Momentum in the Sex-Positive Movement 

I was lucky to get to go to the Momentum Conference “Making Waves in Sexuality, Feminism and Relationships".  Sex Workers, Sex and the New Media, and Sex Education were big themes at the conference. It was a gathering of several hundred activist, writers, and educators who are all working to create a world that embraces sexuality and sexual pleasure our birthright.

A highlight for me was meeting Dr. Joycelyn Elders. She famously lost her job as President Clinton’s Surgeon General when she endorsed including masturbation in sex education curricula.

She continues to spout common sense on the topic of sex ed.
“99.999% of sex is about pleasure,” she said “so let’s talk to our young people about that.” She also pointed out that with the average age of puberty dropping to 11 and the average age of marriage climbing to 26, 15 years is an awful long time to expect people full of hormones and desires to wait for sex.

She is funny too: “Vows of Abstinence break more than condoms.”

Speaking of funny. I loved this remark from Lara Riscol. She was talking about the laws requiring women to get medically unnecessary transvaginal ultrasounds before an abortion. “The right wing wants to make the government so small they can shove it up your vagina.” Brilliantly putting together the hypocrisy of those “small government” Republicans who want to control women’s bodies.

One way to fight for common sense sex ed? Support the University of Minnesota's new Joycelyn Elders chair in Sex Education.