Archive for January, 2010

Scott Roeder during trial

On Sunday Morning, May 31, 2009, Dr. George Tiller was attending service as an usher at the Reformation Lutheran Church in Wichita, KS. Scott Roeder walked into the church then shot and murdered Dr. Tiller at point blank range. Three hours and 170 miles later, Roeder was found and arrested. As you may know from the headlines, Roeder believed he was saving children from imminent danger because Tiller was an abortion provider.

Today after a two and a half week trial, the jury took 37 minutes to deliberate and found Scott Roeder guilty of first degree murder. Now Roeder faces life in prison for murdering Dr. Tiller, or how I’m sure many see it, for saving the lives of “helpless children.” While I am of course happy that Roeder was found guilty, I also fear that this will make Roeder a martyr for what he has done. In fact, the Rev. Donald Spitz from Army of God has touted Roeder as a hero for saving the “lives of innocent babies scheduled to be murdered by George Tiller.” Obviously, the creator of this Cafe Press “design” agrees. Other organizations like Missionaries to the Pre-Born also commend Roeder as a hero. While these organizations may be small, there has been a growing number of people who discuss such murderers as Roeder as a martyr. Many pull on emotions related to the holocaust and compare abortion providers like Tiller to Adolf Hitler, stating that abortion providers are partaking in the “genocide” of unborn children. Not surprisingly, Roeder himself glorified Paul Hill, who was executed for the killing of an abortion provider and a clinic escort in 1994.

So where does this leave Roeder now? Will this recent conviction and upcoming sentencing make him even more of a hero? Will there be others who attempt to follow in Roeder’s footsteps to end the “genocide” and make themselves “soldiers of God”? Unfortunately, the answer is most likely yes. However, we can use Tiller’s death, Roeder’s killing, and this trial as a way of creating a conversation to agree on a cultural understanding of what life is. What makes someone or something alive? When does life begin? When does it end? To be completely honest, I doubt there will ever be an understanding of what life is, primarily because such a conversation never happens. In the interim, we can continue to work towards comprehensive sex education where we fully understand what is involved in an abortion procedure, and push towards a more peaceful understanding of religion where acts of violence are not tolerated, then we can continue to see a reduction in the murders of health care providers.

To read more on the trial and the verdict, click here.

Well, at least the debate on whether or not the g-spot exists got a little thicker.

Thinking the G-spot exists is SO 2009. Welcome to 2010, where researchers at King’s College London claim to have to put an end to the G-spot debate stating that the collection of delightful nerves inside the vagina is non-existent. I’m sorry, but your entire g-spot toy collection will have to be given to the goodwill. You’ve been wasting your time and all those earth-shattering orgasms you’ve had — well, those weren’t real. Consider yourself Punk’d, or Grafenberg’d, if you will.

This of course would all be the case if that study actually made a lick of sense. One would assume that if they were going to finally decide if the G-spot existed that they would simply hire Rick Moranis, shrink his nebbish self, slap him inside a vagina and have him search away with his cute little glasses and a headlamp. But no, these scientists were too cheap and lazy to hire Rick Moranis! In fact, these researchers used no tools whatsoever to measure physiological response in women, instead they stuck to the survey method. By interviewing 1,804 British women between the ages of 23 and 83, all either identical or non-identical twins, they found that the results showed that identical twins (who share the same genes) often did not match in reporting g-spot sensation, and only 56% of women overall reported any such sensation.

Where the researchers truly screwed the pooch (poor dog) is by claiming that the G-spot doesn’t exist and this sensation is a matter of subjectivity. Simply because almost half of the women they surveyed claimed no sensation does not mean that the other half, let alone all women who have enjoyed g-spot stimulation, are full of shit. Don’t attempt to further put down women’s right for sexual pleasure by claiming that what gives some of them damn fine orgasms is simply a figment of their imagination. The main researcher of the study claimed that she did not want women who don’t yet have g-spot sensation to feel inadequate. This I completely agree with, there are plenty of other ways to seek and gain sexual pleasure, but don’t knock down the right to get off for others during this pursuit! How about we spend the time and resources towards educating young women about sex for pleasure, for bonding and for release. Take the time to push for healthy and safe sexual exploration so that people can find what turns them on, what gets them going and what gets them off. Surely this is a far better use of time and money than further pathologizing sexual pleasure for women. But of course this is just the ravings of a mad man.

To read more on this study, click HERE

For resources on exploring your or your partners G-spot, the following links may be helpful:
- Good Vibrations list of Guides and Videos
- I highly recommend Tristan Taormino’s Expert Guide to the G-Spot

- Female Ejaculation and the G-Spot: Not Your Mother’s Orgasm Book! (Positively Sexual)