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Valentines Across America

It’s coming.  Some love it.  Some hate it.  Some are completely ambivalent about it.  It produces emotional responses ranging from high anxiety to outright giddiness.  Greeting card suppliers, jewelers, lingerie outlets, chocolatiers and florists from sea to shining sea are gearing up for it like an invading fleet of Cupids closing in on the coast.   You can fight it, you can blow it off, but you’re not going to stop it.  It’s coming.  Sound the ‘Red Alert’ as that one day of the year especially devoted to romance and matters of the heart is drawing neigh: St. Valentine’s Day.

Almost no one can tell you the actual basis for why the day is celebrated with any degree of certainty, but that’s okay.  While there are all sorts of myths and legends with varying degrees of plausibility, the ambiguity behind the alleged origins just makes it easier to attach any convenient meaning.  It’s probably somewhat intentional that it evolved that way–and fairly certain that it was molded for entrepreneurial purposes (at least in the U.S.) by an enterprising woman named Ester Howland in the 1800s.  Accordingly, many see it as an ultimate ploy in marketing and consumer manipulation, second only to the commercialization of Christmas.  Boiling it down to its lowest common denominator these days–a designated time for expressing love and affection–it hardly seems that anyone could rationally argue against it regardless of how it got started, but therein lies the proverbial sticky wicket:  Shouldn’t that happen every day?  Why wait for one, dictated day each year specifically for expressing affection?  Hmm.

Yes, yes, the notion of making an annual hubbub out of it does serve the supposed purpose of ensuring that we do at least take some time out of our busy-bee lives to show our significant others that we care, but even that tends to create more friction than it solves–especially when it comes to placing a monetary value on determining ‘how much’ we care.  Last year, CNN reported that the average person’s Valentine’s spend was estimated at about $130.  What do you want to bet that somewhere, someone spent about fifty bucks and got hammered for being ‘below average’?  Of course, it’s probably equally so that someone who spent over $200 got bonus love-points for demonstrating ‘above average’ caring.  Ah yes.  Love and capitalism.  What a combo!

Supposedly, it’s the thought that should count most and no price can be put on sincere affection.  We have nothing against celebrating the day, but the sentiment behind it certainly shouldn’t be reserved for just once a year.  Ultimately, the real value is not in what’s bought, but rather in what’s done–every day–to show genuine love. True caring doesn’t cost a dime.  Just something to think about.

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Celebrating Mapplethorpe

A great new resource capturing the life and work of the late Robert Mapplethorpe was recently unveiled by the art-via-internet access project, Artsy.  At Sex Across America, we are honored to support their mission of helping to make all art accessible to everyone through the web—and in particular by highlighting such an innovative pioneer for both the art world as well as for positive sexuality: Robert Mapplethorpe.

The online Mapplethorpe gallery can be viewed here.  We highly recommend sharing the resource far and wide throughout your social circles. Thank You.

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Some People’s Brains May Be “Wired” to Seek More Sex

A new study suggests that there may be a neurological connection between a person’s unique sexual history and how their brain’s are conditioned to respond to sexual stimuli.  According to Dr. Justin Lehmiller, the research found that participant’s responses to erotic imagery were directly dependent on how many sex partners they had in the last year.

Read the full story here.

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Are New Sex Education Standards Needed?

We’ve said it before:  Sex education in America needs to be improved.  The point can certainly be argued rationally and there are, of course, many valid perspectives on the matter, but while some progress is being made, a recent report from the Centers for Disease Control cited that over 80%  of teens ages 15 to 17 have had no formal sex education before they have sex for the first time.  At Sex Across America, we think that kind of figure indicates that a serious problem exists.

Without a doubt, it’s often an uncomfortable subject to bring up at local school board meetings, but the sad state of sex education across the country should be inspiring educators to lead rather than give in to that discomfort.  That said, it’s often not just a matter of overcoming community objections to curricula content or gaining consensus about what material should be taught to which age groups, but also about ensuring teachers are fully prepared to deliver the information and appropriately mentor students through the process.  In that regard, some leading sex educators are stepping up and investing their experience in building a framework that makes sense.

As a project sponsored by the non-profit organization, Future of Sex Education, a comprehensive plan entitled, The National Teacher Preparation Standards on Sexuality Education, was recently published which outlines standards for preparing teachers to deliver sexuality education.  Specifying seven standards along with success indicators and examples, the project seeks to establish a common national foundation for ensuring that every middle and high school student receives a complete, age-appropriate sexuality education.  The result is the first time that specific standards have been established for educators charged with the responsibility of providing sex education.

Of course, a plan is only as good as the degree to which it’s implemented and while this project is a nice step in the right direction, it has to be adopted in order to have any real impact.  It’s hard at this point to gauge the actual interest in it, but with the stakes as high as they are and recognizing the genuine challenges involved with sexual health education, embracing a reasonable structure for better preparing those who will eventually be responsible for providing sex education has tremendous merit towards solving a serious and growing problem.

If nothing else, it does demonstrate that there are many who are not content with just sitting around and hoping for better results.

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