We’ve heard stories about our country’s leaders, both real and false. In our times, it’s hard to consume news without running into some scandal or another. Like them or hate them, information about political leaders is always useful in getting a picture of that person in that place and time. With this in mind, the Medical History of American Presidents is being compiled. Here’s a whirlwind tour of their reproductive and urological conditions.
“We want no Gestapo or secret police. FBI is tending in that direction. They are dabbling in sex life scandals and plain blackmail when they should be catching criminals,” worried Harry S. Truman, the 33rd president of the United States. Of course, he had a hand in creating what would become the National Security Agency, or NSA. It’s been over a century since the country began formalizing its intel-gathering aparatus, but we’re still seeing similar tricks.
Dr. George Tiller believed that no woman should ever be forced to continue a pregnancy. Today, on the fourth anniversary of his death, his Kansas clinic has reopened, but it would be folly to consider this a triumph. Since Tiller’s murder, all manner of restrictions on reproductive rights have been leveled against our progress. Unable to intimidate abortion-providers, anti-abortion activists have focused on legislation, creating requirements nearly impossible for clinics to meet. What are we doing to honor the memory of the man who once said, “Trust women”?
There is something of a perception that Wellcome was a rather undiscriminating collector and that he also acquired a good deal of material of non-medical interest through buying up job lots which dealers had carefully salted with one or two medical items. In fact it turned out that he was specifically acquiring in the area of classical sexually-themed objects.
The Pill turned fifty years old this year and Time magazine has an incredible piece detailing our tumultuous, misunderstood relationship with it. If you read anything today, let this be it: It was the first medicine ever designed to be taken regularly by people who were not sick. Its main inventor was a conservative Catholic…continue reading.
In the year 79 AD the Roman city of Pompeii was buried under twenty feet of ash from a two day eruption brought on by the looming Mount Vesuvius. As with all Roman cities, the façade of Pompeii was glorious but a long hard look at the subculture of Pompeii reveals more than beauty. One…continue reading.
Allow us to introduce you to Margaret L. Wade, an adult educator and co-author of Reclaiming Eros: Sacred Whores and Healers. She will be giving you a little background on this here holiday: My Catholic Lives of the Saints makes no bones about it: St. Valentine’s day became the day of lovers only because it…continue reading.
Sid Vicious, bassist for the Sex Pistols: a kid, an icon, a tragedy, a legacy. He defined a generation and the radiation from its zeitgeist-shattering explosion can still be felt today. You know, if you look hard enough under the VersaSpa tans, over-processed vocals, and senseless Top 40 hits. Oh, who are we kidding? You…continue reading.
OMG! Remember when you could get laid with a finger up your ass from $3.50?! Me neither. I think that’s what makes vintage finds like these so much fun. ENTER WITH CASH IN HAND AND TOOL IN THE OTHER. Uh huh, right to the point–just the way we like it every now and again. Menu…continue reading.
