Whenever I hear the term "sexual preference," it's like nails on a chalkboard. That's because sexuality is really not a preference at all. It's an orientation. If someone says their sexual preference is men, it always seems to me he is really saying "I prefer to have sex with men, but if a woman is . . .
National Masturbation Month
Well, it WOULDN'T be. That is, if there were a hell, which I don't believe there is. Or if touching yourself was a sin. Which I don't believe it is. Isn't it interesting how it's always a church like this whose pastor is found with his hand up the church secretary's skirt? Or worse. Just . . .
A personal story about gender identity issues
It was the early 1990s and I was doing volunteer work for an organization that provided services to people with HIV and AIDs. What we did was something called "emotional support," which was pretty much just "being there" for the other person, our "client." It wasn't as easy as it sounds. In fact, . . .
Tim Cook came out; moved us forward
When Apple CEO Tim Cook came out, it was both an event and a non-event. It was a non-event because here in Silicon Valley, most of us knew he was gay--he's never hidden it. Like CNN's Anderson Cooper, he never talked about it. Like most executives of any sexual orientation, he kept his private . . .
Coming out: Part 1
The closet still exists. So many of us in the San Francisco Bay area find it hard to believe that it does: we've lived with openly out colleagues, politicians and friends for so many decades. Gay marriage has become mainstream. Gay couples can adopt. Sometimes we forget that there are places and . . .
It’s National Masturbation Month
Let's pretend he's our age. But if you're younger: In the interests of equal opportunity: or this one I try to acknowledge the month every year. If you'd like to see prior posts on National Masturbation Month, posts that have actual words and not just images, go HERE and HERE ... even . . .
Bettie Page: an American original
This post has an adult theme. If this offends you, please do not go further. Back in the day, pin-up girl Bettie Page became famous for photos with a BDSM theme. There was no naughtier girl in the early to mid-1950s. It's ironic that such a repressed age would produce . . .
Dialogue is how we reach understanding
National (and individual) conversations about racism, homophobia and bigotry have amped up this week, starting with the Paula Deen deposition and on to the invalidation of a key part of the Voting Rights Act and, of course, the happy news that the Supreme Court has ruled that the Defense of Marriage . . .
National Masturbation Month is half over
"Remember back in the mid-1970s, when women's groups would hand out little plastic speculums and we'd all get together and examine ourselves and each other?" I asked a girlfriend my age the other day. We laughed. "What we were thinking?" Oh, we young feminists were so earnest as we gazed into one . . .
Talk is sexy to me
Talk is sexy and that doesn't mean sexy talk. The meeting of minds is a powerful union; the brain is a powerful erogenous zone. I'm convinced that the soul, brain and heart are all connected and that the most amazing erotic experiences happen when all three are engaged. . . .