VIH/Sida en la red

[Texto publicado en el Boletín de Información Sexológica nº 55 de la Asociación Estatal de Profesionales de la Sexología (AEPS)]

VIH/Sida en la red

Cuando un buscador de internet arroja 52 millones de páginas relacionadas con el término sida en español, se hace más necesario que nunca filtrar los resultados y ofrecer tan solo unos pocos enlaces fiables y contrastados.

A modo de mapa simplificador, pueden dividirse las páginas sobre sida en tres tipos. Las pertenecientes a asociaciones u ONGs, en contacto directo con el terreno y las dificultades diarias, de tono didáctico y muy actualizadas; las de índole médica, con mucha información científica y bibliográfica, pero más asépticas y desapegadas de lo político-social y las reivindicaciones; y las institucionales, que aspiran a ser un punto de partida válido, con información general, que redirige a páginas más específicas.

Una de las páginas más útiles, de esas de consulta diaria, es la del Grupo de Trabajo sobre Tratamientos del VIH. Es un portal perteneciente a una asociación sin ánimo de lucro con multitud de materiales. Cuenta con una sección educativa (“aprende”), una de noticias (”actualízate”), un foro, edita una revista gratuita (“Lo+Positivo”) y ofrece un servicio de consulta.

De menor alcance, aunque proporciona toda la información necesaria, Stop Sida es una organización catalana que se dirige especialmente al colectivo homosexual. Son muy útiles sus guías de salud, prácticas seguras para gays y lesbianas, profilaxis post-exposición, etc.

¿Crisis erótica en Japón?

INFORME | ABSTINENCIA A LA JAPONESA
Crisis sexual en el país del sol naciente
Yasuyo, ama de casa, lleva ocho años sin practicar sexo. Ryotaro, comerciante, dos… Sólo el 34% de los japoneses lo hace una vez por semana, por un 72% de los españoles. La crisis sexual está hundiendo aún más la alicaída natalidad de los nipones
JUNKO TAKAHASHI desde Tokyo

Los japoneses son un pueblo orgulloso. Pero su vanidad se descoyunta cada vez que se publican encuestas sobre sexo. En la nación con menos huelgas del mundo, la gente sólo se abstiene del deber conyugal.

El síntoma más llamativo de esta crisis del sexo son los matrimonios asexuados. Ryotaro Kono, de 39 años, tiene varias empresas de alimentación en Tokio y todavía se acuerda de la última vez que se acostó con su mujer. Fue hace dos años. Ni siquiera le parece demasiado. “Antes de esa vez, esperé otros ocho años”, asegura Kono, casado desde hace tres lustros y con una hija pequeña de 10 años.

El alejamiento llegó al poco de haberse casado, debido al exceso de trabajo. Al principio, su mujer se quejaba de la falta de actividad en la cama, pero en cuanto tuvo el primer bebé, fue ella la que, siguiendo la tradición nipona, dejó de ver a su marido como un compañero de juegos. Así llegaron al acuerdo actual: no importa lo que se quieran, y aseguran que es mucho. En adelante, nada de sexo. “Me da pereza hacer el amor. Además, mi esposa es mi familia, y siento vergüenza de comunicarme sexualmente con ella” explica Kono a Crónica.

Por extraño que parezca, el caso de esta pareja no tiene nada de inusual en el Japón de hoy. “Entre nuestros clientes que quieren construir casas nuevas, la demanda de alcobas separadas está aumentando”, dice Shuichiro Takeshima, empleado de una firma constructora.

Divorcio

Comprendiendo el deseo femenino

Sexual Fluidity: Understanding Women’s Love and Desire
By Lisa M. Diamond
Harvard University Press
352pp
£18.95

17 April 2008

How important are sexual attraction, desire and love in shaping our identities? How fixed are our sexual identities? How much choice do we really have in identifying our sexual orientation(s)? And how can we disentangle the biological, psychological and social contexts of our lives to answer these questions successfully? These are among the many problems that Lisa Diamond sets out to answer in Sexual Fluidity: Understanding Women’s Love and Desire.

Demonstrating equal awareness and sympathy for evidence from genetics, endocrinology, neurology, developmental and evolutionary psychology and social constructionist/feminist perspectives, Diamond also provides a balanced and informed critique of the methodological conduct of previous contributions to the relevant debates. That she opted for a ten-year longitudinal study using in-depth interviews with a self-identified “sexual minority” and heterosexual young women, using extracts from these interviews to support her argument, makes a pleasing change from the more typical surveys or experiments that comprise the majority of research literature on human sexuality.

Deseo erótico y excitación: diferencias entre hombres

When It Comes To Sex, Some Men Are From Mars, Others From Venus

Apr. 17, 2008 — A study by researchers at the Kinsey Institute for Research in Sex, Gender, and Reproduction at Indiana University finds that men report a variety of different experiences involving sexual desire and arousal.

Men participating in focus groups expressed a range of experiences and feelings relating to such matters as the relationship between erections and desire, the importance of scent and relationships, and a woman’s intelligence. The Kinsey Institute study, appearing in the April issue of the journal “Archives of Sexual Behavior,” is unique because few studies so far have examined how closely the findings of decades of laboratory studies on sex actually reflect the experiences of men.

“We have a lot of assumptions about how men think and feel and behave sexually,” said Erick Janssen, associate scientist at the Kinsey Institute. “We use all kinds of methods to measure men’s sexual responses; in addition, we use questionnaires and surveys to ask about sexual behaviors. It’s less common to sit down with men and ask them to talk about their experiences.”

The focus groups involved 50 men divided into three groups based on their age (18-24 years, 25-45 years and 46 and older). Below are some examples of the different experiences reported by the men:

* Some factors, such as depression or a risk of being caught having sex, were reported by some men as inhibiting sex, while other men found that they can enhance their desire and arousal.
* An erection is not the main cue for men to know they are sexually aroused. Most of the men responded that they can experience erections without feeling aroused or interested, leading researchers to suggest that erections are not good criteria for determining sexual arousal in men.
* Many men found it difficult to distinguish between sexual desire and sexual arousal, a distinction prominent in most sexual response models used by researchers and clinicians.
* The changes in the quality of older men’s erections had a direct effect on their sexual encounters, including, for some, a shifting focus to the partner and her sexual enjoyment. Older men also consistently mentioned that as they aged, they became more careful and particular in choosing sexual partners.
* The sexual history of women also mattered to the men — but differently for different age groups. Sexually experienced women were considered more threatening by younger men, who had concerns about “measuring up,” but such women were considered more arousing for older men.

Duración de los encuentros eróticos

Sexual Intercourse: Let’s All Be Brief and Average
By Sue Katz, Consenting Adult. Posted April 16, 2008.

The Associated Press, under the headline “Sex Takes 3 to 13 Minutes,” has given the world a sneak-peek at the science of quickies. A study to be published next month in the Journal of Sexual Medicine, based on a survey of sex therapists, concluded that the “optimal amount of time for sexual intercourse was 3 to 13 minutes.”

I scratched my head on that one, until I read that “the time does not include foreplay.” And then the bulb went on. Well, two bulbs went on. First, why are they using those tired, narrow definitions of “sex” and “foreplay” — as if they were separate activities? And second, what if “intercourse” isn’t in your sexual vocabulary, although you’re having fabulous erotic experiences? Or if your idea of intercourse involves neither a penis nor a vagina?

What’s sex?

This conflation of “sex” and “sexual intercourse” is as outdated an idea as the prohibition on wearing white shoes after Labor Day or the belief that birth control causes promiscuity. Let’s get real.

Penetration is one of many sexual activities. Others are oral sex, nipple pinching, butt squeezing, clit rubbing, ball tickling, breast binding, toe sucking and, did I say clit rubbing? The actions that constitute “sex” — undistinguished from “foreplay” — are as varied as the people who do them.

If a couple has kissed and touched and teased and stroked and sucked until both of them are totally satiated — but they haven’t screwed — is that not sex? If someone has a fetish — say they are wild about stockings — and they get off humping the silk-encased thigh of their partner — is that not sex?

Viagra y problemas del corazón

Before you pop that Viagra, read this
Nayer Khazeni, M.D.
Sunday, April 20, 2008

If you’re a man past 40 experiencing impotence, consider it a sign you may need a medical evaluation. With the easy availability of Viagra and other drugs to counter impotence, men now have a way to “fix the problem.” But there may be an underlying problem you’re not aware of that might need fixing too. An increasing number of studies show that erectile dysfunction may be an early warning of coronary artery disease.

A study described in the February 2008 American Journal of Cardiology found that men with erectile dysfunction and no history of heart disease were more likely to have cardiac stress test findings that put them at increased risk for heart attacks and cardiac deaths. What’s the connection? Coronary artery disease (the type of heart disease that causes angina and heart attacks) occurs when vessels that supply blood to your heart get clogged and damaged. The same lifestyle habits (unhealthy diet, lack of exercise, smoking) and risk factors (high blood pressure, diabetes, genetics) that can contribute to clogged arteries and damage heart arteries can block arteries in other parts of your body, too.

Recuerdo

La invasión de los preescolares pervertidos

La invasión de los preescolares pervertidos

Mark Steyn

¿Es la enseñanza pública norteamericana una forma de pederastia? Hace una semana, Brigid Schulte, del Washington Post, contaba que el pasado mes de noviembre un estudiante llamado Randy Castro, que asiste a una escuela de Woodbridge, en Virginia, le dio una palmada en el trasero a una compañera de clase durante el recreo. La profesora lo llevó al director. Los funcionarios del centro redactaron un parte y después llamaron a la policía.

Randy Castro está en primero. Pero, a la avanzada edad de 6 años, ha sido declarado agresor sexual por la Escuela Elemental de Potomac View. Es culpable de acoso sexual y el informe sobre el incidente permanecerá en su expediente por el resto de sus días lectivos (y quizá más allá). Tal vez sea una de esas cosas que aparecen una y otra vez en las comprobaciones de antecedentes: quizá a los 34 años Randy Castro solicite un empleo y en el ordenador de su futuro jefe aparezca de nuevo su ficha de acosador sexual. O tal vez pueda mantenerlo en secreto hasta que tenga 57 y se presente a gobernador de Virginia y su carrera política explote inesperadamente cuando los sórdidos detalles de su patología sexual se den a conocer. Pero eso es lo que es ahora: Randy Castro, agresor sexual. El título del informe expone su crimen: “Toque sexual contra estudiante, ofensivo”. La coma, extrañamente colocada, también podría considerarse ofensiva si no fuera porque los empleados del centro tienen que emplear tantas energías en combatir la epidemia de acoso sexual entre los escolares que ya no pueden permitirse perder el tiempo adquiriendo habilidades secundarias como la puntuación.

Hombres, mujeres y trabajo

Men, women and work

Vanilla is not the only flavour
Apr 17th 2008

The Sexual Paradox: Men, Women, and the Real Gender Gap.
By Susan Pinker.
Scribner; 352 pages; $26. Atlantic Books; £12.99

WHY can’t a woman be more like a man, wondered Henry Higgins of his protégée Eliza Doolittle? Susan Pinker, a psychologist-turned-journalist, thinks the question is still being asked, sotto voce, by those who fret about the absence of women in boardrooms and laboratories.

Male, she says, is the “vanilla gender”; the norm from which female deviates. Now that women are free to work in any field, their choices are expected to mirror those of the men around them. So discrimination, albeit covert, is often held to be the cause when more women study biology and education than computing and physics, or take part-time and public-sector jobs rather than work the 80-hour weeks needed to get a seat on the board or a partnership in a law firm.

Ms Pinker sets out a different hypothesis: that the Western women who on average do different work from their brothers do so freely and with reason. The theory is attractive, given that the common alternative view is that women are all too often “either patsies or victims”. It is also controversial. Larry Summers resigned as president of Harvard University in 2006 because of the fuss caused by his suggestion that discrimination might not be the only reason so few women make it in science. But Ms Pinker marshals much evidence to back up her contention (some of it more contested than she acknowledges) of differing brain structures, hormones, motivation, empathy and risk-aversion.

El fantasma de la anterior pareja

April 4, 2008
Is your ex in bed with you?
If your ex is overshadowing your new romance, it’s time for an exorcism

Andrew G. Marshall

It’s an inescapable fact that when we fall in love, we bring all our previous sexual experience and conquests into the new relationship. However much we want to make a fresh start, and in the words of Madonna approach our new partner “like a virgin”, it’s hard to throw off the past. For many people, the legacy is a positive one, especially if the ex has helped them to feel safe and secure. However, if he or she was possessive, abusive or unfaithful, the past can cast a shadow over subsequent relationships.

Surprisingly, the ghosts of ex-lovers is less of a problem at the very start of a relationship. This confuses many of the couples in my marital therapy office. Rachel and Mike, both in their early thirties, sought help because their sex life had gone from being a source of great pleasure to one of conflict.

“It was really passionate for the first six months, but once we moved in together sex started to dwindle and now it happens only if I initiate, and then not always,” said Rachel.

So how can things change so quickly? When we first make love, we are very aware of past lovers and how we measure up. As intercourse is all about possession and surrender, casting out the ex is part of the excitement, drive and passion. However, once lust, the other ally at the beginning of a sexual relationship, has begun to wear off, ghosts can creep back into the bedroom.

Cine porno trans

The New Wave of Trans Cinema
The latest transporn breaks down both boundaries and inhibitions
by Tristan Taormino
April 8th, 2008 12:00 AM

I spent my weekend watching transpeople fuck on film. A lot. OK, a lot is a relative term. I mean it took up a chunk of time, but there’s not exactly an abundance of independently produced tranny porn around. In fact, there’s a big disparity within the genre that breaks down by (what else?) gender. Most porn featuring transwomen is slick, heterocentric, and all about fetishizing “chicks with dicks”—it occupies a comfortable, profitable niche in the mainstream adult-film industry. Most porn featuring transmen and other genderqueers is homemade, do-it-yourself, grassroots fare that’s rough around the edges and self-distributed. (Buck Angel is the major exception to this rule—much of his work has mainstream distribution and acknowledgement.) It’s queer, genderfucking, community-based, and political. That’s what was in my DVD player.

Couch Surfers is the second movie from San Francisco–based Trannywood Pictures (trannywoodpictures.com), a project of Brazen Garage Squad, which also owns Eros, the Bay Area’s well-known sex club for men, and one of the few bathhouses in the country that welcomes transmen. The film was shot at Eros, and about half the people involved are current or former employees. As soon as you open the DVD case, it’s clear that this company is working on an entirely different model: How many pornos do you know that come with educational literature? Trannywood’s first production, Cubbyholes, included a well-written booklet on safer sex for transguys; Couch Surfers comes with A First-Timer’s Guide to Playing With Transguys, a succinct, helpful little missive with tips on how to get down with a transmasculine person.

Consejos para encuentros swinger

Kasidie

Buyer Beware…

What every swinger should know before booking a lifestyle event.
by WEGETAROUND

The swinging lifestyle is full of great, respectful, professional, open and honest people, right? For the most part, I’d have to say “Yes!” I mean, where else can you go to a club, convention or a resort and meet people for the very 1st time, from a completely different part of the country (or world) and get invited over to their home? We have been to couples houses and even stayed overnight when traveling and I don’t even know their last names.

Because of the very nature of this “open” lifestyle, barriers are often broken down swiftly and friendships are made quicker than through traditional means. This gives us a great warm and fuzzy feeling about people we meet in the lifestyle as a whole, but that doesn’t mean that people still can’t be people. Or even that people who have the best of intentions, can’t still end up causing a mess.

Orejas…

La piel que se le ve bajo la raya del pelo, la piel que la doctora tiene delante y detrás de las orejas, es tan lisa y blanca como debe de serlo la piel de las demás zonas donde no le da el sol. Si las mujeres supieran la impresión que producen sus orejas, sus rebordes firmes y carnosos, la pequeña cavidad oscura superior, esos suaves contornos retorcidos que te llevan por sus canales hasta la oscuridad interior, pues bueno, más mujeres llevarían el pelo suelto.

(Chuck Palahniuk, Asfixia, DeBolsillo, 2004, p. 30)

Mujeres solteras felices

Single and happy: it’s the freemales

Women are increasingly rejecting a desperate, Bridget Jones-like search for a perfect partner, preferring instead to enjoy their single status and refusing to compromise by settling for ‘Mr Mediocre’.
Caroline Davies
Sunday April 13, 2008

Observer
They are successful, spirited and single and their growing numbers are contributing to a major change in the make-up of the traditional British household.

‘Freemales’ - manless women who are happy to remain so for the present at least - are now a force to be reckoned with and are overturning the dated Bridget Jones image of the lonely woman staring despondently at an empty Chardonnay bottle. They are too busy living life to the full to make time for ‘Mr Mediocre’ and the last thing on their minds is, ‘Will I find Mr Right today?’ Instead, they are juggling careers with busy social lives and if they happen to bump into him, all well and good, but they are not going hunting.

A new report demonstrates we are now seeing the lowest marriage rates on record and more ‘freemales’ living alone. Released last week by the Office for National Statistics, it shows that the number of women living alone aged between 25 and 44 - the age when traditionally they would be married and having families - has doubled in the past two decades. The same report states that more than two-thirds of people questioned in a recent survey believed they did not need a partner to enjoy a happy and fulfilled life.

The trend towards people living alone looks set to continue partly due to an ageing population, with more people over 65 home alone, but also because of a rise in the number of divorces, with fewer women remarrying or cohabiting, and an increase in the number of young people living singly.

Acople perfecto