How the Purity Myth Perpetuates Rape Culture, Miri, Brute Reason, May 13, 2014

The purity myth, as Jessica Valenti calls it in her book of the same name, includes several interlocking beliefs about women and sexuality that are enforced by many religions and ideologies and continue to inform many Americans’ views of sex–even those who consider themselves liberal or even progressive.

Some components of the purity myth include:

• There is such a thing as “virginity,” especially for women, and once you “lose” it, your value as a partner decreases
• Having sex makes women, but not men, “dirty”
• “Good” women don’t “really” want sex, so men try to persuade and coerce them into it
• Even if you’re not actually sexually active, there are things you can do that suggest that you are, and therefore make you seem “dirty”
• The only type of sex that is not “dirty” is that between a husband and a wife

Talk show host has conniption fit over Michael Sam kiss, walks off in a huff, Robyn Pennacchia, Death and Taxes, May 14, 2014

Let me tell you what it is that Amy Kushnir doesn’t want to have to explain to her kids. She doesn’t want to have to explain that while the rest of the world doesn’t give a flying shit if a man kisses his boyfriend after getting some exciting news, Mommy is still a bigot and has a problem with this. That is the be all end all of that nonsense.

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It’s 2014, and no, you don’t have a choice in whether or not you want your children to know that gay people existing. What? Do you think they’re somehow going to grow up without ever finding that out somehow? They’re going to live their entire lives thinking everyone is straight? Were you planning on raising them in a bomb shelter? No. Of course not. What people like Amy Kushnir are afraid of, is having their kids learn that most of the rest of the country is perfectly fine with gay people existing before they have a chance to appropriately indoctrinate them with bigotry.

This Is Ridiculous: Freedom Of Speech Has Nothing To Do With Money, Allen Clifton, Forward Progressives, April 5, 2014

If money is speech that instantly means that speech is no longer free. It also means that “liberty” and “freedom” are now on the auction block for those who have the most money to buy it. Because that’s exactly what happens when you say that money equals speech. By doing that you’re giving those with the most money the loudest voices.

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When a conservative professes their distrust for government, why is it they think that government is corrupt? Well, that answer is simple – money. It’s PACs, lobbyists and special interest groups funneling millions of dollars into campaigns hoping buy the right politicians who will do their bidding.

Now, the answer to this isn’t the conservative answer of “let’s get rid of big government.” By deregulating and removing many of our laws all you’re really doing is cutting out the middleman for those who have been corrupting our government. That’s what never makes any sense to me about these “small government” people who blame the government – but not the corrupt money that’s behind almost every problem we have in government.

Photo credit: Youth (1893) by William-Adolphe Bouguereau (1825-1905) [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons.