These are some of the responses I received after penning my essay Fucking Like a Feminist where I posed the question: What does fucking like a feminist mean to you?
For me, "fucking like a feminist" means expressing my true self within and through my eroticism -- allowing myself to explore and experience the pleasure of my body; taking...
Excerpt from My Romantic Love Wars
The year was 1982. I was four years past menopause and at fifty-three, the hormone levels were still dropping. Marijuana had always been an aphrodisiac, but I no longer smoked pot to keep my short-term memory sharp while writing my Sexual Memoirs. Along with my yearly sexual adventure as an anonymous prostitute...
After I read the article below by Anne Koedt in 1970, I was thrilled and made a cold call hoping to meet and discuss how we could collaborate. Although Anne was suspicious of me over the phone, once she was sure of my feminist credentials, she set up an appointment. During our visit, she explained that after receiving so much hate mail and a death...
Many people believe that setting aside one day a year to make a phone call or take Mom out to dinner is sufficient acknowledgement and thanks for a job well done, or done to the best of her ability. Although there is no work more important than raising a child, we still take motherhood for granted. However, women (and a few men) who are caring for...
Christmas Day 1966: After we exchanged gifts, I noticed Grant was staring off into empty space, a sign he was about to sink into one of his morbid depressions. To alter his mood, I asked if he'd like to make love before dinner. Instead of responding to my offer of sex, he began talking about how my gifts presented a problem. I'd given him my first...
My first memory of doing business with sex was age fourteen. The villain in the story was a friend of my parents named Clark Edwins- a man I intensely hated. For years he'd been dropping by our house at all hours unannounced with a bottle of bourbon and a dozen KC sirloin steaks. My parents were always glad to see him. They'd sit in the kitchen...
She was so soft spoken on the phone that I had to ask her to speak up several times. Badu told me she was an African woman from Kenya who had been circumcised. Two years ago, she began looking for information to understand what had been done to her as a ten year-old child. She came across my name online and made the call. When I asked what type of...
What do American men have in common with Middle Eastern and Tribal African men? All three societies routinely perform circumcision on boys while the rest of the world does not. In the United States, we circumcise babies within the first few days or week. Muslims do it to young boys who are between 12 and 15 while African boys are between 6 to 10...
I write this hoping that some couples will benefit from what happened in my relationship with a man who turned out to be my best friend, the love of my life and my absolute favorite sex partner. All this was after he underwent prostate surgery. Not all men will experience prostate surgery, but all men and women alike, will experience changes...
In the mid eighties, I had one of the worst money crises of my life, and there have been many. I was living hand to mouth barely earning enough as I struggled to survive on running one workshop a month. At night, I was feverously writing a sexual memoir that was going to solve all my financial problems once it became a best seller. Occasionally I'...
As far as I know, I have never had a G-spot orgasm nor have I ever ejaculated. However, I do know many of my orgasms have been deep, powerful and satisfying. I've also enjoyed those little ten minute maintenance orgasms that release tension. There is no such thing as having a bad orgasm- they all put a smile on my face. Maybe the vaginal orgasms...
In 1974, I was at the University of Chicago speaking to a small audience in a very large auditorium, not my favorite venue. No speaker likes to see so many empty chairs. After my talk followed by the vulva slide show presentation, I went for coffee with a group of friends, including Nat Lerman, one of the editors from Playboy magazine.
As we were...
Breaking up is hard to do and yet it happens to most of us. Statistics show that half of all marriages end in divorce and many people remarry to repeat the pattern again- and again. Add to that the number of couples living together without benefit of marriage along with couples in committed relationships and we're talking about a major portion of...
A starting point for my definition of sexual freedom would begin with society's acceptance of masturbation as the foundation for all of human sexuality. Alongside an art career, my life's work has been advocating and writing about the importance of masturbation as well as teaching sexual skills to women through the regular practice of genital self...
There is little doubt that feminism lost ground with the last two generations of young women. I believe one reason for this has been mainstream feminists focus on rape, incest, and violence against women and girls. It's time to rescue sex from violence. We need to acknowledge sexuality as the life force that allows us to procreate and fuels our...
I'll admit I resist going to conferences even when they're dealing with my favorite subject of SEX! As I looked over the catalogue from the American Association of Sexuality Educators, Counselors and Therapists (AASECT), I silently thought, "Maybe, but mostly, maybe not." Then I got a call from one of the conference organizers, Michelle, who...
If I remember correctly, the number nine represents spiritual completion. Even if it turns out I’m mistaken, the concept still works for me. Eric and I had our first sexual exchange in early January 1999. We began living together, temporarily I thought, after he graduated from college in May of that year, so May 2008 marks our ninth year together...
One night over dinner not long ago, Dr. Eli Coleman, the director of the Program in Human Sexuality at the University of Minnesota propositioned me. He wanted me to donate my remaining art collection to the University where the whole shebang would be archived and protected for the next three hundred years. My business partner Carlin and I have a...
This past year was a humdinger. Here's a few of my New Year's Resolutions and latest insights into "The Adventures of Dr. Betty Dodson: A Sex-Happy Senior Citizen."
Health: My body must come first in the New Year. I promise to do some kind of movement every day to keep everything working. For the past few months I laid off of swimming and...
This has been am amazing year of travel; LA, Seattle, Victoria BC, Cuernavaca Mexico, Copenhagen Denmark, Phoenix Arizona and finally Cuba on December first via Cancun for ten days. My dear friend Morgan Alexander, a photographer who lives in Ojai California, has made six trips to Cuba so far.
She's hooked on that beautiful island and invited...
The action began not long after the Goddess Elevation party that was held in my honor in March of 2007. A Tibetan prophesy claimed that when a Buddhist priestess turned 77 in a year ending in seven, she would be honored and given special powers during that period. At first I found the idea absolutely charming, but upon reviewing my past eight...
In the late sixties, Germaine Greer became one of my feminist heroes when I first read her article, "Lady, Love Your Cunt" in Suck, Europe's sex magazine. Then again in 1970 with her book, The Female Eunuch. Thirty years later in 1990, Marie Claire ran an article by Germaine titled "Self-Love or Self-Abuse." Below is an excerpt from the article in...
In 2005, I attended a fund raising dinner for the National Council Against Censorship at the Rubin Museum with my colleague and dear friend Dr. Leonore Tiefer. At the time there was an exhibition of ancient Tibetan art on the third floor. As we looked at the beautiful ornate scrolls, one described special powers bestowed on a Priestess who turned...
WASHINGTON - The American Civil Liberties Union applauded a ruling issued by a U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration judge that recommends ending the federal government's sixty-five year monopoly on the supply of marijuana available for Food and Drug Administration-approved medical research.
The ACLU represents University of Massachusetts-Amherst...
New York Times Magazine
LETTERS TO EDITOR
RE: Our Vaginas, Ourselves
Jan. 1, 2006
FROM: Betty Dodson Ph.D.
SUBJECT: First Draft
"Our Vaginas, Ourselves" by Daphne Merkin (New York Times, Jan 1, 2006) reveals a woman who is smart and clever, but alas, out of touch with female sexuality. For starters, any woman who refers to her sex organ as a "...
Betty Dodson with Carlin Ross
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