Alex Henderson

 

Mike Huckabee's Chick-Fil-A Appreciation Day: Homophobes Come Out in Droves to Raise Their Cholesterol and Say “No” to Gay Marriage

By Alex Henderson
August 2, 2012
Americans love their fast food, and they have all the heart disease, diabetes, obesity and high blood pressure to show for it. But thanks to Republican theocrat and former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, August 1 was not only a day for the more socially conservative fast food lovers to clog their arteries; it was also a day for them to express their disdain for gay marriage and support of “traditional marriage.” Huckabee declared August 1, 2012 Chick-Fil-A Appreciation Day to express his solidarity with Chick-Fil-A CEO Dan T. Cathy, who recently came out against gay marriage—and the fast food chain did record business when homophobes all over the country turned out in droves. 

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Flesh: The Anti-Contraception Extremists Who Pose As Hipsters

By Alex Henderson
July 30, 2012

Anti-contraception extremists are usually easy to spot in the United States. They have names like Focus on the Family and the American Family Association; they show up at Republican Party and "values voters" events, make frequent appearances on Fox News and insist that Sarah Palin is not an imbecile. But sometimes, anti-contraception extremists pose as hipsters—and the group 1Flesh is a perfect example.

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Most of My Heroes STILL Don't Appear on No Stamp: Public Enemy Fights the Power 2012 Style

By Alex Henderson
July 23, 2012

No less than 25 years have passed since the release of Public Enemy’s first album, Yo! Bush Rush the Show. So much has changed since that 1987 debut (politically, musically, economically, technologically), but as PE’s newly released Most of My Heroes STILL Don’t Appear on No Stamp demonstrates, one of the most important political hip-hop groups of all time hasn’t exactly mellowed over the years.

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Porn and Beyond: How Young Adult Entertainment Performers Can Plan for the Future

By Alex Henderson
July 17, 2012

Critics of the adult entertainment industry—whether they are radical feminists of the Catharine MacKinnon/Andrea Dworkin persuasion on the far left or Christian fundamentalists on the far right—love to portray erotic performers as lost souls who are destined to live tragic lives. But the truth is much more complex and nuanced than that. While the adult industry has had some tragic figures, it has had plenty of success stories as well—and the adult performers who made wise decisions are the ones who are more likely to be prosperous and comfortable as they age.

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Hollie Stevens, The Queen of Clown Porn, Has Died at 30: Her Battle with Cancer Underscored the Need for Universal Health Care in the United States

By Alex Henderson
July 6, 2012

On July 3, adult entertainment star Hollie Stevens died of cancer, a disease she had been battling since her initial diagnosis last year. She was only 30.

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"Obamacare/Romneycare" Has Been Upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court: Now, Where Do We Go From Here?

By Alex Henderson
June 28, 2012

It’s official: the United States Supreme Court has upheld, by a 5-4 majority, the constitutionality of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPAACA), which President Barack Obama signed into law in 2010. And that includes the most controversial part of the legislation: the individual mandate. Many health insurance reform activists are celebrating the High Court’s decision, and rightly so. But there is still much work to be done when it comes to reforming the horribly broken health insurance system that plagues the United States.

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Porn Valley Condom Law: Sociologist Chauntelle Tibbals Explains Why Mandatory Condom Use in Adult Films Is Problematic For Porn Valley

By Alex Henderson
June 27, 2012

Los Angeles is hardly the only city where adult films are produced. Porn is produced in many different parts of the United States as well as all over Europe and in parts of Asia and Latin America. Nonetheless, Los Angeles (especially the San Fernando Valley) is widely regarded as the adult film capitol of the world. Many well-known adult film companies are based in the San Fernando Valley, including Vivid Entertainment, Wicked Pictures, Smash Pictures, Evil Angel Video, Digital Playground, Anabolic Video, DVSX and Red Light District (meanwhile, Larry Flynt’s Hustler/LFP empire is headquartered in Beverly Hills). And in 2012, much of Porn Valley has been in an uproar thanks to the new Porn Valley condom-only law.

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Cab Drivers, Hookers and Politicians: Misguided New Law Will Penalize New York City Cabbies For Transporting Prostitutes 

By Alex Henderson
June 26, 2012

In the United States, repressive anti-sex laws often come from the Republican Party. The American Bible Belt is full of Republican social conservatives who never tire of using porn, gay marriage, sex education or abortion to scare people into voting for them. But fear-mongering around sex can come from Democrats as well, and in heavily Democratic New York City, civil libertarians have been speaking out against a new law that will fine cab drivers $10,000 for knowingly transporting prostitutes to "tricks" or "johns." The law, which was supported by Christine C. Quinn (speaker of the New York City Council) and other Big Apple Democrats (including Councilwoman Julissa Ferreras, who introduced the legislation back in December), is flawed on many levels.

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Sex Columnist Dan Savage Slams GOProud for Endorsement of Mitt Romney

By Alex Henderson
June 21, 2012

Back in 1994, when he was running for the United States Senate, Republican Mitt Romney vowed that he would be to the left of Ted Kennedy on gay rights and sought the endorsement of the Log Cabin Republicans. The Christian Right absolutely cringed; as the Jerry Falwell/Pat Robertson crowd saw it, there was no room for social liberalism in the Republican Party.  But that was before Romney sought the GOP presidential nomination, which meant pandering to the Christian Right at every turn. And the new Mitt Romney not only opposes gay marriage—he favors a constitutional amendment that would outlaw it nationwide (so much for “states’ rights”). However, some people love to vote against their own social interests, and that includes GOProud. 

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Michigan’s Vagina Monologues: In Michigan, Republicans Declare War on Use of the Word “Vagina” 

By Alex Henderson
June 19, 2012

The Republican Party wasn’t always obsessed with being as sexually repressive as possible. The late Arizona senator Barry Goldwater, who was considered the epitome of an arch-conservative in his time, was a blistering critic of the Christian Right. But these days, the GOP and the Christian Right go hand in hand—and in Michigan, one sure-fire way to offend Republicans is to use the word “vagina” in public. Just ask Lisa Brown, a Democrat in Michigan’s House of Representatives.

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The Murder of Giovanni Falcone: 20 Years Later

By Alex Henderson
May 24, 2012

May 23, 2012 marked the 20th anniversary of the murder of Sicilian anti-mafia prosecutor Giovanni Falcone, who was killed when members of the Corleonesi crime family detonated a roadside bomb that blew up the car in which he was traveling on the way from Palermo’s airport to the center of Palermo; Falcone’s wife Francesca Morvillo and three bodyguards were also killed in the explosion. 

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BDSM With a Heart: Dominatrix/Fetish Model January Seraph Cracks the Whip to Help Fight Cancer 

By Alex Henderson
April 5, 2012

The adult entertainment industry, like mainstream entertainment, is full of self-employed freelancers. From porn stars to professional dominatrices to adult webmasters to strippers, many people who earn their living from adult entertainment are independent contractors. And if they live in the United States (the only developed country that lacks universal health care), chances are they are buying their own health insurance—that is, if they even have health insurance. San Francisco-based adult actress Hollie Stevens, who is being treated for metastatic cancer, has health insurance. But even with health insurance, cancer treatment is expensive—and dominatrix/fetish model January Seraph is among those who are helping to raise money to help Stevens pay for her treatment. 

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Health Insurance Reform and the U.S. Supreme Court

By Alex Henderson
March 26, 2012

This week, the United States Supreme Court is evaluating the constitutionality of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPAACA), which President Barack Obama signed into law in 2010.  The High Court will not announce its decision until June, and it remains to be seen whether the justices will (1) strike down the “individual mandate” portion of the PPAACA but uphold other parts of the PPAACA, (2) strike down the PPAACA in its entirety, or (3) uphold the PPAACA in its entirety.  And considering that more than 50 million Americans presently lack health insurance, it is no exaggeration to say that the health of millions of Americans hangs in the balance.

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Rick Santorum's Obsession With Porn

By Alex Henderson
March 21, 2012

First, let’s set the record straight: the vast majority of modern-day Republicans are not really “fiscal conservatives,” and they do not really believe in “small government” or “limited government” no matter how much they claim that they do. Sen. Ron Paul of Texas is a hardcore fiscal conservative; so is former New Mexico Gov. Gary Johnson, who recently defected from the GOP to the Libertarian Party and is running for president as a Libertarian (he stands a good chance of getting the LP nomination). But Paul and Johnson are not representative of modern-day Republican ideology on the whole. Most of today’s Republicans actually believe in very big, bloated, intrusive government, and the fact that former Pennsylvania senator Rick Santorum is doing as well as he is in the GOP presidential primary speaks volumes about that party’s direction. At a time when so many Americans are worried about high unemployment, record foreclosures and a staggering federal deficit, Santorum continues to obsess over adult porn, gay marriage and abortion—and one of his biggest criticisms of the Barack Obama Administration is that Obama isn’t sufficiently anti-porn.

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The Sexual Ignorance of Rush “Pillhead” Limbaugh 
By Alex Henderson
March 18, 2012

As an American, one of the most frustrating things is trying to explain the Christian Right to Europeans. Most politicians and political commentators who are considered right-of-center in Holland, Spain, Belgium, Denmark or France are not flat-out insane the way that religious extremist and former Pennsylvania senator Rick Santorum, for example, is flat-out insane. And if a European needs additional proof of just how dysfunctional the United States can be when it comes to sex, he/she need look no further than the recent tirades of Rush “Pillhead” Limbaugh.

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"American  Ecstasy”: New Barbara Nitke Photo Book Remembers 1980s Erotica in New York City

By Alex Henderson
February 24, 2012

2012 marks two milestones for Barbara Nitke. 2012 is the 30th anniversary of her career as an erotic photographer, and it is also the year in which she is hoping to publish her new photo book “American Ecstasy.” Looking back on the years Nitke spent documenting New York City’s contributions to vanilla adult films, “American Ecstasy” contains stills of Ron Jeremy, Vanessa del Rio, Nina Hartley, Sharon Kane, Siobhan Hunter, Jeanna Fine, Damian Cashmere, Jerry Butler (not to be confused with the R&B singer/Chicago politician), Sharon Mitchell, Tasha Voux and other well-known porn actors she photographed in the 1980s.

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Porn Stars Decry Mandatory Condom Use in Porn Valley



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