When did the middle finger become offensive?

Thanks to Cory Silverberg for passing this via twitter

By Daniel Nasaw BBC News Magazine, Washington

An American television network has apologised after pop star M.I.A. extended her middle finger during Sunday night's Super Bowl halftime show. What does the gesture mean, and when did it become offensive?

A public intellectual, expressing his contempt for a gas-bag politician, reaches for a familiar gesture. He extends his middle finger and declares: "This is the great demagogue".
The episode occurred not on a chat show nor in the salons of New York or London, but in Fourth Century BC Athens, when the philosopher Diogenes told a group of visitors exactly what he thought about the orator Demosthenes, according to a later Greek historian.
The middle finger, extended with the other fingers held beneath the thumb, is thus documented to have expressed insult and belittlement for more than two millennia.

'Phallic gesture'
Ancient Greek philosophers, Latin poets hoping to sell copies of their works, soldiers, athletes and pop stars, school children, peevish policemen and skittish network executives have all been aware of the gesture's particular power to insult and enflame.

"It's one of the most ancient insult gestures known," says anthropologist Desmond Morris.
"The middle finger is the penis and the curled fingers on either side are the testicles. By doing it, you are offering someone a phallic gesture. It is saying, 'this is a phallus' that you're offering to people, which is a very primeval display."

During Sunday night's broadcast of the Super Bowl, America's most-watched television programme of the year, British singer M.I.A. extended the finger during a performance of Madonna's Give Me All Your Luvin'.

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Vulval condition

Lichen Sclerosus: I recently learned of the seriousness of this condition at one of our ASSERTSA meetings. Thanks to Dr Ann Olsson for her presentation. The description below is not from the presentation but one from a paper : Topical interventions for genital lichen sclerosus (Review) Chi CC, Kirtschig G, Baldo M, Brackenbury F, Lewis F, Wojnarowska F


Lichen sclerosus is a chronic, inflammatory skin condition that most commonly occurs in adult women, although it may also be seen in men and children. It primarily affects the genital area and around the (vulva) and anus, where it causes persistent itching and soreness. Scarring after inflammation may lead to severe damage by fusion of the vulval lips (labia); narrowing of the vaginal opening; and burying of the clitoris in women and girls, as well as tightening of the foreskin in men and boys, if treatments are not started early. Affected people have an increased risk of genital cancers.

If you are working with young women who have persistant itching which they may think is thrush that is persistant. SUGGEST THEY GO TO A GP. Have a swab to make sure this is only thrush and not Lichen Sclerosus or Lichen Planos. These can be very serious and are often mistaken for persistant thrush. Don't self treat thrush. Go to your GP


You can always ring the ShineSA helpline Telephone: 1300 883 793 Toll free:


1800 188 171 (country callers only).


or send me an email via the 'contact me' tab.

Gender 101 - Transgender Basics

Really good video from the Gender Identity project that gives a good grounding in discussions re gender and transgender. Have a watch.

Orgasm Industry and women

Really good interview from Tamara McClintlock Greenberg with Liz Tanner in the huffington post

TMG: In your film Carol Queen describes FSD as the "hysteria of this century." How do you think the medicalization of female orgasm and desire has impacted women today?
LC: Throughout history, medicine has pathologized women's sexuality in order to understand and control it. During the Victorian era, many women with sexual problems were diagnosed as hysterical. In our grandmother's time, women with low desire were said to suffer from frigidity. During the feminist movement of the 1960's and 70's, the pathologizing and medicalizing of woman's sexual experience was challenged and resisted. Terms such as nymphomania, hysteria and frigidity were no longer used. Recently, the clocks have been turned back. The condition of low desire is now called hypoactive sexual desire disorder (HSDD) and there are quite a number of drug companies racing to find a nose spray, pill, cream or patch to cure it. The risk is that many healthy women will falsely think that they are diseased when in fact they are perfectly healthy and normal. By the way, I find it very curious that they're working on a desire drug for women. Would anybody think to develop a desire drug for men?
However, it is important to note that some women do suffer from a real physiological problem when they experience a lowering of their sex drive. Radical hysterectomies and some anti-depressants affect libido. However, the majority of women do not suffer from a disease. For many of us, our libidos are influenced by everyday life experiences such as aging, our sense of body image, the health of our relationship, stress, and past sexual encounters, including a history of sexual abuse.

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FRESH COURSE

Dont forget: If you work with young people and want to comfortably raise and explore issues of sexuality with them then the FRESH course may be just what you need. Next course starts THIS MONTH

Go here to see more

Wow - Vacuum Cleaner Advertisement

You may have already seen this viral advertisement about a vacuum cleaner that sucks fat away. Is it harmless/harmful? Watch the ad and then read this review. What are your thoughts?
Thanks to about-face.org for this.

Ultrasound your testes for birth control?

Ultrasound your testes for birth control?: We better keep up with technology! What do you think of this?

Researchers from the Department of Pediatrics at the University of North Carolina School of Medicine used these experiments as a starting point to see if modern ultrasound equipment usually used for physical therapy could be used as a male contraceptive.

http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/releases/240925.php

Ugly or Pretty

Thanks to Adios Barbie for posting this. I have just shared it with you.


By Sayantani DasGupta
What if everyone was beautiful? No, I don’t mean inner beauty, prettiness that shines from the inside out. I mean, wide eyes, perfect noses, proportionate bodies, and symmetrical faces. The same approximate height, weight, skin color? Could making everyone look the same even the social and economic playing fields?
But human variety is important—it would be boring for everyone to be conventionally pretty, you say.
Well, what if we upped the stakes? What if making everyone beautiful could help stop bullying or eliminate eating disorders? What if it eradicated racism, prejudice, or even brought an end to all war and conflict?
Would it be worth it then?
Young adult (YA) author Scott Westerfeld spins these possibilities, and more, into his novel Uglies.

Go here to read more...