Christine O’Donnell and sexual politics from M to Z

BY SUSIE WILSON

NEWJERSEYNEWSROOM.COM

SEX MATTERS

Christine O'Donnell's surprise victory in the Republican primary for U.S. in Delaware, which put her in the media's eye, and a story about Zestra, a new product for mid- and late-life females that promises to increases sexual arousal, have been center stage in my mind.

My eyes popped when I read New York Times columnist Gail Collins' words about O'Donnell: "One of the most notable things on her political résumé is her well-publicized position against masturbation." (O'Donnell's explanation: "The Bible says that lust in your heart is committing adultery. So you can't masturbate without lust.")

The M word in politics? When I told the long-time former Mayor of Princeton Township about O'Donnell's position, she said, "In all my many years in public office, I've never ever heard the word ‘masturbation' surface in any campaign." Then she added, "I've never heard it spoken in smoke-filled rooms, political meetings, or anywhere else that politicians hang."

Well, apparently things have changed, at least in Delaware. I don't actually know if O'Donnell's primary opponent, the 71-year-old Republican Congressman Mike Castle, was drawn into discussing the M-word in a debate or going on record for or against the activity. All I could turn up when I asked Google for information about the masturbation issue in the primary campaign was a single reference to O'Donnell's campaign against it on MTV in 1996. And I don't know if it played a significant role with many voters. (I do know that certain religions oppose masturbation and instruct members of their congregations to abstain from it.)

The big question as we head for November will be if and how the masturbation issue will play in the general election in Delaware. The pressure is really on O'Donnell's Democratic opponent, Chris Coons, a former county executive. Will he duck or address the issue should it surface? Will he agree with O'Donnell to neutralize it and get it off the table? Will he support it as the pleasurable activity that most sexual people from childhood through old age engage in during their lives? Does he buy the part about "lust for oneself"? Does he agree with O'Donnell that it's committing adultery? In his ads, Coons says that he "will fight for Delaware," but does that cover the masturbation issue? Stay tuned.

To get serious for a moment, I don't think the M-word will be a big factor in the Delaware or in any other election this fall. Nor should it be, as it is a private matter for most people. But the Zestra controversy raises the legitimate issue of gender equity, because it involves our airwaves, which belong equally to males and females (at least last I checked).

Zestra is "a blend of botanical oils and extracts" that promises to enhance sexual arousal for women. About 100 TV networks, national cable stations, radio stations, and even websites like Facebook and WebMD refused to run a two-minute ad promoting the product. Many radio stations insisted that the ads remove the words "sex" and "arousal" which, according to manufacturers proved "somewhat challenging for a product having to do with sexual arousal."

According to the Times, the Zestra commercial is "pretty tame: middle-age women discussing how they feel less than amorous." Apparently the commercial for the Trojan condom "Fire and Ice," which features a couple racing into a 24-hour pharmacy to buy the product, makes the ad for Zestra "downright PG when compared to it." Rachel Braun Scherl, the president of Semprae Laboratories, which manufactures Zestra, believes that the product has been banned from prime media time — or relegated to the graveyard shift of midnight to four am — because of "the culture's discomfort with women's sexuality."

I agree and would add that it's symbolic of the culture's discomfort with the idea that women can seek sexual pleasure from self-stimulation (there, the M-word again) or sex without a partner. In fact, Robert J. Thompson, a professor of television and popular culture at Syracuse University, said of the ads, "[Zestra] places female pleasure first, and even suggests that this pleasure can be had with or without the presence of a man."

Recall for a moment ads for Cialis, Viagra, or Levitra, which abound on TV, usually in prime time, and you have another example of gender inequality in ads for sexual pleasure. I consider these ads quite sexist (and heterosexist), because they focus relentlessly on male sexual pleasure. The women in the ads are essential pretty heterosexual props who are present to give men sexual pleasure.

Ads for erectile dysfunction are all about men and their problems. Why can't there be ads on showcasing middle-age women talking about the perfectly understandable issue of lack of sexual desire or arousal problems?

Perhaps the only way to force gender equality in these ads is for women to advocate for a ban on Cialis, Viagra, and Levitra ads until the media accepts ones for Zestra. The slogan for the boycott should be: "All's fair in love and war."

Isn't it?

Susie Wilson, former executive coordinator of the Network for Family Life Education at Rutgers University's Center for Applied and Professional Psychology (now renamed Answer), is a national leader in the fight for effective sexuality and HIV/AIDS education and for prevention of adolescent pregnancy. She can be reached at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

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