Queer n There	Queer n There Archive

There's the Mediterranean Model, made famous by Greece and Rome, and crystallized, like dragonfly in amber, by Islam and (until recently) the Catholic church. For Mediterraneans, girls' chastity is the cat's pyjamas, with boys left to their own devices (so long as they don't knock a girl up without marrying her).

Then there's the Victorian Model­ do whatever you like, so long as you've the money to afford thick velvet curtains of secrecy­ or are too poor to count.

Then there's the Current Model­ sex is out from under all wraps, bursts from every screen, and enjoys a wide field of tolerance. But there's violent obsessing over "child purity"­ with kiddiehood, like tsunami over coastline, crashing far into the mangroves of sexual maturity.

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Each model has its fall guys and gals. Pity the girl who screws around with her cousin in Iran (she's liable to be knocked-off for family honor). Pity the "fallen woman" in 1900s Dublin who got sequestered for life in a nunnery. Pity the Eagle Scout in Massachusetts who sucks off an eager Webelo at camp and spends the rest of his life in jail.

It seems no matter what mega-arrangement you pick, someone's ox is getting gored. Is sex inevitably ringed by panic, hatred, violence, and fear?

That's a question for the Conference on Sexual Rights and Moral Panics, June 21-24 at San Francisco State University. Academics­ as well as activists, students, and advocates­ are invited to submit abstracts by April 1st. Ask the sponsors: "What are sexual rights? Why do sexual rights so often provoke moral panics? Moral panics have historically surrounded issues such as sexual purity, abortion, homosexuality, sexuality education, and sexual violence. This con- ference examines how society and the media respond to these debates by analyzing the production of moral and sexual panics, past and present."

Put on your thinking caps, sharpen your pencils, and browse to iasscs.sfsu.edu for more info.