The word “pornography” means “the writing of prostitutes.” The word comes from the way prostitutes advertised their services by writing their names and addresses on walls in ancient Rome and Greece. Pornography refers to any picture or writing that is meant to be sexually arousing. To many people, pornography is offensive and indecent. However, some people distinguish between pornography and erotica, which are sexually arousing pictures or writings that do not offend the average consumer.

“Soft-core” pornography is also distinguished from “hard-core” pornography. Soft-core pornography depicts naked bodies, including genitals, and limited sexual activity. Hard-core pornography depicts sexual intercourse and sex organs more graphically and more exclusively. It may also include violent sexual acts or other unusual behavior, such as sex with animals. Hard-core pornography is more likely to be considered obscene.

Although the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution protects the right of free speech, the U.S. Supreme Court has always stated that obscenity is not protected because obscenity is not speech. Over the years, the Supreme Court has struggled to define obscenity.

In the 1973 case of Miller v. California, the U.S. Supreme Court issued a legal definition of obscenity, which is the standard still used today. The court found that a writing or picture, when taken as a whole, is legally obscene if:

• it appeals to a prurient—lascivious or lustful—interest in sex

• it offends the standards of the community in which it appears

• it has no serious literary, artistic, political, educational, or scientific value

If materials are legally obscene, then laws that ban their sale can be constitutionally upheld. In 1969, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that a person could privately possess obscene material without committing a crime. But in 1990, the court ruled that private possession of child pornography is illegal and is not protected by the US. Constitution. Child pornography depicts children in sexual poses or engaged in sexual activity.

This controversy concerning whether sexually explicit material can be banned grows out of the 1873 Comstock Act that made it illegal to transmit any “obscene, lewd, lascivious, indecently filthy, or vile article” through the U.S. mail. The censorship that Anthony Comstock imposed on American society has had long-lasting and far-reaching effects.

The Supreme Court definition of obscenity remains vague in many ways. It continues to be challenged by people who advocate complete, unrestricted freedom of speech, and it is challenged by people who want greater restrictions.

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UTI (urinary tract infection) is caused by bacteria that have spread from the rectum to the vagina or penis and then to the urethra and bladder. UTIs may be sexually transmitted. They include infections of the bladder (also called cystitis), the ureters (the tubes that lead from the kidneys to the bladder), and the urethra (the tube that carries urine from the bladder to outside of the body). Severe cases, left untreated, may cause kidney infection.

Common Symptoms

• burning pain during urination

• the urge to urinate when the bladder is nearly empty

• a frequent urge to urinate, especially at night

• involuntary loss of urine

• lower abdominal pain

• blood and pus in urine

• fever

UTIs are very common in women and men who are sexually active. They affect women more often than men because a woman’s urethra is shorter than a man’s, and bacteria may get into the bladder more easily. A woman’s urethra is also closer to the anus than a man’s.

How UTIs Are Spread: Any kind of sex play that brings fecal material into contact with the vagina and urethra. Unprotected anal intercourse carries a very high risk for urinary tract infection.

Diagnosis: Consult your clinician to confirm diagnosis and treatment. Some women who use a diaphragm are susceptible to frequent UTIs. Adjusting to the bacterial environment caused by having new partners may lead to a bladder injection called honeymoon cystitis.

Treatment

• antibiotics

• Pyridium, which may relieve symptoms but will not cure the infection

Protection: To prevent urinary tract infections or discourage them from returning:

• Drink eight or more glasses of water a day. Avoid soft drinks, which can promote the growth of bacteria.

• Drink unsweetened cranberry juice.

• Urinate immediately before and after intercourse.

• Avoid using a sexual position that seems to trigger UTIs.

• Keep the pubic area clean and dry.

• Use condoms or vaginal pouches during vaginal or anal intercourse.

• Wipe from front to back after bowel movements and urinating to avoid the spread of bacteria to the urethra.

Some women who are susceptible to frequent UTIs take antibiotics to prevent infections when they have sexual intercourse.

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Intimacy is the closeness and familiarity we feel as we share our private and personal selves with someone else. It is the foundation of our most personal relationships with other people, whether or not the relationships are sexual.

Intimacy is based on trust. It is another gift our parents can give us. If we are cuddled as infants, if we are treated with respect and grow up in an environment with healthy attitudes about sex, and if we learn to trust that the people closest to us will not hurt us, we can more easily develop the ability to be intimate with our sex partners, as well as with other people. If we are able to be intimate with our sex partners, we will be able to share our feelings, express our desires, make healthy compromises, and disagree with them without fear. We will also be able to appreciate their feelings and point of view.

Many women and men discover that they are unable to be as intimate with their sex partners as they are with other people in their lives. They may find that they are unable to enjoy sex as much with someone with whom they are intimate. This kind of sexual inhibition can be very damaging to long-term relationships like marriage. Inability to be intimate with a sex partner can result from sexual inhibitions that are associated with body image, self esteem, and internalized homophobia. Women and men with highly developed social skills may still be unable to be intimate. Problems with intimacy can be treated with psychotherapy.

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The major accentuation of the sex differences in external appearance is brought about by the development of secondary sexual characteristics. The typical sequence of events has been described by Marshall and Tanner. In girls, the first sign of puberty is usually the appearance of “breast buds,” that is, an elevation of the breast and nipple as a small mound, with the areolar diameter enlarging over the infantile status. In some girls, the appearance of pubic hair precedes breast budding, but in the majority it follows. Axillary hair typically appears about two years after the start of pubic hair growth. More or less concurrently with the external changes, internal sexual structures, including the uterus, grow and mature also. Uterine development probably will have reached a definitive stage for menarche, the first menstrual period, to occur, usually after the peak of the height spurt has been passed. However, menarche by itself does not signify the attainment of full reproductive capacity. Early menstrual cycles are often anovulatory, that is, do not produce fertile eggs, and postmenarcheal “adolescent sterility” may last from one year to eighteen months.

On the average, pubertal changes in boys begin only about six months later than in girls. The general impression of an overall, considerably earlier maturation of girls is largely due to the fact that the growth spurt (with its concomitant somatic changes) is placed earlier in the sequence of pubertal changes in girls than in boys; the average boy has his growth peak two years later than the average girl. The earliest sign of pubertal changes in boys is a growth acceleration of testes and scrotum, often accompanied by the thinning and reddening of the scrotal skin. Simultaneously or shortly after, pigmented pubic hairs start to appear. About a year later, spurts in penile growth and height begin. Coinciding with the penile growth spurt, the male internal sexual structures, for instance, the seminal vesicles and the prostate, enlarge and develop. Their maturation is the prerequisite for the first ejaculation of seminal fluid which tends to occur about a year after the beginning of accelerated penile growth. Approximately one-third of all boys show a distinct enlargement of the breasts around the middle of puberty, which usually regresses after about a year. About two years after the onset of pubic hair growth, axillary hair appears; there is also an increase in axillary sweating due to an enlargement of axillary sweat glands. At about the same time, facial hair starts to grow. It usually begins at the corners of the upper lip, then spreads out to form the mustache, later extends to the upper part of the cheeks, and finally forms the beard. More toward the end of the growth spurt, the voice breaks and deepens, often very gradually. Starting in adolescence, the hairline above the forehead recedes; this process becomes more marked in adulthood.

For clinical and research purposes, several scales for the normative characterization of pubertal status have been developed. Most widely used are Tanner’s photographic and descriptive standards of breast and pubic hair development in girls, and genital and pubic hair development in boys. The standards comprise five stages. (There is a sixth stage of pubic hair development in 80% of the males and 10% of the females.) Stage 1 is always prepubertal, stage 5 (and 6) adult. Tanner has published centile standards for age ranges of pubertal developmental stages.

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In our society, socialization clearly favors the development of hetero-sexuality. Young boys are frequently taunted or scolded for “sissy” or “feminine” behaviors, and they are taught that homosexuality is wrong.

According to learning theory, homosexual behaviors are punished and thus discouraged. If an individual does become homosexual, according to this theory, it is the result of special conditions that reward homosexuality or punish heterosexual development.

Some theorists, for example, have regarded male homosexuality as the result of having had unpleasant sexual experiences with females. One investigator reported that threatening or painful sexual experiences with girls were more common in the developmental histories of homosexual men than in those of heterosexual men. However, while such traumas may be found in individual biographies, more comprehensive studies have provided little support for this view. One investigator found no evidence of greater punishment or threats of punishment for heterosexual sex play among his homosexual subjects than among heterosexual subjects. Other studies, though, have found that homosexual men recalled having disliked sexual contacts with females more than did their heterosexual counterparts.

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