Maybe it was my joking dig at Playboy that made Elaine single me out as a particularly odious member of the secret anti-masturbation conspiracy?

No. The reason I brought masturbation up in this thread is that masturbation promotion does a few things well:
1. It shows how fundamentally anti-sex the right wing is. They aren’t just against partner-sex, they’re against ALL sex.
2. It helps focus sexuality as pleasure based rather than partner based. It’s an inclusive sexuality, not a divisive one.
3. It helps women find sexual pleasure without the need of pro-feminist men or contraceptives. In even the most oppressive environments, women can find sexual satisfaction through masturbation. Trouble is, in most oppressive environments, masturbation is a dirty word.
4. Masturbation is a tool feminists (and others) can use to deconstruct their own sexuality and “find themselves” or reprogram themselves outside of social constraints.

Why is #2 good?
Because it doesn’t make normative assumptions. If Amanda had focussed her essay on the title, how the right is anti-sex, instead of applying a heteronormative filter to a homosexual’s words, her point would have been better made.

People have been brainwashed for some time that sex is dirty. From religious fanatics to politicians. In the end what happens? We have priests dicking little boys along with the politicians.

Seriously, though- living up here in Maine, the paper mill issues you raised are legit. But every time one shuts down, even temporarily with a layoff, it devastates the local economies and families- I seriously doubt, in light of that and how unfriendly an enviroment Maine is for business, that the paper industry will ever be forced to take responsibility and clean up their act. Financially, too many local people depend on them.

Rumford, home of one of the larger mills in western ME, has the highest cancer rate in the nation. The local baseball field is in the lee of the buildings and the air is horrendous- can you imagine letting your kids grow up in that town, let alone play directly under it?

I can name off of the top of my head some other towns with similar air quality issues: Jay (20 miles from Rumford), Westbrook (next-door to Portland, our largest city), Orono (where UMO is located), and “Stinkin’ Lincoln”, up past Bangor. Maine as a state had a few years ago the 3rd highest cancer rate in the NATION- Delaware was number one. Yet these issues aren’t being worked upon by our governor- he’s too worried about school district consolidation, county prison system consolidation, and forcing every Mainer into his pet project- Dirigo health insurance.

Mmm? If this is about the sticklebacks, check this out:

“The Danish Environment Minister subsequently launched a detailed analysis of the causes. The main conclusions of the report, which was published in 2002, is that feminization of fish is probably caused by natural female hormones. Oestrogens derived from human urine are excreted with domestic wastewater and hence may be discharged into the aquatic environment. A less significant source is synthetic hormones derived from contraceptive pills.”

So it’s not just EvilContraceptiveUsing wimmin - it’s all women! You’re a pox on the natural environment by your very existence! Stop peeing, dammit!

And paper mills and plastics - but never mind about that - there’s a gender to bash!

We will note with interest that, in the hysteria about EvilWomenHormoneIckies, nobody has asked the question about what testosterone does to fish - turning a significiant proportion of fish male sounds a lot more dangerous than turning them female. Or, for that matter, whether this is worse than poisoning them with heavy metals in the Sacred Cause of GDP.

Just tell them that right wing politics makes your teeth grind…

Seriously, man. At least try.

Not worth the effort, JS, not worth the effort.

And as if that weren’t bad enough, he keeps repeating “Pinocchio” as if he ripped it off Jon Stewart.

Seriously, man. At least try.

Good to know.

And I’m happy to know that there you found a blog where the regular posters are at the same intellectual, moral and emotional level as you are.

For myself, if i realize i am giving head to a right wing nut, i stop immediately