Serenity NOW!
Due to the exceedingly, continually developingly disturbing nature of current events, I’m considering renaming this blog ‘Serenity NOW!’ to help me deal with the stress. But only if I can get a soundbite of Jerry Stiller yelling ‘Serenity NOW!’ everytime you open the page.
I’m still kind of amazed that Bill Clinton was run through the mill for cheating on his wife, but G.W. has lied and committed who-knows-how-many clearly, undeniably outright criminal acts which have resulted in the deaths of so many people and he’s still strutting around with no accountability in sight. It must make me seem ridiculously naive, but still… I can’t help it.
I think this is a good indicator of the power of sex in the public sphere. It inflames so many issues, creating a domino effect of fire, blazing the hell out of whatever we happen to be talking about. We know that most of these politicians have a regular afternoon appointment with their favorite working girl, or they’re offering their time and money to some talented amateurs. Or you have freaks like South Dakota’s Bill Napoli, who’s secret skeletons are probably more alarming than I care to imagine (what kind of person goes on national television and says that to qualify for an abortion, a young woman would have to be brutally raped — as opposed to the gentle, understanding rape we all hope for — including being sodomized? How does sodomy earn you the right to abortion? Ahhhhhh!). It’s deeper than hypocrisy. It’s more dangerous, I think. Because it sets us up for a system where in the public arena, a blow job is a bigger threat to the United States than the alienation of the rest of the world and the killing of thousands.
Sex is clearly not the only issue at work here. But how our government handles its business creates the framework for what the public citizens of this nation deem as acceptable or unacceptable, right or wrong; as legal or illegal.
Clearly, we as a nation have few qualms about demonizing and criminalizing sexuality. Remember in 1994 when Dr. Jocelyn Elders lost her job as FUCKING SURGEON GENERAL OF THE UNITED STATES after suggesting that masturbation be taught about in schools? There are legislators who are right now trying to criminalize the sale of sex toys. And really - how does it make sense that porn is legal and prostitution is not? And then there’s the occupied territory that is our bodies. Women’s reproductive decisions are fought over in a kind of civil war, be it the prevention and/or termination of pregnancy or how pregnancy and birth are carried out - there are some people out there doing their damnedest to draw a thin red line that regulates how human reproduction is managed in the arena of the female body, and anything outside of that line becomes a felony.
Speaking of which - the fucking ‘Child Custody Protection Act’… God Damn It. You know, it’s my plan that in the future, if my daughter should end up with a pregnancy as a teen, that she would come to us (her parents) with it, and that we’d help her work it out. In this day and age, that a fucking lot to hope for. You don’t always have that. If you can’t, thank God if there’s another trustworthy adult who can help you.
Would it be illegal for another underage person to take them across state lines? I’d love it if a movement of 16 and 17-year-old kids started a Planned Parenthood Carpool Network… Ideally for general birth control and sex ed options so they could avoid abortions (I mean, why have one if you don’t have to?). I’m totally convinced that with more comprehensive sexuality education, the number of abortions sought will go down.
I have to go pump and shower and stuff. I will leave you with this: If you believe that what is happening in this country and the rest of the world is fucked up, then SAY SOMETHING about it. Consider it a homework assignment: Say something, make some vocal statement or visible action about how you feel. Dissent must been heard or seen if it’s going to make any difference. If no one hears it or sees it, then it can’t do anyone any good. Say something to someone who may not or does not agree. Let someone know that you agree with them. We have to connect. I give you a week to complete this assignment. Everyone who completes it gets an ‘A’. Creativity earns an ‘A+ ‘.
I’ll present the results of my assignment next week - please come prepared to share yours as well. Good luck with your audible, visible dissent.
Love,
Atena
