Does the female orgasm have a purpose other than pleasure? Does it serve some sort of evolutionary imperative? Or perhaps it is an adaptation made for the survival of our species? Do people really care? Well, apparently a lot of researchers do and they have come up with all kinds of ideas.

For the most part, I find all of this conjecture pretty amusing but then I read this:

“Perhaps the reason orgasm is so erratic is that it’s phasing out,” Dr. Hrdy said. “Our descendants on the starships may well wonder what all the fuss was about.” (emphasis mine)

I can tell you this, if it is phasing out there will be a lot fewer descendants wondering about it. Hetero men and lesbians had better hope that the female orgasm is here to stay and that they become more regular and powerful. In fact, I think that hetero men and lesbians should continue to search for and experiment many different ways to increase the frequency of female orgasms during sex. Otherwise a lot of people are going to be very frustrated.

Someone please tell me why Jeb Bush and the State of Florida are trying to force a 13 year old girl to have a baby she doesn’t want?

The National Women’s Law Center is on the job. They’ve created the Pharmacy Refusal Project. It includes messaging about the impact of pharmacy refusal (useful when drafting that letter to your lawmakers). There’s a pdf brochure with suggested questions for health care providers (useful when selecting a pharmacy). There are a few links to articles about the issue and contact for reporting denied service. This doesn’t negate the need for our individual voices – I think it underscores it – but it could be a great resource for writing letters to lawmakers, pharmacists, insurance companies, etc…

They’ve also got a web sticker program called “Write to Congress.” I’m grabbing one of those for Nerd’s Eye View as soon as I’m done posting here.

Courtesy of the good folks at Riffle Meet the sex-obsessed nutbag who is front and center in the fight to make sure that crazy sluts women can’t get abortion pills birth control pills at their local pharmacies. It’s inconceivable to me that people like this are actually influencing policy in this country. The inmates are truly running the asylum. To wit, from a Google archive of one of her Usenet posts:

For all the NOW gal types who might be lurking…. See what the
Domestic Farm Animal style Birth Control has gotten you? When you get
pregnant, you did it to yourself. The man does not participate. It’s
not his fault. That little head works by remote control, and is totally
disconnected from the big head. It’s just a whackoff. That comes from
drinking the water that ya’ll have been peeing the hormones into…..
(hehe, just kidding). But that “environmental hazard” is one reason
that B.C. pills are still illegal in Japan!!!
NOW gals, ya got what you wanted. Total autonomy. So don’t ask some of
these guys for child support. Thanks for screwing things up for women
who want their kids to have a daddy.

I’m all for chastity requirements in the military uniform code of
justice. Dishonorable discharge and loss of benefits for anyone caught
having sex outside of marriage. Male or Female. Whaddaya think???
Wouldn’t a chastity patrol be wild! Finally: constructive
employment for voyeurs!!
And I’m for no sex at all for people who cannot accept a baby. Not even
a B.J., ’cause they don’t deserve one.

Seriously. Crazy.

When is it OK to bring your religious beliefs to work? There are some who say never and others who say always.

I have been wrestling with this issue for the past few days after speaking with my mother who is a nurse. We were, of course, discussing the issue of a pharmacist’s right to refuse to fill a prescription for contraception because of a religious objection. First, she was surprised this was so and then said to me, “Well, since it is not, technically, a life or death matter there is no reason that they should be compelled to fill the prescription.” She went on to explain that she manages nurses who refuse to have anything to do with sterilization or abortion procedures in the hospital where she works. If there are other nurses on duty, then these people are free to excuse themselves from assisting in this type of procedure. However, if they are the only nurse on duty, for instance they were on call, they would have to put aside their objection for the health of the patient on the table.

The other point she made was this: we live in a country where we are free to believe what we want and practice our own religious choice. She would hate to think that the state or courts could compel people to put aside their beliefs for something other than a life or death situation.
Read the rest of this entry »

Let’s cut right to the chase here:

Some pharmacists across the country are refusing to fill prescriptions for birth control and morning-after pills, saying that dispensing the medications violates their personal moral or religious beliefs.

If I say this is outrageous, it doesn’t even begin to express half of my anger over this. I know it’s a facile question, but where’s it going to end? The fact that such cultish behavior is crawling on its belly in to the mainstream leaves me terrified, angry, and worse, hopeless.

A pharmacist is not a moral arbiter. A pharmacist is not a marriage counselor. A pharmacist is not a doctor. A pharmacist’s job is, I thought, silly me, to dispense medication and make sure the patient recieving that medication is informed about the medical implications of taking that medications. Medical implications. Not social. Not moral.

It’s a testament to the state of my despair that my first thought was, well, okay, if a pharmacist is going to act that way, they should be so labelled. That way, terrified patients won’t suffer humiliation at the hands of an unsympathetic dispensor. But that’s just ridiculous. If I refuse to do my job, I don’t get to work. A pharmacist taking this course of action should be fired. Instead, they’re the standard bearers at the desk at the back of the store. Bathed in the holy light of flourescents, a pharmacist now is given the option to reset your moral compass while handing you your antibiotics.

I swear, we are not just waging a war on terror. We are waging a war on women. God help us. God help our daughters.

Are women to be allowed no right to privacy? It seems that once we begin our menses, our bodies are no longer ours but somehow the collective property of the arbiters of “right.” Once more government is attempting to invade the medical privacy of women.

This is a particularly twisted use of their power. The AG of Indiana is asserting that they are seeking proof of child abuse by seizing the records of girls 13 and under from local Planned Parenthood offices. While I applaud efforts to ensure the safety of their state’s children, it seems to me that there are much more effective ways to do this than seizing medical records.

For example, the State of Indiana could add budget and personnel to the Child Protective Services office and to their juvenile courts. They could put together a statewide task force that visits schools to inform students and parents about the laws and offer counseling services for students that wish to come forward as well as training teachers and school officials in how to spot and counsel abused children.

And what about the boys? Are boys to be left out of this new push to ensure the safety of children? How does seizing the private medical records of girls who voluntarily sought medical care from Planned Parenthood protect male children at risk?

This is yet one more fishing expedition by a state AG (see KS, PA and MS) in the anti-choice attack on women’s productive rights.

As I step closer to being 29 (*wink* in days my little cupcakes) I ponder the idea of my face only in order to help my elder little cupcakes. Now don’t get me wrong, I, CC Royale, do not look a day over 18! But one must prepare for the impending doom of the ‘later years’. So once again I went on a quest for the answers…ooh what great wisdom do you think I could find? Well the Dali Lama’s advice was for poo poo, the Pope just waved…me away, and my dear old friend, Betty Crooker…well the old hag is dead so what good is she.

So a quest on my own dear self, I set out. During my journey a great flash of light went streaking across my face…What would HELL would Linda Evans do? WWLED? That old has-been is at least three times older then Miss CC Royale….Thank god for Linda Evans! At last I can rest and relax my tired old face…until next time, sweet cupcakes!

With all the anger in the world it is not surprising that Barbie, of all people, has taken up the fight! GI Joe better watch his back or Barbie is blowing up that pack back mess tent that he’s been toting around Iraq. And Malibu Ken just better mind his p’s and q’s while doing missionary work over in Palestine, because Suicide Bomber Barbie is a raging homicidal bitch!

First draft has a post you have to read. With a strong drink in hand. And a blank check to NARAL.