Canada's top doctor urges mask wearing during sex, no kissing

OTTAWA —  Canada's chief public health officer on Wednesday urged couples to wear masks during sex to prevent the spread of the new coronavirus.

"Sex can be complicated in the time of COVID-19, especially for those without an intimate partner in their household or whose sexual partner is at higher risk for COVID-19," Theresa Tam said in a statement.

"The lowest risk sexual activity during COVID-19 involves yourself alone," she added. 

But those having sex with a partner who is at risk or from  outside their household should be "skipping kissing and avoiding face-to-face contact or closeness (and) consider using a mask that covers the nose and mouth.”

Tam said people should also limit their consumption of alcohol or "other substances so you and your partner(s) are able to make safe decision."

She noted that there is a "very low likelihood" of transmission of the new coronavirus through semen or vaginal fluids. But she still urged condom use.

The number of COVID-19 cases rose on Wednesday to 129,705, including 9,171 deaths. Almost 90 percent of the people who fell sick have recovered.

Agence France-Presse

Sellers of sex toys capitalize on all that alone time

Well, the data bears out what we expected. Sex toys are selling.

Adam and Eve, a company with franchised locations across North America and an online store, reported a 30 percent increase in online sales in March and April based on the same time period last year.

Other big companies that do most of their sales online also saw an uptick. Wow Tech Group, which owns We-Vibe and Womanizer, reported that online sales for both brands were more than 200 percent higher this April compared to last year.

And as Vice reported in April, online sales for products through Cotr Inc., the company behind B-Vibe, Le Wand and the Cowgirl, were roughly three times higher this March than they were last year. Alicia Sinclair, the chief executive, said that the numbers have continued to climb, with April’s sales surpassing March’s by 80 percent.

Some of this can be chalked up to lockdown boredom. (Also, during the height of stay-at-home orders, Amazon seems to have continued to ship sex toys, despite their nonessential status.)

But while big, corporate sex toy retailers seem to have thrived, the same cannot necessarily be said for brick-and-mortar sex shops. As consumers rush to buy sex toys from websites, businesses that usually rely on foot traffic and interpersonal connections with customers are suffering.

Sid Azmi, 37, the owner of Please, a store in Brooklyn that has been open for roughly 6 years, explained that despite having an accompanying online shop, she cannot compete with bigger online retailers.

Azmi said that small businesses often charge more for sex toys: They do not get bulk-buying discounts from distributors, and they cannot afford to have huge sales on their products. Customers are usually willing to pay more, she said, because of the friendly service and education stores like Please can offer.

“The reason why people come to us rather than buying from Amazon or bigger sex shops like Adam and Eve is because we offer in-house education, conversations, our time and our recommendations,” she said. “It’s that one-on-one personable service that we can’t promote through online sales.”

Shag, a store that features a collection of body-safe sex toys that has been in the Brooklyn borough of New York since 2009, is also feeling financial strain. Samantha Bard, 45, one of the store’s owners, said that while online sales have risen slightly in the last two months, the store is selling far less than it would if the brick-and-mortar shop in Williamsburg was still open.

As a result, the owners have tried different tactics to succeed online: They have started selling locally made face masks; they have revamped their online store and added more products to it; they have even integrated with Amazon, so potential customers can find the store’s products there.

“We’re hoping that that will generate some people to come back after they’ve made their first Amazon purchase, maybe they’ll come back to our own web store and purchase through us,” Bard said.

In addition to single-location sex shops, established chains in New York are also hurting. Lisa Finn, a representative from Babeland — a chain with three of its four locations in New York City — said that, though online sales are higher, it is not enough to make up for how much the stores usually sell in person.

Glen Buzzetti, the CEO of Romantic Depot New York, said that since shifting to online-only, and offering same-day delivery, sales from the website have surged: Online sales in March and April were roughly 12 times higher than they were this time last year.

Yet it does not compare to how much the business, known for its massive, depot-style locations, usually sells from its physical stores.

“It’s not enough to make a difference where it’s going to be able to pay our rent,” he said. “That’s the reality: Our bills are higher than what is coming in.”

Sex shops in other cities, further along than New York in easing restrictions, are still struggling to adapt to new, mostly online business models.

Darling Way, in Houston, was able to open its doors to the public again on May 1. But Beth Liebling, 54, the owner and founder, said that the store is quieter now than it ever has been in its four-year history. The store’s sales in May were 70 percent lower than what Liebling had projected in January.

“People aren’t out and about very much,” she said. “They just aren’t in a big spending mood.”

Serene Martinez, the owner of Pink Bunny in San Francisco, said that it had been a generally positive experience. Though Pink Bunny has not been able to open its doors to the public yet because of California’s restrictions on retail stores, Martinez has been able to connect with customers through one-on-one Zoom calls where she acts as a personal shopper, as well as through the store’s YouTube channel.

June Pilote, a sex educator, said that part of the reason boutique and smaller sex shops are struggling right now is because their prices are higher.

“Sex toys are something that can really help you explore your gender and your sexuality, but they’re also expensive,” he said.

He said that to avoid spending money on a product that is not right (it is usually not possible to return a used sex toy), people should take the time to research the toys they are buying.

Local shops may also be able to provide more education and community. Luna Matatas, a sex and pleasure educator in Toronto, said sex toys made from materials like jelly can be toxic.

She said safe materials include medical-grade silicone, stainless steel and glass.

Liebling emphasized that, though sales may be high for big online retailers, the next few months will be uncertain for business owners like herself.

“I don’t think I’m the only one that’s just looking around and going, ‘Can we do this? Can we actually survive, financially?’ ”

2020 The New York Times Company

Coronavirus fears hit world's oldest profession

LOS ANGELES -- "Being a prostitute has always been a good option in times of crisis... until this one," says Bruno, a sex worker who fears catching the deadly coronavirus at a time when those in his trade are more vulnerable than ever.

One of approximately a million sex workers in the United States, Bruno -- not his real name -- has stopped taking clients in the past month as the once-in-a-century pandemic arrived in America.

Like most legal trades, demand for the 33-year-old's services has plummeted with much of the country staying home under lockdown.

But Bruno, who is based in the Los Angeles area, started in this business about 2 years ago precisely because he couldn't get a steady job that paid well.

Now his savings are rapidly dwindling -- and unlike most unemployed workers, Bruno is not eligible for federally approved relief.

Despite his health concerns over a pandemic that has killed more than 14,000 people in the US, Bruno is considering returning to work.

"I'm going to have to take the risk, it's the only way I can make money," he said.

Demand has already fallen by around 80 percent, he said -- but a handful of clients are still contacting him.


Bruno already considers his job to be high-risk because of potential exposure to sexually transmitted diseases.

"I'm surprised that, with this virus going around, people still want to take the danger," he admitted.

Returning is not a decision he takes lightly.

"How can I be sure the person is taking care of themselves?" he asked.

'THE ONLY WAY'

Small businesses hit by the crisis seeking emergency loans, according to government guidelines, may not sell "products or services... of a prurient sexual nature."

"Our government's unwillingness to recognize sex work as a non-criminal venue of employment means that many workers are quickly being pushed into a state of financial desperation," wrote Molly Simmons, a New York sex worker, on the Huffington Post.

The situation, she warned, may force sex workers to "accept clients they know aren't safe and risk an assault or rape because they need to feed themselves or their children or keep the electricity on."

The Desert AIDS Project, an NGO specializing in HIV-AIDS in California, has published recommendations for sex workers during the pandemic.

"When negotiating services, prices, and laying ground rules, cover off on coronavirus too," it advises, suggesting other measures such as protective gloves.

Other organizations have promoted ways for sex workers to avoid physical meetings altogether during the pandemic.

Advocacy groups COYOTE and BAWS have called on clients to make donations or pay in advance for post-crisis services.

Some sex workers have emulated pornographic actors by making a living from home via webcam appearances and connecting with clients by phone calls or messaging.

Bruno has friends who already do this and earn up to $3,000 a month.

But he is wary of that route, which risks exposing his identity.

"I'm not criticizing it, but I'm not getting into it," he said. "I don't want my financial difficulties to cost me my privacy."

Agence France-Presse

Coronavirus may spark 'devastating' global condom shortage

KUALA LUMPUR - A global condom shortage is looming as the coronavirus pandemic shutters factories and disrupts supply chains, the world's top maker of the contraceptives said, with the United Nations warning of "devastating" consequences.

Over half of humanity has been confined to their homes as the highly contagious virus marches around the planet, while governments worldwide have ordered the closure of businesses deemed non-essential.

Malaysia -- one of the world's top rubber producers and a major source of condoms -- imposed a nationwide lockdown last month as infections surged to the highest level in Southeast Asia.

But restrictions on the operations of Malaysian contraceptive giant Karex, which makes one in every five condoms globally, mean the firm expects to produce 200 million fewer condoms than usual from mid-March to mid-April.

With other producers around the world likely facing disruption and difficulties in getting condoms to market due to transport problems, supplies of contraceptives will be hit hard, warned Karex chief executive Goh Miah Kiat.

"The world will definitely see a condom shortage," Goh told AFP.

"It's challenging, but we are trying our best right now to do whatever we can. It is definitely a major concern -- condom is an essential medical device.

"While we are fighting the COVID-19 pandemic, there are also other serious issues that we need to look at," he said, adding he was particularly worried about supplies of condoms to developing countries.

UN SOUNDS ALARM

Karex, which supplies condoms to many companies as well as governments and for distribution by aid programs, had to close its 3 Malaysian factories for a period at the start of the country's lockdown, which is due to last until April 14.

The company has since been allowed to resume operations but with only 50 percent of its usual workforce, and Goh wants permission to ramp up production.

The UN is also sounding the alarm, with its sexual and reproductive health agency warning it can currently only get about 50-60 percent of its usual condom supplies due to virus-related disruptions.

"Border closings and other restrictive measures are affecting transportation and production in a number of countries and regions," said a UN Population Fund spokesperson, adding they were taking steps such as adding extra suppliers to support urgent needs.

The agency, which works with governments worldwide to support family planning, said a key concern was being able to ship condoms to where they were needed quickly enough -- and warned the poorest and most vulnerable would be hit hardest if stocks run low.

"A shortage of condoms, or any contraceptive, could lead to an increase in unintended pregnancies, with potentially devastating health and social consequences for adolescent girls, women and their partners and families," said the spokesperson.

There could also be a rise in unsafe abortions and an increased risk of sexually transmitted infections and HIV, the agency said.

Even as factory shutdowns and border closures throw the condom industry into chaos, demand appears to be increasing.

Goh said Karex had seen growing demand as people worldwide are confined to their homes, while Indian media reported that condom sales had jumped 25-35 percent in the week after the country of 1.3 billion people announced a lockdown.

CHINA TO THE RESCUE?

Despite the warnings about a potential shortage, there are positive signs from condom makers in China, where the virus first emerged last year but which has largely managed to bring its outbreak under control.

Major producers there have resumed operations as authorities eased tough restrictions to halt the virus, which has claimed more than 80,000 victims worldwide.

HBM Protections, which makes more than one billion condoms a year, said production is back to normal levels and it is pushing ahead with earlier plans to triple its number of manufacturing lines by the end of the year.

And Shanghai Mingbang Rubber Products said it was ready to ramp up condom exports, which currently make up only about 10 percent of its output, if there is a global shortfall.

"If the international market runs into such problems... we will be willing to export more," chief executive Cai Qijie told AFP.

Agence France-Presse

Women who have more sex have lower risk of early menopause: scientists

LONDON - Women who have sex at least once a month have a lower risk of entering menopause early than women with less active sex lives, scientists have found in research which they say points to a form of biological energy trade-off.

A study of data from almost 3,000 women in the United States showed that those who said they had sexual activity weekly or more frequently - including intercourse, oral sex, sexual touching or self-stimulation - were 28% less likely to have experienced menopause at any given age than women who said they had sex less than once a month.

“If a woman is not having sex, and there is no chance of pregnancy, then the body ‘chooses’ not to invest in ovulation, as it would be pointless,” said Megan Arnot, a PhD candidate at University College London (UCL) who co-led the research.

She said the findings lend weight to the idea that the human menopause originally evolved to reduce reproductive conflict between generations of females, and to allow older women to increase their fitness through investing in their grandchildren.

Women are more susceptible to disease during ovulation because their immune systems are depressed during this time.

Arnot said the apparent “biological trade-off” is that it would be pointlessly costly to invest energy in the ovulation process if a women is having little or no sex and is hence unlikely to fall pregnant, so the body diverts energy resources into protecting and caring for existing offspring.

“The menopause is, of course, an inevitability for women, and there is no behavioral intervention that will prevent reproductive cessation,” said Ruth Mace, a professor of anthropology at UCL who worked on the study with Arnot.

“Nonetheless, these results are an initial indication that menopause timing may be adaptive in response to the likelihood of becoming pregnant,” she said

The research was published in the journal Royal Society Open Science and was based on data from the U.S. Study of Women’s Health Across the Nation, also known as the SWAN study.

source: news.abs-cbn.com

'Sex tech' aims to rise above negative image

LAS VEGAS -- Sex toys are for relaxation. For education. For healing after childbirth. For long-term or long-distance relationships. For women's emancipation. 

And also... for pleasure. 

But manufacturers aiming for respectability tend to save this argument for last.

"Sex toys have an extremely negative connotation," said Jerome Bensimon, president of Satisfyer. "So we've rebranded ourselves as a 'sexual well-being company.'"

The company has gained attention for its pressure wave technology used for clitoral stimulation, and has plans to launch a smart phone app for controlling sex toys, in particular by using voice commands.

At its booth at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, vibrators and Ben Wa balls sit alongside mini vibrators shaped like ice cream cones.

After some ups and downs, "sex tech" is testing the waters this year.

As recently as last year the display likely would have been banned.

At the 2019 show, the Consumer Technology Association, which runs the expo, stripped the Ose massager of an award for innovation, saying it was disqualified for being "immoral," "obscene" and "profane."

After an uproar, the CTA reversed itself and returned the prize to Lora DiCarlo, the company which manufactures the Ose.

Sex toys "are consumer electronics just like any other but are not treated like that," said Janet Lieberman-Lu, co-founder of Dame Products, which manufactures small devices for clitoral stimulation.

Given their widespread use, "sex toys are by definition mainstream.... They're more adopted than a lot of products at CES."

Her company has taken New York City's public transportation system to court, complaining that it allows advertisements for erectile dysfunction medications and ads that contain humorous references to sex -- but not for sex devices.

"When you say that male sexual function is healthy and necessary but vibrators for women are obscene, you're saying that men are supposed to be able to have sex and women aren't supposed to be able to enjoy it," said Lieberman-Lu.

"That's what leads to rape culture."

STARTING THE CONVERSATION

Entrepreneurs in this industry, many of whom started out in conventional consumer electronics, medicine or cosmetics, say pleasure and health go hand-in-hand.

Given that school textbooks only recently began including information on the shape and size of the clitoris, they say they are on a mission to educate the public.

It is often "much easier to talk about health than pure pleasure, which can involve fear of rejection," said Soumyadip Rakshit, CEO of Mystery Vibe, which develops vibrators that deal with both erectile difficulties in men and postpartum vaginal scarring in women.

To open up, people often need a catalyst. 

"Everyone is keen to talk about it but no one wants to be the first," he said.

"If someone does that for them, a company, an article, a doctor... it makes that so much easier."

Elsewhere on the showroom floor, Gerard Escaler, chief marketing officer at Lovense, explains how a male "masturbator" works.

The tubular objects have internal sleeves and are pink when intended for straight users and translucent for gay users.

The Hong Kong-based company offers several internet apps for use in long-distance relations -- with a partner or with online erotic performers like "cam girls" who sell access to live web video.

Lovense also is developing a virtual reality game for the male sex toy with female characters. Visitors have to imagine the contents, however, since the imagery, even if artificial, is not allowed during the consumer expo.

But the "sexual well-being" industry, which could swell to nearly $40 billion by 2024, according to a forecast from market research firm Aritzon, may have good reason to maintain an air of mystery and controversy.

Without the storm it created last year, the $300 Ose vibrator might not have taken off quite the way it did, said Lora Haddock DiCarlo, founder of the eponymous company which produces it.

"When we did our presale with Ose, after its long-awaited release at the end of November, we hit our yearly sales goal in five hours," she said, as she road aboard a transparent mobile showroom plying the streets of Las Vegas during the show.

The roving booth, like a fishbowl on wheels, displayed the catch phrase: "The pleasure is all yours."

Agence France-Presse

Vagina Museum opens in London, attracting all generations

Inside the winding alleyways of London’s Camden Market, past walls of combat boots, money exchanges and bustling food vendors, a small white sign announces the presence of the complex’s newest tenant: the Vagina Museum.

On Saturday, during its grand opening, the humble brick space — dedicated to understanding and appreciating the vagina, vulva and gynecological anatomy — was packed, mostly with women but from all generations. I heard visitors exchange confessions like “I didn’t know what a period was until I had one” and “I used to think that all vulvas look the same.” Topics of discussion that are often reduced to hushed tones in public spaces, if they are brought up at all, were thrown around with ease and enthusiasm.

“It’s almost like there’s an embargo in society around having very open, frank, honest and educational conversations around vaginas,” said Marissa Conway, 30, who is a founder of the Centre for Feminist Foreign Policy and who attended the opening. “I didn’t expect to have a visceral reaction of gratitude, but there’s an element of relief that we can talk about this.”

The museum is the first of its kind, an answer of sorts to Iceland’s Phallological Museum. With nearly 300 penises and penile parts from local animals, the specimen-rich institution ranks among Reykjavik’s top tourist attractions. While this monument to male genitalia is in many ways an orthodox museum that revolves around a permanent collection of “marvels,” the Vagina Museum is not. Like the city’s Migration Museum, which is focused on the country’s immigrants and refugees, and the Museum of Transology, which purports to be the largest collection dedicated to the lives of transgender people, the Vagina Museum is an institution whose mission is driven by social justice and public health initiatives.

Those expecting to see ancient fertility sculptures, medieval chastity belts or Victorian-era vibrators on display should know that the young, crowd-funded venture includes no such artifacts. At the Vagina Museum, visitors will discover informational posters and sculptures, a small shop with vaginally themed products, and an events calendar that includes a dinner for Trans Day of Remembrance and “Cliterature” (book club) meetings.

“It was much smaller than I anticipated, which was disappointing,” said Seren Mehmet, 28, a technical recruiter at Amazon. “I wanted to see more vaginas!”

The museum has secured a two-year lease on its Camden Market lot, but after that, there are plans for expansion. “The ultimate goal is to build a permanent museum, but that takes a lot of time and resources. This is like our starter home,” said the museum’s founder and director, Florence Schechter, in a phone interview before the opening. The debut show, “Muff Busters: Vagina Myths and How to Fight Them,” is intentionally general and instructive. “I think it’s especially useful for younger people, because most of the time we have to figure this stuff out ourselves,” said Jade Dagwell Douglas, 22, who is a student in London.

“The anatomy has such complex politics around it, that we found it was best to first engage people through what they know, so we can teach them things they don’t know,” said Sarah Creed, the museum’s curator. “Menstruation, cleanliness, sexual activity and contraception are things that a majority of people have discussed in some format, or experienced in some way.” The exhibit addresses all of those topics.

“We can talk about cold, hard facts all we want, but that’s not going to change people’s minds. It’s all about unpacking social constructs and changing perspective through engagement,” Creed said.

Charlotte Wilcox, who illustrated the posters in the exhibit, said it was her job to “be as inclusive as possible” in bringing these myths to life. Rini Jones, 25, a policy and advocacy adviser in London, was “pleasantly surprised” by the exhibit. “I was really skeptical of the show as an activist, queer woman and woman of color,” she said. “There’s a really pervasive and unhelpful equation of women’s rights with often exclusively pink and, by association, white vaginas, in a way that is really trivializing and exclusionary.”

Despite outraging some trolls, team members say they have been pleasantly surprised by the Vagina Museum’s reception. Their biggest challenges are on the internet, where their content is often censored for violating community guidelines.

“It’s not a human problem as much as it is an issue with algorithms, which are set to assume anything with the world vagina in it is adult content or porn,” said Zoe Williams, the museum’s development and marketing manager. “Our emails go to spam and our online ads get rejected, and it’s all because of stigma,” Schechter added. “We’ve had to rely on organic reach.”

My most pressing memory of the visit is not the information gleaned but rather how comfortable I felt in the space. It’s evident the Vagina Museum is striving to make male, transgender and intersex visitors feel just as welcome and included. The word “woman" is used sparingly in wall text, and “Muff Busters” eagerly states that a vagina does not a woman make. One of its central messages is that dismantling gynecological taboos is not a gendered issue.

“This is everyone’s dialogue,” Creed said. “By segregating the issue, we only perpetuate it.”


2019 The New York Times Company

source: news.abs-cbn.com

Many sexually active Pinoys don't use condoms, survey says

MANILA—Most sexually active Filipinos don't always use condoms, a survey this year has found, which puts them at risk of sexually transmitted infections and unwanted pregnancy.

A study by PhilCare, a leading health maintenance organization (HMO), showed that only 1 out of 10 Filipinos always use protection.

Of the 820 sexually active Filipinos polled nationwide, at least 30 percent said they used condoms very frequently to prevent pregnancy and at least 40 percent to avoid sexually transmitted diseases (STDs).

Condom use for the prevention of STDs was also higher among women with 48 percent than men with 36 percent. 

Some 36 percent of women and some 30 percent of men reported using condoms for pregnancy prevention.

The study also found out that Mindanaoans used protection more compared to the national average. 

Some 26 percent of respondents from Mindanao used condoms against unplanned pregnancy, more than twice the national average of 12 percent.

Meanwhile, at least 18 percent of respondents from Mindanao used condoms against STDs, way higher than the national average of 13 percent.

The survey also revealed that only 2 out of 10 young adults, aged 18 to 30, always used protection.

Over half of young adults used protection very frequently against STDs while almost 40 percent did to avoid pregnancy.

Meanwhile, only 12 percent of men and women between 31 to 40 used condoms against STDs while 14 percent said they did to prevent pregnancy.

Older respondents in between 40 to 50 reported lower condom use. Only 10 percent used protection against STDs while only 7 percent as contraception.

"It’s important that we gather relevant information to find solutions to this problem afflicting a growing number of Filipinos,” said lead researcher Fernando Paragas of the University of the Philippines.

source: news.abs-cbn.com

Indonesia police fire tear gas at students protesting sex, graft laws

Police fired tear gas and water cannon to disperse protesters outside Indonesia's parliament Tuesday as thousands demonstrated nationwide against a new criminal code that would, among other things, outlaw premarital sex and weaken the country's anti-graft agency.

Protesters covered their faces and scattered in all directions as chaos erupted in the center of the sprawling capital, Jakarta.

Police also fired teargas at rock-throwing protesters in Makassar on Sulawesi island, while demonstrators broke down a barrier outside the governor's office in Semarang on Java island.

"(We) forcibly dispersed student because they were carrying out anarchist acts, damaging government property and throwing stones at police," said Dicky Sondani, a South Sulawesi police spokesman.

The police action came after flag- and placard-waving demonstrators gathered across the Southeast Asian archipelago -- including in cultural capital Yogyakarta and holiday hotspot Bali -- for a second day in a row.

On Tuesday, lawmakers debated a wide-ranging legal overhaul including hundreds of new laws that would criminalize premarital sex, restrict sales of contraceptives, make it illegal to insult the president, and toughen the Muslim majority country's blasphemy laws.

A vote on the bill was originally scheduled for Tuesday, but President Joko Widodo last week called for a delay in passing the proposed changes after a public backlash.

The mooted changes could affect millions of Indonesians, including gay and heterosexual couples who might face jail for having sex outside wedlock, or having an affair.

Widodo's call for a delay came as the Australian embassy in Jakarta issued a fresh travel advisory, warning that the legislation could put unmarried foreign tourists in the crosshairs.

Millions of tourists visit Bali and other beach destinations in the Southeast Asian nation.

Widodo this week stood firm on plans to pass a separate bill that critics fear would dilute the investigative powers of the corruption-fighting agency -- known as the KPK -- including its ability to wire-tap suspects.

Updating Indonesia's criminal code, which dates back to the Dutch colonial era, has been debated for decades and appeared set to pass in 2018 before momentum fizzled out.

A renewed push this year, backed by conservative Islamic groups, was met with a wave of criticism over what many saw as a draconian law that invaded the bedrooms of a nation with some 260 million people -- the fourth most populous on Earth.

An online petition calling for the bill to be scrapped garnered half a million signatures, while hundreds of thousands took to social media to vent their frustration.

source: news.abs-cbn.com

Indonesia moving to ban sex outside marriage

JAKARTA, Indonesia - Indonesia is set to vote on a plan to outlaw gay and premarital sex while beefing up its blasphemy laws in a shakeup fuelled by religious conservatism and slammed by rights groups Thursday.

The proposed criminal law overhaul could affect millions in the world's biggest Muslim majority country, including heterosexual couples who might face jail for having sex outside wedlock or having an affair.

But there are also fears it could punish the Southeast Asian nation's small LGBT community as gay marriage is not allowed in Indonesia.

"Indonesia's draft criminal code is disastrous not only for women and religious and gender minorities, but for all Indonesians," said Andreas Harsono, senior Indonesia researcher at Human Rights Watch. 

"Lawmakers should remove all the abusive articles before passing the law," he added.

Updating Indonesia's criminal code -- which stretches back to the Dutch colonial era -- has been debated for decades. 

While a push last year fizzled, the mooted changes now appear set to be voted on in parliament before the end of the month -- with strong support from religious groups.

Shift towards fundamentalism

"Even though the criminal code bill that will be ratified still has shortcomings, it's far better than the (one) today," said Robikin Emhas, spokesperson for the Nahdlatul Ulama, a major Islamic organization.

Rights groups say the proposals underscore a growing shift towards fundamentalism in a country long hailed for its religious tolerance.

"This is a setback," said Papang Hidayat, research manager at Amnesty International Indonesia.

"Religious values as a source of lawmaking has now reached the national level -- that's worrying."

People who have premarital or extramarital sex could face between 6 months and 1 year in jail, as well as fines, under the changes.

There are also penalties for anyone "showing or offering" contraception to minors under 18.

Indonesia's Aceh province already imposes Islamic law, and whipping is a common punishment for a range of offenses including gambling, drinking alcohol, and having gay or premarital sex. 

The proposals call for a wider interpretation of Indonesia's blasphemy law, which has seen members of religious minority groups, including Christians and Buddhists, prosecuted in the past.

The new law would also criminalize "insulting" the president or vice president, which critics said would be a blow to free speech.

source: news.abs-cbn.com

Little-known skin disease disrupts people's sex lives

You’ve probably heard of lichens, complex organisms consisting of a fungus and an alga (and sometimes a bacterium) that break down rocks to create soil.

Though lichens vary widely in color and form, most often seen are the white crusty varieties that colonize the surface of trees, rocks and barren soil. This type has lent its name to a little-known skin disease — lichen sclerosus — that typically manifests as white crusts on genital tissues and is often undiagnosed or misdiagnosed before it wreaks havoc on people’s lives.

A related disorder, lichen planus, more often affects the skin and inside of the mouth but can also affect genital membranes, where it can be more challenging to treat than lichen sclerosus.

Although lichen sclerosus can form on any skin surface, it has a predilection for a woman’s vulva and, less often, a man’s penis, and it can so disrupt people’s sex lives that divorce or celibacy is sometimes the outcome.

Lichen planus generally has broader targets, but an erosive form can affect the anal-genital region and other body parts and be as destructive as lichen sclerosus. In addition to pain, both conditions can cause intense itching that, lacking an accurate diagnosis, patients may mistreat with creams and other substances that only make matters worse. Doctors, too, may mistake the problem for a yeast infection and prescribe the wrong treatment.

Furthermore, people rarely talk freely about diseases that attack the vulva or penis, even to their doctors, which delays a correct diagnosis and effective treatment. But even when patients overcome their embarrassment, they often run up against medical ignorance and mistreatment until affected tissues become irreparably scarred.

“When gynecologists do a pelvic exam, they may not even look at the vulva,” said Dr. Anuja Vyas, a gynecologist at Baylor College of Medicine who specializes in these disorders. “Doctors often treat the vulva like a small Midwestern town that you drive through without noticing it.”

And when a woman past menopause complains that vaginal pain has made intercourse impossible, doctors may dismiss it as normal age-related changes and miss the presence of a treatable disease, she said.

Thus, it is often up to patients to make sure they get to a knowledgeable health care provider and get treatment that relieves symptoms and halts progression of their disease.

As two nurse practitioners, Nicholas Wedel and Laura Johnson, pointed out in The Journal of Nurse Practitioners, “Vulvar health is one aspect of women’s health that is often not discussed,” even though “up to 20 percent of all women will experience significant vulvar symptoms at some point in their lives.”

Yet, they added, “when left untreated, vulvar lichen sclerosus can cause significant physical, emotional and sexual discomfort.” It can also result in irreversible destruction of genital tissues and, in rare cases, squamous cell carcinoma.

Women with lichen sclerosus who responded to an international survey had this to say:

“I love my husband and want to be with him sexually and when we try, the pain is unbearable. It feels like cut glass is inside me.”

“My late diagnosis at age 58 was devastating. So much marital heartbreak could have been avoided.”

“Sex is not in my vocabulary anymore. The pain is unbearable and is increased when urinating or defecating.”

A mother whose daughter from age 4 had splits and tears in her skin from lichen sclerosus said her child was “unable to sleep due to intense itching and burning,” and was terrified to use the restroom lest she experience another tear and more pain.

An affected woman echoed the girl’s plight. She said, “It makes me not drink the fluids that my body needs because I don’t want to pee. I have literally screamed when I go.”

Here’s what is important to know about these two chronic diseases.

Neither lichen sclerosus nor lichen planus is a deadly condition. Nor are they contagious or transmitted sexually. The conditions do not have an established cause or definitive cure. Lichen planus may disappear spontaneously or following treatment, but lichen sclerosus rarely improves without proper treatment that should be continued indefinitely.

Both are inflammatory skin conditions likely autoimmune in nature. That is, the body mistakes the skin and mucous membranes for foreign tissue and launches an attack. About 1 woman in 5 with lichen sclerosus is likely to have another autoimmune condition, like thyroid disease, vitiligo or alopecia areata.

Lichen sclerosus can occur at any age but most commonly affects girls before puberty and women after menopause, suggesting that low levels of sex hormones may play a role in its onset. It also seems to have a genetic component. Over the course of a lifetime, as many as 1 woman in 300 may be affected, Vyas said.

Several symptoms of the two conditions overlap, and both can change the architecture of genital tissues, narrowing openings to the vagina or urinary tract.

Lichen planus, which often affects younger women, may start with very itchy purplish bumps on the skin — often the wrist, shins or ankles — that can spread over the body. When it affects the mouth, painful lacy-white lesions form that can make eating a challenge. Vaginal symptoms may include discharge, pain, burning and itching.

Symptoms of lichen sclerosus include smooth white patches on the skin, intense itching, tearing of the skin, discomfort or pain that can be extreme, and in severe cases bleeding, blisters or ulcerated sores.

While neither disorder is common, vulvar lichen sclerosus can affect as many as 1 woman in 30 after menopause. Genital lichen disease is estimated to be 10 times more common among women than men, who are more likely to get it if they are not circumcised.

The most effective treatment for lichen sclerosus is a potent corticosteroid ointment called clobetasol (Temovate), applied in tiny amounts several times a day at first, then less and less often as symptoms improve. Vyas said that “even if the condition is advanced, it will get better if treated properly and treatment is continued indefinitely.”

Also helpful is routine use of skin moisturizers, like vitamin E suppositories, hyaluronic acid or a product called Revaree, she said. To reduce sexual discomfort, she suggested using a water- or oil-based lubricant: food-grade oils like coconut, olive, grapeseed or avocado oil, or a personal lubricant called Slippery Stuff. If scarring limits sexual penetration, dilators can be used to gently stretch the vaginal tissues to make intercourse more comfortable.

Although the risk of cancer is low, women with either lichen disease should be examined regularly for evidence of a malignancy.


2019 New York Times News Service

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US liquor heiress charged in New York 'sex slave' case

NEW YORK - An American heiress to a liquor fortune was arrested and charged Tuesday in connection with a secretive society of women sex slaves, before being released on a $100 million bond, US prosecutors said.

Clare Bronfman, 39, a philanthropist and former equestrian show jumper, is the daughter of Edgar Bronfman, the late Canadian chairman of liquor giant Seagram whose net worth was estimated at $2.6 billion.

Bronfman appeared before a judge in Brooklyn, New York and was released with an ankle bracelet after prosecutors argued she was a flight risk.

She was a member of the executive board of Nxivm, a purported self-help group accused of presiding over a secretive society of women sex slaves that shot to notoriety for its initiation rites branding them with the founder's initials.

She is accused of using her wealth to fund Nxivm, and is charged with racketeering conspiracy, which carries a maximum sentence of 20 years, and identity theft with a statutory maximum sentence of 15 years.

Her lawyer, Susan Necheles, said her client "did nothing wrong."

"Nxivm was not a criminal enterprise but instead was an organization that helped thousands of people," she added in a statement.

Three other women, also from Clifton Park, New York were arrested and charged, and similarly entered not guilty pleas, prosecutors said.

Prosecutors also unveiled further charges against Keith Raniere, 57, the Nxivm founder already charged with sex trafficking and forced labor conspiracy.

Raniere, who was arrested in Mexico in March, is accused of creating a secret society called "DOS" -- a pyramid scheme of women "slaves" and "masters" with him -- the sole man -- at the top.

Prosecutors had branded Bronfman an "extraordinarily high" flight risk owing to her vast wealth, access to a private jet, ownership stake in a private island in Fiji, and because her mother and sister live overseas.

Allison Mack, a television actress, was also arrested in April on sex trafficking charges for allegedly recruiting women to the purported mentorship group, whom US prosecutors say were forced to have sex with its leader.

Members were allegedly treated as slaves -- branded with Raniere's initials while being pinned down naked and filmed at initiation ceremonies.

Some were forced onto low-calorie diets as Raniere preferred exceptionally thin women, and none were allowed to sleep with anyone but him, prosecutors said.

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Gay man says pope told him: 'God made you this way' - paper

MADRID - A Chilean man who suffered clerical sexual abuse has said Pope Francis told him in a private conversation that God had made him gay and loved him that way, according to the Spanish newspaper El Pais.

The Vatican declined to comment on the report but, if confirmed, it would be a striking statement of tolerance towards homosexuality, which the Church has condemned as an immoral disorder if it is actively practiced.

In an interview published on Sunday, abuse victim Juan Carlos Cruz told El Pais that Pope Francis had told him during a meeting this month: "The fact that you are gay does not matter."

Cruz said Francis had also told him: "God made you this way and loves you this way, and it doesn't matter to me. The pope loves you this way, you must be happy the way you are."

Cruz was one of 3 Chilean victims who were invited by the pope to Rome this month in the wake of a scandal in Chile over priestly sexual abuse and efforts by the Church hierarchy there to hush it up.

After attending a crisis meeting with Francis about the cover-up last week, all of Chile's bishops offered to resign.

Since his election in 2013, the pope has dramatically shifted the language the Church has used about homosexuality, which was once seen as a taboo subject.

"If a person is gay and seeks God and has good will, who am I to judge?" he said on his first overseas trip in 2013. In 2016, he said had ministered to people with unfulfilled homosexual tendencies as well as homosexuals who were not able to remain chaste, as the Church asks them to.

"When a person arrives before Jesus, Jesus certainly will not say: 'Go away because you are homosexual'," he said.

Francis's predecessor, Pope Benedict, wrote in 2005 that homosexuality was "a strong tendency ordered toward an intrinsic moral evil". 

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Sex and the White House: from Clinton to Trump

WASHINGTON - Two decades ago this week US president Bill Clinton declared that he "did not have sexual relations with that woman."

As it turned out, he did -- and he was impeached for lying about his trysts with Monica Lewinsky.

Today, another US president is accused of sexual impropriety -- specifically of paying off a porn star one month before the November 2016 election to keep their adulterous liaison quiet.

Such a bombshell allegation would be the kiss of death to most political careers.

But Trump is no normal politician and in his tumultuous administration, "it's not even the biggest story of the week," wrote Aaron Blake in The Washington Post.

Political analysts are scratching their heads to explain why -- when it comes to Trump -- such a revelation barely elicits a collective shrug.

Clinton, of course, was president at the time and some of his assignations with Lewinsky, a 22-year-old intern, took place in a secluded study by the hallowed Oval Office.

Trump was a private citizen when the 2006 sexual encounter with adult film actress Stormy Daniels was alleged to have taken place.

He was, though, married at the time and his wife, Melania, had given birth to their son less than four months earlier.

Tobe Berkovitz, an associate professor of advertising at Boston University, said Trump displays an uncanny ability to sail past scandals.

"Trump is an anomaly," said Berkovitz, who has served as a political consultant on numerous political campaigns in addition to teaching.

"Look at the litany of other politicians, celebrities and journalists who have just had the trap door open out from under them for behavior that might not be as egregious or as bad as Trump's," Berkovitz told AFP.

The Wall Street Journal reported last week that Trump had paid Daniels $130,000 to keep a lid on their dalliance.

Trump, through his personal lawyer, and Daniels, 38, whose real name is Stephanie Clifford, have both denied anything ever went on between them.

But In Touch magazine published a 2011 interview with Daniels last week in which she expounds at length and in detail on their relationship and what she described as their "textbook generic" sex.

The In Touch interview, which had not been published before, was conducted prior to Daniels' alleged signing of a secrecy agreement in October 2016.

VOTERS SEEM DISINTERESTED 

G. Terry Madonna, director of the Center for Politics and Public Affairs at Franklin and Marshall College, said he was a bit surprised at the lack of interest in the Stormy Daniels allegations -- particularly during the current "Me Too" moment of reckoning over sexual misconduct.

"This doesn't seem to have taken hold," Madonna said. "You would think this was something that would have gotten a fair amount of attention but no, not at all.

"There's not been an overriding interest in the American media and the voters seem, what's the word, as though they're disinterested."

Madonna and other analysts said this may be partly due to the constant drumbeat of extraordinary headlines coming out of the Trump White House.

"I can't figure out -- and I've been doing this for a long time -- whether it's because every day there's almost some huge national crisis of one sort or another," Madonna said.

"(Maybe) it's just the fact that it happened in 2006," that Trump was a private citizen and that the sex was -- by all accounts -- consensual, he said.

In any case, Madonna doesn't think Trump has anything to worry about.

"Believe me, with Trump things can change in a heartbeat, but I don't think this has much legs to derail his presidency at this point," he said.

Olivia Nuzzi, Washington correspondent for New York magazine, attributed the apparent blase reaction by the public and the press to what could be termed Trump "scandal fatigue."

"You know, he's had so many scandals like this that it kind of almost has a tiring effect on all of us," Nuzzi said on CNN's "Reliable Sources."

Boston University's Berkovitz agreed. "I think what's happened is that some people have perhaps become numb to some of this behavior when it comes to Trump," he said.

"It's not that there's a different standard for Trump," he said. "It's how Trump reacts to the allegations. Trump pulls off the gloves and hits the mobile and starts tweeting. He doubles down on everything."

Berkovitz said this reminds him, "ironically of Bill Clinton."

"The classic 1990s Bill Clinton was to 'Let no charge go unanswered,'" Berkovitz said. "Basically to -- I don't want to say lie -- but to bend the truth dramatically.

"He had no qualms about that."

Daniels, meanwhile, is cashing in on her notoriety.

She appeared at the Trophy Club strip club in Greenville, South Carolina, over the weekend as part of a "Make America Horny Again" tour that will also reportedly take her to several other states over the next few months.

cl/mdo/ec

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Sex exists to avoid disease, study shows

From an evolutionary perspective, sexual reproduction could be seen as a non-starter.

Compared to cloning, which also exists in Nature, it's a major waste of time and energy.

Think of the ungainly, preening peacock -- an easy snack for tigers and wild dogs -- strutting his stuff to impress the ladies.

Even without predators, sex and its attendant rituals can be dangerous: when stags butt heads or alpha-male lions fight for mating rights, it does not always end well.

Some animals and plants -- starfish, bananas, to name two -- reproduce asexually. Even a few birds and bees do it solo, Cole Porter be damned.

Others, like the Komodo dragon, can work it either way, though asexually produced Komodo babies -- produced by their mothers -- are not clones.

In short, without males in the picture the business of reproducing is faster and less fraught.

And yet, sex remains by far the dominant means by which the world's fauna and flora pass on genes to future generations, ensuring the survival of the species.

"One of the oldest questions in evolutionary biology is, why does sex exist?" said Stuart Auld, a biologist at the University of Stirling in Scotland.

Darwin's laws of natural selection dictate that doing it the hard way -- sex rather than cloning, in this case -- must confer some major, if hidden, advantages.

Granted, sexual reproduction fuels genetic variation, which boosts the likelihood that offspring in the wild will have the genetic makeup to thrive in an ever-changing environment.

By contrast, clones do not vary, and so if the environment deteriorates, a clonal mother will produce offspring that lack the genes they need to succeed.

'Twofold cost of sex'

"But sex needs to be over twice as efficient as cloning to outweigh its costs," Auld told AFP.

"If sex is to be favored by natural selection, a sexual mother needs to either produce twice as many offspring as an asexual mother, or produce offspring that are twice as good."

Biologists have long agreed that the enhanced ability to fight off disease was a major advantage of the genetic changes that come with sexual reproduction.

But constructing an experiment to confirm this has always proved difficult: how do you compare the costs and benefits of sexual strategies in different species?

To get around that "apples and oranges" problem, Auld and two colleagues used an organism -- the humble waterflea -- that can reproduce both ways.

"By comparing clonal and sexual daughters from the same mothers, we found sexually produced offspring get less sick," Auld said.

The ever-present need to evade disease, it turned out, explains why sex persists in the natural world in spite of the high "costs" that come with it, he explained.

Parasites and their hosts are in a constant tug-of-war, each evolving and adapting to the other, one attacking immune defenses and the other rebuilding them.

Cloning offers fewer chances for genetic changes in the host that can rise to that challenge.

But sexual reproduction -- with a new genetic variations coming into the mix with each generation -- offers more opportunities to fight back against pathogens.

The findings were published in the British journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B.

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