Sexual Anthropology, Tuesday, 6/23, Period 2

[doesnt-vomit.livejournal.com]

Books were arrayed along the table in the front of the class room today, and a few extra laptops had been brought in and set up for Internet access.

"Good morning," Brennan said, hands firm on her coffee mug. "Today is your last class. You were almost all entirely acceptable, and mostly mature about the topics we were discussing, so I wanted to thank you for that."

It was Brennan. That was high praise.

"Today, I'm turning the class over to all of you for a final assignment. I know there isn't much time for a proper research project, but I would like each of you to pick a topic related to sex or sexuality that we didn't cover in depth in class and make a brief presentation on it. I've brought in resources; Wikipedia is fine if proper primary sources are cited. You may work in pairs, but if you do, I'll expect the work quality be twice as good."

"If none of you have questions, we should probably begin." She clearly didn't expect too many questions.

Comments

Presentations [6/23]

[doesnt-vomit.livejournal.com]

Show off your learnings!

Re: Presentations [6/23]

[fratboybitch.livejournal.com]

Alex chose something he knew nothing about and disagreed with completely. Maybe he just wanted to badmouth something.

"Celibacy means not having sex, basically," Alex presented. "And people seem to do it for a lot of reasons. Religion, focusing energy elsewhere, means of birth control, or just not wanting to have sex. That's not everything but if I listed all of them, we'd be here all day. Some people think that abstinence and celibacy are the same thing but they're not. Abstinence means no intercourse," which was a tragedy, "and celibacy means no sexual activity at all. You wanna make out with someone? You're not celibate."

This whole topic made him want to shudder.

"Personally, we've got the parts for sex so why be celibate? Seems like a waste of a fun time."

Re: Presentations [6/23]

[glacial_queen]

"In Kaeleer," Karla started, "birth control is handled by the females. Most females drink a contraceptive tea that is brewed by Healers with their breakfast every morning." She called in a packet of herbs to show. "By the way, I made a lot of these to share with the dorm, so if anyone's interested, feel free to catch me after class or something. Also in Kaeleer, witches have the ability to spontaneously abort a child that is the product of sexual abuse or assault, though she will no longer be able to bear children afterwards. This physical impulse is so strong, that many women report having to fight to keep fetuses conceived in such a manner."

"This world, however, has many alternate options. First and seemingly most common in The Pill, which actually comes in many varieties. It is an oral contraceptive that prevents pregnancy, releasing hormones with each pill. Sugar pills are taken at specific times to allow for a female's moon-time. As soon as the female stops taking the Pill, she goes back to being fertile. There are also IUDs, or Intra-uterine devices, which are inserted into the uterus and release hormones there. This method is usually good for up to five years, though it can be removed earlier if conception is desired. With this device, a female's moon-time is often shortened, and can cease altogether. Clearly, this method is also for females. As is the injection method, Depo-Provera, which provides enough hormones to keep a female infertile for three months at a time, again, often resulting in a cessation of her moon-time. Once the hormones wear off, a female should have no problems breeding, generally between four- to six months after her last injection."

"For males, they have begun creating a hormone-based birth control, though it's still in testing. It seems to be a bit odd, since it involves first giving estrogen to males to stop them from being fertile and then testosterone to help with the side-effects of the estrogen, but from my research, this appears to be the first viable hormone-based option for males, so I suppose a little clumsiness is to be expected. After stopping this treatment, the sperm returns to viability within four- to five months. The most popular method of birth-control for males involve a condom, a thin..." Karla frowned at the unfamiliar word "latex? sheath that is placed over his co-- err, penis." None of the articles she'd read used the more common Kaeleeran term, so Karla opted for the word the both articles and Kaeleeran Healers used. "Spermicide is also frequently used as an added form of prevention. As this is a simple barrier, fertility is not impeded. The articles made a big deal about condoms being the only method of birth control that also prevent the spread if sexually-transmitted diseases." Karla frowned. "Why haven't the Healers of your world taken care of those yet?" she asked.

"Lastly, if these methods fail, and the female does not wish to give birth to the child, an abortion is possible, though it seems to be some kind of procedure she has done. Also, there seems to be a lot of contraversy over it as an option, much of which doesn't make sense to me. But I didn't really get into it, because it wasn't part of my presentation, and most of the arguments I did see looked really stupid. Questions?"

Re: Presentations [6/23]

[wantstodirect]

"Have the Healers of your world cured all STDs?" Tony asked.

Re: Presentations [6/23]

[glacial_queen]

Karla shrugged. "Pretty much, yes. I mean, there are still things that result in itching or burning, but that's about it. Red Moon Houses get their males and females checked regularly for that kind of thing. I don't think the landens even have anything like the diseases I was reading about."