We are pleased to reproduce the following article with permission from Reiter’s Block. California’s Proposition 8, recently passed in a close vote, eliminated the right of same-sex couples to marry. Marriage is an important path to happiness for many. It should be available to all regardless of sexual orientation. MSNBC’s Keith Olbermann Speaks Out Against […]
Love and Beauty
British Medical Journal: Happiness and Social Factors
BMJ (British Medical Journal) published a study yesterday that traces social influences on personal happiness. The results: “People who are surrounded by many happy people and those who are central in the network are more likely to become happy in the future.” To the extent that a person’s consumption of porn isolates them and degrades […]
David Bornstein: “Pursuing Happiness”
A porn shop like Amazing.net might promise to “excite your life”, but what are the real roots of happiness? David Bornstein explores the subject for World Ark, the magazine of Heifer International.From “Pursuing Happiness”, by David Bornstein: Americans enjoy an “inalienable right” to pursue happiness. But, according to studies, over the past half centruy, despite our […]
Patrick Phillips…What Love Is
American Life in Poetry circulates poems for media to reprint. “Matinee” captures the heart of what a marriage can be… American Life in Poetry: Column 124BY TED KOOSER, U.S. POET LAUREATE, 2004-2006Here is a lovely poem about survival by Patrick Phillips of New York. People sometimes ask me “What are poems for?” and “Matinee” is […]
Steve and Cokie Roberts Report on Marriage: A Good Idea that Refuses to Die
Steve and Cokie Roberts have been married for 41 years. They have two children, six grandchildren, four books published, a joint syndicated newspaper column, and countless bylines and media appearances. Bethesda Magazine profiles them and four other couples in “Love stories”, July/August 2007… Steve, who’s been the Shapiro Professor of Media and Public Affairs at […]
Rebecca Whisnant: “Not Your Father’s Playboy, Not Your Mother’s Feminist Movement” (explicit language)
Claiming you like a world of shallow relationships, exploitation, cruelty and abuse may make you feel better about it, but it is not true liberation. Rebecca Whisnant critiques third-wave feminism in “Not Your Father’s Playboy, Not Your Mother’s Feminist Movement”. This talk was delivered at “Pornography and Pop Culture: Re-framing Theory, Re-thinking Activism”, a conference […]
Activist Strategies: The Power of Positive Framing
Stratfor advises governments, businesses, organizations and individuals about geopolitics, business trends, and how to cope with them. One of their specialities is evaluating the impact of activists on public debates. Stratfor’s May 31 report on “Sustainable Consumption: The Push for Using Less” (may require a paid subscription) focuses on energy and the environment, but suggests […]
Gloria Steinem at Smith: Cooperation, Not Domination
Gloria Steinem gave the commencement address today at Smith College. Steinem’s efforts to call attention to the exploitation of women in America began soon after graduation… Steinem’s lifelong career as a writer and journalist began when she graduated from Smith in 1956. Her early freelance articles include an investigative piece for Show magazine on the […]
Schwyzer on Porn: “The pursuit of everlasting novelty is the enemy of actual relationship”
Gender studies professor Hugo Schwyzer digs deep to reveal the subtle and lasting harm of porn to the viewer. Here he responds to Ethan of Crucial Minutiae. Ethan argues that porn is a harmless outlet for men who, craving variety, would otherwise “bug their girlfriends/wives for more sex” or “seek it elsewhere from strangers, prostitutes, […]
Writer’s Digest…What Erotica Is
Many of our opponents suggest that because the boundary between porn and erotica cannot be perfectly defined, that it’s hopeless to try. Many pornographers would like to fudge the issue to make their products seem more acceptable. Nevertheless, useful distinctions can be made. Writer’s Digest explores the issues in “On The Edge: The Power of […]