Sex & Sexualities

Indonesia's parliament has passed an anti-pornography law despite furious opposition to it.

Islamic parties said the law was needed to protect women and children against exploitation and to curb increasing immorality in Indonesian society.

The law would ban images, gestures or talk deemed to be pornographic.

Artists, women's groups and non-Muslim minorities said they could be victimised under the law and that traditional practices could be banned.

San Francisco Sex Information (SFSI) trains people to become sex educators and operates a free information and referral switchboard. We provide free, confidential, accurate, non-judgmental information about sex and reproductive health. If you have a question about sex, we'll either answer it or refer you to someone who can. Our volunteers undergo extensive training in all aspects of human sexuality, including reproduction, birth control, safer sex practices, HIV and other STDs, sexual identity, and gender identity.

In September 2006 a new clause was inserted into the Sexual Offences Act making it an offence to "unlawfully and intentionally engage the sexual services of a person 18 years or older for financial or other reward, favour or compensation." According to the Portfolio Committee on Justice and Constitutional Development the intended aim of this clause is to protect sex workers from exploitation and abuse and to prevent trafficking in persons by eradicating sex work.

For women, it seems, sex is a big turn-off, reveals a brain scanning study. It shows that many areas of the brain switch off during the female orgasm - including those involved with emotion.

"At the moment of orgasm, women do not have any emotional feelings," says Gert Holstege of the University of Groningen in the Netherlands.

Sex research funding has been cut drastically due to pressure from conservative groups. Scientists who have yet to close their labs express concerns that with sponsorship from drug companies filling the gap, research projects might not be going after the most socially useful information.

When Alfred Kinsey's studies Sexual Behavior in the Human Male and Sexual Behavior in the Human Female were published more than half a century ago, their findings shattered any Victorian misconceptions of sex in the United States. According to the research-compiled from some 18,000 testimonials-37 percent of U.S. men (and 13 percent of women) had had at least one homosexual experience, while 62 percent of women (and 92 percent of men) masturbated. Premarital sex was common. Half of married men and a quarter of married women had cheated on their spouses.

This essay is based on issues relating to a study of sexuality among low-income college students in Mumbai. Low-income students were made the focus because: existing urban studies are on English speaking students in 'elite' colleges; sex education programmes had not really started in 'non-elite' colleges, and these students' behaviour could be affected by their lack of resources. Data were collected during 1996-1998, from four colleges catering to low income students in the city. Boys and girls in the eleventh standard in high school and in third year undergraduate college were interviewed. In the first phase, qualitative data were gathered using 10 focus group discussions and interviews with 87 students. This was used to design a survey which used a self-administered questionnaire. A total of 966 students participated in the survey.

Certain sections of the long-awaited Sexual Offences Act finally came into operation on Sunday.

According to a statement released by Department of Justice and Constitutional Development, Clause 72 of the Act provides for the implementation of Chapters 1 to 4 and 7 came into operation on Sunday.

These relate mainly to the creation of statutory sexual offences and certain transitional arrangements and evidentiary matters.

Certain sections of the long-awaited Sexual Offences Act finally came into operation this week. They deal mainly with statutory sexual offences relating to assault, exploitation, trafficking and child pornography.