Savage U

This is one of those days where I put on my "I studied sex" hat and gush about sex-positive, informative things. Y'all, Dan Savage is my hero. Is he a bit over-the-top sometimes? Well, yeah. But, he provides some of the most informative and hilarious sex advice you will ever have easy access to.

He recently stepped up his game by airing a show on MTV called Savage U. It's exactly what it sounds like: Dan Savage holds sex ed forums at various universities and answers questions dropped into a hat. These are things that maybe you want to know the answer to. Maybe you have no one to ask. Maybe you had a really bad sex ed class and you still think that masturbating will make you blind {y'all, aside from how you feel about it on a moral level, it WILL NOT make you blind. That's just bad science!}. Or, as Emily points out, maybe you read smut {ahem, I never do that!} and there's REALLY bad information in there and you need someone to kick your butt and tell you TO NEVER DO THOSE THINGS.

Aside from everything else, though, I love that Dan approaches sex as a pleasurable, normal human activity. You can be safe, have fun, and be realistic with yourself. Maybe abstinence works for you if you're not married. Most likely it doesn't {I'm not making judgments here, statistically, most folks don't wait until marriage}, and Dan encourages partner communication, being regularly tested for STIs, using safer-sex practices, and generally knowing everything there is to know about your body and your desires. He also advocates for accurate information to allow for people to make the best decision for themselves. And, here's the big thing: He's non-judgmental.  Saving yourself for marriage because it's important to you? Great! Here's how to be honest with your partner and not let yourself be pressured. Feel like you can't be monogamous? Great! Here's how you handle that without being the cheater/heartbreaker/scumbag. Having some embarrassing problem? Great! Here's why it's not really that embarrassing or abnormal, and here's how you start fixing it.

Given how the recent GOP primaries have been going, I personally think it is past time for this country to embrace a frank discussion about sexuality. People who are past puberty {teens, twenty-somethings, adults, and even senior citizens} are having sex and they're enjoying it {did you know that one of the fastest growing rates of STIs are among senior citizens? That's because they don't know about safer sex and assume that they aren't at-risk!}. And there's some AWFUL information out there. Grown people think you can use two condoms for double protection {NO! DON'T DO THAT} or that gravity works against pregnancy {NO! IT DOESN'T}. Radio personalities find it acceptable to terrorize women who are sexually active. Ridiculous!

What that does is make a hostile environment for anyone to get any kind of accurate information. So,
if you're remotely interested, if you have teens and need a way to start "the talk," if you have any questions about sex, pleasure, desire, relationships, anything: you should watch SavageU. It's airs Tuesday evenings. It's a bit, erm, graphic {think lot's of off-color humor}, if you're not used to this kind of thing, but has SO MUCH valuable information.

Just do it.