Michigan State University

#ThrowbackThursday: Dell William’s Statement of Purpose for NOW’s Women’s Sexuality Conference, 1973

Dell Williams' draft statement of purpose for the NOW Women's Sexuality Conference, 1973 (Cornell Library)

Dell Williams’ draft statement of purpose for the NOW Women’s Sexuality Conference, 1973 (Cornell Library)

In honor of the late Dell Williams, I found this gem: In 1973, Williams organized a sexuality conference in New York that gained a lot of attention. It was put on by the National Organization for Women (NOW), and featured “workshops on thirty five sex-related subjects.” Thousands of women attended.

Above is a draft of Williams’ statement of purpose for the conference, housed in Cornell’s Human Sexuality Collection. As you can see, it naturally focuses on women reclaiming their sexuality and breaking free from restrictions of choice.

Williams would go on to found Eve’s Garden, the nation’s first woman-friendly sex shop, in 1974.

What are Common Personality Traits of Women Who’ve Read the “Fifty Shades of Grey” Trilogy?

'Fifty Shades of Grey' still (The Tipsy Verse)

‘Fifty Shades of Grey’ still (The Tipsy Verse)

Now that we’ve all seen “Fifty Shades of Grey” (or are waiting for Netflix/Redbox/not-so-legal means), we can all relax until the franchise’s next installment comes out.

Until then, you have time to catch up on the rest of the trilogy. But that might say certain things about your personality.

Last year, Michigan State University researchers found that women who had read the erotic trilogy were “more likely to have a verbally abusive partner with stalker traits and eating disorders than non-readers.” The study polled 655 women ages 18-24, and was published in the “Journal of Women’s Health.” The subjects were divided into thirds of non-readers (those who hadn’t read any of the books), one-book readers (those who’d only read the first book) and three-book readers (those who’d read the entire trilogy).

Compared to women who hadn’t read the books, women who had read them reported more abusive behavior in relationships: They were 25% more likely to have been yelled at by a partner, and 34% more likely to have had a potential stalker.

But it’s unclear whether the subjects engaged in this behavior before reading the books, so we can’t say definitively that the books influenced them.