Facets of Our Lives

As I mentioned on Monday , while I still reside in Arizona, I have been working in California. Specifically, I have been working at a site about 30 minutes north of San Francisco. I have spent much of the last several months on site, but in 2013, we are adjusting my schedule so I can divide my time a bit more fairly and effectively between the two states. Since relocating to Arizona in 2005, I have spent most of my time working from home, leaving me outside of typical office politics and human social interaction. It hasn't been all bad - in fact, I have found that it has made my work more productive and efficient. Unfortunately, I am still human, and there is much to like about being around other members of the species. Not the least of this is what I refer to as "eye candy". And oh, is there much to see. Post education, we meet most of our social contacts through our places of employment. Even with all the social media options we have now, there is no substitute ...

There has been an ongoing debate, especially during the Bush Administration, regarding sex education with respect to whether it should be offered in the public schools and what it should cover. At this point, there seems to be less controversy over the former, as a majority have accepted that it has a place in the curriculum for at least some students. The primary battles have been over abstinence, sexual orientation, and safe sex/contraception. I was a teenager in the 1980s, going to high school in New Jersey. HIV/AIDS had hit by 1982, so during the time I was in high school, venereal diseases were an entirely different level of concern than they are even now. AIDS was not effectively treatable at that time, even if the more common afflictions of gonorrhea and syphilis might be. Even with this wrinkle, I feel I had a very progressively oriented sex education curriculum for the time period. We did discuss the basics of reproduction and sexual health, but much of the content of ...

Two days ago, Representative Anthony Weiner of New York admitted that he had sent "inappropriate" photos of himself to a female college student in Washington state over Twitter . I am not sure why we're all surprised by this, nor am I sure why the United States or the American media are apoplectic over this. Millions of people -- literally millions -- have sent some form of risqué image of themselves to other people. Every new technology has been sexualized whenever possible, especially over the last two centuries. Pornographic photography is as old as photography itself, and once cameras became cheap enough to be available to the masses, people sent self-images to the objects of their sexual affection. The internet is just faster and a lot less private. But I can't get upset at little (or not so little) Anthony for being as human as the rest of us. "But he's a married man!" Do you think he is the first married man to do this? He's not even t...

A Facets Reader writes: Food for thought... Though I consider myself to be a heterosexual man, I think that most everyone is *at least* a little bisexual. And I'm sure that 4 out of 5 psychologists would disagree with my simplistic view, but maybe some people think about/consider/fantasize/act upon those thoughts/feelings/desires more than others. But again, I may be over simplifying and there may be more to it than a lingering thought - who knows.   As I've said before, human sexuality, in general, is a complicated thing. The first in-depth, pioneering study was done by Alfred Kinsey, who released his data in 1948 and 1953 for men and women, respectively. The eponymous "Kinsey Scale" is an oft-used descriptor of sexuality, as it clearly illustrates that human sexuality is a continuum. This is also useful for discussing our reader's observation. While there are Kinsey-0s (exclusively heterosexual) and Kinsey-6s (exclusively homosexual), there is a lo...