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(03/01/12 4:44am)
For most, Cupid is a naked baby with feathered wings who shoots arrows into unsuspecting victims, making them instantly fall in love with one another. Cupid, however, may now come in more than one form. Scientists in North Carolina and in the United Kingdom recently have been developing technological versions of the Roman deity: implanted "sex chips" in both the brain and the waist. These experimental implants have come to the scientific forefront during the past three months, raising a variety of sexual possibilities, questions and concerns.
(10/15/10 5:58am)
Out of the 14 students in fifth grade-teacher Debra Beale's last period class at Walker Elementary School, nine are from another country. Some of them can hardly speak English, while others have never attended school before. Many of her students are refugees and survivors of horrific violence - including one boy who witnessed his father's murder in Tehran - that many Charlottesville residents may find unimaginable.
(10/06/10 5:08am)
Consumers mill around grocery stores, reading labels and skimming their options to try and find the best deals. When they reach the fish fillets, they may be in for a surprise: the Food and Drug Administration is considering allowing genetically modified salmon on the market. If approved, the salmon would be the first genetically modified animal available for human consumption in the United States and most likely would not be labeled differently from natural salmon.
(09/17/10 5:35am)
AFTER Yeardley Love's death last spring, thousands of University students, faculty and staff members were shocked that such a horrific tragedy could happen in our community. Isn't the University supposed to be a safe, caring community of trust? How could something of these epic, violent proportions occur among our own? These kinds of questions, as well as many others, ran through several of our minds as the University tried to respond to this tragedy.
(03/31/10 5:43am)
Many people smile when a big, furry dog bounces up, craving attention. They might scratch behind her ears, rub her belly or pet her back. They will laugh as she jumps up and barks. Man's best friend has always been a comforting form of companionship for those who love dogs, and doctors finally have begun to use that relationship to benefit their patients.
(02/18/10 9:11am)
Grand jet
(01/29/10 5:04am)
Seven years ago, I went skiing for the second time in my life. I was super excited to try to keep up with my friends - who were infinitely more experienced than me and by my middle school logic, infinitely cooler. I pushed myself past the bunny slopes and ventured off with them. A timeless fly down the mountain, a fast, nasty accident and several hospital visits later, however, I became very pro-lumberjack and swore off winter sports for the rest of my life.
(10/30/09 5:59am)
I wasn't sure if I had the right place when I pulled into a warehouse parking lot. It was dark, kind of empty and the only entrance that was open looked like it was straight out of a B-grade horror movie - fluorescent light flickering and all. I immediately contemplated turning around and going back home. But the "I Y Derby" sticker on the back of one of the cars seemed to suggest that this was where I was supposed to be, so I hesitantly got out of the car and walked to the eerie door, hoping there wasn't a serial killer inside.
(10/21/09 5:33am)
During World War II, the U.S. Army and Navy did not allow colorblind men to join because they were deemed unfit for combat. After visiting doctors in hopes of correcting their vision, some of these men were told that nothing could be done to remedy their color deficiency, while others were instructed to take vitamin A or to wear red and green glasses. Some doctors even suggested electrical muscle stimulation of the eye, according to a 1943 TIME magazine article.
(10/16/09 4:54am)
Walking up the stairs to the second level of Starbucks, I had absolutely no idea what to expect from this meeting. I had never heard of geomancy before. In fact, the only thing I knew about it was what I saw on a half torn-down flyer in Newcomb - that it was some type of divination and it listed a Web site and an e-mail address. My friends and I had always wanted to talk to the guy who used to do tarot card readings on the Downtown Mall, so when I saw the flyer, I was intrigued. A couple of weeks later, I was upstairs sitting at a table, notebook out and ready to go with whatever came.
(10/02/09 6:17am)
When one of my housemates mentioned a drive-in movie theater, all I could picture was John Travolta as Danny in "Grease" singing about how Sandy left him. Drive-in movie theaters are the type of thing my parents get nostalgic over, not a place I would hang out at today ... until I found out about the Goochland Drive-In Theater.
(09/18/09 5:24am)
When was the last time you scratched a grizzly bear in an exercise class? For me, it was Monday night.
(09/07/09 9:29am)
My family has had a backyard garden since I was in high school. Each summer, tomatoes, squash, cucumbers and peppers cover our kitchen counter tops; and each August, my family tries to send me back to school with bags stuffed full of fresh vegetables. I know you might be thinking, 'Great! Less money to spend at Harris Teeter.' But when you live in an apartment with a kitchen so tiny it barely holds enough food for the six girls living there, it's kind of hard to find the space, much less the time, to store and cook the 15 squash that your parents gave you.\nWhen I counted 26 tomatoes sitting on our counter at home, I decided to do something quickly before my kitchen this year became the new community produce storage unit. After religiously reading online discussions in the Food section of the Washington Post this summer, I decided to try something new: gazpacho.\nNow, I'm no chef extraordinaire. Actually, that's an exaggeration: I can hardly cook. Pasta and chicken are basically all I eat at school. But this semester I decided to make a New (School) Year's resolution to learn how to cook for real.\nGazpacho - pronounced just as it looks, which I learned the hard way - is a simple, tomato-based Spanish soup. It didn't appear too hard to make, and it's served cold, so it seemed like a refreshing twist for summer.\nA friend surveyed the tomatoes sprawled across the table and picked five of the smallest ones to start dicing. Meanwhile, I began chopping everything else. I eyed the garlic, slightly unsure how to approach it, considering that the only time I've ever seen real garlic - as opposed to garlic powder - was back in the day when Buffy needed it to slay vampires.\nThe recipe may or may not have called for 10 tomatoes, and we may or may not have used only six. I accidentally used too much onion, and the recipe didn't call for cucumbers, but we put them in anyway. Also, I have no idea what the difference between sherry and regular vinegar is, so I just didn't tell my friend - it was only two tablespoons anyway, right? (Note: substituting ingredients does NOT work in baking. The sunken blue-green blueberry muffins I made in eighth grade Home Economics can attest to the fact that baking soda is not an appropriate substitute for baking powder.)\nSatisfied with the ingredients in the blender, I pushed "Puree." There was a loud whirring noise and a rush of air coming out from under the blender, but our plethora of veggies didn't move. We tried again. Nothing. Thankfully, we found a new blender, shoveled everything into it and voil
(08/26/09 11:58pm)
When the H1N1 virus, or swine flu, first made headlines this summer, many recalled earlier stories about bird flu. This particular virus, however, seems to have reached a much greater scale. The Washington Post reported Aug. 25 that up to half the U.S. population is expected to become infected this fall and winter, and Dr. James Turner, University Student Health Director and President of the American College Health Association, said the 18- to 24-year-old demographic is highly affected at disproportional rates.\nDoctors and academics alike have debated why H1N1 affects college-aged students at such a high rate, but no one knows for sure. Possible explanations include high density situations such as dorms and apartments as well as actions such as sharing drinks or talking closely.\n"I believe it's the living, learning and social environment that young people find themselves in," Turner said.\nSixty-three cases of swine flu were confirmed during the summer session this year at the University. None have been confirmed since Aug. 22 though Turner said the hospital expects to see an outbreak in coming weeks..\nSchools such as Louisiana State University, University of Alabama, Mississippi State and Auburn University started classes last week and already have experienced outbreaks, most of which started in Greek housing, he said.\nAlthough the swine flu shares similar symptoms with the regular flu such as fever, chills, body aches and gastrointestinal symptoms, the two are essentially different.\n"It's a different virus," Turner said. "This flu virus is one that hasn't circulated among humans before. It has unique physical characteristics. We don't have the antibodies to protect us. That's why it spreads so easily, we have no natural immunity."\nStudent Health has been actively working to fight the pandemic. The office is preparing for a surge of sick patients "upwards of 50-60 students every day" and will be offering a vaccination. The vaccine will consist of two doses - the first, a primer, and a second booster three to four weeks later. Both doses are needed for the vaccine to be effective, and students also should receive the regular flu shot Nov. 5, Turner said. The H1N1 vaccine should be available mid-November to early December.\n"We're also preparing to triage - encouraging ill students to call Student Health, describe their symptoms and see what it is and what they should do," Turner said. "In this way, we can manage students who are ill."\nFaculty also have been asked to set forth a more lenient attendance policy toward those who are ill and to try to provide students with ways to obtain notes and complete assignments online.\nStudent Health also is asking that every student entering Student Health's General Medicine department wear medicinal masks to protect themselves and others. Additionally, they have created educational materials for resident advisors and students about the virus and how to stay healthy, all of which are available online. Students said they understand the danger and likelihood of contracting the virus, especially in a large University setting.\n"Being around large crowds of people, the fear is there because you don't know what they've been doing or who they've been around or if they've studied abroad," first-year College student Andrew Lake said.\nFirst-year College student Naomi Gabriel said though the virus is worrisome, she is confident that the Health System will notify community members in the case of an outbreak.\n"It's scary but I've been seeing stuff around Grounds to prepare us for it," she said.\nThe virus spreads through respiratory secretions, so it is important to practice good hygiene and coughing practices and not to share drink glasses, cigarettes, hookah pipes, etc., Turner advised. Pillows, too, are a "great way" of spreading the virus, as 85 percent of those who were involved in the mumps outbreak in 2006 were female students who had been sharing pillows in each other's dorms, he said.\n"Also, practice selective kissing," he said. "A lot of it is common sense."\nBy taking the right measures to protect each other from contracting the virus, students also help the health of those around them.\n"For college students, it's a major inconvenience, but not as much a health effect," he said. "The real risk is it spreading to the community - infants, pregnant women, the elderly, people with asthma, etc. When you think about preventing disease in yourself, you're really thinking about preventing disease in others - friends and family. That's what this is all about"
(08/26/09 11:52pm)
When Marisa Vrooman first tried a tree-ripened peach, "the taste blew [her] mind." Now acting as a local food advocate to preserve the "flavor, freshness and nutrition content" of what she eats, Vrooman works as the co-founder and director of farm services and development of the Local Food Hub, a non-profit organization with the goal of providing fresh, locally grown food to the Charlottesville community.\nLocal Food Hub co-founder Kate Collier came up with the idea in January 2008, Vrooman said. After supporting locally grown fresh food her entire life and working with different farms, she started to realize many farmers were experiencing difficulty in not only growing and harvesting food but promoting and maintaining it as well.\nInstead of investing all their time and energy into farming, local farmers had to worry about transporting and marketing their crops. So, Collier made a New Year's resolution to help small farms in the area by creating a location at which farmers could distribute, transport and invoice their food.\nCollier, along with Vrooman and a small team, successfully opened the Local Food Hub this past summer with funding from locally based foundations, the Nelson County Economic\nDevelopment Department and individual contributions. The Hub, which serves the City of Charlottesville and Albemarle County as well as several other neighboring counties, acts as a middleman for farmers by providing them with the opportunity to sell and distribute their crops. The team transformed a former grocery distribution center into 1500 square feet of refrigerated storage and 1800 square feet of cool and dry storage and obtained a refrigerated truck for produce transportation.\n"We're finding that the more and more we get the word out, the higher and higher the demand is," Vrooman said.\nThe organizations started with the hope of obtaining 10 farmers and 10 buyers. Now, it has more than 25 partner producers and 30 partner buyers, and the list keeps growing, Vrooman added.\nNot only does the Hub provide the community with healthy fresh food, but it also benefits the local economy.\n"When you buy locally, you're supporting your neighbors and the small independent business that make our community unique," Vrooman said.\nThe organization, however, does not plan to sell directly to consumers, Vrooman said.\n"We are a farm-support organization," Vrooman said. "If you go direct to [a] consumer, we feel like that would be competing with the audience that we're trying to serve. There are direct consumer outlets already ... farmers markets ... We wanted to fill that gap."\nThe Local Food Hub has also been working with University Dining to try to get local food into the dining halls, as well as with Albemarle County schools, Charlottesville schools and local senior homes, Vrooman said.\nJean Rinaldi and Richard Bean of Double H Farms, one of the organization's participating producers, strongly support the Local Food Hub's goals. They sell their produce at the farmer's market and share what they have not sold at the market with two to three different organizations. They also take some produce to Salvation Army once a week, but sometimes they still have extra left over. The Local Food Hub offers an opportunity to sell the overage.\n"We want to put our food into the local food system, especially in schools and hospitals," Rinaldi said. "It's going to help the farmers ... reach places when they can't sell to other places. This provides an intermediary."\nThe Local Food Hub also uses community outreach efforts to spread the word about eating locally. The Hub hosts several workshops, events and after-school farm field trips to promote local produce.\nWhether it's an entire diet or just a first peach, in the end, the Hub is about the food.\n"From the picking, the cleaning, the packing ... [shipped food] can take a week or more from the time it leaves the field until it gets to your hand," Vrooman said. "They have to pick it green a lot of the time so it's not rotten when it's in the grocery store. Local food usually tastes a lot better"
(04/08/09 11:00am)
Sometimes a condom breaks, slips off or is not used at all, and the chances of an unwanted pregnancy significantly increase. About three years ago, a woman would have had to go to a doctor to obtain a prescription for emergency contraception if she wanted to reduce this risk. In 2006, however, the Food and Drug Administration allowed women older than 18 years of age to obtain Plan B over-the-counter. More recently, a federal court judge ordered that women ages 17 and older be able to get the pills without a prescription, reopening the discussion about its age restriction and sparking debate among student groups on Grounds.Plan B, also known as the morning-after pill, is an FDA-approved brand of hormone pills specifically used for emergency contraception, also known as EC. Planned Parenthood Community Health Educator Katie Burke said Plan B only contains progestin, whereas Preven, the other FDA-approved EC product contains both estrogen and progestin, hormones which are used in birth control pills. Plan B can effectively reduce the chance of pregnancy by 75 to 89 percent if taken within 120 hours after unprotected intercourse. According to a March 23 Associated Press article, the 2006 ruling was partially in response to a 2001 petition from The American Association of Reproductive Health and 65 other professional organizations, as well as a 2003 petition from Barr Pharmaceuticals, the company that makes Plan B. The organizations petitioned against all age restrictions to ensure the drug’s access to everyone. Although the FDA’s Advisory Board approved marketing the drug without an age restriction with a 23 to 4 vote, its formal response denied the petition in 2006, making it available only to adult women older than 18.In March, though, U.S. District Judge Edward Korman lowered Plan B’s age restriction to 17 years, accusing the FDA of catering to politics instead of science and “repeatedly and unreasonably” delaying the approval process. He overturned the denial of the The American Association of Reproductive Health’s petition, which in turn forced the FDA to reevaluate the age restriction, the AP reported.On Grounds, activist groups have expressed various reactions to the ruling.The decision was a “political issue when it’s just about the science,” said Elyse Smith, third-year College student and president of Hoos for Life. “My reaction is one of concern because this is a serious, serious drug, and to give it to girls over the counter without any parental notification is a very dangerous proposition.”Fourth-year College student Amber Banks, president of Vox: Voices of Planned Parenthood, however, applauded the decision, noting that the ruling makes it easier for women to obtain the drug in the time frame necessary for it to be effective.“It’s really important that people have access to [EC] because ... it can prevent pregnancy,” Banks said. “The easier the access [to care] is the better [chance] people have of not getting pregnant.”Smith, though, said she worried about the pill’s side effects and the potential lack of interaction between a person and a doctor. Burke said a woman can experience nausea and may vomit, although some studies have shown that less than 20 percent of women actually do. The risk of vomiting is much lower with progestin-only forms like Plan B, she said. The hormone may also cause irregular menstrual cycles and has similar risks associated with regular birth control pills, such as blood clotting, Burke said.“You still have to get oral contraceptives from a doctor because it’s hormonal therapy,” Smith said. “It’s an important complication with the doctor that just doesn’t happen over-the-counter.”She said she is also skeptical of minors being able to obtain the drug over-the-counter, because parents may know their child’s medical history better than the minor would. Similarly, she said she does not believe minors are able to fully comprehend the drug’s effects and thus cannot make an informed decision about whether to take it.“Minors just can’t make the same decisions, they’re not as mature ... we just need guidance [at that age],” Smith said. “That’s where parental rights come in. They have the right to protect and care for their children.”Banks noted, however, that some minors may find it difficult to talk to their parents about Plan B and going to a doctor to receive a prescription could delay the process of obtaining the drug, hindering its effects.“Going to the doctors and getting a prescription can take quite awhile,” she said. “With a medication that works better the sooner you take it, that age limit is not really a good obstacle for them to have.”The FDA is now set to review Korman’s decision.
(03/18/09 5:13am)
To adapt to forthcoming budget cuts, the University has adopted a new hiring process based on selectivity and internal hiring, Chief Human Resources Officer Susan Carkeek said. The change is expected to save the University $170,000.The majority of the University’s budget is dedicated to paying its employees and benefits, Carkeek said. To account for planned reductions in state funding, the University needs to reduce its workforce size, Carkeek said. With a “commitment to not balance the budget through layoffs,” University officials are more thoroughly evaluating the necessity of vacant positions, Carkeek said. This new policy of turnover management is already evident in the lower number of available jobs in the University’s academic division, which includes 150 jobs that are now posted, compared to the 300 jobs posted this time last year.Carkeek said each University vice president and dean is required to create staffing plans to meet budget targets. Part of these staffing plans include evaluating positions and deciding which ones are necessary and which responsibilities can be dispersed among currently filled positions, without hiring new staff members.“Just because a position is vacant, we don’t necessarily assume it will be replaced,” Carkeek said. “But if [the job] is mission-critical, then we’ll post it.”Once the position is deemed necessary, it will be posted internally first so that current employees have the first opportunity to view and apply for the jobs, she said.“It’s a win-win policy for everyone,” Carkeek said, adding that — in times of economic crisis and funding cuts — the policy benefits employees, the University and those managing the University’s budget. The new process offers current employees the opportunity to advance and build a career within the University system, Careek said.The policy is intended to send a “message of confidence, that [our employees] have potential to help us in new, more responsible ways,” she said. Because expenditure cuts have to be made, the recently adopted hiring process at least helps provide the University with experienced workers already familiar with the institution. Moreover, Carkeek said, officials are able manage their offices’ budget cuts by evaluating the necessity of newly-vacated jobs after employees are promoted.She said the money that the new process is saving otherwise would have been allocated for external advertising and relocation costs.Currently, the University employs 14,000 staff members, 8,000 of whom are in the academic division, Carkeek said. The remaining 6,000 work within the University Medical Center.Medical Center spokesperson Peter Jump said the Medical Center’s new hiring process also places similar priorities for current employees. In the event of a job vacancy, it will be advertised internally first for five days before external applications will be accepted, Jump said.Jump said internal advertising is “a great opportunity for promotion and career development.”Positions that involve direct patient care — like nurses, pharmacists and physical therapists — will be simultaneously advertised internally and externally because they are hard to fill and also because “patient care is our main mission,” Jump said. “If you go to an acute care hospital like ours, you need care right away, you don’t want to wait.”
(02/11/09 7:22am)
For most, Cupid is a naked baby with feathered wings who shoots arrows into unsuspecting victims, making them instantly fall in love with one another. Cupid, however, may now come in more than one form. Scientists in North Carolina and in the United Kingdom recently have been developing technological versions of the Roman deity: implanted "sex chips" in both the brain and the waist. These experimental implants have come to the scientific forefront during the past three months, raising a variety of sexual possibilities, questions and concerns.
(01/28/09 5:24am)
One out of every six American women has been a victim of an attempted or completed rape in her lifetime — a total that adds up to 17.7 million, according to the Rape, Abuse and Incest National Network Web site. The site also indicates that college-age women are four times as likely to be sexually assaulted. At the University and in the Charlottesville community, several organizations aim to educate about, prevent and respond to sexual assaults.According to RAINN, sexual assault is one of the most under-reported crimes, with an estimated 60 percent of sexual assaults and rapes left unreported by both male and female victims. This percentage, however, has not gone unnoticed. The University and the Charlottesville communities have a number of resources to help victims of rape and sexual assault, as well as programs dedicated to raising awareness and sensitivity about this issue. One such resource is the Sexual Assault Leadership Council, an umbrella organization that organizes and coordinates the efforts of the peer-education groups Sexual Assault Facts and Education, Sexual Assault Peer Advocates and One in Four. “SALC serves to unite the three groups and also allocates the funding to them,” SALC Internal Co-Chair Liz Greksouk said. “SALC figures out which programs are reaching out to which groups and makes sure the most people are reached.” She added that first-year students are an example of the types of people SALC tries to reach because she said there is not a comprehensive program for educating them about sexual assault upon entering the University. Each of the groups within the larger umbrella organization also works to help specific groups in the University community. SAFE trains students to advocate for survivors by suggesting helpful resources, like the University’s Sexual Assault Board and the other support groups that meet around Grounds, while SAPA is a peer group that promotes an environment of support among survivors.One in Four, meanwhile, is a national, all-male sexual assault peer education group with a chapter at the University. It has two main programs, both of which aim to educate and challenge traditional notions about sexual assault, said James Anderson, president of the One in Four chapter at the University.The first One in Four program, known as the Men’s Program, focuses on educating other men about helping survivors of sexual violence while working hard to change prominent stereotypes about sexuality that degrade women and nurture the “rape-culture” that exists in many college atmospheres, Anderson said. The group’s second program is the Fraternity Education Program, which involves members speaking to new pledges a few weeks after fraternity bid day in a seminar or forum setting, asking questions about the definitions of rape and masculinity, Anderson said. The organization’s mission is to teach young men to see sexual assault as a problem at the University as well as to show them how to identify and effectively speak out against rape. Anderson said the group’s members approach this rape education not by preaching to the men but rather by enlisting their help to change social ideas that make rape and sexual assault seem commonplace or even justifiable.The Sexual Assault Resource Agency, meanwhile, hosts a series of intervention and prevention programs, including a 24-hour crisis hotline for survivors, friends, families and those affected by sexual assault, Crisis Services Coordinator Laurie Jean Seaman said. Volunteers are trained to assist those who have recently experienced an assault or are beginning to deal with assault psychologically, Seaman said. The volunteers also are available to answer any medical questions, as well as legal questions about the criminal justice system, and can explain reporting options and how to file an assault report if a survivor chooses to do so. They also provide accompaniment to the emergency room or other health facilities by request.Seaman indicated that SARA also provides counseling and various support groups, including adult survivor groups and parent and caregiver support groups for those who interact with children who have been victims of assault as well as community presentations advocating prevention. Although the organization is not clinically based, she said, it does have counselors available on staff for those who would like to work with one. “We help people think through making their own decisions,” Seaman said. “It’s hard in times of crisis to think about in a situation in the way you normally would.” SARA receives about 600 calls a year, Seaman said, and estimates that 400 of those calls come from new clients. Those who use SARA’s resources respond well to them, Seaman added, though there is a “fair amount of resistance” to the organization among Charlottesville citizens. “People don’t want to think about sexual assault in their community,” she said. “They think about children and people getting hurt. They don’t know how to deal with it.” The Women’s Center, a community-oriented organization, seeks to address these concerns and serves as the connection between University and Charlottesville resources. The Women’s Center is home to Sexual and Domestic Violence Services, which touts a mission of strengthening the University’s responses and policies regarding survivors in an effort to end violence, according to its Web site. It is open to both University students and residents of the larger Charlottesville area. According to its Web site, it provides third-party, anonymous reporting as an “unofficial means to inform the University administration that a sexual assault has occurred” through the Internet, with the purpose of encouraging victims to report the crime without the risk of exposure or being asked to press charges. Police, however, cannot make an arrest on this report because it is unofficial. The Women’s Center also offers various other resources, such as self-defense classes during certain times of the year and training for those who want to help survivors.Third-year College student Katie Gorman, an outreach intern at the Women’s Center, said she thinks it is difficult to gauge how well people respond to these services.“It’s hard to tell because these services are designed to be anonymous,” Gorman said. “That’s one of the problems with sexual assault; there’s such a stigma around it and it keeps people from seeking the help they need.”Furthermore, victims are not always sure whether to classify themselves as rape victims.In a February 2008 editorial piece in the Los Angeles Times, Heather Mac Donald, contributing editor to City Journal, wrote about sexual assault on college campuses, particularly at the University of Virginia. She suggests that there is not as overwhelming a quantity of campus rapes as many campus organizations may suggest, because those who were considered to be rape victims did not necessarily define what happened to them as rape. Similarly, Mac Donald also stated that the number of rapes reported indicates that the push on college campuses across the country to educate students about rape is exaggerated; girls who drink excessively often put themselves in situations that these groups could consider to be sexual assault.Lastly, she dismissed the University’s Sexual Assault Board, which many of these student organizations encourage victims to use. “Out in the real world, people who regret a sexual coupling must work it out on their own; no counterpart exists outside academia for this superstructure of hearings, mediations and negotiated settlements. If you’ve actually been raped, you go to criminal court,” Mac Donald stated.Her article stirred up a loud response, particularly from students. “Mac Donald completely misunderstands the actual study that she’s trying to highlight,” Anderson said. “Women surveyed believed they hadn’t been raped because many women don’t realize what the legal definition of rape is or that their rights are being violated, and that doesn’t mean that the campus rape crisis doesn’t exist.” Anderson also rejected Mac Donald’s suggestion that there is a lack of response to rape, though he did admit it could be more effective.“Part of the problem is because of people like her and the articles that she’s writing, shaming and accusing women who are victims, calling them radical feminists and focusing on their clothing,” Anderson said. “This only perpetuates rape myths and makes women more reluctant to speak out against their predators.”As discussion continues, sexual assault becomes less of a taboo subject, and more organizations have begun to advocate prevention. Though some suggest these organizations unjustly promote disputable claims, others believe sexual assault to be a very real problem and support and advocate awareness and prevention programs. Regardless of the extent of sexual assaults on or near Grounds, a wide variety of University and local community resources are available for those who choose to use them.
(11/12/08 8:59am)
The elaborate sex positions featured in the “Kama Sutra” may send some giggling, but these ancient Hindu texts called the Tantras introduced techniques to improve and enhance people’s sex lives around 300 A.D. These Eastern expressions of sexual and emotional connection were revitalized more than 1,600 years later during the American sexual revolution and continue to play a widely influential role in Western sexual health. The social changes involved in putting the “Kama Sutra” on bookstores’ shelves opened the public’s eyes to the concept of sexual health itself, sparking a rapid evolution of sexual literature, therapy and other self-help procedures. According to Men’s Journal, a health and fitness magazine, Alfred Kinsey was among the first to publicly suggest that couples had sex for purposes other than procreation. He founded the Kinsey Institute for Research in Sex, Gender and Reproduction in 1947 and shortly thereafter published “Sexual Behavior in the Human Male” in 1948, followed by “Sexual Behavior in the Human Female” in 1953. These books shocked the American public, costing Kinsey most of his financial backing ; however, they opened the doors for new sex researchers to further develop the idea of sex as a social act.William Masters and Virginia Johnson were among the first pioneers of sexual health research, starting in 1957 in St. Louis, Miss. They published two revolutionary books, “Human Sexual Response” and “Human Sexual Inadequacy,” in 1966 and 1970, respectively, evaluating and analyzing sexual health and, for the first time, pleasure.“Sex therapy as a field really became more credible after Masters and Johnson,” said Michael McGee, a certified sex educator and professor at Fairleigh Dickinson University.Masters and Johnson said sexual problems were — often unsuccessfully — addressed using individual, multiyear psychotherapy sessions before 1970. That year, they introduced what is now considered to be the standard procedure for sex therapy: Couples meet with a male-female therapist team during a session in an attempt to overcome sexual dysfunctions such as premature ejaculation and impotence. Sex therapy is not always the first step, however, especially if the underlying causes of the problem are purely physical. Potential patients are often referred to a physician or psychologist; only if they cannot fix the problem do people generally go to see a sex therapist. “We need to evaluate what is going on first before we can find the appropriate resource,” said Christine Peterson, a gynecologist at Student Health. “We have a reading list that we direct patients to, but sometimes the patient will tell us, ‘I understand this information but I’m still having problems.’” Peterson said when this happens, she will “absolutely” recommend a sex therapist. Yvonne Fulbright, sexology author, defines sex therapy as a place where couples have the opportunity to talk about sexual issues in a safe environment, receive education about how the body functions sexually and learn sex exercises to perform outside the office. Postmodern sex therapy sessions involve addressing an array of underlying causes for sexual dysfunction, especially regarding the couples’ emotional connections and willingness to address them. This focus is illustrated through a widely popular emphasis on sensate focus, a practice in which the act of sexual intercourse is intricately linked with the sexual experience on both a physical and emotional level. Around 1970, Masters and Johnson also introduced the idea of sex surrogates, or trained therapists who engage with their patients in sexual acts rather than simply talking about problems. R.J. Noonman expanded on this definition in his 1984 thesis about the role of sex surrogates, distinguishing them from prostitutes because of what he calls “intent:” prostitutes focused on achieving an orgasm, whereas sex surrogates focused on sexual healing, spending most of their time talking about and enhancing the “cognitive, emotional and sensual worlds” of a patient. “There are not many people who practice that due to all kinds of ethical and legal issues,” McGee said, “however it is an enormously valuable service for people with certain issues.” McGee said people who can benefit from these services vary from severely disabled patients who long to explore their sexuality to those who have suffered a traumatic experience that interferes with their capacity to function sexually. “They [sex surrogates] are highly trained and work closely with a therapist,” McGee said. “There are a high range of professional standards of practice that professional surrogates are bound by.”These programs have proven successful in some clinics, such as the Riskin-Banker Sex Therapy Center in Orange County, Calif., which is nationally known for its Surrogate Sex Therapy program.Masters’ and Johnson’s research sparked an flood of both heterosexual and homosexual literature and self-help books, one of which is “The Joy of Sex: A Gourmet Guide to Lovemaking” by Alex Comfort, published in 1972. It was the first major book on sexuality brought to the public’s attention in the United States, selling more than 8 million copies, according to Barnes & Noble. It focuses on sexual intimacy and pleasure, rather than the science and physiology behind physical acts, which was the focus of most of sexual literature of that time.Just as the social changes during the 1960s and 1970s set the stage for the sexual revolution of that time, increased awareness of HIV/AIDS also played a major role in establishing the popular outlook on sexual health. “The Joy of Sex” was revised to discuss the disease, and much of the academic literature, such as Noonman’s thesis, was updated to include discourse about the way AIDS infiltrated sexual health practices. The Internet also has influenced the way sexual health is discussed. The fourth edition of “The Joy of Sex” is to be released in the United States in January 2009, and according to The Huffington Post Web site and blog, it will contain a significant amount of new material focusing on sex in a new age of technology, addressing issues such as Internet pornography and cybersex. Additionally, multiple self-help Web sites have been launched to help people not only ask sex questions they would have otherwise had to ask a physician, psychiatrist or therapist, but also to help guide them toward those resources. While times have certainly changed since the sexual revolution, McGee said he recently attended a conference where one paper discussed that people still feel self-conscious about sex.“Even though we live in a society when there is a lot of sexuality in popular culture, people still feel a lot of shame, guilt and fear of going in for sexual help,” McGee said. “If they can talk about their questions with someone who doesn’t judge them or exacerbate these feelings, that experience can be enormously helpful.”From Kinsey’s social exclusion for his revolutionary research to the open advertising of sex surrogate therapy, the social perception of sexual health has and will continue to grow with the waves of social change.