decision that no parent should be forced to make," he says, "to abandon one's child or one's faith." David Eccles Hardy and Carlie Judd Hardy are Mormon Royalty, an LDS terme d'art indicating that they descend from important historical and modern lineage--Carlie's great-grandfather, Heber J. Grant, served as prophet and president of the church during the early twentieth century, and both David and Carlie have ancestors who were original followers of LDS founder Joseph Smith. The Hardys married in 1975, just after David completed his missionary service. He earned a law degree and began a steady rise in the corporate world of Utah's burgeoning tech sector. Carlie oversaw their children's immersion in the church--before-school Scripture study, Eagle Scouts, religious classes, community service, all in addition to the regular Sunday services. As with all faithful LDS members, they gave 10 percent of the family's pretax income to the church. Mormon perfection. Judd, the third child and oldest son, was a slight, fair-haired boy with noteworthy devotion to the church and its gospel. But he was different from other boys in his neighborhood. "Despite my hours coaching him, he was utterly uninterested in sports and 'boy games,'" his dad remembers. Instead, Judd liked to play with his sisters' dolls and to perform songs. David and Carlie secretly worried about their son's effeminate mannerisms but tried to ignore their concerns. The idea of having a son with "same-sex attraction" was too shameful to consider. "A Mormon mother is told to have kids and stay home," Carlie explains. "There is nothing left for a mother's self-esteem. You are judged on how your family turns out." So when Judd came out to David in Austria in 1995, and David shared the information with Carlie, they did what they had always done--they turned to the church. They enrolled Judd in a stint of reparative therapy (which purports to counsel people in "overcoming" their homosexuality). They remained stoic as they read the research attributing homosexual tendencies to an overbearing mother and emotionally unavailable father. One of the pamphlets they found advises church leaders on how to act if a member confesses same-sex attraction. It reads, "God has promised to help those who earnestly strive to live his commandments," and it says members should be reassured that for those who repent enough, "heterosexual feelings emerge." This pamphlet is only available to leadership. An average member receives more explicit instruction, like that in the text of a speech given by a former president and prophet: "Satan tells his victims that it is a natural way of life; that it is normal; that perverts are a different kind of people born 'that way' and that they cannot change. This is a base lie.... it were better that such a man were never born." The Hardys were most disturbed by the writings of Boyd K. Packer, an apostle second in line for the church presidency whose public words constitute doctrine. In one oft-cited speech, Packer endorsed violence as a response to a perceived homosexual advance. "You must protect yourself," he preached. The more Carlie and David turned to the church for help, the more its practices frustrated them. They were outraged to learn that church funds were being diverted to support movements in Hawaii and Alaska aimed at keeping same-sex marriage illegal. Meanwhile, their young son was asking his parents to disconnect their cable and Internet service so that he would not be tempted by any alluring images of men. He was fasting and praying so that he could live within the boundaries of the church, yet doctrine labeled him a servant of the Devil. In early 1999 David was reaching his breaking point and asked to be released early from his role as bishop. Soon after, Carlie attended an annual interview with the family's local ecclesiastical authority, D. Miles Holman. (Citing clerical requirements of confidentiality, Holman declined to comment.) Carlie told Holman that total loyalty to the church's principles was increasingly difficult for her and that she was uncertain she could encourage a lifetime of celibacy for Judd. "I don't think it would be healthy for my son for me to suggest that he never have any intimacy," she recalls telling him. According to Carlie, Holman told her there was only one solution: Judd had to remain celibate for his life, and she and David should keep his "problem" a secret. "He said, 'Hey, isn't this homosexual issue easy?'" Carlie walked out to her car and turned on her mobile phone. It rang immediately. One of her children said, "Mom, where have you been? We just had to take Judd to the hospital." After sitting through an LDS lesson on Sodom and Gomorrah, Judd had gone home and slashed his wrists. The suicide attempt, says Judd, now a sophomore studying theater at the Tisch School of the Arts at New York University, "wasn't [done] out of despair as much as it was [done] almost out of duty. It felt to me as if I was in this loop that I couldn't end. The church wanted me to change, and I couldn't get past that. And I couldn't change, and I couldn't get past that.... It was a quick resolution before doing the damage of falling into a life of sin. I believed too strongly in the church and the church's values, and I placed those above my own life." Whatever it represented for Judd, for David and Carlie the attempt signaled that they could no longer rely on guidance from the church. "We were faithful members," Carlie says, "and then we ran into this situation and no one was there for us." They told Judd there was nothing wrong with him, that he was not going to have to choose between affection or damnation, and they yanked him out of church activities. Although they experienced massive spiritual and emotional turmoil, they still could not fathom formally separating from the LDS--"anathema," David describes it--so they continued to take Judd's three younger brothers to church. One day in early 1999 James Hardy asked his mom to call a family meeting. Carlie remembers that her son said, "I don't understand, you keep saying that Judd doesn't have to go to church because he's gay and that's an extenuating circumstance. But don't you think the fact that I have an older brother I honor, respect and look up to, and this is a church that doesn't have a place for him--isn't that an extenuating circumstance?" He said, "It is for me and I won't be going back." That was the watershed moment, Carlie says. "All of a sudden David and I looked at each other and said, "You know what? We're not going either. If this is an organization that will not support this amazing individual who is our son, Judd Eccles Hardy, then we will not be going either." It was October 2000, the eve of the church's semiannual General Conference, for which clergy and members from around the world descend upon their religious capital to reaffirm the authority of the church leadership. David Hardy stood nervously in his office, a nineteenth-century carriage house just eight blocks from LDS headquarters. He and Carlie had invited the local print, television and radio media for a press conference unlike any other held in Salt Lake City in recent memory. They were going to speak out publicly to decry church policy. "I was scared witless," says David. "I don't think a former bishop has ever done anything like that before." The Hardys had also invited more than a handful of their peers, members of Family Fellowship, a support group for current and former Mormon parents of gay children. But except for the four lapsed Mormons who attended, the Hardys stood alone. (Since LDS members believe God literally speaks through the church's prophet and president, dissent, or support of dissenters, is tantamount to heresy.) "We are here today as members of the LDS church and parents of gay children," David began. He had already dispersed to the various reporters copies of the pamphlets that, he asserted, promote violence against homosexuals. He pointed out that the church had reissued literature condoning violence as a response to homosexuals at the same time that Russell Hendersen, an LDS member, was being tried for the murder of Matthew Shepard (the church has since excommunicated Hendersen). David asked that Packer or a church spokesman avow or reject the language in the pamphlets--the only existing church literature directly addressing homosexuality. After David finished his remarks, he and Carlie answered a few questions before the swell of reporters walked to the LDS administrative building in pursuit of a church response. (A spokesman issued a statement later that evening: "These are individuals who are children of God. We love them; we respect them. This church is a church of inclusion, not exclusion, and we welcome them and want them to be a part of the church.") The Hardys' public criticism of the church has caused rifts between them and relatives, friends and colleagues--and has created tension for their eldest daughter, who remains active in the church. But even as their community banishes them, they continue in their quest to compel the media and, they hope, the church to acknowledge the struggles associated with being a homosexual in a community of Saints. They do so in several ways. First, they fund diverse cultural fare in otherwise archconservative Utah. Last year they financed local stage productions of The Laramie Project, which focuses on the aftermath of Shepard's murder (a film adaptation debuted last month at the Sundance Film Festival), and Confessions of a Mormon Boy, a one-man show detailing actor/writer Steven Fales's journey from marriage and fatherhood to reparative therapy and excommunication. (Confessions opens Off Broadway next fall.) They also open their home for three hours on the first Sunday of each month to young Mormon men and women struggling to confront their homosexuality--and any heterosexuals wanting to show support. Carlie is also planning a series of mountain retreats for those dealing with issues involving homosexuality in themselves or in their families. Along the way, they have achieved a certain visibility in the press. Last Easter the Salt Lake Tribune published an Op-Ed piece by David; that same month, the CBS affiliate ran an interview with Carlie after she and David spoke at a candlelight vigil remembering the "Mormon Gay Suicides." In August they landed significant mention in a Newsweek article on gays and the Boy Scouts. Their squeaky-clean image has helped. "If there were a propaganda center in the church, this is the family they would choose," says Doug Wortham, a board member of Unity Utah, a gay and lesbian political action committee. "It's a pretty rare story to find a family like this," he says. As for the Hardys' most vocal goal, an official endorsement or condemnation of the pamphlets, they've just recently succeeded: Harold Brown, the church's official spokesman on homosexuality, said of the pamphlets to The Nation, "I wouldn't even want to suggest that they were outdated or not in use." However, he says, "If you [take] the whole context of what has been written in the church, I think you'll find it's a voice of love and concern for people.... What we teach are the standards of morality that we believe will lead to happiness." (Boyd K. Packer was not available for comment.) Brown says no amount of press attention or activism is going to influence God to change the rules regarding homosexuality--as when He outlawed polygamy in 1890 or gave equal rights to blacks in 1978. "Being black is not a sin," he explains. "Being immoral is." The Hardys do not appear deterred. Their work fighting for the acceptance of gays is, in a sense, their new ministry; clearly it has helped fill the void created by their exit from the church. Judd is proud of his parents' commitment. "They've stopped talking about Christianity and charity and religion," he notes, "and they've started practicing it." At the same time, their activism irks him because he wants to be known by the world for what he does with his life, not for what happened to him in the past. Honoring Judd's wishes, his parents ask his permission before speaking to the press. Usually, Judd rolls his eyes and then obliges them. Despite the unusual circumstances, there is something familiar about this dynamic--he is a regular kid, annoyed and embarrassed by his parents. To Carlie and David, that is a blessing. *****************************
Under government scrutiny for their ties to antiabortion anthrax hoax letters, the Army's leaders are spouting new, violent rhetoric against gays.
By Frederick Clarkson "Let us give thanks," Army of God "chaplain" Rev. Michael Bray proclaimed on his Web site: Army OF GOD after sword-wielding officials in Saudi Arabia beheaded three gay men New Year's Day. The official Saudi Press Agency reported that the men had "committed acts of sodomy, married each other, seduced young men and attacked those who rebuked them." Best known for its terror campaign against abortion providers, the militant Army of God has lately displayed a virulent new antigay animus in recent postings on its Web site, which also hosts Bray's. The sudden trend has set off alarms among human rights groups. "This is really chilling," Surina Khan, executive director of the International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission, told Salon. "It really disturbs me, in terms of the rhetoric and what effect it has." Ironically, the Army of God is expressing new solidarity with Muslim extremists just as the right-wing extremists have come under new scrutiny by the U.S. government for their own links to terror, post-Sept. 11. The violence-prone Army of God drew intensified federal attention thanks to its praise ("great idea!") for the anthrax scare at 550 clinics and abortion rights organizations last fall, perpetrated by self-described antiabortion "terrorist" Clayton Waagner: WWW.SALON.COM Waagner signed his threats "Army of God." Deputy U.S. Marshals in Ohio captured Waagner in December after 10 months on the lam -- during which he merrily robbed banks, bought weapons and surveillance equipment, stole cars, and stalked clinics and clinic personnel. Arresting officers found that he had $10,000 cash in his pocket and computer components and a loaded handgun stashed in his stolen Mercedes-Benz. U.S. Marshals arrested Waagner, an escaped federal fugitive, and turned up the heat on the Army of God, which had supported his flight from justice, even allowing him to post communiqués to the antiabortion community on its Web site. It probably doesn't help, in this age of vigilance against terror, that several Army of God figures have repeatedly expressed approval for the use of chemical and biological agents against abortion providers. After years of complaining that federal officials weren't taking threats against them sufficiently seriously, abortion providers and advocates are relatively happy with the way the federal government has responded to the latest anthrax threats. Apparently feeling the heat of federal law enforcement agencies, Rev. Michael Bray even canceled his annualWhite Rose Banquet, usually a high-profile fundraiser and Army of God rally held near the nation's capital every January on the anniversary of the Supreme Court's Roe v. Wade decision. Bray held a "private meeting" instead. And yet, with its antiabortion threats coming in for more government scrutiny, the Army of God has apparently decided to ratchet up its antigay rhetoric. The antigay animus of the group's Web master and spokesman, Rev. Donald Spitz, has erupted into obsession in the two special sections of the group's Web site. One offers a selection of links to various news stories, some from dubious sources. For example: "Saudi Arabia chop the heads off three homos" [sic] "Homosexual fag Elton John says he is lucky not to have AIDS" "Presbyterians Wrestle Over Ban on Homo Clergy. If they have an question about it, they are obviously apostate." "American Red Cross to give 9/11 funds to sodomites" (about a story on providing aid to 9/11 victims regardless of sexual orientation) "Homo fag TV channel will soon be broadcasting their filthy crimes against humanity" (on the prospect of an all-gay cable TV channel) "Massachusetts Governor picks sex perverted sodomite as running mate" (after Massachusetts Acting Governor Jane Swift picked an openly gay man as her candidate for lieutenant governor.) Another section of Spitz's site is devoted to explaining "why you should never give money to the United Way." The reason? The United Way gives money to family planning organizations and abortion providers like Planned Parenthood but "refuses money to the Boy Scouts because the Boy Scouts will not let child molesting homosexual sex perverts become Scout Masters and take your children out to the woods to molest them." While Spitz has a sharp eye for potential antigay headlines, Michael Bray has been more focused on the opportunity the Saudi gay beheadings may afford to get some "discussion" going toward a more theocratic order in America. "While the Christians among us westerners would decline to emulate our Muslim friends in many ways ... " he notes, "we can appreciate the justice they advocate regarding sodomy. Might these fellows also consider an embryonic jihad? Let us welcome these tools of purification. Open the borders! Bring in some agents of cleansing." "In the meantime," he concludes, "let us pray for justice: viz., that the heads of adulterers, sodomites, murderers, child murderers (abortionists), witches, traitors, and kidnappers roll." "I think this is a blatant call for people to murder gays and lesbians, among others," Lorri L. Jean, executive director of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force told Salon. "It's the logical extension of radical fundamentalism and religious intolerance." "I think that any alliance they may be building with fundamentalist Muslims is alarming," says Surina Kahn, of the International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission. "And this may be just the beginning." While Bray has called for prayers of Thanksgiving for the Saudi executions, Kahn's group is publicizing Amnesty International's blistering report on the incident. The report denounces the vague charges, secret trials and executions of the three men. Bray's cheering of the Saudi executions is striking in light of the usual contempt for all things Islam expressed by the far Christian right. "One has to appreciate the cosmic irony here," said Chip Berlet, senior analyst at Political Research Associates in Somerville, Mass. "They can side with a religion they don't approve of against a scapegoat they both loathe and demonize." Berlet isn't surprised by the Army of God's antigay outbursts. "Within the Christian Right, there is a distinction between the reformists and those who want insurgency," he says. Revolutionary groups like the Army of God, he says, see before them a "three-headed monster -- of liberalism, feminism (which includes abortion), and the gay and lesbian civil rights movement. And the monster doesn't die," he observes, "unless you cut off all three." Spitz's headlines also echo the vitriol of Rev. Fred Phelps, an antigay protester and provocateur best known for his Web site, God Hates Fags. Pastor of the tiny Westboro Baptist Church in Topeka, Kan., Phelps and his cult-like entourage are notorious for picketing the funerals of AIDS victims. But Phelps' group has recently picketed such unlikely targets as Weight Watchers spokeswoman and former princess Sarah Ferguson ("fag enabling whore"), and President George and Laura Bush ("demon possessed fag enablers"). But Phelps is not known for specifically encouraging bombings and assassinations, while that has been the raison d'être of the Army of God. So the Army's sudden increase in antigay rhetoric worries hate-group watchers. "We know that in the race-hate movement," Berlet explained, "people who have been fed a steady diet of demonization based on falsehoods have gone out and attacked people -- people who have been targeted by the rhetoric. So we know this happens." The question is whether the escalation of the Army of God's antigay rhetoric signals a coming campaign of violence of the sort that has targeted abortion providers, or a pernicious but nonviolent distraction for a group whose harassment of abortion providers has suddenly come in for greater federal scrutiny. But hate-group watchers say they're monitoring the group closely looking for an answer.
BOOK REVIEW ---------------------------------------------------------------------- This article was sent to you by someone who found it on SF Gate. The original article can be found on SFGate.com here ----------------------------------------------------------------------
Sunday, July 7, 2002 (SF Chronicle) As the author of "Harmful To Minors: The Perils Of Protecting Children From Sex," Judith Levine has been called a pedophile and her book "pure evil." She is a target because she dares to suggest that sexual knowledge (and sometimes sexual imagery and even experience) is not automatically harmful to young people. Much of her book looks at the issue of sex education -- or rather, abstinence education, because students don't get real sex education in America. "Every time a girl sees Britney Spears portrayed as the thing to be, she starts thinking, 'That is the thing to be.' But the problem is not so much sex as sexism. Lots of sexual images wouldn't be so bad if they weren't all the same, and always putting girls in one kind of position and boys in another -- and, most important, if they could be discussed openly in homes where parents are frequently too hesitant to talk about sex with their kids. Another result of the controversy, says Levine, is "I see the way sexual McCarthyism works, and how it's easy to participate in it. What the (political right) tries to do, interestingly, from its extremely marginalized position, is to try to marginalize others. There's always somebody more marginal than you, there's always somebody whose sexuality you can condemn. So if I'm called a pedophile, I can always say, 'Oh! You want pedophiles, look over there! There are the real pedophiles!' "I do think it's important to condemn sexual coercion," Levine adds, arguing that sex information helps guard young people against coercion, rather than leaving them open to its dangers. One of the starkest lines in her book reads, "America acts as if it does not love its children." "When you ask people what they think about children, they say really terrible things," she says. "The older children are, the more people hate them! They're rude -- they're much worse than we were, needless to say -- they're more stupid, they're more unruly, they're more lawless, they're more sexual; they're every bad thing we weren't. "We always talk about them as the hope for the future, but the present in children's lives is completely neglected." Levine skewers the conservative wing of the feminist movement which, she says, "has divided the world up into constituencies of victimization." People are marginalized and oppressed, but it spills over into aspects of life that are not about victimization, such as children's exploration of their own sexual desires and pleasures. Really important feminist insights have just been turned into slogans, and children are the last 'victims' to defend. There's a dovetailing of conservative feminism and moral conservatism. It's really lethal, because it seems like a consensus of almost everybody. "When sexual politics becomes all politics, when we have no economic or other social [analysis], no thinking about what kids really need -- that is a bastardization of feminism," she says. The Right's view of the perils of sex ed is a red herring that serves to distract from truly dangerous issues, Levine believes. "We know that most sexual abuse happens within children's own homes, and that is a big dilemma for the Right politically," she says. "That's why they're much more interested in pedophilia and stranger abuse -- because to them, the family must be represented as a harmonious and safe institution, in which there's no conflict. ' " Levine says that "almost every kid I know is smarter, more perceptive, more interesting than 'children' in general. Now, how can this be? It just must be that kids are also people! "I want to really keep thinking of this in terms of the rights of young people. Sexuality is only one part of who they are, (but) their sexuality is never going to be safe and pleasurable unless we're willing to talk about them as full human beings -- as citizens of our communities. Like everyone's always saying, we have all this potential in our children. Well, we're really wasting it." Carol Queen has a doctorate in sexology, is the author or editor of several books about sex, and works at Good Vibrations. Copyright 2002 SF Chronicle _________________ OUT ON THE SCREEN: A Monthly GLBT Movie and Video Article/Column
All Is Fair in Love and War Videos - GLBT Men and Women in the Military “If they took all the gays and lesbians out of the military there wouldn’t be enough people left to defend Rhode Island!” - Christopher Bradley, Leather Jacket Love Story (1997) “America Declares War on Terrorism” has rapidly gone from a headline to a slogan to a merchandising opportunity for many businesses-including video stores. Those dusty, bottom-shelf military-themed videos are now front and center. Every few years the military shifts its focus to a new target, but since the beginning of time-or so it seems-one enemy has remained in their sights-gay men and lesbians. But, like war itself, gay men and lesbians have been a part of the military for as long as there have been militaries. How do we know? It’s all been caught on film, of course. From lesbian Nazis, to transgender Samurai, bisexual Roman soldiers and gay African warriors, “don’t-ask, don’t-tell” videos have had a long and proud history. Then there are the inspiring real-life stories, such as Coming Out Under Fire (1994), an award-winning documentary based on Allen Bérubé’s book “Coming Out Under Fire: The History of Gay Men and Women in World War II.” The film revolves around nine gay men and lesbian officers who share their experiences, both positive and negative, while serving a government that viewed them as undesirable pariahs. But in the end, it usually all comes down to one category, “Soldiers In Love,” or at least in lust. In William Wellman’s 1927 silent World War I classic, Wings (the first Best Picture Oscar winner), the story focuses on the friendship between two handsome young Top Guns, Jack and David (Buddy Rogers and Richard Arlen) and the woman (Clara Bow) who comes between them. The film can be read as either a gay or straight love story (it was the 1920s, after all), but the attraction between the two men is quite obvious, especially during the deathbed scene, which plays more like a love scene. The Canadian video For The Moment (1992) features fly-boy Ari Cohen as a gay British pilot whom Russell Crowe catches having sex (off screen) in the barracks showers with another gay pilot (Glen Thompson). Tragically, Cohen watches his lover die in a fiery plane crash in the end. Director Max Farberbock’s lavish production of Aimée and Jaguar (Germany/2000) falls into the “Lesbian Nazi” category and is set in war-torn Berlin in 1943. Maria Schrader plays Felice, a free-spirited, Jewish lesbian, working undercover for a Nazi newspaper. Juliane Köhler plays her German lover Lilly Wust. Ignoring the fact that Berlin is being bombed daily, these Blitzkrieg lovers act as if it were Springtime in Paris. While Felice’s group of lesbian girlfriends are smuggled out of the country, Felice decides to take her chances and stay with the woman she loves, even if it means she will die. Alexandra von Grote’s similarly themed earlier film, November Moon (Germany/1984), again focuses on the struggles of lesbians during World War II. Gabriela Osburg plays November, a Jewish lesbian who moves to Paris to flee the Nazis. Her lover Ferial, a young French woman, becomes a Nazi collaborator to save the life of her lover, when the Nazis arrive in France. Military academy cadets were the focus of the 1986 drama Dress Gray, starring Alex Baldwin. On a combat mission for laughs is Up the Academy (1980). Tom Poston plays Master Sergeant Skip Sisson, a flamboyant, gay caricature who teaches ballroom dancing to a group of young male military cadets in this mindless teenage comedy. That’s when he’s not measuring their inseams or trying to get them out of their shorts. For balance, the women of the nearby Mildred S. Butch Academy are all lesbians. While boot camp has often provided laughs at the movies, Neil Simon made a dramatic direct hit with his Biloxi Blues (1988). The Russian video 100 Days before the Command (1999) likewise goes for the heart. In this story about a group of young Russian soldiers, mostly in their late teens, trying to survive the difficulties of boot camp, Oleg Vasilokov and Alexander Chislov are singled out as gay and then ostracized. There’s almost no dialogue and little story, but this video, full of handsome young soldiers, hits its target nonetheless. If naked Roman soldiers spin your compass, there are plenty of videos to choose from. One of the earliest, and more innocent, is Stanley Kubrick’s Spartacus (1960). Laurence Olivier plays Crasius, the bisexual emperor, in this historical epic. Tony Curtis plays his poor, young slave, who runs away to join up with Spartacus (Kirk Douglas) after Olivier puts the make on him. The late Derek Jarman’s Sebastiane (Italy/1976) featured even hunkier Roman soldiers and provided a satisfying full-frontal assault. Kubrick fans will also remember Barry Lyndon (Great Britain/1975), in which two gay privates are spied skinny-dipping in a river. They also hold hands and pledge their love to one another. Barry Lyndon (Ryan O’Neal) watches from the river bank and then steals one of their horses. But when it comes to romantic wartime tales featuring enlisted men, For a Lost Soldier (Netherlands/1992) is tough to beat. Jeroen Krabbe plays Jeroen, a middle-aged gay man who flashes back to his childhood and recalls the unforgettable summer of 1944. The setting is Holland at the end of World War II. Maarten Smit plays the 12-year-old Jeroen. Just becoming aware of his sexual attraction to other boys, he is befriended by Walt (Andrew Kelley), a handsome American soldier who has come to liberate Holland from the Nazis. Their friendship blossoms into a mutually gratifying sexual relationship, only to be cut short by the soldier’s departure at the end of summer. On the lighter side, Goldie Hawn plays a “Jewish American Princess” who enlists in the Army in Private Benjamin (1980). Eileen Brennan plays Captain Lewis, a frustrated officer who turns to women when she is shipped off to Europe. The advertising tag line read, “Can the Army make a Man Out of Judy Benjamin?” A gay African warrior is certainly a novelty, as in Ace Ventura 2: When Nature Calls (1995). And gay French Foreign Legion recruits are exotic, as in Beau Travail (France/2000). But in Beautiful Mystery (Japan/1983), gay Samurai add an element of surprise. In Gohatta, also known as Taboo (Japan/2000), the action is set in Kyoto, Japan in 1865. Ryuhei Matsuda plays Kano, an androgynous, eighteen-year-old Samurai soldier who is recruited by an elite militia. Toshiro (Tadanobu Asano), a fellow warrior, falls in love with Kano, as do many of the Samurai, old and young. Homosexuality is openly discussed and accepted among the Samurai of this period. But while everyone is in love with Kano, and under his spell, Kano is a manipulative, cold-blooded killer who is only in love with killing. Draft dodgers, as in The Gay Deceivers (1969), and deserters, like the one featured in We Were One Man (France/1981), are another common category. But being discharged or court-martialed is even more routine. For instance, Dean Cain plays a Green Beret in Best Men (1998) discharged for being gay. In Toby Philips’ Lover’s Leap (1995) Andria Mann, in a small role, plays a lesbian novelist who writes lesbian romance books. In researching a story, she discovers that two lesbian lovers committed suicide at Lover’s Leap after being kicked out of the military in the early ’70s. Breaking new ground, 1995’s Serving in Silence: The Margarethe Cammermeyer Story is a moving dramatization of the life and career of Margarethe Cammermeyer, a lesbian Army National Guard officer and the highest-ranking woman in the Armed Forces. She was also drummed out of the military for coming out as a lesbian. Oscar-winner Glenn Close turns in one of the most memorable performances of her career. Judy Davis plays her lover Diana. Being booted out of the military will likely continue to be a common theme for some time. Common Ground (2000) is a trilogy focusing on three generations of gay men and lesbians and how they dealt with the homophobia of their time. Beginning in the 1950s, Brittany Murphy plays Dorothy and Jason Priestley plays Billy, gay friends who meet in the Navy. Mimi Rogers plays Brittany’s closeted and homophobic Naval Officer, McPherson. When Billy takes Dorothy to a gay bar, McPherson has it raided. Dorothy receives a dishonorable discharge for sexual deviancy while Billy is court-martialed and receives hard labor. If this film had been made in the 1950s, he likely would have just been killed. It may be a while before the rumored Bin Laden in a Burka film makes it to your local Blockbuster. But each of the videos mentioned here are worthy of a “Purple Heart” film award for courage under fire on the screen. They’ll also make you proud of our finest men and women, in blue-and pink. And, while Uncle Sam may not want us in the bunks and the showers, when it comes to the movies, we’re likely to have the last laugh, as did Bill Murray and Harold Ramis in the 1981 comedy Stripes. When an Army recruiter asks “Are either of you homosexual?” Murray asks, “You mean flaming?” “Naw, we’re not homosexual, but we are willing to learn,” adds Ramis in earnest. Now that’s patriotic! **************** Steve Stewart is the author of OUT ON THE SCREEN: The Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual & Transgender Guidebook to more than 2,000 movies and videos from around the world. For more information about this book, or to sign up for his FREE monthly “Naked Hollywood Newsletter,” visit http://www.companionpress.com. OUT ON THE SCREEN not sold in bookstores and is only available directly from the publisher at http://www.companionpress.com.
CONTACT INFORMATION: ___________________________________________________ GUEST ESSAY
COMES NATURALLY #121 (April 5, 2002) FOOT WORSHIP One fine spring day in 1997, Hank Wolny -- like thousands of other sightseers -- found himself strolling along legendary, star-studded Hollywood Boulevard, not far from the corner of Hollywood and Vine. Heading west from Frederick's of Hollywood, Hank noticed a store that was exclusively devoted to selling fetish footwear. A block further along, there was another store selling exactly the same thing, then another, then another. "I must have passed six stores selling nothing but fetish shoes inside of five blocks," he explains, wide-eyed. I listen to him as I slip my feet into a pair of pumps with nothing less than five inch spike heels, and no platform for compensation. They're the most tipped-up shoes in Wolny's San Francisco fetish shoe store and I want to experience what it's like to walk in them. Wolny is only slightly watching me as I buckle the straps and contemplate standing up. Mostly he's engrossed in telling me the story of how he got into the fetish footwear business. "I said to myself, 'Now, that would be fun -- selling outrageous shoes like that.' When I saw that one of the stores sold wholesale I decided to buy a variety of shoes and sell them in San Francisco at the Folsom Street Fair. I was thinking that, if everything went well, I could sell shoes at four or five fetish fairs each year. I was 56 years old and had been retired for two years. I was looking for something interesting to do with my life. I figured that, at the very least, it would be an interesting day at the Fair." I stand up uncertainly and try making my way slowly around Wolny's Sutter Street store -- appropriately called Foot Worship. Now, I can't claim that I wear heels every day -- or every month for that matter. But I do enjoy the way that putting on heels stretches the backs of my legs and sticks my butt up in the air, and I've spent enough time, at parties and other special occasions, in my very own pair of shiny black 4" pumps with scalloped edges that I've gotten pretty competent at negotiating stairs, curbs, and hills in them. I can even deal with street gratings and trolley tracks if I pay attention to where I'm putting my feet. But these 5" heels are something else again. Who'd have thought that one measly inch would make such a difference? Unable to keep my center of gravity over my butt, I find that, despite my best efforts to stand in one place, I keep falling forward, as if a gust of wind were steadily pushing me from behind. I take a step forward, then another, then another, only gradually realizing that I can't seem to stop. The realization gives me kind of a low-grade feeling of vertigo -- like discovering that the brakes have gone out on your car, minus the fear of dying. I resolve my perpetual motion and loss-of-control anxiety by falling, as gracefully as I can, back into the chair from whence I so recklessly arose. Wolny watches my balance drama without so much as cracking a smile or missing a beat in his story. He's seen hundreds of teetering ingenues in the four years that Foot Worship has been open for business. Presumably he's got good insurance in case someone falls. "I thought I'd be appealing to the fetish market," Wolny continues, as my mind climbs out of my feet to the point that I can pay better attention to his words. "But all day long I was selling shoes to dancers who work at strip and lap-dancing clubs around town. I sold 35 pair of shoes that day and realized I could make a successful business out of this. I researched the dancer market and found that there are some 2000 exotic dancers that work at the various clubs every month. New people are coming to town all the time, staying in San Francisco for a while before moving on. And they all want shoes like these." Wolny opened Foot Worship in January, 1998. Located three blocks from the Mitchell Brothers O' Farrell Theater, spitting distance from the main stroll for heterosexual and transsexual streetwalkers alike, and a few doors from gay-oriented Polk Street, it's the perfect location for all of Wolny's diverse clientele. He rents the indoor balcony that overlooks his ground level store to Felicity's Fetiche, a boutique run by an ex-dancer that sells lingerie, stage costumes, and women's fetish wear. The two stores, dubbed Best Double Decker Fetish Store by San Francisco's Bay Guardian, maintain a perfectly symbiotic relationship. People who come for shoes take note of Felicity's frillies, and the dancers who come to Felicity looking for costumes learn about Wolny's shoes as well. Wolny's first promotional act after opening his store was to print flyers offering 10% discounts to dancers and have them posted in the dressing rooms of all the lap dancing and strip clubs around town. He was quickly inundated with dancers hungry for his 6", 7", and most recently 7-1/2" platform shoes, as well as the knee-high and thigh-high boots that round out his inventory. Wolny, who has over 1700 pair of shoes in stock, sells some 70 pair a week, a steady year-round business that peaks around Halloween and surprisingly dips during the Christmas season. "No one gives shoes for Christmas," Wolny notes wryly. "I think I sold maybe twenty pair of gift shoes all last season." About 60% of Wolny's customers are dancers. Cross-dressers account for an additional 25%. The fetish people that Wolny originally thought would be his main clientele account for only about 15% of his business. His best-seller is a "clear-on-clear" opened-toed shoe with a clear plastic 6" spike heel and vamp, supported by a 2" clear plastic platform. "People love clear," Wolny says, "because it goes with everything and it also fulfills everyone's Cinderella fantasy. It's a chance to have your very own magical glass slipper." After the 6" heel with the 2" platform, Wolny's next most popular model is a 5" heel with no platform -- the very shoe that just propelled me so insistently around his store. I think about dancers wearing those shoes on stage, taking off their clothes, and moving around with seductive sensuous grace, all at the same time. My respect for their art takes a significant leap forward. On the other hand, I think competitively, it's not like they have to stand still in them. According to Wolny, the trend in fetish footwear runs ever higher and taller. Two years ago 7" heels with 3" platforms came out for the first time. This year it's 7-1/2" heels with a 4" platform. "I guess the sky's the limit," Wolny shrugs. "Pretty soon people will be walking around seven feet tall." Wolny, who grew up in small towns in Northern California and was an accountant for most of his life (including a stint with infamous Arthur Andersen), is delighted to have stumbled into a business that's as much fun as this one. In a city like San Francisco, it puts him in contact with a never-ending stream of interesting characters and customers. "There's one 78-year-old man who buys one or two pair of shoes every month, year after year. One time he picked out a shoe that he had just bought, four months earlier. When I pointed out that he already had that shoe, he shot me an indignant look. "'They wear out, you know,' he said archly. "Another customer in the store was bemoaning the fact that he was a size six while this guy was a size eight. "'If we were the same size, I could have all your shoes after you die.' "'Oh no, honey,' the old man said, 'they're all going into the box with me when I go.'" One of Wolny's youngest customers was a 9-year-old girl visiting from Washington, D.C., who came in to shop with her dad. The girl wanted the new 7-1/2" heels, but her dad was pushing for her to get the more practical (!) 6" heels instead. "But dad," the girl complained "they don't have these [7-1/2" heels] back home!" In the end, the girl got her 7-1/2" skyscrapers. An even younger potential customer was a 5-year-old girl whose wealthy mother wanted to know if Wolny could have fetish shoes custom made in her daughter's tiny size. As it turns out, he could not -- none of his suppliers had molds that small. Wolny does a little advertising and has been publicized on the Playboy channel, on television in England, and even in the Virgin Airlines travel magazine, but most of his new business comes directly from word of mouth. People appreciate his low-key demeanor and the fact that he makes everyone feel welcome at his store. There are no sideways glances at Foot Worship, whether it be for suburban women and teenagers trying on the sluttiest pumps, or cross-dressers looking to go all out in the footwear department. "I can't tell you how many guys come in here saying it's their first time in heels who then turn out to be the most graceful walkers you've ever seen," Wolny notes. Wolny emphasizes that he's always listening to his customers' concerns and tries to provide them with whatever it is they may want. Once he got an emergency call from a dancer at the O'Farrell Theater who had broken a shoe and needed a replacement right away. He ran up the street to deliver the new shoes to her on the spot. Sympathetic to the precariousness of stumbling teeterers like myself, he invented the "Stiletto Stabilizer," an expanded rubber heel that slips over narrow stilettos, increasing contact with the ground by four and a half times over the standard stiletto tip. He also sells friction pads that can be stuck to the slippery soles of shoes, increasing precious stability when walking on smooth surfaces. Wolny is happy to have shoes made to order and has put together everything from boots and shoes made of hemp fiber to what he laughingly calls "some of the ugliest shoes I've ever seen." He's sold shoes to socialites whose designer gowns for the opening of the San Francisco Ballet were too long for conventional heels, and to high school girls who had the same problem with their prom dresses. His shoes contribute significantly to the appeal of scores of neighborhood streetwalkers, as well as to that of at least one woman who works the streets as a police decoy. I ask Wolny if he's got any advice for people who are learning their way into wearing high altitude shoes. "I tell people to practice walking with a vacuum cleaner," he answers. "You can use the vacuum cleaner hose to get a kind of tripod effect. Kind of like those training wheels you used when you were first riding a bicycle. As you get more comfortable with the shoes, you can put less and less weight on the vacuum hose until you're ready to stand on your own." I consider buying the 5" perpetual motion shoes, or maybe a pair of more comfortable 6" heels with 2" platforms, but in the end I stick with my familiar 4" scalloped pumps. Maybe sometime soon I'll be ready to graduate into the big time. If so, I'll definitely be back at Wolny's door. Pumps sell for $29-109. Platform shoes are $49-109, knee-high boots $69-169, and thigh-highs $209-279. Foot Worship, "the ultimate fetish footwear experience," is located at 1214 Sutter Street, between Polk and Van Ness (415-921-FOOT). Store hours are 11-7, Monday through Saturday (Sundays, too, from June through October).
[If you'd like to receive Comes Naturally and other writing by David
Steinberg regularly via email (free and confidential), send your name and
email address to David at
David Steinberg
____________________________________________________
LETTERS TO EIDOS
NUDIST HALL OF SHAME
Brenda: Do you know anything about this website/Nikki Craft/ACLU which is not the real ACLU?
http://www.nostatusquo.com/ACLU/NudistHallofShame/index.html
I am contacting you on behalf of All Nude Sports
(http://www.allnudesports.com).
We are the first free adult sports show on the Internet. Here we combine naked women, daily sports news, and humor. If you have not seen our web site please take a look or read about us in this months issue of AVN Online (http://www.avnonline.com/issues/200203/profiles/pro0302_03.shtml). We would be honored to have a story done on All Nude Sports for Eidos and we invite you to come visit our studios in Charlotte, NC.
For further information or if you have any questions please feel free to contact me by email or at (800) 628-0241 ext 138.
Dear Ms. Brenda Loew:
Radio Free Maine presents audio & video recordings of
Noam Chomsky:
U.S. Policy in West-Central Asia, Freedom of Speech and the Kurds in Turkey (A/V) Introduced by Jason Sohigian, Editor of The Armenian Weekly Sponsored by the Armenian National Committee of Eastern Massachusetts Recorded by Roger Leisner on June 7, 2002 at the Armenian Cultural & Educational Center in Watertown, MA
What is the U.S. Role in the World Today? (A/V)
Sponsored by Doctors for Global Health, Physicians for
Social Responsibility, Muslim Students' Association,
and Albert Einstein College of Medicine Recorded by Joe Friendly on May 25, 2002 at the Montefiore Medical Center in the Bronx - New York City
Manufacturing Consent In the Time of War (A/V)
South End Press 25th Anniversary Lecture Sponsored by South End Press Web Site www.southendpress.org
Recorded by Roger Leisner on March 11, 2002 at the
First Parish Church in Cambridge, MA
The Uses of Haiti (A/V)
Why does the U.S. Government have sanctions in place against the poorest nation in the Western Hemisphere? with Dr. Paul Farmer Harvard Medical School and Partners in Health Moderated by Nancy Dorsinville of Haiti Harvard Center for Population and Development Studies Recorded by Roger Leisner on February 22, 2002 at M.I.T. in Cambridge, MA Available on VHS video (speakers & Q&A) for $20.00 and audiotape (Chomsky & Farmer) for $11.00
Questioning the War on Terrorism? (A/V)
Sponsored by the South Asian Students Caucus at the
JFK School of Government Recorded by Martin Voelker on February 6, 2002 at Harvard University in Cambridge, MA
Observations on the Media & the War on Terrorism
(A/V) An Evening to Celebrate the 15th Anniversary of
Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting FAIR Web Site www.fair.org Introductions by Laura Flanders & Phil Donahue Recorded by Joe Friendly on January 22, 2002 at Town Hall in New York City
Keynote Address: The World After September 11th
(A/V) Paths to Peace, Justice and Security
A Conference co-sponsored by the American Friends
Service Committee, the Peace and Justice Studies
Program at Tufts University and the Tufts Coalition
for Peace at Tufts University in Medford, MA
with Amber & Ryan Admundson, relatives of September
11th victims Recorded by Roger Leisner and Martin Voelker on December 8, 2001
The U.S., Human Rights & International Law (A/V)
Sponsored by MIT Human Rights and Justice Program
Recorded by Roger Leisner on December 6, 2001 at
M.I.T. in Cambridge, MA
The New War Against Terror (A/V) Over 2,000 people attended Chomsky¡œs first talk since September 11th
Sponsored by MIT Technology and Culture Forum
Recorded by Roger Leisner on October 18, 2001 at
M.I.T. in Cambridge, MA
Ordering Information: RADIO FREE MAINE, P.O. Box 2705,
Augusta, Maine 04338 Web Site www.radiofreemaine.com
To the Editor:
"China thrown off balance as boys outnumber girls," reports USA Today [June 19, http://www.usatoday.com/news/acovwed.htm]. Officially, almost 117 Chinese boys were born for every 100 girls in 2000, far above the
biologically normal ratio of 104-107 newborn boys for every 100 newborn girls. Official statistics probably exaggerate this gender disparity.
Even so, there clearly will be surplus millions of Chinese bachelors who can't find wives. These rootless men, never able to settle down, may turn to drugs, crime, and politics; so the totalitarian Chinese oligarchy may start wars to get rid of them. (Sci-fi writers, rush to your keyboards!)
Well, how about some creative thinking, for a change?
First, China should make homosexuality legal and respectable, so that gay men can partially satisfy the sexual needs of "straight" and bi bachelors.
Second, legalize "polyandry", a marriage form in which one wife can have two or more legal husbands. Polyandry works best if the husbands are each other's brothers, so that exact paternity of each child isn't of much concern. In this respect, China should learn from Tibet.
Third, admit that sexwork will inevitably increase in China, regardless of any futile attempts to stamp it out. Then set up conditions under which prostitutes can be treated and compensated fairly as workers, rather than being abused as outlaws.
Tortúga Bi Liberty,
Thanks for the link to us (Vangar aka Gladiators World Alliance) from your
website.
I have linked back to you from http://www.vangar.com/links.htm
Sites we host:
http://www.usafur.com/
Brenda: I wonder if he got the idea at a Tupperware party.
http://www.ananova.com/news/story/sm_606275.html
Robert
My name is Angel, and I represent Eddie Guy, an Erotic Photographer in the Los Angeles area. Eddie has just opened his member site and is trying to spread the word that it is up and running. His name is quite well known in the adult entertainment world within San Francisco and Los Angeles, but in many other areas he is not known. I was hoping that I could enlist your help in this endeavor. Your site would be the perfect place for Eddie to get noticed, if you would be interested in 'featuring' his work in some way for me. I'm attaching a few pictures of Eddie's just so you know some of his work, but I'd be more than happy to provide you with a site password to look around, if you like. While his site is new, and still coming into it's place, we would really like to get a head start in the campaign to let everyone know. I'd really appreciate your help, and I hope that you will consider. Thanks for listening either way, and we wish you much continued success. Take care.
Angel L. Wintrode
Hello Brenda: click on the link below then click on Astrup Fearnley Musseet for Moderne Kunst, Norway and view the painting "Painter and Model", the contrast of his naked exhibitionism and her clothed studied
sexual tension makes this an erotic painting. Freud is a talented "Realist" artist, I find the Realist style has an eroticism like photographer Weston's black/white nudes. Another thing, go to Amazon.com and look up the book (Voluptuous Panic). Berlin during the Weimar period
never ceases to fascinate. Robert
=================================
16th World Congress of Sexology
[Please post/pubish wherever appropriate;
especially where forbidden.]
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Dear Eidos,
I published poetry in Eidos many years ago ( 'Express Male' in 1990) and, before re-publishing it, I'd like to clarify / verify that I can comfortably do that. I'm assuming that you obtained 'first time right' to publish it and that I can therefore re-publish it now. Thanks.
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Yours faithfully,
Hello!
I am a cartoonist and illustrator. I do sexy cartoons, which range from pin-ups and erotic funnies to the hard core cartoons. I also do sexy comics, Flash cartoons, erotic illustrations, fetish and BDSM cartoons and illustrations, celebrities cartoons, bi-cartoons, Sci-Fi erotic comics and commissioned art. My artwork has been published in hard copy magazines all over the World (from Japan to Europe and America) and online, of course. If you are interested in publishing or commissioning, please let me know.
Attract more visitors to your site! The formula is simple: offer them crisp,
sexy humor! (updated on a regular basis, of course). Liven up your adult
web-site with a recognizable and recognized erotic humor! Make the visitors to come back for more! See some of my cartoons (the French version):
http://212.43.196.62/cartoonsdujour/auteurs_cv/bios_auteurs.phtml
(click the Betty Boobs banner). Actually, all of my cartoons are in English.
Sincerely,
Hi Brenda,
I don't know much about your publication, but from what I've read, it
appears to be a potentially good place for me to advertise my bawdy
travel guide: "The Naked Truth About Hedonism II" (ISBN: 0966263826).
In addition, perhaps you might have an interest in writing a book
review about it.
Hedonism II is an adult-only all-inclusive resort in Jamaica that has
an overblown MTV sexual image in the media. The 384-page travel book
tells what goofy bawdy stuff really does go on there--with 45 color
pics and 18 B/W ones to show the naked games (none of it is
masturbation material). (I've been there 33 times since 1985.)
The owners of the hotel (SuperClubs) unsuccessfully tried to sue me in
federal court to stop distribution of the first edition of the book,
that came out in April 1998.
This new second edition (with twice as many pages and 3x more info)
came out August 2001--and now the management of the hotel has asked me
for personal copies and I've had no word from SuperClubs.
The book has been featured in editorials in Playboy and Nude & Natural
magazine. You can read more about it on www.bn.com or www.amazon.com
or my site: http://www.wordcrafting.com/.
Looking forward to hearing from you soon. Please also send me media
kit/advertising information by email or fax.
Best regards,
Brenda: I'm listening to WBCQ the Radio New York International show
with host Johnny Lightning and station owner Allan Wiener called the
show on the air and threatened to fire Lightning if he didn't abide by
the station's speech policy, seems the FCC might fine WBCQ over what's
being aired, look's like Wiener is such a "Weenie",
because he should be standing up to this censorship. This might be a
good story for EIDOS to cover, I included WBCQ's link to their website.
Robert
I remember hearing you on his show some time ago. That Johnny
L is still quite a joker...
"Watch the skies, everywhere! Keep looking. Keep watching the skies!"
--Robert
ROBERT'S PICKS
Sorry to hear about your loss for alderman, glad to see EIDOS back
up and running, hope you don't mind the suggestions for the art and
poetry, Have you heard the big controversy over Judith Levine's book
"Harmful to Minors"?
Brenda: this book sounds interesting;
Brenda: what do you think of Pearlstein's work for Eidos's art page?
Click on link to view:
Robert
SWEET DESSERTS
Brenda, This is one of two pics I found in a newsgroup of what I like
to call a "Real Woman" a sensual and erotic Being, to love, respect,
worship, savoring her smell and taste, and sinking one's teeth into and
eating this gourmet feast of "Real mouth-watering Woman"!
Robert
And for Desert, I'll have the "Savoy Truffle"
BRENDA LOEWíS PAGAN SEXUALITY & SEXUAL FREEDOM
Hello I am Talyn and I publish a pagan related newsletter called A Druids
Life. If you would like to check it out you can at
http://www.druidslife.net/newsletter.html
I am writing to ask for your permission to publish your article "Pagan Sexuality and Sexual Freedom" in an issue of my newsletter.
Thanks
PRETTY IN PINK
I am an amateur adult webmistress. I would like to be in your magazine
www.arizonapink.com
thanks
WHITHER EIDOS?
Is it still being published, I used to subscribe and would like to pick
it up again. If so, How much for how long and payment? Charge cards,
check etc.
Diane
NEWS FROM THE NORTH AMERICAN SWING CLUB ASSOCIATION
NASCA will be conducting a full day of business-related seminars at The Lifestyles-East Miami Beach Convention, April 10-14, 2002.
Here is the time line including topics and presenters.
NASCA International Seminars Open to swing organization owners operators and those with other adult business interests. Separate registration required from Lifestyles-East Convention events.
_ 1 pm - 1:15 pm Welcome and introduction - Tony Lanzaratta, NASCA Executive Director
If you are not registered for the convention you can still attend the NASCA seminars for a nominal fee.
We will repeating this at the Lifestyles-West Reno Convention, July 31-August 4, 2002. Some modifications of titles speakers may occur.
Hope you can join us!
Tony Lanzaratta
HUMAN SEXULAITY & MARXISM DONíT MIX
Hi Brenda, sorry you lost the election. Can't believe they don't say the pledge of allegiance to the flag in school each day. We certainly did that when I was in elementary school. As to my age, I don't often tell, but I am 74. I had a rough time because they didn't know what it was and I still have to be watched as what I had, a granulosa cell tumor is unusual. When did the last EIDOS come out online? Did you use my Lifestyles article in it? If so how do I see it? As for the educational system, I did teach at the college level, however, it was on human sexuality and Marxism wasn't one of my specialties. Keep in touch.
GLAD EIDOS IS STILL AROUND
Hi Brenda:
Most Sincerely Yours
MORMONS VS. GAYS, LESBIANS, BISEXUAL AND TRANSGNDERED
Aloha Folks,
Most of us in Hawaii have seen the devastating Mormon policies in actions as
excommunication occurs, families are instructed to shun GLBT, children are
told to see the gay parent as evil, etc.
do good
EIDOS.ORG IS NOT EIDOS.COM
EIDOS: I am playing the Giant In Haiphong game and have completed all tasks. The thief has the rope ladder in his possession and has climbed onto the carrier via the crane. I can find no point on the carrier where the ladder can be dropped down to the remaining commandos. Have I missed something?
Regards,
Kevin Lambourne
Eidos: I recently acquired the game called "Project Eden." I sarted playing and got to a spot where you change characters to repair a door. This enables you to move on in the game now the problem came when I tried to repair. I couldn't fix the door my question is how exactly do you repair the door? I know which button to push but what then? Please e-mail the answer to me at rkeenen@hvc.rr.com Thank you.
Raymond Keenen
EIDOS: I have three Tomb Raider games, I, II and III. The second two are causing no trouble whatsoever. However, the first Tomb Raider game does not seem to want to use my sound card fully. I am getting part of the soundtrack - I.E. the background effects, but things like the sounds made when she fires her weapons are remaining silent. I am operating Windows 98SE with a 60Gb hard disk and 512 Mb of memory. The machine is equipped with†Sound Blaster 5.1 audio with Dolby surround. Whenever I try to manually set the sounds using the three Soundblaster settings offered the game will not play at all - in fact, on one occasion my computer froze completely. Can you help, please,
†
Roy Brown
Hi, my name is Zlatko. I love game Commandos very much, specially second part. I have a question about this game. I'd like to know will you launch Commandos 3, and if you will, when will that happen. Also, if you have some passwords for Commandos (first part) please them to me. I'll wait for your answer.
dear brenda,
regards,
HI FRIENDS. I DECIDE TO CONACT YOU BECAUSE I AM FEELING
SAD. YOU DID NOT RELEASED NEXT SERIES OF TOMB RIDER
LAST YEAR. I THINK THAT YOU HAVE DISAPOINT MANY FANS
ALLOVER THE WORLD. LARA IS STLL NOT FOR THE
MUSEUM. THERE ARE MANY WAYS TO KEEP INTEREST ABOUT THIS
LEGEND. TO BE SHURE THAT I AM RIGHT VISIT WEB SITE OF
HER FANS. I HAVE MANY IDEAS ABOUT HER REVIVE. ACTUALY MY
DESIRE IS TO REALISE MY IDEAS COOPERATING WITH SUCH
PROFESIONAL STAFF LIKE YOU. MAY BE THAT IS NOT
IMPOSIBLE. IT WILL BE VERY KIND OF YOU IF LET ME KNOW
IS THAT POSIBLE. I HAVE IDEAS ABOUT NEW KIND OF
GAMEPLAY, WITH MANY DIFERENT WAYS TO MANAGE THE
PROBLEMS. I MEAN NOT ONLY THIS GAME. I MEAN SOMETHING
TOTALY DIFERENT. I WILL LOOKING FOR YOU ANSWER WHAEWER
IT IS, BUT TRUST ME I FOUND YOUR OCCUPATION WERY
ATTRACTIVE. BYE BYE.
_______________________________________________________________________
Contact EIDOS
Brenda Loew's EIDOS: Everyone Is Doing Outrageous Sex. Established in 1984
by Brenda Loew. Championing in the Thomas Jefferson tradition, First
Amendment rights to freedom of expression. "Brenda Loew is a blue-blood
Bostonian who never banned anything." -- Playboy Online Hall of Fame. EIDOS
email: eidos@eidos.org; Website URL: http://www.eidos.org '00 ,'01, ë02 Online
Issues: Free. 80's & 90's Printed Back Issues: US$10 each. Must be 18+. Age
Statement Required.
Brenda Loew is a certificated paralegal, the founder of Friends of Pro Se, a
member of the National Writers Union and Pet Sitters International, a
Shamballa Reiki practitioner, a licensed/registered manicurist and reflexologist and a past director of Newton Taxpayers Association. She is the recipient of the VFW of the United States Patriotic Citizen Award. Brenda is listed in Who's Who in America, Who's Who in Communications and Media, Who's Who in Industry and Finance and numerous other Who's Who directories. Aside from editing and writing for EIDOS, Brenda's most recently published works have appeared in EarthStar, FATE, PHAROS, THE WORLD OF PROFESSIONAL PETSITTING and The Affiliate and is forthcoming in Privacy Journal.
"FREEDOM ISN'T FREE"
FIGHT BACK!
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