Recent sex-related posts from the bloggernacle:

Some funny sex discussion at the Exponent retreat.
Erotic images and female desire from ancient Greece.
Devyn S. wishes he had a uterus.
I like sex, Ed.

That’s all I remember off the top of my head, but I’m sure I’m missing some. Have you seen other good (or bad) blog posts about sexuality in the bloggernacle recently?

There are a whole lot of interesting bloggernacle posts, and collecting them all will take some time. For now, here are a few more links of possible interest. (Thanks to my co-blogger Lily for finding some of these.)

And if you have any suggestions, please feel free to suggest them in comments or e-mail.

FMH: Is sex better if you wait?

FHM: The Mormon Kama Sutra

Mormon Matters: Prophetic Counsel about Sex within Marriage (H/T Jessawhy)

BCC: Mormon Erotics

FMH: The Naughty Nipple

FMH: YW and Date Rape Prevention

FMH: Sex Talk

FMH: Yoni

Zelophehad’s Daughters: Bored by Sex

Zelophehad’s Daughters: Christian Masculinity

Zelophehad’s Daughters: Women as possessions

Zelophehad’s Daughters: Friendship in eternity

Zelophehad’s Daughters: Radical heterosexuality

I just put up a page listing resources on Mormon sexuality.

This list is a work-in-progress (I just filled in a few initial links, and some categories). I hope to fill it in with books, articles, blog posts, talks, and the like. I welcome any suggestions for the list, from readers and co-bloggers.

(Co-bloggers, feel free to edit the page. Readers, please e-mail me any suggestions at vcblog.joseph (at) gmail ).

Hopefully, over time, the resource list will become a useful repository of information and links about Mormonism and sexuality.

Also, I hope to post short discussions of the different resources, as they are added to the list.

Today’s New York Times has a great article about the rise in “nakations” — hotels, resorts, and cruises for the clothing-optional. The article notes that:

To many, the mention of a nudist resort conjures up images of isolated beach colonies with volleyball courts, hippie-style gatherings in a secluded campground or R.V. parks tucked away in the woods for vacationers who still talk reverently about the Summer of Love.

And while those kinds of offerings still exist for Mr. Massa and his fellow naturalists, as they prefer to be called, the real boom in nude vacations is coming at the high end of the business, as upscale hotels and resorts, and even some luxury cruise lines, have begun to see the economic potential in the no-clothes crowd — particularly those who want to shed their clothes but not their pampered lifestyles.

The $300-a-person all-inclusive Hidden Beach Resort, a nude-only luxury hotel that opened in 2003 along Mexico’s popular Mayan Riviera, greets guests with Champagne upon arrival. Rose petals are tossed on the beds at turndown, and beach butlers hand out towels and reading materials to guests relaxing in the nude, while they themselves walk around in discreet uniforms of buttoned-down shirts and khaki pants.

Sea Mountain Inn, a two-year old nude resort and spa in Desert Hot Springs, Calif., with room rates ranging from $269 to $900 a night, features Asian-influenced rooms with Egyptian bed linens, flat-screen TVs and natural mineral water pumped into the shower. The upscale Occidental Grand Fuerteventura in the Canary Islands has set aside entire blocks of rooms exclusively for nude guests. And several mainstream hotels, including Caesar’s Palace and the Mirage in Las Vegas, have introduced topless pools in the past couple of years.

The trend seems to be a good one. The vacationers suggest that these vacations offer a chance to connect with nature, with oneself, with one’s partner, in a different and exciting environment.

Today, America’s increasing obsession with health and wellness may be contributing to the rise of clothing-optional vacations. “Americans have moralized healthy bodies,” said Dacher Keltner, a professor of psychology at the University of California at Berkeley, who has studied moral emotion and judgment. He added that “a case could be made that people are traveling to these places to be pure for moral reasons — to achieve harmony in nature.” It’s really a form of self-expression, he added, that dates back to Walt Whitman and John Muir, as well as Thoreau, all of whom advocated being as true to yourself as possible. “The truest you can be is taking off those clothes,” he said.

It’s enough to make you want to book a vacation.

—

What do you think about public nudity? Have you been naked in public before? How do you feel about seeing, or participating in, public nudity? Would you consider going on a nakation with your partner? With friends? By yourself?

On a broader level, what roles do exhibitionism or voyeurism play in your own sexuality? How do you navigate the boundary between nudity as an ideological statement (such as of truth to oneself, connection to nature, or rejection of consumerism), as compared to nudity as a sexual act? Are the two inherently linked?

The bloggernacle is often a good source of discussion about Mormonism and sexuality. The topic comes up often, especially at a few places.

Here are a few recent bloggernacle posts on sexuality that I’ve noticed:

Exponent: Great Sexpectations

Exponent: Sexual Victimization

Exponent: Sex and Menstruation