Evergreene Digest A Journal of Progress for the Rest of Us

There's a lot you probably don't know about sexually transmitted diseases.

William Smith, RH Reality Check

I like to think I am relatively knowledgeable. Academically, I have been steeped in political philosophy and can discuss Plato’s Myth of the Cave or the uniqueness of American federalism and how it shapes public health. Important topics, for sure, but not always the most useful in the day-to-day. I also thought my many years of doing sexual and reproductive health work made me an expert of sorts.

Then I entered the world of sexually transmitted infections and diseases...and doubt settled in.

I am now three months into my new role as the executive director of the National Coalition of STD Directors (NCSD) and I have begun to reflect on a few things I did not know previously that have been, well, shocking to me, and have tested what I thought was a well-honed repertoire of knowledge. We’ve been working here at NCSD to highlight some key issues related to STDs given that April is National STD Awareness Month and I thought I would take the liberty of providing a few reflections of my own.

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Women dish on what they like men to do -- and it's not in the bedroom.

Jennifer Soong, WebMD

When I casually asked my friend Becky about secret turn-ons for women, she didn't hesitate for a second. "Doing the dishes," she responded, as her husband looked at her in disbelief. "That's hot!"

For many women, turn-ons aren't necessarily about traditional romantic gestures like getting roses on Valentine's Day or canoodling during candlelit dinners. Simple everyday rituals like pitching in with the dishes or having coffee together at sunrise can be downright sexy. (Listen up, fellas, you don't even need to spring for a card.)

"When a partner can really count on these kinds of little loving gestures on an ongoing basis, it really makes for the kind of connection that's absolutely necessary to have a relationship hang on through the good and the bad and all the crazy stuff," says Sharon Gilchrest O'Neill, EdS, LMFT, a couples therapist in Mt. Kisco, N.Y. and author of A Short Guide to a Happy Marriage.

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Feminism should realign itself with social justice and avoid reducing all questions of women's lives to issues of sexuality and sexual behavior.

Nina Power, AlterNet

I should start by saying that this list should in no way be seen as an attack on anyone actively involved in feminist politics, or on the history of the women’s liberation movement. The fruits of feminism reflect the most successful and long-term social revolution that human history has ever seen -- this should never be forgotten. The list is simply a set of personal reflections on some current dimensions of the struggle, and could equally well be applied to women in general, as opposed to just those who identify themselves as feminists.

1. Feminism should realign itself with movements committed to social justice, and reclaim its ties to other progressive movements, such as the gay rights movement and campaigns for racial equality. Feminism has sometimes allowed itself to become distracted by debates about essentialism (particularly in Britain), leading to ugly attempts to exclude trans-women from feminist debates, for example. Feminism needs to have a strategic and inclusive definition of "femaleness," which avoids compounding the oppression heaped on those who are already more likely to be the victims of violence and discrimination.

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• "We didn't expect that women would be treated differently here with regard to the high-risk insurance pool," said Nancy Keenan, president of NARAL Pro-choice America. "This is inexplicable and wrongheaded to us, and it puts women's lives in jeopardy."
• Health care reform must not be used as an excuse for right wing extremists to roll back abortion rights
• Abortion War Heats Up In The States

Ricardo Alonso-Zaldivar, Associated Press, in Google

File - In this Jan. 6, 2009 file photo, Rep. Kathy Dahlkemper, D-Pa., takes part in a mock swearing ceremony on Capitol Hill in Washington. Opponents of legalized abortion have won the first test of how President Barack Obama's health care overhaul law will be applied to the divisive issue.

Abortion foes have scored a victory and traditional allies of the Obama administration are grumbling about a decision to ban most abortion coverage in insurance pools for those unable to purchase health care on their own.