Sex for Animals

A campaign by ‘Sex voor Dieren’ [Sex for Animals] last week is collecting signatures to initiate a citizen legislative proposal to make it a right for animals to have sex.

Campaigners argue that millions of animals die yearly in the Netherlands without having had the chance to develop themselves sexually. Some die as virgins. They suggest maybe people can start organising ‘speed dating’ for their pets, or even a ‘peepshow’ for couples, or perhaps start apologising to cows in the field.

“Animals work hard for us people.

They deliver, among other things, milk, eggs, meat, wool, and pleasant company. Therefore animals have the right to good working conditions and pleasure in life. It is up to us to provide for their primary needs of living, such as fun, good food, fun work throughout the week, and now and then healthy love making.

Sex for Animals strives for the animal rights mentioned below:

• The right to sex
• The right to reproduction
• The right to choose partner freely
• The right to family life

These primary animal rights are unfortunately under pressure, because artificial forms of reproduction are more profitable. In order to allow animals to taste love, special effort is necessary.”

Hmmm, I feel guilty now about my little Kitty… she never did have the (s)experiences I had (emphasis on had...).

Sexual misconduct in the army...

...sometimes starts from the moment of recruitment.

The sexual misconduct almost always takes place in recruiting stations, recruiters apartments or government vehicles. The victims are typically between 16 and 18 years old, and they usually are thinking about enlisting. They usually meet the recruiters at their high schools, but sometimes at malls or recruiting offices.

Shocking thing is that most perpetrators are let off lightly, either with demotion or loss of pay, very unlikely in prosecution.

A weak defence for the prevelance of this kind of behaviour:

"Let's face it, these guys are handsome in their uniform, they're mature, they give a lot of attention to these girls, and as recruiters they do a lot of the same things that guys do when they want to appeal to girls. There's a very fine line there, and it can be very hard to maintain a professional approach."

But what about trust, imbalance of power relations, and the fact that these 'professional' recruiters hold the key to the future of these unsuspecting teens? If anything, the army/armed services should be the one sector of employment that preaches discipline and professionalism more than anywhere else.

See this for more on sexual misconduct in the US army.

UPDATE 24Aug2006

Here's even more

A survey of the U.S. military academies released last year found that more than 50 percent of female respondents and 11 percent of male respondents experienced some type of sexual harassment since enrolling. That survey also found 64 incidents of sexual assault among the more than 1,900 females at the service academies.

AIDS and "men who have sex with men"

With the on-going AIDS conference in Toronto, it’s become apparent that the world is not doing enough to combat the disease.

Shocking results from the US Centre for Disease Control (CDC) survey:

The CDC last month published a survey of 10,000 men who have sex with men - the term preferred by epidemiologists, as some such men do not consider themselves gay or bisexual. They were questioned at bars, dance clubs, gyms, raves, beaches and on the street in 17 cities between 2003 and 2005.

The survey found that 77 percent had been tested for HIV in the previous year. Testing is a crucial prevention tool. Studies have shown that each year, 11 percent of people who do not know they are infected transmit the virus to someone else, compared with 2 percent of those who do know. Overall, it is estimated, about one-quarter of infected Americans do not know their status.

Forty-seven percent of those interviewed said that in the past year they had engaged in unprotected anal sex - the riskiest activity. Ninety-eight percent had gotten free condoms. But only 15 percent had had one-on-one risk counseling, and only 8 percent had had peer-group sessions - two interventions found to change behavior.