I just read in today's Chicago Tribune that Indiana just passed legislation that forces businesses selling any "sexually explicit" material to register their business... and pay $250 to do so.
Is this a symptom of a largely Christian, largely Republican state? Or is it just another testament to our sex negative culture, no matter where in the country you are?
I think it's a little bit of both. I just want to know who decides what is sexually explicit. For instance, one of my best friends Katie McAtee and I... both reasonable, intelligent women. But, we have VASTLY different definitions of "sexually explicit." Because of her beliefs and personality, she would probably draw the line a lot sooner than I would. And that's okay. It's not that either of us is wrong. It's opinion. And I don't really understand how that is going to be enforced.
You know when you read about really bizarre moments in history and it just makes you wonder if everyone in that time period was high? For instance, when I learned during my African American History class that the FBI raided the Black Panther Party's offices and called its breakfast program for low income kids who otherwise went hungry, "insidious activity." Or how we remember HUAC and McCarthy. Generally, we agree that these things are ridiculous, or at least the extent to which they went. Someday, when we finally reach that sex positive culture I'm gonna work my ass off to find, we'll laugh at Indiana and this ridiculous law too.
Granted, this $250 isn't a lot, considering it's a one time fee (I believe so, anyway). But it's the idea of the thing. A business owner is being penalized for selling products relating to sexuality. Where will the line be drawn? Can we buy general education books, since Indiana doesn't allow comprehensive and honest sex education in its schools? What about college book stores that sell anatomy books to med students, such as gynecology texts? What about feminist literature? We feminists deal with sex. What about GLBTQ material? This is yet another systematic way to oppress GLBTQ people. I see this spiraling until it starts to include anything remotely related to sexuality, in its most general terms.
During the Comintern, people freaked the fuck out. Librarians were to report to the government anyone who asked for books by Hegel, Marx, and other "red" writers. Is this not reminiscent of that? Do we not see the connections?! I know, it's not the same. But doesn't it have the potential to be?
History repeats itself because no one is ever fucking paying attention. A month ago, John McCain went to a Holocaust museum and signed the guest book, "Never again." While he was signing that book, men, women, and children in Darfur ran for their lives. Never again? Looks like it's already happened, as has been happening, for a very long time. But we can't imagine the past horrors being repeated. We can't imagine them taking another shape. We're looking for another Hitler to oppress another generation of Jews. We're ignoring groups like the LRA and the tiny soldiers and rape victims because we're missing the connection. Or worse, we just don't care.
But I care. And I care that an interest in sexuality is being criminalized. And why? Don't we all have sex, or at least wired for sex? Isn't it natural, sort of like eating or sleeping or other things we have a natural urge to do?
You too can have this natural urge! But you must know that we won't tell you how to protect yourself, we have the right to tell you what sexual acts to perform (sodomy laws were being enforced up until the 1980s!), we have the right to deny you access to birth control, a medication, if it makes the pharmacist squeamish. Then, we'll blame the liberal comprehensive sex education, that we don't even allow to be taught, for the teen pregnancy and STI rates.
Make sense of out it. You can't.