Let's Talk About Sex
Because the Web can provide instant, private access to searchable information, it should be an ideal resource for possible answers to a range of delicate questions (e.g., Why isn't my spouse more interested in sex? What's the best type of contraceptive for me? Is my fantasy normal? What should I tell my children about sex?).
Finding the answers can be difficult, however. Although some parents give their child a book when be/she is ready to learn about the facts of life, no parents would send their child unaccompanied to the Web to find the same information.
Of course, that's because the Web is not considered the best resource for legitimate sexual information; it is considered by many to be the World Wide Warehouse of pornography. TIME magazine caused controversy in 1995 with the publication of an article called "On a Screen Near You: Cyberporn." Citing the study on which the article was based. Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, who wanted federal restrictions on Internet content, announced on the Senate floor that 83.5 percent of 900,000 images studied on the Internet were pornographic. Many people vehemently denounced the statistic and the research methodology behind it.
The vehemence of the attacks is understandable. The Internet then was still a nascent mass medium, and users were quite rightly asserting its legitimacy. Misinformation about the Internet can lead to dangerous consequences when it's used to formulate federal policy. But the article and the controversy now seem like almost quaint episodes in the history of online information. Were people aghast at the idea of 900,000 pornographic Internet images? The Web now probably contains more than 9 million.
I don't want angry letters denouncing my methodology, so I freely admit my number is a fanciful guess. I have not done exhaustive research, but even if you aren't looking for the door to the warehouse, you can stumble into it. The warehouse is vast, and it contains not only hardcore sex, but also every fetish and perversion imaginable-and many that probably never even occurred to you.
And it's not just images. The warehouse also contains vast amounts of pornographic stories, messages, letters, and blog writings. Because there is so much of that type of content, many people worry it will be a tough task-difficult or harrowing-to find legitimate sex information without stumbling through the warehouse door. Fortunately, some sites can help.
We seem to be a little more comfortable with frank sex talk in our mass media if the person doing the talking reminds us of someone's grandmother. First, there was Dr. Ruth Westheimer, who promoted what she called "sexual literacy" on radio and television. You can find her sex advice on iVillage, "the Internet for women". That site offers Dr. Ruth's answers to questions on birth control, sexual health, dysfunction, and other topics.
The answers are part of a larger iVillage sex section, which includes information from other experts, message boards, quizzes, links to information on other sites, and such articles as "Three ways to unleash your inner hottie," "How can I get more foreplay from my husband?" and "Should I share sex fantasies with my spouse?"
Much information is available in categories including sex drive, technique, women's bodies, men's bodies, circumstance, complaints, and taboos. The site even offers workshops, which are "step-by-step lessons from experts." Workshop themes include "30 days of great sex," "Be incredible in bed: Four basic moves every woman should know," "Become a love goddess in 30 days," and "How to retrain your lover (and why you should)."
Another grandmother/sexpert is Sue Johanson, a Canadian nurse who dispenses wisdom to Americans on Talk Sex with Sue Johanson, a live phone-in program on Oxygen TV.
Her Web site offers an A-to-V (Anatomy-to-Viagra) list of information as well as sexuality news, a bulletin board, a bookshop, and reviews of sex toys.
According to an online note, Sue and the site's editors believe "all human beings have a right to honest answers about their reproductive systems, the same way that they have access to information about respiratory systems or any anatomical function. As far as we're concerned, the more information that one has, the better one is equipped to protect oneself from physical and emotional harm."
Johanson's focus on "anatomical function" might explain why its list of relevant online resources mostly contains links to sexual health sites. A more extensive list is available from the Kinsey Institute. Kinsey's links are divided into such categories as aging and midlife, sexual orientation, sex education, sex therapy, contraception and reproduction, sexuality and disabilities, and youth and parent resources.
As you might expect, the list is heavy on academic resources. If you don't find what you're looking for, try a search engine. I assumed that searching for the word "sex" or even a more specific phrase like "sexual health" would pull up mostly porn, but, by and large. Google returned links to legitimate sex information--at least on the first few pages.
You also might want to try Yahoo!'s list of sex sites. According to Yahoo!, one of the most popular places for online advice is Go Ask Alice, a Q&A service offering information on drugs, fitness, emotional health, general health, sexual health, sexuality, and relationships.
"Alice" is actually a team of Columbia University educators, healthcare professionals, and researchers from health-related organizations worldwide. The sexuality section of the site includes information on categories ranging from kissing to fetishes.
If you have a question you aren't able to answer through the site or other online resources, you can send it to Alice via e-mail. According to an online note, "All questions to Go Ask Alice are read, and a limited number are answered for future posting."
Of course, if you knew where to look, you could get sex information long before Kinsey or the Web were conceived. After all, the Kama Sutra was written in the fourth century. It probably won't make any conservative groups happy, but if you know how to search Google, you can find that on the Web too.
Finding the answers can be difficult, however. Although some parents give their child a book when be/she is ready to learn about the facts of life, no parents would send their child unaccompanied to the Web to find the same information.
Of course, that's because the Web is not considered the best resource for legitimate sexual information; it is considered by many to be the World Wide Warehouse of pornography. TIME magazine caused controversy in 1995 with the publication of an article called "On a Screen Near You: Cyberporn." Citing the study on which the article was based. Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, who wanted federal restrictions on Internet content, announced on the Senate floor that 83.5 percent of 900,000 images studied on the Internet were pornographic. Many people vehemently denounced the statistic and the research methodology behind it.
The vehemence of the attacks is understandable. The Internet then was still a nascent mass medium, and users were quite rightly asserting its legitimacy. Misinformation about the Internet can lead to dangerous consequences when it's used to formulate federal policy. But the article and the controversy now seem like almost quaint episodes in the history of online information. Were people aghast at the idea of 900,000 pornographic Internet images? The Web now probably contains more than 9 million.
I don't want angry letters denouncing my methodology, so I freely admit my number is a fanciful guess. I have not done exhaustive research, but even if you aren't looking for the door to the warehouse, you can stumble into it. The warehouse is vast, and it contains not only hardcore sex, but also every fetish and perversion imaginable-and many that probably never even occurred to you.
And it's not just images. The warehouse also contains vast amounts of pornographic stories, messages, letters, and blog writings. Because there is so much of that type of content, many people worry it will be a tough task-difficult or harrowing-to find legitimate sex information without stumbling through the warehouse door. Fortunately, some sites can help.
We seem to be a little more comfortable with frank sex talk in our mass media if the person doing the talking reminds us of someone's grandmother. First, there was Dr. Ruth Westheimer, who promoted what she called "sexual literacy" on radio and television. You can find her sex advice on iVillage, "the Internet for women". That site offers Dr. Ruth's answers to questions on birth control, sexual health, dysfunction, and other topics.
The answers are part of a larger iVillage sex section, which includes information from other experts, message boards, quizzes, links to information on other sites, and such articles as "Three ways to unleash your inner hottie," "How can I get more foreplay from my husband?" and "Should I share sex fantasies with my spouse?"
Much information is available in categories including sex drive, technique, women's bodies, men's bodies, circumstance, complaints, and taboos. The site even offers workshops, which are "step-by-step lessons from experts." Workshop themes include "30 days of great sex," "Be incredible in bed: Four basic moves every woman should know," "Become a love goddess in 30 days," and "How to retrain your lover (and why you should)."
Another grandmother/sexpert is Sue Johanson, a Canadian nurse who dispenses wisdom to Americans on Talk Sex with Sue Johanson, a live phone-in program on Oxygen TV.
Her Web site offers an A-to-V (Anatomy-to-Viagra) list of information as well as sexuality news, a bulletin board, a bookshop, and reviews of sex toys.
According to an online note, Sue and the site's editors believe "all human beings have a right to honest answers about their reproductive systems, the same way that they have access to information about respiratory systems or any anatomical function. As far as we're concerned, the more information that one has, the better one is equipped to protect oneself from physical and emotional harm."
Johanson's focus on "anatomical function" might explain why its list of relevant online resources mostly contains links to sexual health sites. A more extensive list is available from the Kinsey Institute. Kinsey's links are divided into such categories as aging and midlife, sexual orientation, sex education, sex therapy, contraception and reproduction, sexuality and disabilities, and youth and parent resources.
As you might expect, the list is heavy on academic resources. If you don't find what you're looking for, try a search engine. I assumed that searching for the word "sex" or even a more specific phrase like "sexual health" would pull up mostly porn, but, by and large. Google returned links to legitimate sex information--at least on the first few pages.
You also might want to try Yahoo!'s list of sex sites. According to Yahoo!, one of the most popular places for online advice is Go Ask Alice, a Q&A service offering information on drugs, fitness, emotional health, general health, sexual health, sexuality, and relationships.
"Alice" is actually a team of Columbia University educators, healthcare professionals, and researchers from health-related organizations worldwide. The sexuality section of the site includes information on categories ranging from kissing to fetishes.
If you have a question you aren't able to answer through the site or other online resources, you can send it to Alice via e-mail. According to an online note, "All questions to Go Ask Alice are read, and a limited number are answered for future posting."
Of course, if you knew where to look, you could get sex information long before Kinsey or the Web were conceived. After all, the Kama Sutra was written in the fourth century. It probably won't make any conservative groups happy, but if you know how to search Google, you can find that on the Web too.
posted by James at 12:04 PM
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