Sex and Ethics Podcast

In this episode Madeline and Sharon talk about what ethical obligations we have in sex to be honest, and even authentic, and how the exaggerations of seduction and the practice of faking orgasms are to be judged.

In this episode Sharon and Madeline try to figure out new thinking among the GENS about gender fluidity,

Content Warning: This episode contains very strong language about violence, rape, and sexual assault. Listener discretion is advised. Madeline and Sharon just watched The Last Duel on Amazon Prime because they had heard about the interesting three perspective view of a medieval rape. It's part GOT wannabe and feminist view of rape (kind of but maybe not really) movie written by Matt Damon, Ben Affleck (who are both in it) and Nicole Holefcener (who wrote one of Sharon's favorite movies, Lovely and Amazing. There are many spoilers in this discussion but the co-hosts agree that their discussion is a lot more interesting than the superficial reviews of the movie by the NYT or Guardian. They conclude there are some quintessential problems and questions raised by the middle perspective of Jacques Le Gris, played by Adam Driver. And Jody Comer  (All About Eve) is fabulous.     #rape #thelastduel #mattdamon

Sharon and Madeline had been wanting to talk about Britney Spears for ever so long, and conveniently they had scheduled a recording for Nov. 14th which happened to be 2 days after Britney was “freed” from her conservatorship. Issues around “sex positivity” as an illusion, mental illness, and patriarchy frame this discussion of an iconic pop star who was basically enslaved for the past 13 years.     #freeBritney #ControllingBritneySpears                 Trailer on Youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xe6N83dGH1M Podcast: Toxic: The Britney Spears Story https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/toxic-the-britney-spears-story/id1565880473   Rockwell, D., & Giles, D. C. (2009). Being a celebrity: a phenomenology of fame. Journal of phenomenological psychology, 40(2), 178.   Raven Simone interview https://teamcoco.com/podcasts/why-wont-you-date-me-with-nicole-byer/episodes/real-life-vs-your-persona-life-w-raven-symone-and-miranda-maday   Rolling Stone interviews with Jenny Eliscu https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/britney-spears-returns-254594/ https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/behind-the-britney-story-a-conversation-with-writer-jenny-eliscu-68829/   NewYorker article  https://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/how-britney-spears-got-free-and-what-comes-next     #britneyisfree #britneyspears #sexualethics #sexualization

Madeline, Sharon, and their guest Julie Koven have all taught undergraduates and graduate students courses in sex and sexuality. When they read the 2019 story about Professor Cashton https://www.insidehighered.com/quicktakes/2020/05/04/george-mason-faults-professor-sexual-talk-students who was chastised for hot-tubbing with his students and regaling them with stories of his own sexual exploits, they asked themselves where their own boundaries lay. Would they hot tub with their students? Would they go to a strip club, for research purposes? How much would they reveal to their students about their own sexual lives and how do they respond to their students’ sexual revelations!

Judith Levine is a guest in this episode as Madeline and Sharon talk to her about her fascinating book, The Feminist and the Sex Offender, Confronting Sexual Harm, Ending State Violence co-authored by Erica Meiners, and published by Verso Press. Judith Levine is the author of several other books including Harmful to Minors: The Perils of Protecting Children from Sex which was published in 2002. We discuss “carceral” vs “abolitionist” feminists and work through our curiosities and differences around sex offending. We ask who counts as a sex offender, and what counts as a sex offense.  We debate punishment vs. restorative justice and apply this to research on recidivism. We also ask provocatively why, why as a feminist has she chosen to defend sex offenders when violence against women is still rampant? Savvy, funny, and oh so smart, you’ll want to hear Judith describe her book and brilliantly address our questions and concerns!   Intro song:  Dick Haymes & The Song Spinners, "It Can't be Wrong (Remastered)-Single."  Outro song:  James Blake, "The Wilhelm Scream." 

In this episode Sharon and Madeline discuss Cardie B’s W.A.P. from their different generational feminist points of view. With consideration of a couple of decades of work on the sexualization of women and girls, they do find something to celebrate, as well as a few things to ponder over. Intro song:  Dick Haymes & The Song Spinners, "It Can't be Wrong (Remastered)-Single."  Outro song:  James Blake, "The Wilhelm Scream."    Professor Sharon Lamb's Books https://www.amazon.com/Secret-Lives-Girls-Do-Sex-Aggression/dp/0743201078 https://www.amazon.com/Packaging-Girlhood-Rescuing-Daughters-Marketers/dp/0312352506/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=packaging+girlhood&qid=1598298272&s=books&sr=1-1  https://www.apa.org/pi/women/programs/girls/report   PODCAST #keepit https://crooked.com/podcast/fear-of-a-wap-planet/ Saying whatever we want to say https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9hbmNob3IuZm0vcy8xNzBiNjQyNC9wb2RjYXN0L3Jzcw?sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwj3qp7HzbTrAhX-gnIEHT51DxkQ4aUDegQIARAC&hl=en Imperfect Strangers https://www.imperfectstrangerspodcast.com/

In this podcast, Madeline and Sharon go over all the changes to Title IX guidelines proposed by Secretary of Education, Betsy DeVos. As they fearlessly and with little expertise think through the legal and financial motivators for the new guidelines, they remain staunch supporters of victims/survivors for which they do have some expertise. These changes are a bummer, but they try to end on a positive note discussing what campuses can do to still support victims who come forward.   Intro song:  Dick Haymes & The Song Spinners, "It Can't be Wrong (Remastered)-Single."  Ending song:  James Blake, "The Wilhelm Scream."   

In this episode Sharon and Madeline  express their dismay over liberals’ response to Tara Reade’s accusation against former Vice President Joe Biden. Asserting their “expert” status on victims and sexual violence, they discuss why they believe her allegations and fume over the hypocrisy of those who supported Christine Blasey-Ford who now are doubting a different victim when it is inconvenient to believe her.  Intro song:  Dick Haymes & The Song Spinners, "It Can't be Wrong (Remastered)-Single."  Ending song:  James Blake, "The Wilhelm Scream."   

Sharon and Madeline respond to the recent rape story in the news described by E. Jean Carroll, about her encounter with President Trump in a department store dressing room, over 20 years ago. This leads them to consider the burden we place on victims to be the right kind of victim or to inhabit a victim persona. They respond to some of the attacks on Ms. Carroll and reinforce the idea of the #metoo movement, that these experiences are commonplace, but also that responses to these kinds of experiences vary among victims. Music: “The Wrong Way“ by Jahzzar From the Free Music Archive CC BY-SA Madeline Fry’s Washington examiner op ed Lawrence O’Donnell’s MSNBC interview of her Amanda Konradi book New York Magazine story Sarah Ahmed on complaining Second Rape

Consent Part 2: A Closer Look at Dating Aziz Ansari Madeline and Sharon go back to their longstanding habit of commenting on old news, because it’s taken them months of thinking, consulting, processing, and muddling through to come to their comprehensive opinions on dating, dating violations, sexual assaults, and the ethical wrongs of that encounter. Starting with the recent story of the president kissing a staffer without consent, the two walk through the narrative of the date from hell that “Grace” had with Aziz Ansari. Below are some references we used, or some facts we looked up after the fact, when we couldn’t think of a fact while recording!  https://www.thecut.com/2019/02/trump-forcibly-kissed-former-campaign-staffer-lawsuit-says.htmlYet Another Woman Accuses Trump of Kissing Her Without Consent https://babe.net/2018/01/13/aziz-ansari-28355 “I went on a date with Aziz Ansari. It turned into the worst night of my life.” https://www.nytimes.com/2018/07/28/opinion/sunday/suffrage-movement-racism-black-women.html How the Suffragette Movement Betrayed Black Women https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0959353507072914 ‘Spontaneous’ Sexual Consent: An Analysis of Sexual Consent Literature”

In this 4th episode Professor Sharon and PhD student Madeline discuss the new Netflix show “Sex Education” and are very pleased with themselves to be so “current!” Before embarking on a Spoilers Alert extravaganza they review for their listeners the SECS-C – that is, the Sexual Ethics for a Caring Society Curriculum – a curriculum the two of them taught to 9th graders in a charter school in Cambridge, MA. The SECS-C is not only ethics-based but a practical philosophy curriculum that teaches students about ethical sexual encountering via concepts such as autonomy, privacy, benevolence, and justice. It was before-its-time in that the curriculum ensured that students were learning about how to treat others ethically, and how to think about sex in society. Email them at sexandethicspodcast@gmail.com Music: “The Wrong Way“ by Jahzzar From the Free Music Archive CC BY-SA

Consent is not Enough, Part 1 In this episode, Professor Sharon and PhD student Madeline take on the recent consent campaigns popping up on college campuses across the U.S., campaigns aimed at preventing sexual assault by educating adults about what consent is and isn’t. The two of them toss around a few of the campaign poster slogans with an ear for the ridiculous. With a few distractions from Daisy, Madeline’s incorrigible Corgi, they work out what’s problematic about using consent as the line between ethical and unethical sex, and put out into the universe some higher ethical standards for “good” sex. Email them at sexandethicspodcast@gmail.com Music: “The Wrong Way“ by Jahzzar From the Free Music Archive CC BY-SA

In this episode, Sharon discusses her discomfort with liking a few rape jokes. Madeline offers the idea of “punch-up” jokes. And the two are off-and-running discussing the trouble with rape jokes, landing, at the end, on three ethical principles that should guide the comic, and the laugher. Sex and ethics is a series of discussion on sex in light of ethical responsibility and practical philosophy! Email them at sexandethicspodcast@gmail.com Music: “The Wrong Way“ by Jahzzar From the Free Music Archive CC BY-SA

Professor Sharon Lamb, author, sex educator, and therapist, with PhD student Madeline Brodt, podcast enthusiast, victim’s advocate, and social justice warrior, talk over the ethical issues involved in all sorts of sexual situations: sexual practices, sex stories in the news, sexual problems, and sexual assaults. Funny and Feminist, with a Filosophical twist, they try to figure out what’s right and what’s oh-so-wrong in today’s sexual encounters! Email them at sexandethicspodcast@gmail.com Music: “The Wrong Way“ by Jahzzar From the Free Music Archive CC BY-SA