For a period in the 19th and early 20th centuries in the United States and Europe, there was a fear that masturbation caused terrible things to happen. Myth had it that masturbation resulted in insanity, death, or even sterility. Parents would go to extremes to protect their children from the sins of masturbation. In fact, […]
День: 09.11.2015
A case
In 1998 I witnessed the dramatic effects of a domestic dispute. I was present during parts of a funeral process in which a husband, his wife and his lover were central participants. The man was dead and as a significant part of the funeral process the closest family underwent certain purification rituals (cf. Schapera 1994:163ff.). […]
Stage Two: The Shock of Discovery
At some point the truth about porn use usually surfaces in a relationship. Most often a woman accidentally discovers clear evidence that her partner has been using porn. Sometimes someone else, such as another family member, an employer, or an acquaintance, becomes aware that her partner is accessing porn and fills her in. Occasionally, a […]
Regional Legislation
In addition to this national initiative, there have also been some regional reforms, mostly a result of international pressure^2 In contrast to the national level, where there have been no criminal law reforms, at least two of the eighty-nine regions, the Republics of Chuvashiia in 2003 and Mordoviia in 2004, had modified their administrative codes […]
Part Three: The story of a refusing mother
This is the story told by the Court of Appeal[408] after the Family Division of the High Court had refused the applicant’s plea that her birthgiving be confidential. The woman in question gave birth to a child, having concealed the pregnancy from her husband and two children. She gave the child into the care of […]
V-Chips and Software Filters
The professional middle-class parents would have been the first to nudge me when Katie Couric reported on the RAND Corporation’s finding that watching sexually explicit television programs is linked to teenage pregnancy.3 But these same parents are less likely than their less privileged peers to activate the V-chip on the television.4 They also differ in […]
Part Two: Becoming a mother
One account of autonomy developed by feminist theory is in relation to the abortion decision. Whether this decision is seen as based on a liberal notion of choice or on a post-liberal concept of the self, there has been little contest, within feminism, about justification, which is presented as a personal choice. While the history […]
Choosing a Birth Control Method
Many forms of birth control are available to couples. However, an ideal method—one that is 100% effective, completely safe, with no side effects, reversible, separate from sexual activity, inexpensive, easy to obtain, usable by either sex, and not dependent on the user’s memory—is unavailable now and in the foreseeable future. Each current method has advantages […]
The characteristics of the HIV/AIDS issue in East Asia
The main characteristic of the HIV/AIDS issue in East Asia is the relatively low HIV infection rate, as a percentage of the admittedly large population. Although the proportion is low, however, the actual numbers of people who get infected with HIV continues to increase. At the International Congress of AIDS in Asia and the Pacific […]
Lance Armstrong
In 1992 Texan Lance Armstrong took the leap into the ranks of professional racing cyclists. A year later he became world champion road racing cyclist in Oslo. With stage victories in the Tour de France, etc. he emerged in no time as one of the best racing cyclists of his generation. In the autumn of […]