by John Ballew | Jan 9, 2014 | Gay men's sexuality, Spirituality and religion, Uncategorized
According to Joe.My.God., this short film has played in 50 film festivals. I thought it perfectly captured a bit of the experience of coming out as an adolescent. It brought back lots of memories, even for those of us who grew up...
by John Ballew | Sep 1, 2013 | Emotional health, Gay men's sexuality
Gay men face considerable pressure to conform to an impossible standard of physical flawlessness. This pressure causes much anxiety and reduced self-esteem. A recent article in The Atlantic called “The Tyranny of Buffness” explores the theme and is worth a read. It...
by John Ballew | Jun 27, 2012 | HIV/AIDS, sexuality
The CDC has a great HIV and STD testing resource that provides information about HIV, safer sex, healthy living with HIV and a quick locator to find free, confidential HIV testing near you. All you have to do is enter your ZIP code. Some Walgreens and RiteAid...
by John Ballew | Jun 26, 2012 | Emotional health, sexuality
I can always count on my friend C. to help me see things more clearly and from a slightly different point of view. Recently we’ve been talking about bisexuality. She sent me a list of the top ten most offensive things to say to bisexuals. Here goes: If you...
by John Ballew | Jun 12, 2012 | Gay men's sexuality, Health issues, midlife
I’ve written before that gay men are prone to body image problems. Many gay men seem to have the issues often associated with 16 year old girls: imagined flaws not visible to others, hypervigilence about weight and muscle tone, snarkiness and judgmental attitudes... by John Ballew | Apr 23, 2012 | sexuality
By now, talking about the lack of success in changing sexual orientation can feel a little repetitive and boring. Still, enough people continue to fall prey to these fraudsters that I think it is worth a little more conversation. Gabriel Arana recently wrote an...