Bi-Weekly Sexual Freedom Newsletter
Wednesday, May 20, 2020

Nobody’s Gathering Data on How Coronavirus Impacts LGBTQ+ Patients (them.) 

Matt Baume urges data collection on how coronavirus impacts LGBTQ+ communities: “Lawmakers and civil rights groups are sounding the alarm over coronavirus reporting that omits data on how the virus impacts LGBTQ+ people. A growing number of local and state officials are calling on the federal government to address reporting flaws—but so far, there’s no sign that action will be taken. [...] ‘You can’t address a problem you can’t see,’ said Drexel University’s Randall Sell, an expert in LGBTQ+ demographic study. ‘It could be wiping out whole communities and we don’t know.’” Read more.

How to Fulfill Your Need for Sex, Touch, and Intimacy When You’re Self-Isolating (Rewire.News) 

Cassandra Corrado shares ways to fulfill your need for sex, touch, and intimacy during self-isolation. On touch, Corrado suggests self-massage: “Focus on taking deep breaths and the feeling of your hands on your own skin and body. Where does your body crave more or deeper touch? Where do you not want to be touched? What actually feels good to you? Paying attention to your body’s response to touch can help you pursue the types of massage that help you feel grounded and in your body.” Read more.

As the Supreme Court Considers Birth Control Access, America's Workers Have the Most to Lose (Teen Vogue) 

Fatima Goss Graves considers a recent threat to birth control access: “Millions of us across the country have settled in for a second month of isolation in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. It’s a sobering time. Tens of thousands have lost their lives, and so many millions more now face unemployment. [...] This is exactly the wrong time to take one more thing away from working people in this country. But on May 6, the Supreme Court heard oral arguments in the case Little Sisters of the Poor v. Pennsylvania. The Court will decide whether the Trump administration can allow employers and universities to take health insurance coverage of birth control away from their employees and students.” Read more.

“‘Can People Pay Rent This Month?’ The Consensus Was No” (Jacobin) 

Ben Koditschek interviews Lucy Picocchi and Fox Rinne on rent strikes in New York City. Picocchi says: “This is the great lesson from study of the history of tenant activism. Early in the twentieth century, people realized that, while landlords had a lot of money, they were few in numbers. Tenants have strength in numbers. They knew they couldn’t wait for the state to pass legislation. Instead they came together and demanded affordable rent, repairs, and good leases.” Read more.

Let’s Imagine a Post-Pandemic Era With Less Policing and No New Jails (Truthout) 

Amanda Alexander imagines a post-pandemic era with fewer carceral systems and structures: “This moment has shown us that changes can happen quickly, and that the ‘impossible’ is simply a matter of priorities. It’s about choosing—or being forced to choose—transformative solutions that dial into our collective humanity. We are facing fundamental choices about who we are as a society. We could choose racist fear and fascist, dystopian policing. We could continue to deem entire communities “criminal” and refill the jails just as swiftly as we’ve begun to empty them. Or we could recognize we cannot return to “business as usual” because even before the pandemic, we had a state of emergency.” Read more.

Come as You Are: Orgasms Prioritize Pleasure in the Midst of Pain (Bitch Media) 

Caroline Reilly discusses her experience with endometriosis and the healing powers of orgasms: “Following my first excision surgery—a year and a half before the second excision surgery where my bladder would be reconstructed—and intensive physical therapy, my organs unmoored from the disease ravaging them and my body gave me something that had always eluded me. Orgasming was like a glint of light at the bottom of a dark well. The circumference of my world loosened slightly, and in those small moments of ecstasy, my mind let go of the painful reality that had overtaken my life.” Read more.