mysexlifeonline brings you more sex headlines from around the world for your reading pleasure...

June 2005 AND BEFORE...     

    Spain:  Senate Rejects Gay Marriage

June 23, 2005:  Reuters UK:  The upper house of Spain's parliament voted against a government proposal to legalise gay marriage on Wednesday, but the legislation remains likely to be made law despite outcry from Catholics.  The Senate defeated the bill when legislators from a Catalan Christian Democrat party joined the centre-right opposition Popular Party in opposing it.  The bill will return to the lower house of parliament next week, where it is expected to comfortably win final approval.  Read full story...

Uganda:  Sexual Violence in Refugee Camps

June 22, 2005:  Reuters.com:  As the rebels murder, kidnap and mutilate victims who venture out in a desperate search for food, sexual violence is growing at an alarming rate inside the camps, according to a major new study carried out in the north's biggest camp, Pabbo.  Poverty, idleness and alcohol are main causes, residents said, but the true scale of the problem is hidden because most women do not report cases for fear of being stigmatized.  As is often the case in African conflicts, rape is used to intimidate, as a weapon in family feuds, and they said many women feared being attacked in revenge if they spoke out.  Read full story...

Study:  Abstinence Bad for Sperm

June 21, 2005:  BBC News:  Men who abstain from sex thinking it will boost sperm quality and help them conceive are mistaken, a study shows.  Waiting too long reduces their fathering power, particularly if they already have low sperm counts, the Israeli authors say.  By looking at 1,800 semen samples from 900 men they found pausing from sex for no more than a day was best.   Read full story...

USA:  San Francisco Masturbate-a-Thon

    May 29, 2005, Reuters:  San Francisco's Center for Sex and Culture played host on Saturday to the city's annual "Masturbate-a-thon," an event its organizers said could draw up to 120 people from across the United States aiming to have a good time with themselves.  The event was organized to help raise funds for the center, and, according to its organizer, provide an outlet for safe sex for those who enjoy pleasuring themselves in a semi-public setting.  Carol Queen, director of the center, acknowledged that the event is unusual -- even by San Francisco's standards. The permissive city, which helped ignite a debate on gay marriage last year, tolerates many sorts of sexual behavior but masturbation seems a topic that is off-limits, she said.  Read full story...

Study:  Viagra Suspected of Causing Blindness

    May 28, 2005, Washington Post:  The Food and Drug Administration is investigating reports that the impotence drug Viagra -- and others like it -- can cause a rare kind of sudden blindness.  The agency has received at least 43 reports of sudden, irreversible vision loss among users of the drugs, most of them taking Viagra. Agency officials said yesterday that they are in talks with Pfizer Inc., the maker of Viagra, about adding the new information to its product label.  Both the agency and Pfizer said, however, that it remains unclear whether the drug was actually associated with the blindness.  Read full story...

Hong Kong:  Poor Sex Education Causing High Teen Pregnancy Rate

    Apr. 25, 2005 The Standard:  The government's half-hearted attempts at sex education have failed miserably to reduce teenage pregnancies, say academics and concern groups who want the subject made part of the formal curriculum.  Given that the main objective of sex education is to reduce unwanted or unplanned pregnancies and incidents of sexually transmitted diseases, the latest statistics for teen pregnancies in Hong Kong shows an increasingly worrying trend, care group Mother's Choice said.  Read full story...

  Spain:  Government Approves Gay Marriage and Adoption Rights  

    Apr. 22, 2005, Deutsche Welle:  Days after the election of a staunchly conservative new pope, predominantly Roman Catholic Spain is set to allow homosexuals to marry and adopt children.   Spanish deputies on Thursday approved a government bill allowing homosexuals to marry and adopt children, which if endorsed by the Senate will make it the second European country to do so.  A total of 183 deputies in the Socialist-dominated lower house of parliament voted in favor of the government bill allowing homosexuals to marry and adopt children. 136 were against and six abstained.  Read full story...

  Canada:  Same-Sex Marriage Now Being Tracked in Census

   April 18, 2005, Globe and Mail:  Statistics Canada has revamped its questionnaire for the 2006 census to include same-sex marriages, reflecting the country's controversial legal shift in recognizing gay and lesbian weddings.  The agency has added "same-sex married spouse" to the list of suggested answers to a question about relationships on the new census form, approved by cabinet last month and made public on Friday.  Read full story...

   Zimbabwe:  Poverty Forcing Women Into Sex Work

    April 14, 2005,  AllAfrica.com:  The closure of some mines in the country over the years has increased the vulnerability of mining communities to HIV and Aids as many women turn to prostitution for a living.  Because mines were the only source of livelihood for many people in mining areas, their folding down due to viability problems over the years has left many families struggling eke a living.  Prostitution has reached alarming proportions in these two areas, with children aged as young as 13 years engaged in prostitution.  Read full story...

Study:  Sex and Survival

    March 31, 2005:  WebMD:   March 30, 2005 -- Take away the sweet talk and lust, and sex comes down to survival of the fittest, a new British study shows.  The scientists cultivated two types of yeast identical except for one thing: One type couldn't have sex. Instead, it reproduced asexually, basically splitting off little clones of itself. That meant no new gene combinations could be made by that type of yeast.  The two types were tested twice. First, they got comfy accommodations. In a harmless environment, both types fared equally well.  But that changed when the researchers made the conditions harsh. In that stressful setting, the sexual yeast had a survival advantage. It reproduced faster, while the asexual yeast lost ground.  Read full story...

   South Africa:  Controversy Over Prison Sex

    March 30, 2005  News24.com:  The right to have sex was not a right that prisoners should expect to retain, Correctional Services Minister Ngconde Balfour said on Wednesday.  "There are some basic things that any human being needs to get, but you definitely forfeit some rights if you are arrested," he told journalists at a media briefing north of Johannesburg.  He was speaking of a proposal by the Judicial Inspectorate of Prisons (JIP), that consensual sex between inmates in prisons be condoned by the authorities.  Read full story...

    South Korea:  High Breast Cancer Rates

    March 29, 2005  Korea Times:   Deaths caused by breast cancer are forecast to surpass 3,000 in 2020, increasing more than three-fold from 1983, due mainly to a rise in the number of overweight people as a result of Westernized dietary habits and lack of exercise.  South Korea marked the world's highest mortality rate for female breast cancer patients aged 25-49, according to a study.  Read full story...

     USA:  Woman "Steals" Man's Sperm After Oral Sex To Get Pregnant

    March 4, 2005  Pravda Online:  A judge ruled in a rather complicated case connected with illegal use of sperm. A man sued his ex-girlfriend, when he found out that she had secretly used his sperm to conceive a child. The judge ruled that the woman's actions could not be viewed as criminal, because the man had given his sperm to her on a voluntary basis.  Dr. Richard Phillips sued Dr. Sharon Irons several years ago. Phillips said that his former girlfriend, Irons, deceived him by stealing his own semen that she obtained through oral sex. The woman subsequently used Phillips's sperm to get pregnant without his knowledge. The two lovers had parted by that moment, and Richard Phillips knew nothing about the baby.  Read full story...

    USA:  Transgender Community Advocates for Gender-Free Bathrooms

    March 4, 2005  NY Times:  Ms. Dennis is one of 250 or so members of People in Search of Safe Restrooms, a group founded here three years ago. It reflects a small but active movement, mostly on college campuses but also in a few cities, in which the bathroom, that prosaic fixture of past battles against racial segregation and for the rights of the disabled, has become an emotional and at times deeply personal symbol of a cultural and political divide.  In fact, bathrooms have become a cultural "fault line," said Mary Anne Case, a law professor at the University of Chicago, where the Queer Action Campaign for Gender-Neutral Bathrooms recently got 10 single-use restrooms on campus designated gender neutral.  To young transgender people, especially college students, the issue has particular resonance.  Read full story...

    China:  New Debates Over Abortion

    Feb. 28, 2005:  International Herald Tribune:  China's top lawmakers want to make it a crime for doctors to detect an unborn baby's sex for non-medical reasons, in an effort to combat the abortion of female fetuses, government-run newspapers reported Sunday.  It is illegal in China to use an ultrasound or other means determine the sex of a fetus, but doctors who do so only face administrative penalties and not criminal charges, The China Youth Daily reported.  Despite the ban on detecting the sex of a fetus, such illegal detection still exists, causing a serious imbalance in the sex ratio of the newborn population," the report said. "This issue has aroused attention from China's top legislators."  The reports did not specify what penalties doctors might face, or whether parents might also be held accountable.  Read full story...

   USA:  Youth With HIV/AIDS Taking More Sexual Risks

    Feb. 28, 2005  Seattle PI:  Teens infected with HIV are having more risky sex with more partners than did similar teens in the years before new anti-HIV medications became prevalent, researchers report in a new study.  A group of HIV-positive youths studied in 1999-2000 reported having more sex partners, more unprotected sex and more drug abuse than HIV-positive youths studied between 1994 and 1996, researchers at the UCLA School of Medicine said.  According to the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, a quarter of the estimated 40,000 new HIV infections in the United States each year occur in people under age 21.  Read full story...

    USA:  New AIDS Strain Causes Debate In Gay Community On Ways to Curb Unsafe Sex

    Feb. 15, 2005  NY Times:  As news of a potentially virulent strain of H.I.V. settles in, gay activists and AIDS prevention workers say they are dismayed and angry that the 25-year-old battle against the disease might have to begin all over again.  While many are calling for a renewed commitment to prevention efforts and free condoms, some veterans of the war on AIDS are advocating an entirely new approach to the spread of unsafe sex, much of which is fueled by a surge in methamphetamine abuse. They want to track down those who knowingly engage in risky behavior and try to stop them before they can infect others.  Read full story...

    Nigeria:  Fine for Transvestite

    Feb 15, 2005  BBCNews:  A Nigerian Islamic court has sentenced a man to six months in prison and fined him $38 for living as a woman for seven years in the northern city of Kano.  The judge told 19-year-old Abubakar Hamza, who used his female identity to sell aphrodisiacs, to desist from "immoral behaviour".   Read full story

    Germany:  Gay Penguin Uproar

    Feb. 14, 2005 BBC News:  Gay rights activists have protested at a north German zoo's plans to test the sexual orientation of six male penguins which have displayed homosexual traits.  Bremerhaven's Zoo am Meer said it would introduce four extra female penguins from Sweden to the group to see if the males really were gay.  But zoo director Heike Kueck said "gay groups worldwide have been cursing us since that announcement".   The zoo says it just wants to encourage the rare Humboldt penguins to breed.  Read full story...

    Study:  Drug Company Develops Testosterone Sex Boosting Spray for Women

    Feb. 9, 2004  Forbes:  Vivus Inc., a maker of drugs and medical devices to treat impotence, said Wednesday that its testosterone spray improved sexual desire in women with low libido in a clinical trial.  Vivus said patients in the group where the treatment was most effective reported that satisfactory sexual events more than doubled when using the treatment.  Read full story...

    Australia:  Democrats Call for National Sex Education In All Schools

    Feb. 9, 2005  The Age:  Australia should have a single national sex education curriculum regardless of whether schools were religious or secular, the Australian Democrats have said.  The United States sex education program is a 'just say no' approach - we're saying this is ridiculous.  "It never did work, it won't work in the future, it doesn't work now, and Australia has to have a nationally consistent curriculum which shows that sex education is critically important, particularly for young women, in negotiating their way through relationships and protecting themselves from unwanted pregnancy."  Education about contraception and safe sex should be mandatory in all schools, Senator Allison said, regardless of the Catholic church's opposition to contraception.  Read full story...

   Kenya:  African Anglicans Debate Homosexuality, No Word Yet On Church Split

    Feb. 4, 2005  The Anglican Church in Africa has yet to announce whether it will make good on its threat to sever links with the church in the West over the homosexuality dispute, but a religious scholar here said cutting links with specific dioceses in North America was a more likely outcome.  Dr. Constantine Mwikamba of at the University of Nairobi expressed doubt that the Anglican (Episcopalian) church in Africa would cut links with its "mother" church in England.  The November 2003 consecration of a homosexual as Episcopal bishop of New Hampshire and the decision by some Canadian dioceses to bless same-sex unions threatened to divide the 77 million-strong global Anglican Communion.  Read full story...

    USA:  New STD Tied to Dutch Outbreak Found in NYC Gay Men

    Feb. 3, 2005  Gay City News:  The city health department is warning New Yorkers that two cases of a rare form of chlamydia called lymphogranuloma venereum (LGV) have been diagnosed in residents here.  LGV, which can be disfiguring, is a strain of chlamydia, a common sexually transmitted disease, that can infect the groin and colon. Symptoms can include swollen lymph glands and groin ulcers. A colon infection can lead to blood or pus in the feces and to constipation. The bug can be easily treated, if recognized in time, with a three-week course of antibiotics.  Read full story...

    New Zealand:  Government Urged To Extend Safer Sex Campaign to Fight Syphilis Rise

    Jan 31, 2005  tvnz.co.nz:  The government is being urged to extend its safe sex campaign in response to rising rates of the sexually transmitted disease syphilis.  The number of cases has increased from 13 in 2000 to 50 cases in the first nine months of 2004. Syphilis can cause serious illness and death.  National Party health spokesperson Judith Collins says campaigns like the Hubba Hubba safe sex ads target teenagers, but not the older age group which is most at risk of syphilis.  Read full story...

    Study:  New Gay Genes Found

    Jan 30, 2005  BBC News:  Multiple genes - and not just the sex chromosomes - are important in sexual orientation, say US scientists.   A University of Illinois team, which has screened the entire human genome, say there is no one 'gay' gene.  Writing in the journal Human Genetics, they said environmental factors are also likely to be involved.  The findings add to the debate over whether sexual orientation is a matter of choice. Campaigners say equality is the more important issue.   Read full story...

    Africa:  Gender-Based Violence Plagues Conflict Regions

    Jan 28, 2005  Reuters UK:  Human rights violations against women and children will continue to increase, particularly in conflict-ridden areas of Africa, unless the international community steps up its efforts to combat gender-based violence (GBV), according to UN officials.  "There is no shortage of people willing to work for the cause," Maha Muna, the UN Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM) Programme Manager for Governance, Peace and Security, told IRIN. "What is needed to address the escalating problem of GBV are more resources."  Read full story...

    US:  Government Explored a Gay Bomb

    Jan 15, 2005  BBC News:  The US military investigated building a "gay bomb", which would make enemy soldiers "sexually irresistible" to each other, government papers say.  Other weapons that never saw the light of day include one to make soldiers obvious by their bad breath.  The plan for a so-called "love bomb" envisaged an aphrodisiac chemical that would provoke widespread homosexual behaviour among troops, causing what the military called a "distasteful but completely non-lethal" blow to morale.  Read full story...

    South Africa:  Dispelling the Myth That Sex With Virgins Will Cure AIDS

    Jan. 10, 2005  Daily Dispatch Online:  Aids cannot be cured by having sex with a virgin!  This is the message from Health Department spokesperson Sizwe Kupelo following yet another spate of rapes of little girls in the Transkei area at the weekend.  Kupelo yesterday confirmed that there were myths circulating that having sex with a virgin was a cure for HIV-Aids.  "I want to say emphatically that there is absolutely no truth in this myth at all," he said yesterday.  In one weekend attack near Bizana, a mother tried to prevent her daughter being raped and she stabbed the alleged perpetrator to death.  Read full story...

    Iran:  Sex Changes Okay, But Not Homosexuality

    Jan 5, 2005  BBC News:  In a country that has outlawed homosexuality, Frances Harrison meets one Iranian cleric who says the right to a sex change is a human right.  The sight of a man wearing make-up does turn heads on the street. Islamic tradition does not allow cross dressing - a man should only dress in male clothes. But that is not to say Iran's religious scholars are antagonistic to transsexuals.  Read full story...

    China:  Families Grow Rich Through Daughters in Sex Industry

     Jan 3, 2005:  NY Times:  Experts say that in some local villages a majority of women in their 20's work in foreign brothers, leaving almost no family untouched and the young men without mates. Not long ago, many of the recruits were kidnapped to become modern-day sex slaves, but these days the trade has become largely voluntary.  Read full story...

    Study:  Birth Control Pill Less Likely To Work In Obese Women

    Dec. 29, 2004:  Technewsworld:    Being overweight dramatically increases the chances of women on the pill getting pregnant, scientists revealed today.  A woman who is overweight or obese is 60 percent to 70 percent more likely to conceive while taking an oral contraceptive than one who is slim, researchers found.  The reason for the higher pregnancy risk is not fully understood, but may be linked to the way contraceptive drugs are processed in people with excess body fat.  Read full story...

    Cuba:  Government's Efforts To Educate Sex Workers About HIV Having Success

    Dec. 26, 2004:  A decade after an economic collapse forced thousands of young women and men into prostitution, Cuba has become something of an anomaly in Latin America: a destination for sex tourists where AIDS has yet to become an uncontrollable pandemic.  Cuba has the lowest infection rate in the Western Hemisphere, less than 0.1 percent of the population, according to the World Health Organization. The infection rate in the United States is six times that in Cuba, and Cuba's rate is far below that in many neighboring countries in the Caribbean and Central America.  Read full story...

    USA:  Govt. Funding Deadly Misinformation In Abstinence-Only Education Programs

    Dec. 1, 2004  Washington Post:  Many American youngsters participating in federally funded abstinence-only programs have been taught over the past three years that abortion can lead to sterility and suicide, that half the gay male teenagers in the United States have tested positive for the AIDS virus, and that touching a person's genitals "can result in pregnancy," a congressional staff analysis has found.  Those and other assertions are examples of the "false, misleading, or distorted information" in the programs' teaching materials, said the analysis, released yesterday, which reviewed the curricula of more than a dozen projects aimed at preventing teenage pregnancy and sexually transmitted disease.  In providing nearly $170 million next year to fund groups that teach abstinence only, the Bush administration, with backing from the Republican Congress, is investing heavily in a just-say-no strategy for teenagers and sex. But youngsters taking the courses frequently receive medically inaccurate or misleading information, often in direct contradiction to the findings of government scientists...  Read full story...  and  TAKE ACTION

World AIDS Day, December 1, 2004:  Losing the Battle Against AIDS Amongst Women In Africa

    BBCNews:  Africa is in the death grip of HIV/AIDS and a generation of African girls is standing on the frontline of the carnage.  In the countries worst affected by HIV/Aids, girls and women are infected at higher rates than boys and men - in some age groups, up to five times higher. The latest UNAids annual report only confirms what we know - Aids is a female epidemic.  There are 39.4 million people living with HIV across the globe - and increasingly, those becoming newly infected are women.  While there is evidence that women are more biologically prone to infection, there are cultural norms which are greatly increasing their risk of infection.  Read full story...

    US:  New Trend of Women Having Vaginal Plastic Surgery

    Nov. 28, 2004  New York Times:  As millions of women inject Botox, reshape noses, augment breasts, lift buttocks and suck away unwanted fat, a growing number are now exploring a new frontier, genital plastic surgery. They are tightening vaginal muscles, plumping up or shortening labia, liposuctioning the pubic area and even restoring the hymen, sometimes despite their doctors' skepticism about the need for such cosmetic measures.  Read full story...

    US:  Bush Gives More Money To Unproven Abstinence-Only Programs

    Study:  More Reports That Circumcision Lowers HIV Risk

    Nov. 19, 2004  The Advocate:  Several studies conducted in Africa and India add more evidence to the theory that circumcised men have a significantly lower risk of HIV infection than uncircumcised men. Researchers say circumcision can reduce HIV infection risks because the inner surface of the foreskin has a large concentration of a type of white blood cell HIV can infect. Data from a study by USAID suggest that the inner surface of the foreskin absorbs HIV nine times as effectively as cervical tissue. A study in Kenya found an HIV prevalence rate 11 times higher in uncircumcised men than in those who had been circumcised. A similar study in India showed uncircumcised men were eight times more likely to be infected with HIV.  Read full story...

    Denmark:  Sperm Donations Shipped Worldwide Spreading Danish Genes

    Sept. 30, 2004  NY Times:  Every day dozens of students here, walk into Cryos International, the world's largest sperm bank and, after undergoing a battery of tests to determine their health and fertility, make an anonymous deposit.  That deposit, frozen and eventually shipped, can make its way to as many as 40 countries.  Destinations include Spain, Paraguay, Kenya, Hong Kong and New York, where the company opened an office last year to meet the demands of descendants of people from the Nordic countries.  Denmark, and Cryos in particular, aggressively market their sperm banks around the world, branding them with the kind of Scandinavian mystique that appeals to certain people in certain parts of the world.  Read full story...  

    USA:  New Research on Gender and Health

    Sept. 26, 2004  Chicago Sun Times:  Researchers are discovering that major illnesses like heart disease and lung cancer are influenced by gender and that perhaps treatments for women ought to be slightly different than for men.  The gender-based medicine movement isn't an effort to diminish the importance of breast cancer, but is meant to emphasize that ''we have more than one body part, folks..,'' said Sherry Marts of the Society for Women's Health Research. The group seeks to expand the definition of women's health beyond breast and reproductive health.  Until the 1990s, scientists frequently excluded women from medical research, including drug studies.  Read full story...

    USA:  Homophobia in the South Affects Gay Teenagers

    Sept. 25, 2004  MSNBC:  The gay revolution hit the buckle of the Bible Belt with a clang. The sweeping changes of 2003 -- the U.S. Supreme Court decriminalizing homosexual acts between consenting adults and the Massachusetts high court legalizing same-sex marriage in that state -- pushed gays more toward the mainstream than ever. If the revolution was coming, Oklahoma aimed to stop it. In the first weeks of Oklahoma's 2004 legislative session, 10 anti-gay bills were introduced, including one to ban gay marriage and another to prohibit the recognition of out-of-state adoptions by same-sex couples.  Read full story...

    USA:  Bush and Kerry Differ on Sex Education in Schools

    Sept. 25, 2004  UK Telegraph:  George W Bush and John Kerry are both American but they come from two different countries. Anyone who doubts this should consider a pair of matching rows now convulsing their home states, on the subject of school sex education.  In Massachusetts, home state of Senator Kerry, debate is raging over whether school "sex ed" lessons should include descriptions of gay safe sex.  Meanwhile, in President Bush's beloved Texas, conservatives on the state's powerful board of education are poised to pull off a cherished goal: the selection of a new generation of sex education textbooks for teenagers, whose sole guidance on sex is: don't have any until marriage.  Read full story...   US CITIZENS REGISTER TO VOTE ONLINE

     Ireland:  Study Finds Lack of Sex Information Amongst Young Adults

    Sept. 20, 2004  Ireland Online:  A study commissioned by the Crisis Pregnancy Agency has uncovered a lack of information and negative attitudes towards contraception among young Irish people.  One-quarter of 18 to 25-year-olds questioned as part of the study said they did not always use contraception, mainly because sex was often unplanned or because alcohol or drugs were involved.  A further 25% of respondents said they believed a woman who wasn't in a relationship, but carried condoms, was "easy" or looking for sex.  Read full story...

    South Africa:  Project Raises Awareness on Connections Between Alcohol Abuse and HIV

    Sept. 20, 2004  AllAfrica.com:  Young South Africans have been inundated with campaigns on responsible drinking, but very few make the connection between substance abuse, particularly alcohol, and the associated risk of HIV infection.  A study conducted by the Medical Research Council revealed that although there have been a substantial number of surveys on HIV/AIDS and sexual risk behavior, very few have factored alcohol into the equation.  The study found that adolescents, the group at the highest risk of HIV infection, were also associated with problems of alcohol abuse, particularly binge drinking.  Read full story...

    USA:  "When Gender Isn't Given":  Article on Parental Decisions for Intersex Children

    Sept. 19, 2004  NY Times:  For decades, parents and pediatricians have sought to offer children whose anatomy does not conform to strictly male or female standards a surgical fix.  But the private quest for "normal" is now being challenged in a very public way by some adults who underwent genital surgery and speak of a high physical and emotional toll.  Read full story...

    USA:  Louisiana Voters Overwhelmingly Ban All Forms of Same-Sex Civil Unions  

    Sept. 19, 2004  Rueters:  Louisiana voters on Saturday overwhelmingly approved an amendment to the state constitution banning gay marriages and civil unions.  With most of the state's 4,124 voting precincts reporting, the amendment was passing by a margin of 80 percent to 20 percent.  Supporters hailed the vote as a victory for traditional marriage.  "This was an incredible mandate," Republican state Rep. Steve Scalise, co-author of the amendment, told Reuters. "It shows that the people of Louisiana feel very passionately that marriage should be between a man and a woman."  Read full story...

   China:  New Sex Education Textbook Released

    Sept. 7, 2004:  China Daily:  A new textbook, entitled Thoughts of Teenagers, claiming to be the first of its kind in the country to meet teenagers' natural demand for sex-related knowledge, will be introduced soon into primary and junior high schools in East China's Zhejiang Province.  Designed to help teenagers discuss sex in classrooms more openly, the book will go into use in October.  Sex-related education has been taboo in the country for decades.  This textbook is comprised of two dozen modules, focusing on sex psychology, sex physiology, sex health, sex morality as well as marriage and family planning.  Issues such as masturbation, contraception, sex harassment, AIDS and homosexuality, are handled in a scientific way.  Read full story...

    Cuba:  Castro's Niece Advocates for Rights of Transsexuals

    Sept 5, 2004 San Diego Union-Tribune:  Mariela Castro Espin, an internationally renowned sexologist and niece of President Fidel Castro, wants Cuba's Police to undergo gender-sensitivity training.  In Cuba, homosexuality was derided as an illness of the capitalist past, and in the late 1960s some artists were sent to labor camps simply for being gay.  Alarmed by recent complaints of discrimination, Mariela Castro is working with the Interior Ministry, which oversees the police, to hold a seminar about gender this month.  Castro's center has been busy for years organizing support groups and safe sex seminars for transvestites and transsexuals. No sex change operations have been performed in Cuba because it lacks expertise. But those ruled to be transsexuals receive free psychological counseling and hormonal treatments and can even change their name and gender on ID papers.  Read full story...

    India:  Government Attacks Problem of Gender Discrimination

    Sept. 5, 2004  Express India:  Alarmed by the disturbing trend of declining sex ratio, increasing crimes against women, and other gender-related problems in Gujarat, the Gender Resource Centre (GRC) set up by the government has launched integrated population development (IPD) project in the Sabarkantha, Banaskantha, Kutch, Surendranagar, and Dahod districts.  For the first time since its inception last year, the GRC also decided to involve the police department and seek help in arresting the growing rate of gender-based violence in the state.  It has planned a two-day state-level workshop on September 29-30 to sensitize senior police officers to address issues like gender-based violence and the rights of women.  Read full story...

    USA:  Conservative Congressman Resigns After Being "Outed" As Gay on BlogActive.com

    Sept. 3, 2004  Washington Blade:  Congressman Edward Schrock, a conservative Republican, abruptly called off his re-election bid on Aug. 30, citing unspecified “allegations” that would compromise his legislative ability. The surprise decision came days after a D.C. gay activist claimed Schrock, who has vigorously opposed gay rights, is a closeted gay man. The announcement came days after D.C. gay activist Michael Rogers, who has mounted a grassroots campaign to out conservative members of Congress and their staffs, claimed in an Aug. 19 posting that the 63-year-old married father sought out sex with other men through a phone sex service.  Read full story...

USA:  Women's Porn Preferences Shape New Playgirl TV Channel

    Aug. 29, 2004:  New York Times:  When Mark Graff, a longtime veteran of adult entertainment, founded Playgirl TV in 2003, he wasn't necessarily interested in liberating women to enjoy the pleasures of erotic entertainment; he was more interested in exploiting them, as an underserved market.  Mr. Graff, who had created Spice Entertainment, a raunchier alternative to Playboy TV, had always believed that women were among Spice's loyal viewers, although the content, like most pornography, was made with men in mind.  Read full story...

    China:  Woman Forced To Have Abortion To Be Eligible For Death Penalty

    Aug 27, 2004:  Medical News Today:  Chinese prison officials have forced a pregnant inmate found guilty of transporting heroin to undergo an abortion so that she could be eligible for the death penalty, according to a report published on Wednesday, AFP/Yahoo! News reports.  Ma Weihua in January was arrested in Gansu province for transporting 56 ounces of heroin from Xinjiang province. Under China's criminal code, individuals convicted of trafficking that amount of heroin can be executed.  Read full story...

    USA:  Republican Platform Endorses Religious Extremist Views on Gay Rights & Abortion

    Aug. 25, 2004  San Francisco Chronicle:   Republicans endorsed an uncompromising stand against gay marriage Wednesday while struggling to accommodate the views of activists who declared that such a hard line could cost the GOP the election.  A panel made up largely of conservative delegates approved platform language that calls for a constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage and opposes legal recognition of any sort for gay civil unions.  Read full story...

    Nepal:  Gay Rights Activists Arrested

    Aug. 16, 2004:  365Gay.com:  The Joint United Nations Program on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) Monday voiced concern about the arrests and reported mistreatment of nearly 39 gay men in Nepal.  They were swept up in a series of raids on August 9.  “We respect homosexuals as citizens," said Devilal Tamang. "However, we arrested them as they were indulging in acts prevented by the law,” he said.  The men are members of the Blue Diamond Society, the only LGBT rights group in the tiny country sandwiched between China and India in the Himalayas.  Last month, police forcefully dispersed a crowd of gays who had marched on the Parliament building to deliver a petition for civil rights to the Prime Minister.  Read full story...

    Europe:  Crackdown on Sex Trafficking

    Aug 16, 2004:  Herald Tribune:  Southeastern Europe is a region where the International Organization for Migration estimates that 200,000 women are trafficked annually, including women from the region and women taken there for the sex trade.  Officials in Washington and in the region say the latest sweep, by more than 1,000 police officers in June, has raised cooperation against organized crime among 13 countries to new levels. The countries are Albania, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Greece, Hungary, Macedonia, Moldova, Romania, Serbia-Montenegro, Slovenia, Turkey and Ukraine.  The June sweep brought: 594 victims identified; 86 victims assisted; 133 victims repatriated; 545 traffickers identified and 328 traffickers charged.  Read full story...

    Chile:  Major Sex Scandal Continues to Roil Politics

    Aug. 8, 2004  New York Times:  The scandal has been agitating Chile since late last year, when María Pía Guzmán, a conservative member of Congress, denounced what she described as a prostitution and child pornography ring and accused Mr. Spiniak, the nouveau riche owner of a string of health clubs, of leading it. In the latest accusations, procurers for the ring have implicated as clients the mayor of a large city and a Roman Catholic bishop renowned for his opposition to the Pinochet dictatorship.  A total of 18 criminal investigations are under way, with at least a half dozen more expected to be opened soon.  Read full story...

    Singapore:  Gay Pride Celebration Despite Laws Banning Gay Sex

    Aug. 8, 2004  Reuters:  Some 6,000 people turned out for the start of a three-day gay and lesbian festival in Singapore -- where homosexual acts are still illegal -- making it Asia's largest gay event, its organizers said. About half the 6,000 were foreigners from other Asian countries and the USA according to Singapore's main gay and lesbian Web site. The festival is at odds with Singapore's image as a strait-laced city state, but the government has turned a blind eye to the growth of an entertainment industry catering for homosexuals, quietly acknowledging the potential of the "pink dollar." Singapore has a law that states homosexual acts between two men are punishable by up to two years in jail.  Read full story...

    Vatican City:  Pope Lashes Out Against Feminism and "Sexual Blurring"

    Aug. 1, 2004  CNN International:  The Vatican has denounced feminism, saying it was trying to blur differences between men and women and threatening the institution of the family based on a mother and a father.  The drive for equality, the Vatican said, makes "homosexuality and heterosexuality virtually equivalent, in a new model of polymorphous sexuality."  Read full story...

    International:  Transgender Athletes to Compete in Olympics    

HE Olympic Games take place in Athens this month, even as an investigation into the use of steroids has led to suspicions that some of the biggest names in track and field, as well as other sports, are using banned drugs. That makes this an awkward time for the International Olympic Committee to decide, as it did in May, that transsexuals may compete openly in the Games. None are expected to participate this time, but the decision raises difficult questions about the nature of sports achievement.  New York Times... Read full story...

    UK:  Patients With Sexually Transmitted Diseases Wait Over Six Weeks for Care

    July 28, 2004  The Guardian:  People with sexually transmitted infections are having to wait up to six weeks for an appointment at specialist clinics, a key factor in the rise of such disease, health campaigners said yesterday.  They accused ministers of failing to make the crisis a priority as the government's Health Protection Agency revealed that new diagnoses in England, Wales and Northern Ireland rose by 4% overall last year, to more than 708,000.  Increasingly risky sexual behaviour and delays in treatments have prompted demands for improved access to clinics, substantial extra funding and better sex education, especially for young people and gay men.  Read full story...

   USA:  Charges Dropped Against Texas Women Who Sold Sex Toys

    July 19, 2004  Reuters:  A Texas woman charged with violating obscenity laws for selling a sexual toy and explaining to her customer how to use it has had the case against her dismissed, court officials said on Monday.  Joanne Webb, a mother of three and a former schoolteacher in the town of Burleson near Forth Worth, was facing up to a year in jail after she sold a vibrator at a private party to two undercover police officers posing as a married couple.  Read full story...

    Sudan:  Amnesty International Says Sudan Militias Use Rape As A Weapon

    July 19, 2004  New York Times:  An international human rights group has accused pro-government militias in the Darfur region of Sudan of using rape and other forms of sexual violence "as a weapon of war" to humiliate black African women and girls as well as the rebels fighting the government in Khartoum.  In a report to be released Monday, Amnesty International said the sexual attacks in Darfur amounted to war crimes and crimes against humanity.  Read full story...

    USA:  Conservative Government Policies Stifling Sex Research

     July 11, 2004  New York Times:  Professionals in sex-related fields have started speaking out against what they say is growing interference from conservatives in and out of government with their work in research, education and disease prevention.  A result, these professionals say, has been reduced financing for some programs and an overall chilling effect on the field, with college professors avoiding certain topics in their human sexuality classes and researchers steering clear of terms like sex workers in the title of grant applications for fear of drawing attention to themselves.  Read full story...

    USA:  US Govt. Hampering Efforts of UN Population Fund (UNFPA)

    June 21, 2004  NY Times:  The Bush administration, which cut off its share of financing two years ago to the United Nations agency handling population control, is seeking to isolate the agency from groups that work with it in China and elsewhere, United Nations officials and diplomats say.  Pressed by opponents of abortion, the administration withdrew its support from a major international conference on health issues this month and has privately warned other groups, like UNICEF, that address health issues that their financing could be jeopardized if they insist on working with the agency, the United Nations Population Fund.  Read full story....        Participate in our activism alert on this issue!

    Czech Republic:  Parliament to Consider Same-Sex Partnership Rights   

    June 19, 2004  The Advocate:  The Czech parliament on Friday gave gays a boost by agreeing to discuss a draft law to grant certain legal rights to same-sex partners, officials said. Having turned down similar legislation proposed for debate several times in the past, deputies voted 72-49 to allow the draft to go into a second reading. Out of 139 deputies present in the 200-member lower chamber, 18 abstained.  If enacted, the legislation would allow couples who register their union with authorities to enjoy rights in areas such as inheritance and health care that are similar to those granted now to straight married couples.  Read full story...

    USA:  Male Eating Disorders Often Overlooked

    June 18, 2004, Good Housekeeping:  Although boys and men make up only about 10 percent of patients with eating disorders, they are more likely to have the condition detected at an advanced stage when treatment is more difficult, health experts say.  The lack of awareness among doctors and parents about the problem means there's little reliable data about boys and eating disorders, but several doctors say they've seen an uptick in the number of male patients with bulimia and anorexia nervosa.  They attribute the rise to the increasing pressure for boys to look good. Those who have traditionally been at greater risk for developing eating disorders include wrestlers, gymnasts, swimmers, runners and boys who question their sexuality. Like girls, boys who have been abused, have low-self esteem or are perfectionists are also at risk.  Read full story...

    USA:  Give Dad Gift of Good Prostate Health

    June 15, 2004, Rocky Mountain News:  Neckties for Father's Day are all well and good, but not if Dad's not around to wear it.  Prostate cancer has surpassed lung cancer as the most common cancer diagnosis for American men, and the second leading cause of cancer death for them. It kills about 30,000 men each year, and it can be sneaky - symptoms often don't appear until the disease is advanced.  Prostate cancer is also treatable, with a survival rate of more than 90 percent. Famous survivors include Former U.S. Sen. Bob Dole, former New York Mayor Rudy Guiliani and retired U.S. Army Gen. Norman Schwarzkopf.  But the sooner it's caught, the better.  Read full story...

    Jamaica:  Leading Gay Activist is Murdered

    June 11, 2004  Guardian UK:  Amnesty International condemned the grisly killing of Jamaica's best-known gay rights activist and urged police to investigate whether he was the victim of a hate crime.  The mutilated body of Brian Williamson, 59, was found at his Kingston home hours after he was seen meeting with two men. Police said it appeared that Williamson was a robbery victim since his safe was missing and his room was ransacked.  ``There remains a strong possibility that Brian Williamson's profile as a gay man and advocate of homosexual rights made him a target,'' Amnesty said in a statement. ``The authorities must ensure that this murder is fully and impartially investigated.''  Williamson was a founding member of the Jamaica Forum for Lesbians, All-Sexuals and Gays, the Caribbean island's only gay rights group. Read full story...

    Poland:  Warsaw Gay Pride March Banned

    June 9, 2004  Planetout.com:  Lesbian and gay people in the Polish city of Warsaw will be unable to hold their Pride march this week, after the capital's mayor banned all such events.  Members of the LGBT community were planning to march June 11 in a bid to raise awareness of discrimination and homophobia in Poland.  However, Mayor Lech Kaczynski moved to block the event after it emerged that anti-gay groups were planning to attend and hold a counterdemonstration.  The decision has been slammed by gay rights groups, who branded the decision illegal, but no plans to continue with the celebrations in spite of the block have been announced.  Read full story...

    Brazil:  Study Finds That Post-HIV Exposure Prophylaxis (PEP) Drugs Do Not Promote Unsafe Sex

    June 9, 2004  Advocate.com:  Gay men given anti-HIV drugs after high-risk sex to prevent possible HIV infection are not more likely to engage in unprotected sex than gay men for whom postexposure prophylaxis (PEP) is not available, according to a study by Brazilian researchers. The study showed that there was no difference between the average number of sex partners or average number of high-risk sex acts between PEP users and nonusers both six months before the study began and six months after the last PEP doses were available.  Read full story...

    Kenya:  Decrease Seen in Female Genital Mutilation

    June 8, 2004  New York Times:  Slowly, genital cutting is losing favor. Parliaments are passing laws forbidding the practice, which causes widespread death and disfigurement. Girls are fleeing their homes to keep their vaginas intact. And the women who have been carrying out the cutting, and who have been revered by their communities for doing so, are beginning to lay down their knives.  Read full story...

     China:  Woman Divorces Husband After 60 Year Marriage Because of His Sex Change

    June 2, 2004  ChinaDaily.com:   A granny in southwest China's Sichuan Province, aged over 80, is in the news when she applies to divorce her husband. Her reason is: her husband covertly changed his gender and the most basic criteria for a marriage no longer exists.  The grandma Huang, living in Chengdu, has been married for 60 years. She can never believe that her husband would become a woman one day, but reality that her marital partner has undergone a sex change operation and would prefer to be called a "sister." She was shocked, she had to make a decision, and she decides to seek a divorce.  Read full story...

    USA:  Kansas Supreme Court To Hear Consensual Gay Teen Sex Case

    May 27, 2004  365Gay.com:  The Kansas Supreme Court Thursday agreed to hear an appeal in the case of a gay teenager who was sentenced to 17 years in prison for consensual sex.  Matthew Limon is appealing a 206-month prison sentence he received shortly after turning 18 because while he was a resident at a private school for developmentally disabled youth he performed consensual oral sex on another teenager.  Limon would have served a maximum of 15 months in jail under the Kansas law had the other teenager been female.  Limon has already been in prison for four years and three months - three and a half times longer than the maximum sentence he would have received if he were heterosexual.  Read full story...

    USA:  Scientists Cast Doubt On Common Prostate Exam

    May 27, 2004 USA Today:  A study out Thursday confirms that prostate cancer may be present even among patients with so-called "normal" scores on the PSA, or prostate-specific antigen test. Researchers say the findings show that a better screening test is needed.  Although several factors influence a man's risk of developing prostate cancer, many doctors agree that scores above 4 on the common screening test may indicate cancer.   The study's authors noted that the PSA test gives doctors few clues about which cancers will ever threaten a man's life. High scores can be caused by many conditions, from cancer to infections or a benign swelling of the prostate gland that is common in older men.  Read full story...

    Uganda:  "Condoms Take Back Seat to Abstinence With US Funds"

    May 26, 2004 Mail & Guardian:  Uganda will receive more than $90-million this year from the United States to assist it with preventing and treating Aids. Activists fear, however, that Washington may be showing too great a preference for abstinence-based programmes in its allocation of these funds -- and that alternative prevention efforts such as condom distribution could suffer as a result.  Limitations on the purchase of generic anti-retrovirals have also prompted concern.  Read full story...

    Nigeria:  Calls for Age Of Consent Laws for Girls

    May 25, 2004  AllAfrica.com:  A team made up of international medical experts says Nigeria needs a legislation that will stipulate the age at which a girl can start having sex.  Such legislation is necessary because certain traditions in the country allow for marriage between men and under-aged girls.  They argue that unless such traditions were outlawed, the war against HIV/AIDS would not be won because little girls who are victims of such abuses did not have any say in their cultures.  Under-aged girls who go in for early marriages and sex were ignorant of what they were going into and therefore stood the risk of contracting HIV/AIDS from their husbands who "fool around" with other women.  They further argue that a society that treats women as inferior could hardly win the war against HIV/AIDS because if a woman could not say no to her husband when she was not sure of him, the virus would continue to spread.  Read full story...

    USA:  FDA Forbids Men Who Have Sex With Men From Donating Sperm

    May 20, 2004  New York Times:  Men who acknowledge having had homosexual sex within the previous five years will not be allowed to make anonymous sperm donations under new rules that the Food and Drug Administration is expected to announce today.  But a prominent gay rights group nonetheless denounced the new federal rules. Matt Foreman, executive director of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, said that the regulations were misplaced because H.I.V. tests were fast and very effective.  "It's one thing to base these rules on legitimate scientific concerns, but it's another to reinforce baseless stereotypes," Mr. Foreman said.  Read full story...

    USA:  New York Times May 18- Opinion Piece Attacks Bush Administration on Opposition to Condoms

he Bush administration's enlightenment on AIDS treatment has not, alas, been matched in AIDS prevention programs. Spurred by the religious right, the administration and Congress have fenced off one-third of the nation's international AIDS prevention funds to be used for abstinence programs starting in 2006, even though such programs alone are insufficient.  The administration is using pseudoscience to justify its decisions. Randall Tobias, its AIDS coordinator, has said numerous times that condoms are not effective at preventing the spread of AIDS in the general population. He repeated this assertion while testifying in the House of Representatives in March, citing the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. Mr. Tobias is wrong. The dean of the London School wrote to him to say that the school had never produced any such report, and that its research shows that condoms do work.  Read full editorial...

    India:  High HIV Rates in Gay Community

    May 18, 2004  Sify.com:  A first-of-its-kind study conducted among 240 homosexual men in the city by Humsafar, an organisation for gay people, and the Indian Market Research Bureau has shown that around 17 to 20 per cent of gay men in Mumbai are HIV positive.  “In the first study carried out in 2000, most of the gay men reported at least 11 partners in a month, which has come down to four in 2004.”  Read full story...

    Taiwan:  "Radio Station Fined For Airing Lesbian Sex Sounds"

    May 16, 2004  TaiwanNews.Com:  Asia's first radio station dedicated to women's rights, FM105.7 "Sister Radio," expressed dismay yesterday over being punished by the Government Information Office for a segment that mimicked the sounds lesbians from different countries make while having sex. The GIO fined the station NT$9,000 on the grounds of "harming public order or proper customs." Wang Pin lamented that lesbians' sexual questions have always been the subject of consumer products designed by men in this heterosexual commercial society, while programs devoted to educating or liberating women's sexuality have been considered as violating what is considered proper.  Read full story...

    Iraq:  "Pentagon Uses Gay Sex as Tool of Humiliation"

    May 13, 2004  Gay City News:  Gay and human rights activists are responding with condemnation to the images and reports of torture and abuse of Iraqi prisoners by US military personnel that, in some instances, used forced simulated gay sex, threats of male rape, and ant-gay slurs as the means to humiliate those prisoners.  Spokesman for the Servicemembers Legal Defense Network states "It's very disturbing that American troops thought that same-sex sexual acts could be used as a tool of humiliation.  That is clearly a strong statement on how the US military views lesbian and gay people.   Read full story...

    Canada:  Man Raised As Girl Commits Suicide

    May 12, 2004  NY Times:  David Reimer, born as a boy but raised as a girl after a botched circumcision, has committed suicide after failed investments drove him into poverty. He was 38.  In 1965, his routine circumcision went horribly wrong... His penis was so badly burnt that it eventually fell off.  His parents sought advice from Dr. John Money, a sex researcher at Johns Hopkins.  Attempting to prove that gender depends on how a child is raised rather than genetics, Money advocated removing the rest of the male genitalia and prescribing female hormones.  Brenda, as he was known, was 15 when he found out about the mishap and rejected further treatment as a girl.  He underwent surgery to remove his breasts and to construct a penis from muscle tissue and cartilage.  Changing his name to David, he eventually married and led a quiet life.    Read full story...

     Iraq:  Gender Perspective on the Iraq Prison Torture Scandal

    May 10, 2004  Village Voice:  For women in the military, Abu Ghraib is a very personal disaster—even if it shouldn't be. In an era when a gender-integrated military is still a charged proposition, in a war that ostensibly seeks to bring the wonders of the West to a backward Middle East, the image of Private First Class Lynndie England restraining a naked, prone Iraqi prisoner with a dog leash is the sort of propaganda that cuts at least five ways.  Anti-Amazons are now emboldened by the conspicuous presence of women in the Abu Ghraib scandal.  Read full story...

   Study:  Most heterosexual African HIV transmission may occur during primary infection

    May 5, 2004:  AIDSMap.com:  A study of the way that HIV viral load in semen varies during early infection has led researchers to conclude that half or even the majority of HIV transmission from men to women in sub-Saharan Africa occurs during the first two months of the men’s infection.  These observations could answer the paradox that heterosexual infection in Africa spreads rapidly despite there being documented low transmission rates during chronic infection.  Read full story...

    UK:  Outdoor Sex Preferred and Other Fun Survey Findings

    May 2, Sunday Globe:  MORE than half of British adults have had sex in a public place, according to a poll conducted by FHM magazine.  The Great British Sex Survey found that 60% of people said that they had sex in a public space, while one in three women said they had faked an orgasm.  FHM interviewed 25,000 men and women from across the UK and asked participants questions on all aspects of sexual behaviour and relationships.  The survey also found that 56% of men and women admitted to having been unfaithful in a relationship.  Nearly a third of British men and 38% of British women said that they had lost their virginity aged 16 or under.  Read full story...

    Opinions:  Best Strategy for Promoting Safer Sex In Porn Industry by Sharon Mitchell

    May 2, 2004  NY Times:  "...What we can do is reward the producers, distributors and actors who use condoms with a "seal of approval." The Occupational Safety and Health Administration, state and federal health departments, and my organization should act together to give approval to the films made by companies that use safe workplace and health care practices. Most mainstream companies don't like to discuss their lucrative dirty secret — that they make huge profits off sex films. But if hotel chains like Hilton and Marriott, and cable companies like Time Warner and Comcast, showed only those films with the seal of approval, filmmakers would have a financial incentive to follow the rules."  Read full story...

    USA:  Porn Actors Unionizing

    April 30, 2004  CNN:  Adult film actors are trying to unionize, sparked partly by worries that AIDS is spreading in the pornographic film industry.  The Los Angeles Times reported this week that about 35 performers voted unanimously in a private meeting to draw up a list of demands and a bill of rights for workers in the industry, which is believed to generated billions of dollars in sales annually in the United States alone.  More meetings will be held to address issues including health care, pay and scheduling, the newspaper said.  Performers are paid by the scene or day and do not receive pay for overtime work, even when it involves a 20-hour-day, according to the report.  Read full story...

    Zimbabwe:  President Urges Youth to Abstain from Sex

    Apr 28, 2004 Harare Herald:  Acting President Joseph Msika has urged youths in the country to abstain from premarital sex, as the practice exposes them to the deadly HIV virus. The Acting President said Government was disturbed by the moral decadence, particularly among the youths, with some as young as 12 years old already engaging in sex.  Cde Msika urged traditional leaders to play a leading role in instilling cultural values and norms in the youths.  Read full story...

    Russia:  Lack of Sex Education Causing Spread of STDs

    Apr 28, 2004  Moscow Times:  A lack of sex education is the main reason the rate of sexually transmitted infections in Russia is about 100 times higher than in Western Europe, according to a new Swedish-Russian study.  Russia has 136 cases of syphilis per 100,000 people, compared to just 1.5 cases per 100,000 in Western Europe, and the highest rates of STIs are in Siberia and the Far East, the study said.  The government and education officials have balked at offering sex education in schools, and a controversial pilot program to introduce courses in the 1990s died after coming under fierce criticism from parents, politicians and the Russian Orthodox Church.  Read full story...

    Germany:  German Army Lifting Ban on Sex in Barracks

    Apr. 22, 2004 Reuters:  A German army ban on sex in the barracks may soon be lifted because it's considered outdated, the government said on Wednesday.  The spokesman for the Defence Ministry confirmed a report in Bild newspaper that said partners who are both serving in the armed forces should no longer be barred from having sex on German military installations.  "There was a feeling that the existing regulations were no longer in keeping with the times," Wendroth told reporters, referring to a rule that outlawed sex on military bases.   "We're looking into changes that would allow those who so desire to pursue their needs in their own privacy," he said.  Read full story...

    Zimbabwe:  Zimbabwean and Zambian sex workers in wrangle over rates

    April 15, 2004  ZWNews:  Livingstone town clerk G Kalenga yesterday disclosed that a wrangle has erupted between Zambian and Zimbabwean commercial sex workers who cross into Livingstone.  Kalenga said there was a wrangle because Zimbabwean sex workers offered lower rates than their Zambian counterparts.  This is believed to be part of the reason why the HIV/AIDS rate remained high in Livingstone despite having a lot of non-governmental organisations working to fight the disease. Kalenga said "Our local commercial sex workers have mobilised themselves and are chasing away the international sex workers to compounds and suburbs, while they hold authority in town."  Read full story...

    Study:  Frequent Sex May Keep Cancer at Bay

    Apr. 7, 2004  ABC Australia Online:  Men who have active sex lives or masturbate frequently have a reduced chance of developing prostate cancer, a U.S. study has shown.  "[But] it's premature to recommend that men alter their sexual habits to protect their health," said lead author Dr Michael Leitzmann, a physician and investigator at the National Cancer Institute.  "But the findings warrant further investigation."  Read full story...  

    USA:  Adults Still Not Using Condoms

    April 6, 2004  CNN:  Americans claim to be savvy about sexually transmitted diseases, but knowing a few facts is not keeping them from taking many risks, according to a national survey.  The majority -- 84 percent -- of the survey respondents said they take necessary steps to prevent catching an STD, but 82 percent of the sexually active participants said they never use barrier protection when having oral sex. Almost half said they go without condoms when having vaginal sex.  Read full story...

    USA:  Warning Labels On Condoms Spark Controversy

    April 3, 2004  CNN:    A little bit of print is at the center of a raging debate now that President Bush has asked the Food and Drug Administration to modify the current warning to include information about human papillomavirus, commonly called HPV or genital warts.  On one side are scientists who believe that condoms should be promoted as a crucial line of defense against several STDs and cervical cancer. On the other are groups that advocate waiting for sex until marriage, and who see the dangers of HPV as an argument for their cause.  Read full story...

    Bermuda:  Sex Addiction

    Mar. 31, 2004  Royal Gazzette:  Sex is the very source of life and a cornerstone of a healthy relationship which makes an addiction to it hard to categorise.  How do you define when the boundaries between normal sexual relations have been crossed into an unnatural obsession?  For Bermuda’s mental health professionals the clear danger signs are when sexual addiction causes problems with a person’s partner.It’s only damaging when it’s causes trouble in the relationship, for instance if every time you are out of town and you find yourself looking for a one-night stand.  “The key is does it detrimentally affect your life? Is deceit and secrecy being used to cover up repetitive behaviour from loved ones?”  Read full story...

    Netherlands:  Sex Education for Primary School Students

    Mar. 31, 2004  Expatica:  A new sex and relationship educational guide for Dutch primary school children is to be presented in Utrecht on Wednesday. The course is intended for children aged 5 and upwards.  "How are babies made?" and "Do girls also have a penis?" are just some of the questions children ask unprepared teachers, say the groups behind the new Relationships and Sexuality teaching guide. "Children nowadays receive a mass of sexual imagery via the internet, magazines and television to process," Van der Doef said.  Openness at an early age about sexuality can prevent problems developing later on, such as unwanted pregnancy and abortion, Van der Doef said.  Read full story...

      UK:  Teenage Sexual Infections Double In Ten Years

    Mar. 30, 2004  Telegraph UK:  Sexually transmitted diseases among teenagers have doubled in the last decade, according to a new report.  The number of new cases of infections among young people under 20 across England, Wales and Northern Ireland rose from 669,291 to 1,332,910 between 1991 and 2001.  The analysis of data on adolescent sexual health was among a series of articles published by the Office for National Statistics today on the health of children and young people.  Read full story...

    Italy:  Elderly Concerned With Sex and Health

    March 24, 2004  AGI Online:  Health and sex are the main concerns of Italians over 50 years of age, according to two new studies.  In the second study, 65 pct of the respondents said that health was their major concern, followed by 37.8 pct who chose sexuality. About 38.3 pct said they have problems with their sex lives due to lack of desire (14.7 pct), and erectile problems (16 pct). Only 15.9 pct of those who reported difficulties considered the issue to be a major obstacle to be resolved.  Read full story...

   Germany:  Sex and Fidelity

   March 23, 2004  Deutshe Welle  On average, Germans have sex 120 times a year, meaning that they put aside their troubles and get some good lovin' almost every third day.  However, the façade of togetherness has been blown apart by a recent study by condom manufacturer Durex which reveals that every third German has cheated on his or her partner at least once and an equal number are dissatisfied with their love life.  Read full story...

    UK:  Gels Could Protect Against HIV

    March 23, 2004  BBC News:  Millions of people around the world could soon protect themselves against HIV using a simple gel or cream.  Experts say around 60 microbicides are now in development with about 14 in clinical trials.  The gels or creams are applied internally and aim to stop the virus from entering the body.  Read full story...

    USA:  Time to Take Vibrators Out of the Closet

    March 22, 2004  Chicago Sun Times:  OK, let's all say it out loud, just once, "Vi-bra-tor." See? There's nothing to be afraid of. It's time to bring the topic out of the closet. We prescribe vibrators to our patients every day as an important and useful tool for a healthy sex life. Vibrators can help you learn about your body and what pleases you sexually. If your sensation is low, they can help you achieve orgasm, maybe for the first time. Sometimes vibrators are used just to spice things up a little bit.  Read full story...

    USA:  Travel Agents Indicted for Arranging Sex Tours

    March 22, 2004  New York Newsday:  Two New York travel agency operators have been charged in the first indictment involving a "sex tourism" company based in the United States, according to state Attorney General Eliot Spitzer and a global human rights group.  The two men were indicted on felony and misdemeanor counts of promoting prostitution in their operation of Big Apple Oriental Tours, Spitzer said. Spitzer accused the men of using their tour business to solicit customers for prostitution rings operating in the Philippines and Thailand.  The men could face up to seven years in prison.  Read full story...

    USA:  Straights Standing Up for Gay Marriage

    March 20, 2004  San Francisco Chronicle:  The halt to same-sex weddings in San Francisco, coupled with President Bush's call for a constitutional amendment banning gay marriage, has turned a small band of heterosexuals from uninvolved observers into activists.  One convert is raising money by selling photos snapped during the City Hall weddings. One couple has decided to boycott marriage. Others are telling wedding guests to skip the dishware gifts and instead donate money to a same- sex marriage advocacy organization.  Read full story...

    USA:  Mississippi Supreme Court Upholds Ban on Sale of Sex Toys

    March 19, 2004  Sun Herald:  The Mississippi Supreme Court upheld a state law that bans the sale of sex toys.  The justices also said the advertising of the sexual devices is not protected by the right to free speech. Such advertisements, the court said, promote an illegal transaction.  Presiding Justice Bill Waller Jr. wrote that, "The novelty and gag gifts which the vendor plaintiffs sell have no medical purpose."  Waller said there is no fundamental right of access to buy sexual devices.  Read full story...

    USA:  Black Teens' Views of Sex Sound Alarms

    March 18, 2004  USA Today:  A recent study makes it clear that teenagers' sexuality, understanding of intimacy and the ways in which they make sexual choices are deeply troubling. The study, conducted by Motivational Educational Entertainment (MEE), surveyed the sexual attitudes of 2,000 blacks ages 16 to 20 in several cities.  This is My Reality: The Price of Sex surveyed black teens living in households with annual incomes of $25,000 or less.  For many of them, sex appears to be simply a necessary transaction required for social acceptance. Both intimacy and informed decision-making appear to have little impact on the choice of when, how and with whom to have sex.  Read full story...

    Zambia:  Students Banned From Having Condoms

    March 16, 2004 365Gay.Com:  Despite having one of the world's highest AIDS rates the Zambian government Monday banned the distribution of condoms in schools saying their availability promoted immorality.  One in five people in Zambia is HIV-positive.  Education minister Andrew Mulenga, who made the decision to prevent the teens from receiving condoms and information on condom use in HIV prevention classes told Zambia News Agency that total abstinence remains the best way of youths protecting themselves from AIDS.  Mulenga said that any group that distributes condoms to students could face charges.  Read full story...

    Afghanistan:  Man Arrested For Having Sex With Donkey

    March 16, 2004  Yahoo News:  A frustrated Afghan soldier who could not afford to get married has been released without charge after being caught having sex with a donkey, police say.  The soldier, who was not identified, was detained for several days last week after a young boy spotted him with the animal in an abandoned house in the southeastern town of Gardez.  "The man insisted he had no other choice but the donkey because he could not afford to pay a dowry to get married," a local police officer told Reuters.  Read full story...

    Papua New Guinea:  Fears That Sex Workers Will Be Pushed Into Hiding

    March 16, 2004  ABC Radio Australia:  Papua New Guinea's National Aids Council says the arrest of 70 sex workers on suspicion of prostitution is likely to force other sex workers into hiding, where they will be harder to monitor.  The Council's Director, Dr Ninkama Moiya says while prostitution is not legal in the country, people must be encougraged to practice safe sex.  A total of 45 male and 31 female prostitutes were arrested and charged in a brothel last Friday.  Read full story...

    USA:  Protest Condemns Bush on Sex Ed;  Representative Wants Warning on Condoms

    USA:  "Study:  Teen Abstinence No Help To Later STD Rates"

    March 9, 2004  CNN:  Teens who pledge to remain virgins until marriage have the same rates of sexually transmitted diseases as those who don't pledge abstinence, according to a study that examined the sex lives of 12,000 adolescents.The problem, the study found, is that those virginity "pledgers" are much less likely to use condoms.  "The message is really simple: 'Just say no' may work in the short term but doesn't work in the long term."  Read full story...

    USA:  "Young Love, New Caution:  Behind Fall in Pregnancy, A New Teenage Culture of Restraint"

    March 7, 2004 New York Times:  The teenage pregnancy rate in America, which rose sharply between 1986 and 1991 to huge public alarm, has fallen steadily for a decade with little fanfare, to below any level previously recorded in the United States. And though pregnancy prevention efforts have long focused almost exclusively on girls, it is boys whose behavior shows the most startling changes.  More than half of all male high school students reported in 2001 that they were virgins, up from 39 percent in 1990. Among the sexually active, condom use has soared to 65 percent, and nearly 73 percent among black male students. The trends are similar, if less pronounced, for female students.  Read full story...

    USA:  Administration Sets Forth A Limited View On Privacy

    March 6, 2004  New York Times:  In a sharp departure from its past insistence on the sanctity of medical records, the Bush administration has set forth a new, more limited view of privacy rights as it tries to force hospitals and clinics to turn over records of hundreds and perhaps thousands of abortions.  Health lawyers and privacy experts said that position reflected a significant shift after six years in which Bush and Clinton administration officials had promised to strengthen the confidentiality of medical records.  Two federal judges have also expressed alarm over the government position.  Read full story...

    Australia:  "Indigenous Communities Record High Rates of Sex Disease"

    March 5, 2004  ABC News:    A Western Australian Health Department official says she is shocked at the number of sexually transmitted infections (STIs) in WA's Indigenous communities.  A departmental report suggests Aborigines in the Goldfields, Pilbara and Kimberley account for about 80 per cent of STIs in each region.  Aborigines in the Goldfields make up 10 per cent of the region's population.  The director of communicable diseases, Dr Shirley Bowen, says the problem stems from a lack of access to contraceptives and information on safe sex.  However, she says the high numbers could be due to better screening facilities.  Read full story...

    Canada:  Students Asked 'What is Sex to You?'"

    March 5, 2004  Queens Journal:  A recent study published in the Globe and Mail has called into question the definition of sexual activity amongst Canadian young adults. According to the report, which was compiled by researchers at the University of New Brunswick and looked at 164 heterosexual university students in their late teens or early twenties, young people tend to harbour narrow or ambiguous understandings of what constitutes a sexual act.  Students are only applying the safe-sex message to what they consider to be sex- only very small percentages of both male and female interviewees considered masturbation, foreplay, oral stimulation or online activity leading to orgasm, amongst others, to constitute sex. Intercourse, with or without orgasm, was the only act overwhelmingly agreed upon, with 97 per cent of females and 98 per cent of males considering it to be sex.  Read full story...

    USA:  Oral Sex is Alibi in Fatal Crash:  Woman Contends She Wasn't Driving

Sweden:  "Sweden Poised for Gay Marriage Nod"

  March 3, 2004  Daily Telegraph:  The Swedish parliament's laws committee is considering three motions that
would pave the way for gay marriages, replacing a current law on same-sex civil unions that already gives gays the same rights as married couples, officials said today.  Gay couples in Sweden have since 1995 enjoyed the same rights as heterosexual couples. While the public commonly refers to gay unions as "marriages", they are in the eyes of the law officially called "partnerships".  Read full story...

    Scotland:  "New Sexual Health Plan 'Threatens Morality'"

    March 2, 2004  Times Online:  Proposals aimed at improving Scotland’s sexual health record are a threat to the morality of society, the Roman Catholic Church said yesterday.  Mario Conti, Archbishop of Glasgow, attacked the Scottish Executive’s strategy to reduce the number of unwanted pregnancies and cut incidences of sexually transmitted disease.  He described the proposals as a grave threat to the rights of parents, to the work of Catholic schools and to society’s morality. The expert group who drew up the proposals “paid too much attention to the medical treatment of symptoms and not enough to the spiritual and social causes of the problem”, he added.  Read full story...

    Sweden:  "Homeless Couple Stage Sex Protest"

    March 2, 2004  Independent Online:  The lack of housing in the Swedish capital was graphically highlighted late on Monday by a couple having sex in a square in downtown Stockholm, the Aftonbladet newspaper said.  Finally, police arrested the couple for causing a public disorder.  A duty officer later said no one had filed any formal complaint against the pair.  "We don't have a place to go when we feel horny," the couple were quoted as saying by the Stockholm tabloid. The two live in a shack in a suburb south of Stockholm.  Read full story...

    USA:  The Trouble With Faking It

    March 2, 2004  MSNBC:  Most women have faked an orgasm sometime in their life. Not only that, but they have most likely faked being aroused.  The problem with faking it is that it becomes a vicious circle. Once you fake it, your partner believes that he is satisfying you and you are happy. Therefore, he has no reason to try new things or ask if you'd like something else.  At the same time, you may be feeling increasingly angry at missing out on a positive sexual relationship. You may also feel hopeless about ever getting to experience what you are missing. The angrier and more dejected you feel during sex, the less likely you will ever feel arousal, only dread.  Read full story...

    USA:  "Schools Can't Collect Federal Sex Ed Funds"

    March 1, 2004  Delaware Online:  Sex education in Delaware is all about making you think before you act, teachers, state officials and students said. Students are taught that abstinence is the best way to avoid pregnancy and disease, but are given enough information to take appropriate precautions if they choose to have sex anyway.  Because Delaware includes contraception in public school sex-education classes, the school system is ineligible for money the Bush administration provides for abstinence-only instruction. President Bush recently proposed doubling the money available for such instruction to $273 million. Read full story...

    USA:  Has the gay rights movement lost its liberatory edge?

    Feb 29, 2004  NY Times:  So what does it mean that gay rights activists, once the standard-bearers for sexual freedom, are now preoccupied with the sober institution of marriage - and fighting off President Bush's plans for a constitutional amendment against same-sex marriage?  The glories of marriage have not historically had top billing in the gay rights movement. Indeed, until the advent of AIDS, activists dwelt more on the joy of sexual liberation. But these days, the movement has a very different tone.  The current fight over gay marriage might represent a new ascendancy of conservatives in the movement.  Read full story...

    South Africa:  Africa's first sex conference ends with call to sexual rights for all

    Feb. 28, 2004:  Yahoo News:  Africa's first conference on sexual health and rights ended with delegates emphasising that sexual rights should extend to all people living on the continent, including gay communities and adolescents.  "When we talk sexual rights we have to include all rights -- this includes the rights of people who don't have the same lifestyle as the mainstream, as well as those of adolescents who have the right to know about sex," said conference president Ezio Baraldi.  Read full story...

    India:  Sex Workers Plead for Rights

    Feb. 28, 2004  Manila Times:  Some 5,000 sex workers are holding a weeklong conference in Calcutta calling on the government to legalize prostitution and homosexuality, two moves the sex workers say would discourage harassment against them and buoy efforts to fight the spread of the dreaded AIDS disease in India.  Despite one-year prison sentences for prostitution, sex workers are a common sight in India’s major urban centers and along highways.  Prostitutes at the conference, organized by India’s National Network of Sex Workers, say that legalizing the trade would help deter harassment by police, pimps and the mafia controlling the trade.  They also argue that abolishing a law that makes homosexuality a crime—introduced by British colonists in the early 20th century —would encourage gays suffering from AIDS to seek treatment. Under that law, homosexuals can be imprisoned for up to 10 years.  Read full story...

    South Africa: "Africa Sees Rise in 'Sex Terror'"

    Feb. 27, 2004  BBC News:  More and more people across Africa are becoming victims of sexual terrorism, according to work presented at a high-profile sexual health conference.  The use of sex to control people is most often seen during conflicts.  But delegates at the first African Congress on Sexual Health and Rights heard that a new pattern is emerging.  Increasing numbers of people infected with HIV are deliberately passing the virus on to their partners on purpose, in order to make them more dependent.  Read full story...

    USA:  Bush Calls Heterosexual Marriages 'Ideal'"

    Feb. 27, 2004  CNN:  President Bush said Friday he supports a constitutional ban on same-sex marriages because it is his job to "drive policy toward the ideal."  His proposal to amend the Constitution to restrict marriage to heterosexual couples has drawn praise from conservatives, but condemnation from many Democrats and gay advocates. "I believe marriage has served society well and I believe it is important to affirm that marriage of a man and woman is ideal, and the job of the president is to drive policy toward the ideal," Bush told reporters in response to a question.  Read full story...

    USA:  "Democrats Reject Marriages By Gays"   

    Feb. 27, 2004  Calgary Sun:  Democratic party presidential rivals John Kerry and John Edwards voiced opposition to gay marriage yesterday. But, they said the issue should be left to the states rather than banned by a constitutional amendment as recommended by President George W. Bush.  On the day celebrity Rosie O'Donnell was married to her longtime girlfriend, Kerry and Edwards both sharply criticized Bush for his request to Congress to amend the U.S. Constitution.  "He's doing this because he's in (political) trouble...He's playing politics with the Constitution of the United States," said Kerry, the front-runner for the nomination, at a presidential debate.  Read full story...

    USA:  Study Links Oral Sex and Oral Cancer from the HPV Virus

    Feb. 26, 2004  New Scientist:  Researchers have now demonstrated that the human papilloma virus can cause oral cancers.  The risk, thankfully, is tiny. Only around 1 in 10,000 people develop oral tumours each year, and most cases are probably caused by two other popular recreational pursuits: smoking and drinking. The researchers are not recommending any changes in behaviour.  The human papilloma virus (HPV), an extremely common sexually transmitted infection, has long been known to cause cervical cancers. Several small studies have suggested it also plays a role in other cancers, including oral and anal cancers.  Read full story...

    USA:  "Bush's Sex Fantasy"

    Feb. 24, 2004  Salon.com:  The White House is pouring money into programs that tell teens to just say no to sex.  Most experts say the programs don't work-- except to enrich the religious right.  George Bush's proposed 2004 budget cuts funding for veterans' healthcare and public housing.  It provides only one-sixth of the increase needed to fully fund the Ryan White CARE Act, which helps low-income HIV patients access medical care and lifesaving drugs.  It cuts state Medicaid funding by $1.5 billion.  Yet when it comes to abstinence education, money seems to be no object.  Bush's budget recommends $270 million for programs that try to dissuade teenagers from having sex, double the amount spent last year.  Much of that money would be given in grants to Christian organizations... Read full story...

    Uganda:  "Bride Price Weakens Women"

    Feb. 23, 2004 AllAfrica.com:  She cannot refuse to have sex with him or ask him to use a condom. Neither can she refuse him to take up a second wife, even if she is aware that a second woman increases the risk of getting HIV. "Bride price renders the notion that a man has purchased a wife including her sexual consent, labour and obedience," Atuki (organizer of a national conference on Bride Price) said.  Read full story...

    Canada:  "Sexual Healing is Good for You, They Say"

    Feb. 20, 2004 Toronto Star:  Marvin Gaye was a soul singer, not a scientist. But there's growing evidence his proposition was right: Sex is good for you.  "A good sexual relationship is essential to good health," says Dr. Barbara Bartlick, psychiatry professor who founded the Human Sexuality program at Weill Cornell Medical College in New York.  Even apart from its psychological benefits, having sex creates physiological changes that relieve anxiety, mask pain, aid sleep, reduce stress, foster fitness, boost immune systems, stave off heart attacks, maybe even promote longevity, experts say.  Read full story...

    USA:  "Sex Industry Is No Longer Men's World"

    Feb. 20, 2004  New York Times:  Experts say demand by women — both heterosexual and lesbian — is driving the growth of all sorts of sex-related ventures, from stores, catalogs and sex toy companies to adult Web sites, pornographic films and cable television shows. At the same time, many women, they say, see the sex industry as a legitimate place to make a living.  "Women have a voice now — `This is what I want and this is how I want it,' " said Ms. Ross.  Read full report...

    USA:  "Nearly 4,500 Priests Accused of Abuse"

    Feb 17, 2004  Washington Post:  Nearly 4,500 Roman Catholic priests have been accused of sexually abusing a total of 11,000 children in the United States between 1950 and 2002, CNN reported yesterday, citing a draft of a study scheduled for release at the end of the month by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.  Those figures are two to three times as high as previously reported, but senior Catholic officials have warned for weeks that the study's findings could be "startling" if viewed in isolation.  Read full story...

    Europe:  "In Europe, Lovers Now Propose:  Marry Me A Little"

    Feb 15, 2004 New York Times:  Even as President Bush is proposing to spend $1.5 billion to promote marriage in the United States, European countries are moving in the opposite direction. They are granting new status to couples looking for some legal rights in the broad gray area between living together casually and "till death do us part."  What European laws have in common, said Kathleen Kiernan, a professor of social policy and demography at the London School of Economics, is that they take a pragmatic approach to their populations' changing attitudes about the role — and even the relevance — of marriage in contemporary life.  Read full story...

    Saudi Arabia:  "Stigma Attached to Sex-Related Ailments Fading"

    Feb 14, 2004  Arab News:  People in many Arab countries, including the Kingdom, where the sexual dysfunction problems were initially thought to be a psychologically-related ailment, have come to view them now as a medically treatable problem and much of the stigma associated with these has begun to fade.  Saudi Arabia buys a large volume of drugs to counter sexual dysfunction. Sales exceeded $40 million in the GCC in 2003 with Saudi Arabia at the top of the list among them in terms of consumption, medical and pharmaceutical sources said.  Read full story...

    US:  "HIV-Positive Man Jailed After Sex With Women"

    Feb 12, 2004  KCRAchannel.com:  A California man has been sentenced to six months in jail for having sex with two women and not telling them he was HIV positive.  William W, 35, said he was sorry Thursday for what he did, but his victims said that's not enough.  One of the victims, who wanted to be called "Mary" to protect her identity, said it will be an agonizing six months before she finds out if she has a potentially deadly virus.  Read full story...

    Belgium:  "Plan to Give Transsexuals Legal Recognition"

    Feb 10, 2004  Expactica.com:  The law in Belgium could soon recognise the new identities of people who have undergone a sex-change operation.  If plans put forward on Monday by four Belgian parliamentarians become law, then a person will be able to change their name and alter the description of their sex on their national identity card and other