ITS TIME FOR WOMEN TO TEACH SEX TO MEN

Written by Betty Dodson, PHD
@dodson and ross.com

Lately I’ve been getting men requesting sex coaching sessions similar to the work I do with women. While I believe this kind of sex training would make a big difference for them and their partners, private hands-on sessions with a man is called “prostitution” by our government.

Unfortunately, this remains illegal although it’s a victimless crime. Even a woman doing erotic massage is flirting with John Law. You can thank our puritanical government filled with lying, phony Christians, Mormons and Jews who consistently get caught “cheating” but end up redeemed after a round of public humiliation followed by their promise to seek professional help. What a charade.

The closest thing we have to legitimate hands-on sex teaching for men is using surrogate partners who work under the auspices of a licensed sex therapist. However that involves two fees which can become a costly burden for many men. I don’t even know a therapist on the East Coast offering surrogacy therapy or training. Surrogate partner therapy seems to be more available on the West Coast. You can Google Sexual Surrogate Therapy for more information. Until America grows up and gets beyond this religious morality, men seeking sexual guidance with this kind of practical hands on therapy are SOL.

It amazes me to remember how I once believed the sexual double standard favored men. I now realize that most men have little to no idea how to sexually please a woman. And we don’t help matters by continuing to fake orgasms to protect the male ego. The result is far too many women have never had an honest orgasm as too many are raised to believe they will be sexually awakened by Mr. Right. The result of this myth is for every pre-orgasmic woman there’s a premature ejaculating man. Still America continues to have no adequate sexuality education available that would include pleasure and orgasms. Meanwhile men judge themselves on their sexual skills or ability to “make a woman come” and “get the job done” with no information other than viewing porn. The main reason porn doesn’t work as a form of sex education is because it’s entertainment for men where women are paid to perform in ways that please men.

The result of our sexual double standard where men are allowed freedom and sexual mobility leaves women struggling to uncover their first orgasm. Boys are expected to explore their sex organ by masturbating as children but many girls never masturbate and once they become adults, they cannot orgasm from vaginal penetration alone. Or later on she finally explores her body and learns how to have orgasm privately during her adult masturbation. This is why so many women end up faking orgasm; first to protect the male ego and especially if she is dependent upon his financial support.

Of all the sexual preferences and gender variations available, it seems heterosexuality is mostly about couples committing to procreate and raise a family rather than to relish the joys of sharing mutually pleasurable sexual activities that ends with orgasms for both partners. Although I have yet to discuss this in any detail, the next phase of understanding end pleasures of orgasm is that male and female ejaculation (squirting) are NOT the same as having orgasm. While both can provide pleasurable sensations, neither one can fully engage the body/mind. A perfect example of a sexual non event is when a man ejaculates before he has built up any sexual tension. Even Kinsey put the time spent thrusting with an erect penis inside a vagina at no more than two minutes after initial penetration. That is not sufficient time for a woman to have an orgasm even if she were about to climax from another form of clitoral stimulation with oral or manual sex. As for men, ejaculation feels good, but how can we classify it as an orgasm when its just a minor blip not much different than a sneeze. If we stop to think about the horrors and disappointments of first time partnersex, it’s a wonder any boy or girl would ever want to repeat it again. Since sexual intercourse is about procreation first and foremost, Mother Nature created an inbuilt male sex drive to insure that animals and humans will continue to copulate and insure future generations..

From a pro-creative point of view, ejaculation with an orgasm followed by a sensation of resolution is not all that necessary. A man only needs to get an erection firm enough to penetrate and ejaculate inside a vagina to fulfill his male role. A woman only needs to carry her baby full term and give birth to fulfill her female role. Neither one must have an orgasm at any stage. That’s why so many male dominated societies think ejaculation is the same as having an orgasm. But many sophisticated women who squirt when their urethral sponge is being stimulated have clearly stated that it is NOT the same sensation as having an orgasm. Nearly all female orgasms require some form of direct or indirect clitoral stimulation during vaginal penetration or with manual or oral stimulation.

Let’s face it. Sexual activity that ends in orgasm for one or both partners is a luxury not a necessity. However, I continue to believe that mutually orgasmic sex has the potential for reducing violence the world over. Since the late 60’s American sexual revolution, it’s my belief that ending the war between the sexes within the nuclear and extended family will begin to eliminate the breading ground for violence. In reading Sex at Dawn, the authors pointed out that some animals copulate for the shear joy of doing it like Bonobo Chimps. These small apes have sex with every member of the group with no limitations. Having an abundance of sex and pleasure allows them to be peaceful as they share everything which eliminates most conflict.

The one sexual activity both men and women have in common is the humble act of self-stimulation. It seems obvious to me that masturbation is indeed the foundation for sexual activity. Instead of honoring it, we turn masturbation into a dirty joke and few will admit to doing it or enjoying it or acknowledging it as the one sexual experience we all access. At least both women and men are assured of having the glorious end pleasures of orgasm.

Masturbation is our first natural sexual activity. It’s how we learn to like our genitals and to enjoy the pleasure they can provide. The time has come for women to once again teach sex to men. This was once a sacred act when people worshipped a female deity, the Great Orgasmic Mother of us all.

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A THANKSGIVING SCOOP

With all the great articles around about families and diversity, it comes to mind that new definitions of old concepts are really everywhere.

My memories of thanksgiving in days of old are pretty great.  As a kid my mother cooked her traditional recipes, and when I had my daughter, I cooked the same but added some pearl onions and Parmesan sauce.  No one ate that but me.  I think it came from TV Guide in the 60’s, as did the stuffing and marshmallow sweet potatoes.

Years went by and tradition always sat at the head of the table.  Divorces, losses, estrangements, but always a valiant attempt to get some group together and to always ask “What are You Grateful for Today?” (surely not the clean up afterwards).

This year the group was on the west coast.  Except for me.  But a big change in the family tradition took place too.  Rather than all stay and travel and cook and shop, the group rented a small condo in San Francisco and traveled on foot, and ate in a stranger’s dining room (a restaurant). They all stayed in the same house too. What a marathon visit!!

What they really shared, and were grandly thankful for was all the time they spent together and all the fun they had.  Turns out the meal in a small restaurant was perfect and, I know you know, it wasn’t really about the turkey.

New definition, spend next thanksgiving in a place where everyone can relax and exercise between courses and overdose on love instead of carbs.

So the little 5 year old and the great grandmother of 90 and everyone else had a blast.

I think I’ll try to be there next year too. At least I can be thankful for all of them — even though i’m on the east coast. Let’s let the new tradition become a ritual.

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WHAT ITS LIKE TO DATE (on the Autism Spectrum) by Emily Sheraug

milyRachelHildebrand The way to Paulette’s heart is through her Outlook calendar. “Honestly, if you want to be romantic with me, send an email through Outlook and give me all the possible dates, locations, and times, so that I can prepare,” she said.

Published in The Atlantic Magazine, 8/13

The former Miss America system contestant and University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music-trained opera singer knew she had a different conception of romance than her previous boyfriends had and, for that matter, everyone else.

“People tend to think of romance as spur of the moment and exciting,” she told me. “I think of romance as things that make sense and are logical.” However, she didn’t know why until this year when, at the age of 31, when she was diagnosed with autism.

“We can be interested, but have no way to tell if they’re interested in us.”The aspects of autism that can make everyday life challenging—reading social cues, understanding another’s perspectives, making small talk and exchanging niceties—can be seriously magnified when it comes to dating. Though the American Psychiatric Association defines autism as a spectrum disorder—some people do not speak at all and have disabilities that make traditional relationships (let alone romantic ones) largely unfeasible, but there are also many who are on the “high-functioning” end and do have a clear desire for dating and romance.

Autism diagnosis rates have increased dramatically over the last two decades (the latest CDC reports show one in 50 children are diagnosed), and while much attention has been paid to early-intervention programs for toddlers and younger children, teens and adults with autism have largely been overlooked—especially when it comes to building romantic relationships.

Certain characteristics associated with the autism spectrum inherently go against typical dating norms. For example, while a “neuro-typical” person might think a bar is great place for a first date, it could be one of the worst spots for someone on the spectrum. Dorsey Massey, a social worker who helps run dating and social programs for adults with various intellectual disabilities, explained, “If it’s a loud, crowded place, an individual on the spectrum may be uncomfortable or distracted.” Sensory issues may also make certain lights and noises especially unpleasant.

Seemingly basic, non-sexual touching may be an issue, as well.

“It may give them discomfort for someone to kiss them lightly or hold their hand,” Massey said. “They need pressure, and that’s not typically what you think of with tender, romantic love.”

“Neuro-typical guys appreciate when women are blunt.”Perhaps because so much of their behavior runs counter to mainstream conceptions of how to express affection and love, people with autism are rarely considered in romantic contexts. A constant complaint among the individuals interviewed for this piece is the misconception that people with autism can’t express love or care for others. “I think a lot of times someone will go out on a date with someone on the spectrum and think they’re a robot,” said Alex Plank, founder of WrongPlanet.net, a popular online autism community. “It’s hard to read us if we don’t explicitly say what we’re feeling, but all the feelings are there.”

In fact, people with autism may have greater emotional capacities. “Studies have shown that people with autism can have feelings that are stronger and deeper than those without autism,” said John Elder Robison, bestselling author of Look Me in the Eyes and autism advocate. “Yet those feelings may be invisible to outsiders because we don’t show them. Because we don’t show them or the expected response, people make the wrong assumption about our depth of feeling about other people.”

It’s not that individuals on the spectrum do not have the same desire for love; they just may not know how to find it. Dr. Elizabeth Laugeson, an Assistant Clinical Professor at UCLA said, “If you asked a person with autism if they wanted a romantic relationship, they would probably say yes, but they would probably also say they don’t know how to.”

Partially from the emphasis on early intervention treatments, there’s a dearth of dating skills programs, or, rather, effective ones for people on the spectrum. “Early intervention can significantly improve the outcome, but kids grow up, and we don’t have the proper services,” said Laugeson, who serves as director of UCLA PEERS, a program that teaches social, including romantic, interaction skills to teens and young adults on the spectrum.

PEERS will take the seemingly mundane, but actually complex act of flirting and translate it into a step-by-step lesson.Central to PEERS is the promotion of “ecologically valid” social skills, traits humans have been shown to exhibit in reality, rather than what we think we’re “supposed” to do. “We know people with autism think very concretely,” said Laugeson. “Social skills can be abstract behavior that’s difficult to describe, but we try to break it into concrete steps.”

For example, PEERS will take the seemingly mundane, but actually complex act of flirting and translate it into a step-by-step lesson. “First, a couple notices each other across the room. They make eye contact and look away, and they look again and they look away,” said Laugeson. “The look away makes it known you’re safe, but the common error someone with autism can make is to stare, which can seem predatory and scare a person.” People with autism are also specifically instructed how to smile and for how long, since “another common mistake is to smile really big rather than giving a slight smile,” said Laugeson. “A big smile can also be frightening.”

Neuro-typical people often take flirting for granted as a fairly organic, coy, and even fun back-and-forth, but for someone with autism, it is really a complex, nonsensical interaction. “Flirting still doesn’t make sense to me. It seems like a waste of time,” said Plank, who worked on a video with Laugeson to teach his WrongPlanet community members how to flirt. “If you think about it logically, you say things you wouldn’t normally say, so it’s harder. There are a whole other set of things you have to deal with.”

While he didn’t have PEERS to guide him, in college, Plank studied guys who were always successful at picking up girls and started mimicking their behaviors. He quickly realized acting confident was the key to dating success, especially if you’re a man.

However, maintaining that confidence may be the hardest part of dating for someone on the spectrum, because of their difficulty processing social cues from others. “We will constantly not be able to read whether someone is interested, so you can have an insecurity about whether the person you’re dating likes you,” said Plank.

In heterosexual courtships where men are still often expected to pursue women, males with autism are at a distinct disadvantage to their female counterpart. “For guys on the spectrum it’s a one-way thing,” said Robison. “We can be interested, but have no way to tell if they’re interested in us.”

Some women with autism may ultimately have an edge in the dating world. A common trait of people on the spectrum is being extremely logical and straightforward. A blunt man may repulse women or get a slap in the face; think of how a woman would react if a date told her yes, she did look fat in that dress, or consider the famous 1989 study where a female researcher received positive responses to her request for sex from men on the street 69 to 75 percent of the times compared to her male counterpart who received not a single yes. Women who are forward are prized for it. “Especially if they’re really attractive, neuro-typical guys appreciate when women are blunt,” said Plank.

While Paulette doesn’t necessarily think women with autism have it easier than men, she has noticed that her neuro-typical dates have particularly valued many of her autistic traits. “I’ve found that people who are neuro-typical really appreciate the qualities that people on the spectrum posses: complete honesty and almost an inability to lie,” she said.

However, both sexes on the spectrum struggle equally with the fear of rejection. Since so much of dating for adults with autism is trial by error, the risk of mistakes, and often embarrassing ones, is high. Jeremy Hamburgh, a dating specialist for people with special needs, including those on the autism spectrum, has noticed how hard his clients take initial failure with dating. “The risk and rewards are very different for people who are neuro-typical,” he said. “The average neuro-typical person can go out and meet ten and do well with one and feel success, but for one with special needs who has been rejected all their life that can really hurt their self-esteem.”

Plank has witnessed friends on the spectrum too quickly walk away from dating for fear of rejection. “It’s a numbers game in many ways and because people on the spectrum are black-and-white thinking, they think they’re doing something wrong,” he said. “I wish more people on the spectrum knew you need to practice, you need to go out on more dates.”

“The number one freedom I found in the diagnosis is I don’t need to really give into a partner’s idea of what a relationship should or needs to look like.”Worse, is that people on the spectrum may turn the blame on themselves for not exhibiting neuro-typical norms for dating and romance. While interviewing subjects on the spectrum for his documentary Autism in Love (still in production), filmmaker Matt Fuller noticed how. “When something perceived as inappropriate, and it gets addressed, they will get embarrassed leading to a rabbit hole of self-deprecating thoughts.” And Paulette, too, remember feeling self-conscious and abnormal for her views of dating and romance. “I have struggled in the past with people telling me ‘this is how it should be’ and having sort of a crisis of maybe I just don’t get it, maybe I’m wrong,” she said

In fact, it was during one of those types of fights in a relationship earlier this year that Paulette decided to be evaluated for autism. She realized past boyfriends’ frustrations over her “rigid thinking” and “boundary issues,” could be explained by autism and a subsequent psychological evaluation confirmed it. However, rather than alarmed, she felt relief.

Perhaps because she had spent so much of her life trying to “act” normal and confine to others’ expectations for romance, knowing she had autism has helped her become more comfortable with dating. It’s a feeling not necessarily shared by all members on the spectrum, but realizing why she saw love and romance the way she does freed her from the pressure of neuro-typical standards. Now, she is following her own heart. “The number one freedom I found in the diagnosis is I don’t need to really give into a partner’s idea of what a relationship should or needs to look like,” she said. “It’s really liberating to know I’ve been living my life a certain way, and it turns out that that’s okay”

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