Behind America's Obsession with Sex Scandals

Why the national obsession with sex scandals, most recently in the governor's office, before and after (New York and New Jersey)? And is the stoic wife all that unknowing? Is monogamy doomed for straight couples?

On our next show, 24 March 2008, Subversity talks with activist writer and former sex worker Tony Valenzuela. He worked in the commercial sex industry for about 5 years, including being an escort during that time (1997 to around 2002). A leader of the national Sex Panic activism of the late 1990's, he continues today to be a critic of how mainstream culture, including the gay community, handles matters of sexuality, especially publicly.

A long-time activist based in Southern California, he works on sexual politics, HIV and gay men's health. He writes for LA Weekly, Frontiers, Zyzzyva and is working on a book on gay men and risk.

He last appeared on Subversity in November 1997.

To listen to the entire Subversity show, click here:

Talking Sex: In Hong Kong and in the U.S.

In our next edition of KUCI's Subversity show airing Monday, 25 February 2008, we focus on sex talk -- in Hong Kong as well as stateside.

In Part 1: We air a dispatch from National Radio Project's Making Contact, "Still Talking About Sex," which features former U.S. Surgeon General Jocelyn Elders. In 1993, Elders became the first African American Surgeon General of the United States. Criticized and attacked for her public statements promoting comprehensive sex education, the distribution of condoms in public schools, and the possibility of the legalization of drugs, Elders was forced to resign about a year later. The statement Elders is often remembered for is when she said masturbation is a part of human sexuality, and so perhaps it should be taught to children. On this edition, of Making Contact, we'll hear from the former surgeon who to this day remains a fierce advocate for health related policies.

In Part 2: We delve into the Edison Chen sex scandal that has gripped Hong Kong and the surrounding region for a month. The hip hop singer and actor has now admitted taking most of the hundreds of photographs circulating on the Internet showing him in bed (separately) with up to a half dozen local starlets. We discuss the legal and civil rights implications in the current law enforcement crackdown in the wake of the theft of his images.

Links:

Latest Edison Chen apology: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ewAKWEeC0IU

Earlier Edison Chen apology: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dIIwhbMRXe4&feature=related

Jeff Chang 2006 profile of Edison Chen: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2006/10/11/DDGOLLLO541.DTL

To listen to the entire Subversity show, click here:

Labor Day Show: Moral Panics & Vietnam Labor Struggles

For our Labor Day show, KUCI's Subversity show had two parts.

Part 1: Moral panics in Boise, Part 1 (9:00 am) takes a look back at some historical antecedents for the travails of U.S. Senator Larry Craig (R-Idaho), who has now announced his resignation in the wake of a tearoom conviction disclosure. We chat with writer/director/producer Seth Randal about his documentary, The Fall of '55, that documented the witchhunt against homosexuals caught in sex with teenagers.

His op ed (co-written with an archivist, Alan Virta, also on the show) appears in Saturday's New York Times, which also ran a separate op ed on the late sociologist Laud Humphrey's Tearoom Trade book that analyzed the folks who engage in tearoom sex.

Part 2 focuses on Vietnam with Prof. Angie Ngoc Tran Part 2 (9:30 am) focuses on labor in Vietnam, as the forces of globalization converge on changing work and working conditions in that country. We chat with Prof. Angie Ngoc Tran, of CSU Monterey Bay, whose field is political economy. See press release.

To listen to the entire show, click here:

http://kuci.org/~dtsang/subversity/Sv070903b.mp3