Northern Exposure: National Sex Day in Canada

Posted by Malcolm Harris, National Family Planning & Reproductive Health Association at 8:31 AM on August 19, 2008.

In the midst of Russia invading countries that sound made-up and the Bush administration extending eminent domain to women's uteruses, it's nice to be reminded there can still be headlines like "Not hot for 'Sex Day'" in the Edmonton Sun.

The puff piece is about student Jonathan Yaniv who started the Facebook event "National Sex Day 2008." The event is basically what it sounds like, picking a day and devoting it to sex. According to the article, Yaniv will be providing free condoms.

The conflict in the article is between the National Sex Day 2008 and those who believe every day should be Sex Day and that organizing should be left for political purposes. The headline is a little misleading. The so-called opponents seem to want to have sex instead of getting a holiday devoted to it.

"People do it," says Zena Scott. "Everyone does it. It's not anything too special. But if people want to have a special day, they might as well."

I'm not sure who Zena Scott is (the article doesn't make that clear) but I think she may be spot-on. A day devoted to de-stigmatizing healthy sexual behavior? Why not?

Sex-shop employee Brian Vandebroek would rather his Canadian government focus on things other than sex, but still admits Sex Day could be a good idea. Personally, I'd rather my government focus a little less, or at least differently, on sex. Between abstinence-only education and the new contraception regulations, the American radical right seems to think about nothing but sex, and not in fun ways.

Maybe Mr. Yaniv is on to something. Maybe we need to punch back against the demonization of healthy sexual behavior in a light-hearted way to contrast to our unfunny and celibate antagonists. Passing out condoms is a political act these days, and the left should stop getting squeamish when people actually use the contraceptives we give them.

Either way, as sexologist Dr. Pega Ren said in the article, "People should call in well rather than call in sick [that day. This] de-emphasizes hatred and promotes kindness, loving and sexuality." Sounds like some stuff we could all use. If you'll allow me a little media commentary before I close this piece out. My boss Allison wondered how this piece would be different if it ran in an American paper. This is my best guess: The people quoted in this Canadian article were the student with the Facebook page, a sex-store employee, someone named Zelda Scott and a sexologist. If it were run in America, the quotes would come from the student, a representative from a group with a name like "The Family American Values Leadership Coalition of America" (or some other group with a name that sounds like a front organization for child-porn producers), a psychologist talking about brain development in teenagers and a worried mom-on-the-street.

Instead of the cute-although-misleading "Not hot for 'Sex Day'", the American article would be a trend piece entitled "Are our children attending massive sex-orgies?" It would include a mother, face down, looking worried next to pictures of adolescent brain-scans (why do we love brain-scan photos so much?)

What I learned from this article is we Americans need this holiday a lot more than our neighbors to the north.

Tagged as: sex, conservatives, canada