blackshama's commentary on Philippine issues

Pope Benedict XVI surprised his flock and the rest of the world for practically stating in an interview with a German Catholic journalist that condoms can be used in certain cases, and he even gave an example of what that case could be. The interview will come out in a book "Light of the World", excerpts of which have been made public with Vatican approval. The BBC has the excerpted transcript. What is indeed unexpected is that His Holiness was not just speaking in theological terms but even gave an example of when condom use may be allowed. This is what can be called a pastoral application. However the remarks don't definitely say a judgment on the morality of condom use, which is still under study by Vatican theologians. However the Pope's remarks will not drastically alter Church teaching on contraception nor its moral stance in human sexuality. The remarks cannot be taken out of its context. The Pope insists that sexuality must be humanized and people have ...

This whole brouhaha about sex education in the schools shows that a lot of Filipinos have a narrow idea of what sex is. Sex for most is limited to the reproductive organs and the sexual act. And this gives the Church, parents and teachers on who should be the right people to tell children about sex. May I suggest Charles Darwin? Unfortunately he is dead and buried in Westminster Abbey. But his book (which I believe is more radical than his own "Origin of Species") "The Descent of Man" lies down our modern ideas on how we should look at sex. Sex is crucial to understanding evolution. First of all Darwin observed that the sexes are different. The males have structural differences from the female and in some cases these are so obvious. Look at the horns in some mammals. In some cases, only males have them and in most cases, the males have larger horns. These are what we call secondary sexual characteristics. Any child who grew up in a farm notices these (after all chil...

This piece of news is tabloid fodder. Two Brits were caught "making out" on Dubai's famous Jumeira beach. They were arrested. According to the BBC, the couple (who are not married to each other) were intoxicated and lost all "inhibition". A police officer had warned them before. They were arrested and sentenced to 3 months in jail. The blurbs say that this is a case of Western permissiveness clashing with Arab conservative Islamic values. But this had me scratching my head. Isn't Dubai the most liberal of the Arabian states? In fact people I know who have worked there say it is even more liberal than tolerant Malaysia. In the Beeb's news report, the expats interviewed said that "foreigners should be warned about these issues". There is little sympathy for the couple. Nonetheless Dubai is liberal. In a more conservative state they should have been lashed or at least have parts of the anatomy cut off as what was due certain offenses. Even the B...

Six years ago we 6 guys did the Subic rainforest trail with an Ayta guide who used to train American soliders on jungle survival. The man showed us what he called "jungle viagra" that was guaranteed to work let you rise and shine in the morning (pun intended!) Our guide told me that the rainforest has heaps of plants that can help in sexual performance and function for men and women. I guess this could be THE BEST REASON why the rainforest needs to be protected at all costs! It is only now that I realize that our guide wasn't fibbing us. It seems that the watermelon has its gifts for man (aside from summer coolers). The UK mirror has this to say. Watermelon works like Viagra scientists have found out. Watermelons have always had sexual cultural connotations. This Chinese farmer has prime evidence why this is so. In Pinoy culture a pregnant woman is said to have"swallowed a watermelon"! If watermelons can make you rise, papayas are said to make you relax! Again t...

One of the things that happened in the course of doing science is that I began to understand more about me. Me as a male. This is because when I was studying a group of coral reef snails belonging to the genus Oliva or olive snails, I discovered interesting things about their penises. The penis is what allows a male to inseminate a female. A penis is a muscular organ, capable of contracting and relaxing. Some species have males with penis like structures, capable of penetrating the female, but since they aren't muscular they aren't penises. An example is the gonopodium of a male guppy. The male animal has to rise to the occasion, that is the penis must remain erect at least until sperm is delivered to the female. And this is no joking matter. Male olives spend a lot of energy in getting their proportionally large penises ready for a night of sex under the coral sand. Despite my best efforts, I couldn't find an erect Oliva penis in the field. I spend moonlit nights on r...