Fahreheit 451 (Judith Levine)

[queerbychoice]

A huge number of people have put an almost unfathomable amount of effort into trying to prevent you from being able to read this book. I suggest that this should get your attention, and that at the very least, you can certainly spare a few minutes to read the interview with the author.

An excellent excerpt:

"Sex has changed because of AIDS. But the question is: What are we going to do about that? A good example is to look at the gay, middle-class urban communities during the height of the AIDS epidemic during the '80s. Their strategy was to use a sexually open culture, a culture of enormous sexual creativity, and lots of public discussion about sex (and even public sex!) [to combat AIDS].

A sexually open community was able, through that very openness, to stem the tide of the infection. Now when we see who is getting HIV, it's people who live in communities that are often repressive about sex, certainly repressive about homosexuality, where people are outside of the institutions where they might be able to get good sexual information."

Thanks to pomobarney for the link.

Comments

[now.livejournal.com]

my favorite quotes:

You can say to straight kids, "Don't have sex until you get married," but if you tell gay kids that they can't get married, there is not much they can do. Actually, I suppose the right is still saying to them, "Don't ever have gay sex until you die."

AND

Yes, I would say that I am definitely against oral sex in the classroom.

(Either because I have a good sense of humor, or because I am immature and am not taking this seriously enough. I'm not sure which).

[lique.livejournal.com]

Sure, sure, just add to my already-too-long reading list. ;)

(Really, thanks for the link.)

[embryomystic.livejournal.com]

I really want to read that book. The interview was most edifying.

I know someone already quoted part of this, but it just amused me too much and I've gone to too much trouble now not to quote it in my reply.

Recently, I ran across a story on the wires about a group of 9-year-old boys who were performing oral sex on one another in a public school classroom. Does that test the limits of what you would consider to be normative sex play?

Well, I don't think kids should be having sex in class. Yes, I would say that I am definitely against oral sex in the classroom.

This, like when Rick and I were talking about "I haven't been fucked like that since grade school" in Fight Club, makes me think that my elementary school experience was severely lacking.