The latest film in the American Pie series, American Reunion, contains a shocking scene – male full-frontal nudity including a semi-erect penis, albeit slightly squashed to one side by a transparent pan lid!! I don’t mean shocking in an “oh matron” prudish way – I mean shocking because in all my years of going to ...
A series of complaints about an exhibit on sex at the Science and Technology Museum in Ottawa has resulted in younger teenagers being banned from viewing it and has also caused the museum to remove a video about masturbation from the exhibit altogether. The museum has justified this by claiming that the complaints represent public ...
Garry Trudeau’s Doonesbury cartoon strip which compares the vaginal ultrasound Texas women are forced to have before an abortion (in addition to an imposed waiting period) to rape has been pulled from several newspapers. I’ve yet to hear a sensible explanation for this decision. Trudeau is one of many voices in the United States objecting ...
Margaret Laurence’s last novel, The Diviners, provoked controversy amongst advocates of censorship when it first hit the shelves. In 1976 religious leaders attempting to have it removed from schools and libraries said that it “reeked of sordidness.” What higher acclaim can a novel have? Morag Gunn, Laurence’s protagonist, is a woman. You know what that ...
First, a disclaimer. I used to work as a sub-editor on the Australian edition of FHM, a men’s magazine that was not exactly known for being politically correct. But while I may have written off-colour captions, including an alarming reference to Chuck Berry’s penis and a spooky prediction of the death of Michael Jackson five ...
Is romance dead? You would think so from seeing the prolific over-sexualization of women in music videos and gratuitous sex scenes on television and film. Rihanna, Lady Gaga, Madonna, Beyoncé and Jennifer Lopez are only a few artists out of many that come to mind when I think of songstresses whose fashion motto is “barely ...
Human sexuality is nothing to be ashamed of, but this doesn’t mean we leave nudie magazines on our coffee table for guests to enjoy a sneak peek. But how would you feel about Playboys at the public library? In all my years as a library-devotee I’ve never even noticed Playboy magazines lying around, but it ...
Okay, I’ll admit it. When I go into a bookstore I still like to giggle over the sex books. You would think that my flourishing interest in sexy illustrations started with the Kama Sutra but, au contraire, it began with one glimpse at the now infamous The Joy of Sex by Dr. Alex Comfort, first ...
Parents in PEI are attempting to ban a book that they think is too sexual for their teenagers. But is it that bad? Subversive. Indecent. Sexually explicit. These are just a few terms attempting to justify banning books. Although I am one among many supporters of Freedom to Read Week, I can accept that educators don’t choose ...
Ryan Gosling is nice. Does that make him a feminist? A new blog shows photos of the Canadian actor with feminist and woman-friendly quotes and sayings, all beginning with “Hey girl,” Gosling’s throwaway phrase which gained quite a lot of attention. A photo of the actor’s chest has the caption “Hey girl, my eyes are ...
So, we’re having this baby. It’s due in a few weeks and we’re trying to get organized with all...
I recently heard about what is claimed to be the rising phenomenon of Japanese men remaining virgins for longer...
Ladders. Patriarchal conspiracy. I’ll explain… This week I climbed a ladder. I was trying to reach a loft space,...
Dear Madame X, My boyfriend needs to look at porn while we have sex. It bothers me because I...
Mrs. Dalloway is yet another feminist classic that I had to grow into. Wrapped up in Woolf’s instantly recognizable...
Last week saw a Big Thing come to our soggy little island. Well, it was a Big Thing for...
Last weekend I was entertaining a guest, you know, the sort I was planning to have lots and lots...
All little girls want to be princesses… right?! It’s bad enough that toy aisles are separated out by what...
