by yoursl | Jul 30, 2015 | Sexual Discussion |
Recently, I spent nearly two weeks in The Netherlands with my partner, Dutch, whose family is from this small European country. My take-away from this vacation was not the indulgence in freely available marijuana or the Red Light District and its openly accepted prostitution; I came home still thinking about the Holocaust and its victims. The Holocaust ran from January 30, 1933, to May 8, 1945. The Holocaust, also known as the Shoah, was a genocide in which six million Jews and countless others were murdered by Adolf Hitler and his Nazi regime in the name of racial superiority. The Netherlands alone was home to 107,000 Jews; some arriving there as they fled persecution in their native Germany, which borders The Netherlands to the east. Only 5,000 of the Jews living in The Netherlands survived the Holocaust. My education about the Holocaust began at Verzetsmuseum (the Dutch Resistance Museum) in Amsterdam. Dutch and I visited this museum because the Dutch Resistance helped save the life of one of Dutch’s family members during World War II. Dutch grew up with knowledge about this group and wanted me to learn about them as well. The Dutch Resistance helped undermine the Nazis during their occupation of The Netherlands in World War II. This group forged birth certificates and passports to help male Dutch citizens avoid working in the German labor camps, which were just slightly better than concentration camps, and to assist in hiding Jewish citizens from the Nazis and avoid deportation to the concentration camps, where death was imminent. The Dutch Resistance provided counterintelligence, domestic sabotage and communications networks that...
by yoursl | Jul 9, 2015 | Dating/Relationships, Sexual Discussion, Women's Sexual Health |
Your Sexy Librarian is on a much-needed vacation. Instead of writing a new blog for this week, I want to share one of the hardest-to-write blogs from this past year. http://yoursexylibrarian.com/domestic-violence/...
by yoursl | Jul 2, 2015 | Men's Sexual Health, Sexual Discussion, Women's Sexual Health |
When a person experiences stress, his or her body releases cortisol, a steroid hormone. Cortisol belongs to a class of hormones called glucocorticoids, which are present in almost every vertebrate animal cell, and is produced from cholesterol in the two adrenal glands located on top of each kidney. In addition to being released during times of stress, the body releases cortisol after a person wakes up and during and after exercise. Cortisol and the hormone epinephrine, which is also known as adrenaline, work together in “fight-or-flight” responses. After an individual is faced with stress, the adrenals secrete cortisol, which in turn floods the body with glucose (a simple sugar used as a source of energy in living organisms) that supplies immediate energy to large muscles. Cortisol causes this glucose release when it taps into protein stores in the liver. Cortisol’s focus is on supplying the body with glucose for quick energy which is why cortisol blocks insulin production as well. Insulin is a hormone produced in the pancreas that regulates the amount of glucose in the blood. Lack of insulin causes a form of diabetes. As cortisol narrows the arteries, epinephrine increases heart rate. Both of these occurrences force blood to pump harder and faster through the body. Once the stressful situation is resolved, hormone levels return to normal. All this sounds very simple in theory, but many health experts theorize that our fast-paced lifestyles with ever-present stress causes our bodies to pump out cortisol almost constantly, which can have a negative impact on our health in general and on our sexual health in particular. Since cortisol stops the...
by yoursl | Jun 25, 2015 | Just For Fun, Sexual Discussion, Women's Sexual Health |
Representative Jackie Speier (D-Calif.) is planning on introducing legislation that would make the posting or sharing of non-consensual pornography a federal crime. She is calling her proposed bill the “Intimate Privacy Protection Act.” The bill is aimed at reducing “revenge porn,” which is the act of posting or sharing of sexually explicit images online without consent of the depicted. University of law professor Mary Anne Franks wrote in a Huffington Post article the term “revenge porn” is “misleading” because “while a number of cases do involve bitter exes whose express purpose is to harm or harass their former partners, many perpetrators don’t know their victims at all.” Franks further explains, “A more accurate term is non-consensual pornography, defined as the distribution of private, sexually explicit material without consent.” Websites, such as Twitter and Reddit, have taken steps to stop the posting of non-consensual pornography. Google recently announced it would “allow people to petition for such images’ removal from search results” on its site. This is an interesting move on the part of these websites as federal law currently grants legal immunity to Internet service providers and online platforms for most content posted by third parties, with exceptions for child pornography, copyright infringements and sex-trafficking ads. The advocacy groups Without My Consent and the Cyber Civil Rights Initiative have helped increase awareness of online privacy and both sites offer advice on what to do when someone is a victim of “revenge porn.” The mission statement of Without My Consent, which appears in bold print on the group’s main website page states the group “empowers victims of egregious online privacy violations...
by yoursl | Jun 18, 2015 | Men's Sexual Health |
The testes, or testicles, are part of the human male’s reproductive system. There are two main types of cells found within the testicles: germ cells and Leydig cells. A germ cell is a reproductive cell, in this case a sperm cell. Each mature germ cell contains a single set of 23 chromosomes containing half the usual amount of DNA found in a human and half the number of genes found in a human because the egg germ cell contains the other half. When the egg and the sperm cell join to form a fertilized cell the full set of DNA is thus created. Leydig cells are found adjacent to the seminiferous tubules in the tesicles. Leydig cells produce steroids, including the androgens testosterone and dihydrotestosterone (DHT) which play a vital role in male fertility. Testosterone is thought to help regulate sex drive or libido, bone mass, fat distribution and muscle mass. Healthy males produce germ and Leydig cells in equal proportion, which gives the testicles their roundness, firmness and fullness. Most human testicles are egg-shaped. The testes work best at temperatures slightly cooler than the rest of the body. Sudden temperature changes can cause the testicles to shrink up into the body or fall away from the body. One testicle is usually smaller than the other, which is the same scenario for female breasts. One testicle typically hangs lower than the other as well. This is normal in terms of anatomy. Testicles in human males develop over time. During infancy, testicles are at their smallest in size. At the on-set of puberty, the testes begin to grow as they...
by yoursl | Jun 11, 2015 | Uncategorized |
Swipe right for “yes.” Swipe left for “no.” In less than a second, someone can easily use social media to meet a stranger and have a sexual encounter with him or her. Prior to the widespread use of cell phones, people had to try harder to hook up. They actually had to interact in person or over a land line with one another. Social media applications, such as Tinder and Grindr, along with social media websites, such as Facebook, and websites devoted to meeting others for the intent purpose of having a sexual encounter, such as HookUp and Ashley Madison, have been cited by health professionals as a big reason for an uptick in sexually transmitted disease (STD) cases. Social media expert Thomas Dodson told Sacramento, California, TV station KCRA 3, that “constant connectivity” (through cellphone apps), the pictures being shared between people (sexting, which is the texting or emailing of sexually suggestive or even sexually explicit photographs, is on the rise even on websites such as Instagram) and the access people have to the internet are all factors in the “rise of sexual activity spawned by social media itself.” Grindr, a hookup app for gay men, was associated with more than half of New Zealand’s syphilis cases in 2012, according to Christchurch Sexual Health Clinic, which is located in that country. The free app uses GPS to notify users when other gay men are in the same geographical area, making it much easier to indulge in some frisky business. A 2013 New York University study found that Craigslist ads, used for hooking up, were responsible for a 16 percent...
by yoursl | Jun 4, 2015 | Just For Fun, Sexual Discussion, Taboo Topics |
The dictionary definition of an assumption is a fact or statement taken for granted or presuming that something is true. The Your Sexy Librarian definition of an assumption is making an ass out of you and me. I organized a meeting at work with several positive, outgoing people from other areas of the building. Our goal was to lay the foundation for a fundraising event. The meeting was going smoothly, until a young woman, who just moments before toted her multiple college degrees, suggested we create a summer fun basket because “everyone has kids!” Sigh. I despise assumptions because the little bastards just keep popping up despite their lack of truthful existence. Some great past examples of failed assumptions include, “Women with short hair are lesbians.” and “Women with short hair are not feminine.” Short hair does not measure femininity at all. That sexy woman with the short hair may very well be sporting matching La Perla undies, which are far more feminine than run-of-the-mill store bought underwear sold at mass retailers. Then there are the assumptions that men with bigger physical statures will be rude or mean, that all people who grow up in a trailer park turn out to be drug-abusing trash, that a rape victim “was asking for it” based on her attire and that all Catholics do not believe in birth control. Assumptions are essentially opinions that some people share without thinking. My absolute favorite asinine assumption was spoken by a middle-aged female newspaper editor. This woman had the nerve to say to me, “Your mom is from the Appalachians. Can she read?” Socio-economics and...
by yoursl | May 28, 2015 | Taboo Topics |
Sexual taboos change from one generation to the next. What is considerable to be an unspeakable and shameful event in one decade is no longer a taboo-related issue many years later. One such example of a changed taboo is unwed mothers. In America, Great Britain and Ireland, unwed mothers in the first half of the 20th century were something society frowned upon. Young women who were pregnant and unmarried were shepherded off to convents or “homes” where their pregnancies would be hidden from view and the babies’ births handled in discreet quiet. The majority of the babies who survived their births in these environments were forcibly taken from their mothers and placed for adoption or, in some cases, sold for profit. The book The Lost Child of Philomena Lee, written by former BBC correspondent Martin Sixsmith and published in 2009, chronicles the experience of a young unwed mother who suffered through the forced adoption of her firstborn in the 1950s followed by decades of unsuccessfully searching for her child. Her emotional journey eventually resulted in this woman’s personal mission to change adoption laws in Ireland. This book, which I have not yet read, was the basis of the movie Philomena, which was released in the United States in 2013. I watched this movie over the weekend and felt inspired to share the story of Philomena and her firstborn. Earlier this year, I read The Last Summer by Judith Kinghorn, in which one of the main characters struggles emotionally with being an unwed mother who was forced to give her love child up for adoption. Although this book is a work...
by yoursl | May 21, 2015 | Just For Fun |
In the pharmaceutical word, a patient is naïve to therapy if he or she has never tried that specific therapy before. In the real world, I was naïve to burlesque until a friend took me to see a show featuring a traveling group called the Suicide Girls: Blackheart Burlesque. The word burlesque derives from the Italian word “burla,” meaning joke, ridicule or mockery. Burlesque as a performance originated in 17th century Italian theatre as a type of comic interlude and would evolve over hundreds of years into its present-day form of bawdy entertainment. Burlesque is defined in the dictionary as “an absurd or comically exaggerated imitation of something, especially in a literary or dramatic work; a parody” and as “a variety show, typically including striptease.” A Google image search shows multitudes of photos featuring fuller-figured, scantily clad women involved in various strip tease acts. I went to the Blackheart show with an open mind. I left with a less-than-stellar, somewhat mixed opinion of this traveling troupe’s show. The show opened with a young lady, who spent much of the evening in tubes socks and a pair of itsy bitsy panties, coming onstage to talk to the crowd. She was the emcee for the evening’s delight and opened the show by calling everyone there “bitches.” This young lady was derogatory to herself, to her fellow troupe performers and to the crowd. Instead of using her mic time to showcase intelligence and strength of character in herself and in her fellow performers, she instead stayed in trash-talking mode for the entire performance. The performers all wore black X’s across their...
by yoursl | May 14, 2015 | Just For Fun, Sexual Discussion, Taboo Topics |
I was reading an independent weekly newspaper this week when an ad on the back cover caught my eye. I did a double-take as I could not believe what I was seeing. I had not realized such a thing was possible. Among the ads for bankruptcy, addiction help and lawyers specializing in suspended licenses was a bright pink advertisement for a cuddling company. Yes, a cuddling company, whom shall remain nameless for now. Curiosity got the better of me so I checked out this cuddling company’s website. There was a great deal of emphasis on the professional cuddling experience being all non-sexual touch. All participants are fully clothed before, during and after a cuddle session. The cuddling takes place in “the cuddle room” or, for an extra fee, at a private residence. The videos of example cuddle sessions portray a hybrid mix of cuddling and massage, which my partner vehemently declared “not cuddling!” According to the owner of the cuddling company, “Cuddling helps reduce stress, can help alcohol withdrawal, increases oxytocin levels and reduces levels of cortisol, which is a stress hormone.” The owner went on to say, “A 20-second hug can improve your day.” Before I write more on professional cuddling services, I would like for readers to better understand oxytocin and what it does in our bodies. Oxytocin is a hormone produced in the hypothalamus in the brain that is then transported to and secreted by the pea-sized pituitary gland, which is located at the base of the brain just beneath the hypothalamus. Oxytocin is both chemical and biological in nature because it performs two distinct...
