Great post from Julie.

My thoughts: I never experienced lack of confidence until a couple years ago when I went through a horrible, demeaning, insulting and abusive "realease from ministry" - the abuse was typified by a refusal to even speak to me like an adult and instead going "through my husband" even though I was usually the one who was "in trouble" (mostly for doing things like asking questions). Ever since then I have struggled in a most profound way, ultimately to the point of seeking therapy and having to be on medication for anxiety and depression. I'm still not out of the woods.

Good stuff as always from the Mominatrix

When I first heard the news brief about this study on NPR yesterday, I thought, "oh great, now all the ab. only conservatives are going to be all smug". The details of the study and the program are important to note.

This is so devastatingly sad. We have GOT to have more conversations about this in a way that isn't just about "it makes Jesus sad". There are valid and important reasons to limit if not eliminate porn from our social visual "vocabulary" and more discussion needs to happen especially amongst those who aren't religious. I think for too long, the "religious right/traditional family values" crowd have been the dominating voice in regard to pornography but not because others aren't concerned. The dialog needs to take on other voices in order to reach the hearts of our young.

now, I know that we had to swear to not being first cousins when David and I got married in Colorado so I'm not sure what that's all about...but this is very striking. Of course, people like my parents would just say that the rest of the states need to outlaw marriage between first cousins and call it done.

(Flickr/Lisa Norwood)

Vote for Courtney Martin in The Washington Post's Next Great Pundit contest.

"Machismo!" shouted a young college student in the third row.

"Tough!" "Violent!" "Homophobic!" shouted three other young men, sprinkled throughout the packed lecture hall. Ethan Wong, a student at St. John's University in Collegeville, Minnesota, who was dressed in a slim business suit, nodded as he wrote each word on the chalk board.

The roomful of young men was brainstorming all the qualities associated with masculinity. Wong was one of the organizers of the National Conference for Campus-Based Men's Gender Equality and Anti-Violence Groups, a long and clunky name for an unprecedented event that took place last weekend at his school. It was the first time that young guys from around the country -- guys like Wong, who recognize that the kind of masculinity they are describing is toxic for men, too -- gathered to share strategies for getting college men involved in gender-based activism and discuss the work ahead.

In attendance were about 200 individuals, representing 40 colleges and two dozen organizations, many of them sporting titles like Center Against Sexual and Domestic Abuse, Men Can Stop Rape, and Men Stopping Violence. Notice a trend here? This contemporary movement of gender-conscious young men is largely identifying themselves in terms of what they are against. They're not rapists. They're not misogynists.

They're also not particularly effective in imagining what they do want to be. Case in point: back to Wong at the chalkboard. The negative associations with masculinity poured off the tongues of these feminist-friendly college kids. They've taken Women's Studies 101. When their buddy says, "That's so gay," they spit back, "That's a sexual identity, not a dis." They let a few tears fall during the Take Back the Night March. They devour Michael Kimmel's Guyland and proselytize about Byron Hurt's documentary, Hip Hop: Beyond Beats and Rhymes. This generation is saying no to toxic masculinity.

But what are these young men saying yes too? We've all failed to envision an alternative...click link for the rest

This is very good and an important discussion to be having.

If pornography seems like the last thing you need to talk to your kids about, you might be right. On the other hand you might be wrong. Good sex education isn’t about forcing one agenda or another on your kids. It’s about being responsive to questions asked and anticipating what kinds of information your kids might need given their environment.

If I could only give you one reason why you should at least think about talking to your kids about pornography it's that, if statistics are to be believed, they are likely to encounter some of it before they reach an age where they’ll be able to critically understand what they are seeing.

I wouldn’t recommend raising the topic of pornography out of the blue. But if you have a child who is already online or watches TV, or you have any pornography in your home (no matter how well hidden you think it is) I do think it behooves you to prepare to talk about pornography, and think ahead about how you want to talk about. MORE >>

Thanks to Becky Knight (http://www.livingsexuality.com) for the link to this helpful article.