COLLECTIVE MADNESS


“Soft despotism is a term coined by Alexis de Tocqueville describing the state into which a country overrun by "a network of small complicated rules" might degrade. Soft despotism is different from despotism (also called 'hard despotism') in the sense that it is not obvious to the people."

Saturday, December 08, 2007

Girls Just Want to Have Fun

The un-slut generation

Women 'want no-strings sex'

5:00AM Saturday December 08, 2007 New Zealand Herald
By Simon Collins


Two young women researchers are calling for a new form of sexual ethics that would allow women to have casual sex without feeling that they're "sluts".

They say the popular view of women as either promiscuous or passive victims has failed to reduce incidents of rape and sexual assault.

Instead, they want both women and men to think about what each of them really wants out of a sexual encounter, and negotiate how to get it.

Canadian sociologist Melanie Beres, a post-doctoral researcher at Auckland University, and Auckland doctoral student Pantea Farvid told a sociology conference yesterday that rape prevention efforts should stop just giving women tips to avoid harm and promote an ethic of "self-care and care for the other".

Dr Beres interviewed young Canadians aged 19 to 25 about their casual sex experiences, while Ms Farvid interviewed New Zealanders in the same age bracket. The New Zealand women were more likely to have actively initiated casual sex, whereas the Canadians were more likely to say it "just happened". Drink was used by some as an excuse for their choices.

Studies have shown New Zealanders start sex younger than in many countries and have high rates of teen pregnancies and STDs. By the age of 25, 13 per cent of women have had more than 10 sexual partners.

Dr Beres said some women deliberately challenged society's "double standard" that said casual sex was okay for men. One woman in her study took the initiative in sexual encounters and another had decided that a serious relationship would hinder her career, so she sought casual sex to meet her physical needs.

Ms Farvid said a more open approach to sex would move away from the legal idea that the only issue in sexual morality was consent.

In some highly publicised group sex cases, men had escaped conviction because of doubts over consent. But on the basis of care for oneself and others, it would be unethical to have "four men in a room with a woman".

15 comments:

  1. jeez, where have these two young women been spending their time, a nunnery?

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  2. i am married......

    hence i am not permitted sex with anyone but myself

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  3. WiO, I realize you're joking. I'm still married to the husband of my yoot (18 years now) and even though we're both getting on in years the physical part gets better and better. This is the way it was supposed to be, pick somebody and grow old together with them.

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  4. now that my wife and i have been together for about 26 years (I am 47) I can provide her the most amazing 240 seconds a month of pleasure....


    but they again, if we MUST judge, THOSE are amazing seconds

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  5. Let's see, scratches head, 240 divided by 60 is..hmmm..divided by 30 days a month.. hmmm...that's-- .133333333333 minutes of sexual pleasure a day, taken as an average.

    Considering a high intensity factor, hmm, not bad, not bad at all:)

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  6. OT

    Another Surge Convert

    In today's Washington Post, Pete Hegseth, executive director of Vets for Freedom, has coauthored an op-ed with...wait for it...Major General John Batiste.

    Batiste, you will remember, is the formerly "antiwar" general who spoke out against Donald Rumsfeld, and who, until recently, was a Board Member of VoteVets.org (the antiwar MoveOn.org vets front group).

    Today he joins Hegseth to write:



    First, the United States must be successful in the fight against worldwide Islamic extremism. We have seen this ruthless enemy firsthand, and its global ambitions are undeniable. This struggle, the Long War, will probably take decades to prosecute. Failure is not an option.

    Second, whether or not we like it, Iraq is central to that fight. We cannot walk away from our strategic interests in the region. Iraq cannot become a staging ground for Islamic extremism or be dominated by other powers in the region, such as Iran and Syria. A premature or precipitous withdrawal from Iraq, without the requisite stability and security, is likely to cause the violence there -- which has decreased substantially but is still present -- to cascade into an even larger humanitarian crisis.

    Third, the counterinsurgency campaign led by Gen. David Petraeus is the correct approach in Iraq. It is showing promise of success and, if continued, will provide the Iraqi government the opportunities it desperately needs to stabilize its country.


    There are two stories here: 1) A formerly anti-war general flips on supporting the war, and now believes Petraeus has the right strategy; and 2) Batiste has left VoteVets.org, and the antiwar movement, and joined up with the pro-troop, pro-surge, pro-victory Vets for Freedom.

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  7. Third, the counterinsurgency campaign led by Gen. David Petraeus is the correct approach in Iraq. It is showing promise of success and, if continued, will provide the Iraqi government the opportunities it desperately needs to stabilize its country.

    Yeah, it's gonna be a stable Fundamentalist Islamic State where women get 200 lashes for getting raped.

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  8. Oh, for the good old days under Saddam.

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  9. Duane "Dewey" Clarridge, formerly chief of the West European division in the CIA's Directorate of Operations, offered a scathing critique.

    "If you don't know the sources of information and their reliability that led to the Key Judgments, you don't know anything … ," Clarridge declared. "Because those involved with the NIE know damn well that their sources, if they exist, will never be revealed, they are saying 'trust us in our Judgments because we know the sources.'"

    Clarridge said that with the intelligence community's "abominable analytical track record over the last 15 years and the well known lack of reliable human and signal sources available to them," no reasonable person "would accept their assurances, particularly when you look at the political partisan and under-educated group that makes up the NIE staff."

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  10. First test of Iranian bomb likely in 2009 but they will have the weapon before that, according to this view from Haavard.

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  11. In case anyone's interested, I've got Clarridge's book, A Spy for All Seasons, sitting right next to me. Excellent treatment of a case officer's career, even if Clarridge is a bit nuts (in a good way, mostly).

    With regard to Batiste, I took a beating defending him at another website about a year ago, back when noone at Rightist blogs wanted to hear any criticisms of Rumsfeld.

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  12. Goals of Restore Democracy, according to the US Commander in Haiti, 1994: "a safe and secure environment with a functional and duly elected national government; a professional public security force loyal to the constitution and the national leadership; a growing economy focusing on improving the infrastructure, improving public utilities, and reducing unemployment.”

    Heh. Heh.

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  13. In Haitian tradition, as of that of other nations, good children are visited at Christmas by Uncle Christmas, known locally as Tonton Noel (Father Christmas in other nations). However, the bad children are snatched by Uncle Gunnysack, or Uncle Knapsack. Translated literally from Creole: Tonton (Uncle) Macoute (gunnysack). Because intimidation and threats as well as violence are a factor used by the MVSN, they are referred to as 'Uncle Gunnysack'. The term "Tonton Macoutes" is equivalent in Haiti to the "bogeyman".

    Papa Doc started the tontons. Baby Doc, last I heard some years ago, was still in France, but broke.

    Let's talk about girls.

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