ScienceDaily (June 29, 2009) — Two Indiana University studies conducted among nationally representative samples of adult American men and women show that vibrator use during sexual interactions is common, with use being reported by approximately 53 percent of women and 45 percent of men ages 18 to 60. Not only is vibrator use common, but the two studies also show that vibrator use is associated with more positive sexual function and being more proactive in caring for one’s sexual health.

The studies, led by researchers at the Center for Sexual Health Promotion in IU’s School of Health, Physical Education and Recreation, are the first to publish data about vibrator use from nationally representative samples of the U.S. population. This lack of data has existed despite a longstanding practice by many physicians and therapists to recommend vibrator use to help treat sexual dysfunctions or to improve sexual enjoyment.

One study surveyed women. The other surveyed men. Both were published this week by the “Journal of Sexual Medicine,” a leading peer-reviewed journal in the area of urology and sexual health.

“The study about women’s vibrator use affirms what many doctors and therapists have known for decades — that vibrator use is common, it’s linked to positive sexual function such as desire and ease of orgasm, and it’s rarely associated with any side effects,” said Debby Herbenick, associate director of the Center for Sexual Health Promotion.

Michael Reece, director of the Center for Sexual Health Promotion, said the studies are important for the contributions they make to an understanding of the sexual behaviors and sexual health of adults in today’s society.

“The study about male vibrator use is additionally important because it shows that vibrator use is also common among men, something that has not been documented before,” Reece said. “Also, both studies help us to further understand the way in which American consumers are turning to the marketplace for products that promote their sexual health, and that has important economic implications.”

The studies are the first to document insights into how and why people use vibrators, examine side effects and to explore associations with sexual health behaviors, sexual enjoyment and quality of life measures.

For women

More than half of the women (52.5 percent) had used a vibrator with nearly one in four having done so in the past month.

Vibrator users were significantly more likely to have had a gynecological exam during the past year and to have performed genital self-examination during the previous month.

Vibrator use was positively related to several aspects of sexual function (desire, arousal, lubrication, orgasm, pain and overall function) with recent vibrator users scoring themselves higher on most sexual function domains, suggesting more positive sexual function.

Most women (71.5 percent) reported having never experienced any side effects associated with vibrator use. Those side effects that were reported were typically rare and of a short duration.

For men

The prevalence of men who had incorporated a vibrator into sexual activities during their lives was 44.8 percent, with no statistical differences between the rates of vibrator use between men who identified as heterosexual and those who identified as gay or bisexual.

Heterosexual men most commonly reported having used vibrators during foreplay or intercourse with a female partner, with 91 percent of those who had used a vibrator reporting that they had done so during such activities with women.

Of men who have used vibrators, 10 percent had done so in the past month, 14.2 percent in the past year and 20.5 percent more than one year ago.

Men who reported having used vibrators, particularly those with more recent use, were more likely to report participation in sexual health promoting behaviors, such as testicular self-exam.

Men who had used vibrators recently also scored themselves higher on four of the five domains of sexual function, as measured by the International Index of Erectile Function (erectile function, intercourse satisfaction, orgasmic function and sexual desire).

The study specifically sought to establish nationally representative rates of vibrator use among men and women in the United States. Vibrators are electrical devices that produce pulses of variable amplitude and frequency to enhance sexual arousal in men and women by stimulating the genitals. Marketed widely to women through the Internet, women’s magazines, boutiques and in-home sex toy parties, they also are available in drug stores and other mainstream retailers.

Read full article with citations.

The Midwest Teen Sex Show might not be the the best link to click on if you’re the mayor of Racine, but – don’t worry – it’s not porn! They’re not promoting teen sex, but instead creating a “space for frank discussion of all things related to teen sexuality.” Finally. During an age where abstinent-only education reigns, this blunt and campy approach to safe sex really lubes up a normally dry topic. The best part – and the most outrageous – is that it is made for and by midwesterners – bringing a sense of new age liberalism from the coasts to the flat lands.

Queef applauds the efforts of the Teen Sex Show! We hope this approach to open, non judgemental, discussions of important health issues will spread! And while they’ve got episodes on “Orgasms,” “Festishes,” and “Backdoor Business,” we can’t wait for an episode on the Queef!

Check it out – and tell a friend!

http://midwestteensexshow.com/

Further Eroding Constitutional

Protections for Abortion Rights

New York, NY – Today, in a 6-5 decision, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit upheld a Virginia law that threatens doctors with criminal penalties  for performing the most common method of second trimester abortion.The majority acknowledged that the ban will, in some circumstances, force physicians to stop a previability abortion mid-procedure, to the jeopardy of the patient’s health and well-being. Nonetheless, the court upheld the ban, further eroding the constitutional protections long given to women’s health.

“Today’s ruling is another stunning assault on women’s reproductive rights and on the doctors who provide abortion care,” said Stephanie Toti, staff attorney at the Center for Reproductive Rights who argued before the appellate court.  “Forcing doctors to compromise women’s health for the sake of a previable fetus with no potential for survival is an outrage.”

The court also suggested that the case was premature and that the challenge should not have been filed until a patient undergoing an abortion was experiencing an immediate health risk as a result of the ban.

Five of the eleven judges dissented from the decision,  pointing out that it “marks an alarming departure from settled Supreme Court precedent: it sanctions an unconstitutional burden on a woman’s right to choose.” In 2007, the Supreme Court ordered the Fourth Circuit to re-evaluate the constitutionality of the Virginia law after it upheld a more narrow federal ban in the Center’s case Gonzales v. Carhart.

In May of 2008, a three-judge panel of the Fourth Circuit struck down the Virginia law finding that it was substantially broader than the federal law, such that “every time” a doctor set out to perform any standard second trimester abortion, “he faces the unavoidable risk of criminal prosecution, conviction, and imprisonment.”

The plaintiffs in the case, Richmond Medical Center v. Herring, are Richmond Medical Center, its staff, and patients. They are represented by Toti and Janet Crepps, deputy director of the U.S. legal program at the Center for Reproductive Rights.

Help Protect Roe V Wade

Please take the next step with us and send a letter to Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy asking him to engage Judge Sonia Sotomayor and any future nominees to the Court on their commitment to the principles of Roe v. Wade.

How do I send a letter?

It’s easy! Just copy the comments that the Center for Reproductive Rights has drafted for you below and paste them here, or go to http://leahy.senate.gov/contact.cfm.

Subject Line: Where does Judge Sotomayor stand on Roe?

Dear Senator Leahy,

I am joining the Center for Reproductive Rights today as it calls on you and the Senate Judiciary Committee to conduct a fair and open Supreme Court confirmation process. As an American citizen, I want to know that President Obama’s nominee Federal Appeals Court Judge Sonia Sotomayor supports recognized constitutional rights, including a woman’s right to choose an abortion.

It’s critical that the Senate Judiciary Committee engage Judge Sotomayor and any future nominees to the Court on their commitment to the principles of Roe v. Wade. The last Supreme Court decision on abortion was 5 to 4 and diluted the constitutional protections for a woman’s right to abortion.

Now is the time for the Senate to stand up for a woman’s right to choose and to acknowledge the central role it plays. Anything short of that threatens not only a woman’s constitutional rights, but her life and health.

Thank you for your time and attention to this critical issue.

[Optional - add your additional comments here]

Your name

Take Action!  Thank Governor Doyle for being a champion for women’s health!

It looks like you want a bone – well suck on this!

Check out the Queef Worthy Bands – a new link section devoted to local and indy bands who are guaranteed to fill you with warm, succulent air pockets – ready to burst out on the page for a submission to the Second Issue!

Are you looking for a movie that will entertain you, while simultaneously stimulate your feminist consciousness? Check out HBO’s “Iron Jawed Angels.”

Women’s suffrage is so often approached with the dry page of a history textbook. Iron Jawed Angels brings those black-and-white photos of suffragists in their “Votes for Women” sashes into HD color!

Set to a hip soundtrack, this movie will make you want to don a sash and feathered hat and hit the streets, fists pumping.

Just a reminder that August is right around the corning! That means that submission deadlines for Queef’s next issue AND The Anthology of the Awkward are coming up fast!

Check out previous posts for details!

Don’t make me spank you, little doggy!

Queef is compiling odes to the bra! Whether you’re burning it, can’t find one that fits right without pinching your armpit hair, love those little pink bows, or just love flap’n in the breeze – send us work dedicated to those fabulous cups that we all want to drink from!

Bra submissions should follow the standard submission guidelines, so check those out. Otherwise, make sure to include BRA in your email subject.

Watch the full episode, “Eat, Pray, and Queef,” at http://www.southparkstudios.com/episodes/220761.

As Editor-In-Queef, I thought I would pass on this info for a book I will be co-editing this summer. It sounds right up any Queefer’s . . . ally.

The Anthology of the Awkward is currently seeking flash fiction, prose poems, and short essay submissions for Volume One: The Virgins.  We are looking for unpublished pieces under 1000 words that portray mortifying, awkward, humorous, ordinary, embarrassing, painful, mundane, stressful, tiresome, pathetic, humiliating, and unremarkable experiences involved with losing your virginity.  We want these to be concise, raw and short-lived, just like your first time.  Skip the foreplay.  Get to the point.

Please send submissions, double-spaced in Times New Roman 12 point font to:

virginityanthology@gmail.com

Be sure to include your contact information.

Deadline: AUGUST 15, 2009.