Sotomayor’s SCOTUS nomination kicks of the insanity. Plenty of sexy fun, with an interview with Professor Foxy and Mary Roach’s orgasm review.

 

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Obama plans to defund abstinence-only

Michael Steele vs. empathy

Orrin Hatch vs. empathy

Anti-feminists vs. empathy

Mary Roach speaks at TED

Conservatives claim children as the original bigots

On this episode of Reality Cast, I’ll be interviewing sex advice blogger Professor Foxy.  Also, it appears we have a new Supreme Court nominee, so that’s probably going to be important.  And to counterbalance some of that heavy drama, I’ve got a segment on Mary Roach and the 10 things you probably didn’t know about orgasms.

Big and hopeful news coming from the Obama administration.

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Of course, congressional Democrats might still be afraid of doing this, so it may not work out.  But when a popular President gets behind such a plan, it makes it much easier for Congress to get in line.  So I’m optimistic.

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President Obama has announced his new nomination for the Supreme Court.  

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He has his reasons.

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And with that, the Supreme Court craziness begins!

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The talking point of conservatives fighting against an appointee who will be, amongst other things, the first woman of color on the Supreme Court is this: Empathy is a horrible, horrible thing to have.  Go, Michael Steele!  

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That’s the talking point.  The idea is that having empathy de facto means that you can’t understand the law or how to apply it.  In terms of logic, it’s what we call a false dilemma.  In the real world, good judges understand both the letter of the law and that the people they’re trying to serve are human beings.  Yes, even the women.  And that’s the other thing with this "empathy" crap.  It’s not really what you’d call a subtle sexist dog whistle.  Empathy is considered a feminine trait, and so bringing this up is a way to get the conservative base to hit the fainting couch should any female nominee come up.  

And that’s because gender is absolutely central to the upcoming battle over the Supreme Court seat being left open by Justice Souter.  So is race.  Conservatives are pinning their last hopes in killing affirmative action, making it legal to discriminate against women and minorities, and paying women less money for equal work on a conservative court.  But the real fear is that if someone has empathy, they’re going to believe that women have a basic right to control our fertility, and that is what’s really at stake every time you hear a right winger use "empathy" like it’s a dirty word.  

Take Orrin Hatch, laying more bait.

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I have no idea why it’s considered only right and proper to use nothing but code words when talking about Supreme Court nominees, but that’s where we are.  Hatch almost gives away the innuendo, which is the fear that a female judge will, like Sandra Day O’Conner did, empathize with how much it sucks to be on the receiving end of sexism like discrimination or abortion bans.  Since O’Connor was nominated by Reagan, I suspect a number of anti-choicers specifically feel betrayed by her pro-choice views, and it’s become traditional to link being pro-choice to all sorts of negative stereotypes about women.  The two big ones that are going to be trotted out about Sotomayor is the belief that women are stupid and the belief that women are too emotional to make proper decisions.  With this empathy thing, you’re seeing the latter.

Don’t take just my word for it.  Paul Gorrell at Religion Dispatches also called the slander of the concept of empathy as misogynist, because it both assumes that things associated with women, like feelings, are wrong, and it also mocks the idea of treating women like people who deserve such a thing as empathy.  

The other thing to look out for is attacks on Sotomayor’s intelligence.  Jeffrey Rosen of the New Republic started off by implying that Sotomayor is a lightweight, and Mark Hemingway of the National Review called her dumb and obnoxious.  The reality is that Sotomayor has more than 10 years on the federal appeals court, whereas our Chief Justice only had two.  Something to keep in mind during the upcoming battles.

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Insert interview

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If you haven’t read Mary Roach’s book "Bonk", you really, really should.  It’s a journey through the world of scientific research about sex, and Roach is an extremely funny writer, so she takes an already interesting topic and makes it all the more interesting.  Now it’s out in trade paperback, so that’s all the more reason to pick up a copy.  Roach also did a talk at TED, which stands for Technology, Entertainment, Design, and it’s a big conference where people talk about big ideas.  And Roach talked about the often bizarre world of sex research in her talk "10 Things You Didn’t Know About Orgasms".  

The first thing she talks about, right off the bat, is the sort of thing that would make your average fetus-worshipper’s mind blow right up.

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Yep, masturbating fetuses.  Of course, by the time a fetus is developed enough to try out that particular skill set, it’s pretty far along in a pregnancy.  I can imagine a wingnut trying to claim that this is just further evidence that women shouldn’t have abortion rights, but this is really past the point where said rights apply.  But setting aside the one-track mind stuff, what’s really amazing about this is that it shows that contrary to the hopes and dreams of the abstinence-only crew, sexuality is an unavoidable part of life, and not something you can put on ice and only awaken when marriage makes it necessary.  

What’s refreshing about hearing and reading Roach on this subject is that she has no time or energy for the ridiculous controversy about sex that plagues our nation.  Fundamentally, the discourse about birth control, education, abortion rights, gay rights—it all comes back to this religious belief not only that sex is nasty, but that it can  be plucked out of the human experience and treated not like a body function, but as a special luxury only available to people who’ve jumped through an extensive set of hoops.  In Roach’s more realistic world, sex and orgasm specifically are integral to life.  

And they have health benefits!

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But it’s not just that orgasm can cure the hiccups.  For people who deeply, sincerely believe that human sexuality has only one real purpose and that’s procreation, I’m sure they’ll be saddened to find out that your ability to procreate is actually damaged by an unwillingness to engage in sexual immorality.  It’s true!  As counter-intuitive as it might seem, if you want to make babies, you have to make some time for yourself, at least if you’re a guy.

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Sadly, there’s no excuse yet for women who want to masturbate.  Except, of course, that it harms no one and feels good.  Safest sex there is.  Which is reason enough in my book, and if you’re a fan of this theory, you should watch Roach’s whole talk to hear about the woman who could orgasm just by thinking about it.

While Roach paints a picture of the reality-based world, where sex is intertwined with everyday life, she does unfortunately have to touch on the times when the fundamentalist hostility to sex has dramatic and sad influence on people’s lives.  Granted, she does touch on it in the weirdest possible way.

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So that’s why you should be sex positive. It might help you improve your dental hygiene one day.  Because any dentist will tell you that mouthwash just isn’t enough.

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And now for the Wisdom of Wingnuts, hiding behind the children edition.  This is the National Organization for Marriage’s latest attempt to scare you about gay marriage.  

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The false assumption in the ad is that kids have the kind of stupidity that it takes to be homophobic.  In reality, it takes years of work to be that stupid.  Kids can understand gay just like they understand straight.  I remember when my cousin was a little kid and told her mom that she knew what gay was.  Her mom got all nervous, but my cousin said, "It’s when a boy kisses a boy!" and that’s all there was to it. Kids aren’t the close-minded bigots here, and it’s shameful to see the actual bigots hide behind children.