I just got an email from a coordinator at Current TV, where they just released a compelling video that profiles “Ducky Doolittle” as she travels across the country teaching people about sexual empowerment. So I’m sitting here at Starbucks (yes, evil Starbucks) and I open the link for the video and before I know it Ducky is shouting “THIS IS THE CLITORIS!” through my computer, for all of Starbucks to hear. Hehe. I guess that’s kind of the point–and I’m all for it. But still, I’m left here at Starbucks kinda wanting to crawl under my chair.
sexuality
So in addition to it being Jewish American Heritage Month and all, it’s also Older Americans Month. I told Marco this just now and he said, “Hey, a month for me!” (Note: he’s not really Jewish, just really likes my tribe. And he’s not truly old, just kind of.)
Anyway, here are three important facts about older Americans to start off your day, courtesy of Ashton Applewhite and CCF:
MORE MARRIAGE: Men and women over 65 are more likely to have partners than at any time in history. They are now more likely to be married (as opposed to widowed or divorced without remarriage) because both men and women are living longer and because the gap between sexes is narrowing. In addition, people are more likely to remarry at older ages, although unmarried elders are also much more likely to cohabit than in the past.
HOT SEX: There’s no association between menopause and reduced sexual desire, once we control for other factors. Nor are post-menopausal women less likely to be orgasmic, although some report their orgasms are less intense. And Americans in their sixties and beyond are certainly interested in sex: they’re fueling a booming Viagra market.
MORE POVERTY: Widowed and divorced women who took time off from work to raise children are especially vulnerable to poverty because almost all retirement income is based on work — theirs or theirs spouses’. And Social Security is the only source of income for more than 40 percent of older women living alone.
Ashton is currently working on a project about older Americans called So When Are You Going to Retire: Octogenarians in the Workforce. For much, much more on any of this, contact Ashton at applewhite@earthlink.net.
And thank goodness they are. In an earlier post I commented on the CCF panel on hooking up and wrote about the scarcity of research on adolescent sexuality. Well, I just learned that researchers at the Wellesley Centers for Women have been following a sample of Gen Y kids* through six grade and, over the next year, new research from the study will look at children’s friendships, adolescent romantic relationships, puberty and adolescent health, risky behavior and aggression, school achievement, the black-white achievement gap, and more. For more info on the study, click here. And to sign up for the WCW’s e-newsletter, try here.
*Gen Y is that cohort name for children born to Boomer parents between 1981-1995.
I may be late to the party on this one, but I just came across a blog called The Frisky, a sexy site–or, in their words, a “Venuszine”–for women highlighting women in music, art, film fashion, and DIY culture. The Frisky sent me an email (target marketing to feminist bloggers, and hey, it worked!) with links to some awfully misogynistic and creepy sexist ads, with their critique attached: “First we seriously question the Disney Push Bra. Does this fall under “soft” kiddie porn? And well we are speechless about this one.”
Do check em out–The Frisky.
It’s amazing to me how little research exists on teenage and young adult sexuality in contrast to all the hot media air the topic seems to inspire. At this weekend’s Council on Contemporary Families Conference in Chicago, I had a chance to listen in as journalists and sex researchers shared their latest thinking on hook ups, the orgasm gap, and girls gone wild.
Hook ups, argued Deb Tolman, founder of the Center for Research on Gender and Sexuality at San Francisco State and a scholar of adolescent sexuality, follow a rather male model of sexual behavior. Friends-with-benefits do not a “relationship” make, and hookups are supposed to occur without those nasty little things called “feelings” getting the way. How did that model get so broadly accepted as ok?, Tolman wanted to know. She added that the question of what “good sex” means is still up for grabs. Who decides? Is it always about orgasms? Kids need adults to talk openly about sexual pleasure in concrete terms.
But back to hookups. At the same time that hookups are part of kids’ sexual landscape, they are not the landscape in its entirety. Tolman reminded the crowd that the recent emphasis on hooking up overlooks the fact that coupledom still exists. Couples just ain’t sexy news. Pepper Schwartz later noted that relationships during adolescence were NEVER easy. So if we’re saying hookups are bad, what are we comparing them to? Young people today get more intimacy from each other than in days of yore. And perhaps that’s not such a bad thing after all.
Tolman feels strongly that the topic of teen sexuality has been reductively portrayed, fueled by moral panic. Laura Sessions Stepp, author of Unhooked, bypassed this (veiled?) critique of her recent work, concentrating instead on the downsides of hooking up. “Young women say they don’t have time for relationships, so they play at relationships — faux ones, aka hook ups — while they’re busy getting everything else done,” said Stepp.
And then came the larger frame. Stanford researcher Paula England commented that we’ve had a sexual revolution without much of a gender revolution in the bedroom. The focus in sex is still, often, male pleasure (orgasm gap being alive and well) and there’s a double standard about women initiating both dates and sex. Compare this to the gender revolution we’ve made in the realms of jobs and education. With sex, we’re still a bit in the dark ages.
England drew on findings from the College Social Life Study, which gathered quantitative data from students at Stanford and Indiana and qualitative data from an online study. According to the numbers, hookups do NOT threaten relationships. It’s true that most hookups don’t lead to relationships, but it’s also true that most relationships are preceded by hookups. When asked if they want to marry someday, under 2% of young women and men said NO; 98% said YES.
As the panel reached its close, my crew–late 30something/early 40something academic women–whispered conspiratorily amongst ourselves. “And what about hook ups in your 30s?” we asked, directed at nobody in particular. After all, hook ups are how many of us grown ups begin our long-term relationships these days. And I’m here to say hook ups ain’t all bad. Heck, I’m marrying mine!
For more on the CCF conference, see coverage in Saturday’s USA Today and Chicago Tribune.
Rushing off to catch a plane, but some quick news tidbits to share before I go, courtesy of Rebekah S:
Girl racers in USA Today: They thrive in the vast proving ground of the hugely popular sport of auto racing, where girls learn to drive by the age of 5 and go from zero to 80 by the age of 12. The vehicles they are racing are go-karts, not cars, but they are driving nonetheless. For them, the phrase “woman driver” is not another era’s term of derision. It’s simply the job title they covet.
40+ women in NY Times: Interview with some boldface names about their new Internet company, Women on the Web, or wowOwow.com. The site, a dishy, uncensored, freewheeling version of The View is their effort to create an online forum for women over 40 interested in smart discussions. (Oh my gosh – that’s almost me)
FMLA in Washington Post: This year marks the 15th anniversary of the landmark Family and Medical Leave Act, which made it possible for many workers to take unpaid job-protected time off to care for their newborn children or sick relatives. But instead of celebrating, workers’ rights advocates and the Bush administration are battling over what would be the most sweeping revisions ever to the law.
Variety: GLAAD Media Awards reality TV nominees – Gay Characters Just Another Slice Of Life
The following is a post from GWP’s newest regular, Elizabeth Curtis. I’m forever grateful to E, as we call her, for teaching me the latest tricks of the trade–in blogging, of course. I love E’s voice and I bet you will too! And btw, the new season of GossipGirl premieres April 21. – GWP
The Gossip About Those GossipGirl Ads
I was taking a leisurely jaunt in Manhattan when I first came across the controversial GossipGirl ads that have created so much buzz for this CW show. Promoting this TV series based on the popular teen books about an elite prep school, the advertisements I saw were poster-size and plastered all over a construction site. My response? OMFG, for sure. And WTF, too.
Now my reaction to these ads is not negative because I am prudish or “sex-shaming.” I’m just struck by how “soft-core” these mainstream images are. Like Ariel Levy, I’m concerned about how “pornified” society seems to be these days. But my take on the consequences of this “pop culture gone wild” is more in line with the views of Jessica Valenti. As Jessica smartly states in her book Full Frontal Feminism,
I think that while the fast-growing focus on sexuality [in popular culture] certainly has the potential to be dangerous for young women, it’s not necessarily all bad. What is bad is that young women seem to be confronted with too few choices and too many wagging fingers…We’re all trapped by the limiting version of sexuality that’s put out there – a sexuality that caters almost exclusively to men.
Jessica goes on to make a call for young women to critically engage with mainstream images promoting an impossible and often unattractive version of female sexuality and to then make informed decisions about their own sexual lives.
I think that the GossipGirl ad campaign is a perfect example of the type of analysis Jessica advocates. What is going on in these ads? Is it just a shameless use of sex to sell an already racy series? Is female pleasure exploited or privileged by featuring an actress’s “o-face”? What’s up with the social mores contradiction of this television show being marketed to the very same American teenagers who are being taught abstinence-only sex ed. in school? WTF, you know?
Luckily, feminist thinker/scholars like Levy, Valenti, and Kathleen Sweeney, and our very own Girl With Pen are writing about these issues – and bringing more to the conversation than just WTF.
Some Recommended Reads:
-On “raunch” culture: Ariel Levy’s Female Chauvinist Pigs
-On feminism and activism today: Jessica Valenti’s Full Frontal Feminism
-Girls, girls, girls: Kathleen Sweeney’s Maiden USA: Girl Icons Come of Age
-Blogging about girlhood: Patti Binder’s What’s Good for Girls
-For some female-friendly, sex-positive inspiration: Rachel Krammer Brussel’s Dirty Girls: Erotica for Women
Share your recs and takes in the comments section, too!
Cross-posted at A Blog Without a Bicycle
Well, Rachel Kramer Bussel has done it again. A prolific erotica writer herself, Rachel gathers 26 other uninhibited women in her new collection from Seal titled Dirty Girls: Erotica for Women. Love that the book flap answers Freud’s infamously infuriating question, “What do women really want?” with the following: “They want it all.” Because “it all” is pretty much what you’ll find between these covers. And believe me, if you read it, you will only be left wanting one thing: More.
The collection is, as Rachel notes in her intro, “dirty and sweet, wrapped up in one.” Like Rachel herself–who also runs a cupcake blog (anyone catch her recent appearance on Martha Stewart? for reals). This recipe for good erotica starts, of course, by dutifully deconstructing “dirty.” Writes Rachel:
“All too often we denigrate the dirty girls–the ones who dare to publicly show their naughty sides–as incorrigible sluts rather than realizing just how exciting it is to tap into our lustiest selves. Once you crack the surface of those who are seeingly prim and proper–the demure suburban housewife, the suited up banker, the quet secretary, the curious bookworm, the shy computer nerd–you’ll very likely find that the simplicity of the word ‘dirty’ doesn’t go anywhere near far enough to describe the kinds that lurk within them.”
Ultimately, Dirty Girls is playful, yet hot. As couples therapist Esther Perel has noted elsewhere, democracy isn’t always the hottest thing when it comes to the bedroom, and the stories here are loath to follow any PC guidelines. Thank goodness. The result? A book filled with “erotic adrenaline.” Full of fantasy, yet real. Which, btw, reminds me of another recent nonfiction title, which I hear reads like a modern-day McKinnsey study, full of to-the-minute kinks. It’s called America Unzipped. I’d be eager to hear what Rachel has to say about it–in fact, I bet she’s blogged about it over at Lusty Lady. I’m off to check out the latest on her awesome (and inspiring!) blog.
For those who are local, Rachel is throwing a book party here in NYC on Thursday, where there will be BOOB cake from Moist and Tasty. At Sutra Lounge, 16 First Avenue off First Street, Thursday, April 10, 7-9, FREE, 21+. She’ll also be hitting Atlanta, where she’ll be talking, with others, at Sex 2.0. CONGRATS, Rachel, and thanks for giving us this book!
Today is my day to review Rachel Kramer Bussel’s new book, as part of a blog tour. And I promise my post is coming soon–just want to run out and catch some exercise before the day begins. I’m psyched to be in such good company on this one–check out who’s also reviewing as part of the tour, and do visit them too if interested:
April 9 Deborah Siegel
April 10 Babeland
April 11 NYC Urban Gypsy
April 12 FunkyBrown Chick
April 13 Boinkology
April 14 Audacia Ray
April 15 Pretty Dumb Things
For all you writers wondering how a blog tour actually works–and how to set one up for yourself–I’m teaching blogging seminars at upcoming conferences and will def cover the topic. For starters:
Council on Contemporary Families – April 26, U of Illinois, Chicago
National Council for Research on Women – June 7, New York University
This just in: Rachel Kramer Bussell, along with her fellow Cupcakes Take the Cake bloggers, will be appearing on The Martha Stewart Show this coming Monday, March 31st, to kick off Cupcake Week on the show. As Rachel notes, that’s not (yet) a national holiday. They’re on at the top of the hour (1 pm ET on NBC). Click here for local listings.
Now, I’m just waiting for the moment Rachel, who also blogs at LustyLady and edits these amazing sex anthologies, slips sex toys into the conversation with Martha.
Rachel also just passed along a great link to me–an article by Violet Blue about how women are treated online, over at SFGate. Read it and weep. And then, go eat a big fat cupcake. For reals.
So in addition to it being Jewish American Heritage Month and all, it’s also Older Americans Month. I told Marco this just now and he said, “Hey, a month for me!” (Note: he’s not really Jewish, just really likes my tribe. And he’s not truly old, just kind of.)
Anyway, here are three important facts about older Americans to start off your day, courtesy of Ashton Applewhite and CCF:
MORE MARRIAGE: Men and women over 65 are more likely to have partners than at any time in history. They are now more likely to be married (as opposed to widowed or divorced without remarriage) because both men and women are living longer and because the gap between sexes is narrowing. In addition, people are more likely to remarry at older ages, although unmarried elders are also much more likely to cohabit than in the past.
HOT SEX: There’s no association between menopause and reduced sexual desire, once we control for other factors. Nor are post-menopausal women less likely to be orgasmic, although some report their orgasms are less intense. And Americans in their sixties and beyond are certainly interested in sex: they’re fueling a booming Viagra market.
MORE POVERTY: Widowed and divorced women who took time off from work to raise children are especially vulnerable to poverty because almost all retirement income is based on work — theirs or theirs spouses’. And Social Security is the only source of income for more than 40 percent of older women living alone.
Ashton is currently working on a project about older Americans called So When Are You Going to Retire: Octogenarians in the Workforce. For much, much more on any of this, contact Ashton at applewhite@earthlink.net.
And thank goodness they are. In an earlier post I commented on the CCF panel on hooking up and wrote about the scarcity of research on adolescent sexuality. Well, I just learned that researchers at the Wellesley Centers for Women have been following a sample of Gen Y kids* through six grade and, over the next year, new research from the study will look at children’s friendships, adolescent romantic relationships, puberty and adolescent health, risky behavior and aggression, school achievement, the black-white achievement gap, and more. For more info on the study, click here. And to sign up for the WCW’s e-newsletter, try here.
*Gen Y is that cohort name for children born to Boomer parents between 1981-1995.
I may be late to the party on this one, but I just came across a blog called The Frisky, a sexy site–or, in their words, a “Venuszine”–for women highlighting women in music, art, film fashion, and DIY culture. The Frisky sent me an email (target marketing to feminist bloggers, and hey, it worked!) with links to some awfully misogynistic and creepy sexist ads, with their critique attached: “First we seriously question the Disney Push Bra. Does this fall under “soft” kiddie porn? And well we are speechless about this one.”
Do check em out–The Frisky.
It’s amazing to me how little research exists on teenage and young adult sexuality in contrast to all the hot media air the topic seems to inspire. At this weekend’s Council on Contemporary Families Conference in Chicago, I had a chance to listen in as journalists and sex researchers shared their latest thinking on hook ups, the orgasm gap, and girls gone wild.
Hook ups, argued Deb Tolman, founder of the Center for Research on Gender and Sexuality at San Francisco State and a scholar of adolescent sexuality, follow a rather male model of sexual behavior. Friends-with-benefits do not a “relationship” make, and hookups are supposed to occur without those nasty little things called “feelings” getting the way. How did that model get so broadly accepted as ok?, Tolman wanted to know. She added that the question of what “good sex” means is still up for grabs. Who decides? Is it always about orgasms? Kids need adults to talk openly about sexual pleasure in concrete terms.
But back to hookups. At the same time that hookups are part of kids’ sexual landscape, they are not the landscape in its entirety. Tolman reminded the crowd that the recent emphasis on hooking up overlooks the fact that coupledom still exists. Couples just ain’t sexy news. Pepper Schwartz later noted that relationships during adolescence were NEVER easy. So if we’re saying hookups are bad, what are we comparing them to? Young people today get more intimacy from each other than in days of yore. And perhaps that’s not such a bad thing after all.
Tolman feels strongly that the topic of teen sexuality has been reductively portrayed, fueled by moral panic. Laura Sessions Stepp, author of Unhooked, bypassed this (veiled?) critique of her recent work, concentrating instead on the downsides of hooking up. “Young women say they don’t have time for relationships, so they play at relationships — faux ones, aka hook ups — while they’re busy getting everything else done,” said Stepp.
And then came the larger frame. Stanford researcher Paula England commented that we’ve had a sexual revolution without much of a gender revolution in the bedroom. The focus in sex is still, often, male pleasure (orgasm gap being alive and well) and there’s a double standard about women initiating both dates and sex. Compare this to the gender revolution we’ve made in the realms of jobs and education. With sex, we’re still a bit in the dark ages.
England drew on findings from the College Social Life Study, which gathered quantitative data from students at Stanford and Indiana and qualitative data from an online study. According to the numbers, hookups do NOT threaten relationships. It’s true that most hookups don’t lead to relationships, but it’s also true that most relationships are preceded by hookups. When asked if they want to marry someday, under 2% of young women and men said NO; 98% said YES.
As the panel reached its close, my crew–late 30something/early 40something academic women–whispered conspiratorily amongst ourselves. “And what about hook ups in your 30s?” we asked, directed at nobody in particular. After all, hook ups are how many of us grown ups begin our long-term relationships these days. And I’m here to say hook ups ain’t all bad. Heck, I’m marrying mine!
For more on the CCF conference, see coverage in Saturday’s USA Today and Chicago Tribune.
Rushing off to catch a plane, but some quick news tidbits to share before I go, courtesy of Rebekah S:
Girl racers in USA Today: They thrive in the vast proving ground of the hugely popular sport of auto racing, where girls learn to drive by the age of 5 and go from zero to 80 by the age of 12. The vehicles they are racing are go-karts, not cars, but they are driving nonetheless. For them, the phrase “woman driver” is not another era’s term of derision. It’s simply the job title they covet.
40+ women in NY Times: Interview with some boldface names about their new Internet company, Women on the Web, or wowOwow.com. The site, a dishy, uncensored, freewheeling version of The View is their effort to create an online forum for women over 40 interested in smart discussions. (Oh my gosh – that’s almost me)
FMLA in Washington Post: This year marks the 15th anniversary of the landmark Family and Medical Leave Act, which made it possible for many workers to take unpaid job-protected time off to care for their newborn children or sick relatives. But instead of celebrating, workers’ rights advocates and the Bush administration are battling over what would be the most sweeping revisions ever to the law.
Variety: GLAAD Media Awards reality TV nominees – Gay Characters Just Another Slice Of Life
The following is a post from GWP’s newest regular, Elizabeth Curtis. I’m forever grateful to E, as we call her, for teaching me the latest tricks of the trade–in blogging, of course. I love E’s voice and I bet you will too! And btw, the new season of GossipGirl premieres April 21. – GWP
The Gossip About Those GossipGirl Ads
I was taking a leisurely jaunt in Manhattan when I first came across the controversial GossipGirl ads that have created so much buzz for this CW show. Promoting this TV series based on the popular teen books about an elite prep school, the advertisements I saw were poster-size and plastered all over a construction site. My response? OMFG, for sure. And WTF, too.
Now my reaction to these ads is not negative because I am prudish or “sex-shaming.” I’m just struck by how “soft-core” these mainstream images are. Like Ariel Levy, I’m concerned about how “pornified” society seems to be these days. But my take on the consequences of this “pop culture gone wild” is more in line with the views of Jessica Valenti. As Jessica smartly states in her book Full Frontal Feminism,
I think that while the fast-growing focus on sexuality [in popular culture] certainly has the potential to be dangerous for young women, it’s not necessarily all bad. What is bad is that young women seem to be confronted with too few choices and too many wagging fingers…We’re all trapped by the limiting version of sexuality that’s put out there – a sexuality that caters almost exclusively to men.
Jessica goes on to make a call for young women to critically engage with mainstream images promoting an impossible and often unattractive version of female sexuality and to then make informed decisions about their own sexual lives.
I think that the GossipGirl ad campaign is a perfect example of the type of analysis Jessica advocates. What is going on in these ads? Is it just a shameless use of sex to sell an already racy series? Is female pleasure exploited or privileged by featuring an actress’s “o-face”? What’s up with the social mores contradiction of this television show being marketed to the very same American teenagers who are being taught abstinence-only sex ed. in school? WTF, you know?
Luckily, feminist thinker/scholars like Levy, Valenti, and Kathleen Sweeney, and our very own Girl With Pen are writing about these issues – and bringing more to the conversation than just WTF.
Some Recommended Reads:
-On “raunch” culture: Ariel Levy’s Female Chauvinist Pigs
-On feminism and activism today: Jessica Valenti’s Full Frontal Feminism
-Girls, girls, girls: Kathleen Sweeney’s Maiden USA: Girl Icons Come of Age
-Blogging about girlhood: Patti Binder’s What’s Good for Girls
-For some female-friendly, sex-positive inspiration: Rachel Krammer Brussel’s Dirty Girls: Erotica for Women
Share your recs and takes in the comments section, too!
Cross-posted at A Blog Without a Bicycle
Well, Rachel Kramer Bussel has done it again. A prolific erotica writer herself, Rachel gathers 26 other uninhibited women in her new collection from Seal titled Dirty Girls: Erotica for Women. Love that the book flap answers Freud’s infamously infuriating question, “What do women really want?” with the following: “They want it all.” Because “it all” is pretty much what you’ll find between these covers. And believe me, if you read it, you will only be left wanting one thing: More.
The collection is, as Rachel notes in her intro, “dirty and sweet, wrapped up in one.” Like Rachel herself–who also runs a cupcake blog (anyone catch her recent appearance on Martha Stewart? for reals). This recipe for good erotica starts, of course, by dutifully deconstructing “dirty.” Writes Rachel:
“All too often we denigrate the dirty girls–the ones who dare to publicly show their naughty sides–as incorrigible sluts rather than realizing just how exciting it is to tap into our lustiest selves. Once you crack the surface of those who are seeingly prim and proper–the demure suburban housewife, the suited up banker, the quet secretary, the curious bookworm, the shy computer nerd–you’ll very likely find that the simplicity of the word ‘dirty’ doesn’t go anywhere near far enough to describe the kinds that lurk within them.”
Ultimately, Dirty Girls is playful, yet hot. As couples therapist Esther Perel has noted elsewhere, democracy isn’t always the hottest thing when it comes to the bedroom, and the stories here are loath to follow any PC guidelines. Thank goodness. The result? A book filled with “erotic adrenaline.” Full of fantasy, yet real. Which, btw, reminds me of another recent nonfiction title, which I hear reads like a modern-day McKinnsey study, full of to-the-minute kinks. It’s called America Unzipped. I’d be eager to hear what Rachel has to say about it–in fact, I bet she’s blogged about it over at Lusty Lady. I’m off to check out the latest on her awesome (and inspiring!) blog.
For those who are local, Rachel is throwing a book party here in NYC on Thursday, where there will be BOOB cake from Moist and Tasty. At Sutra Lounge, 16 First Avenue off First Street, Thursday, April 10, 7-9, FREE, 21+. She’ll also be hitting Atlanta, where she’ll be talking, with others, at Sex 2.0. CONGRATS, Rachel, and thanks for giving us this book!
Today is my day to review Rachel Kramer Bussel’s new book, as part of a blog tour. And I promise my post is coming soon–just want to run out and catch some exercise before the day begins. I’m psyched to be in such good company on this one–check out who’s also reviewing as part of the tour, and do visit them too if interested:
April 9 Deborah Siegel
April 10 Babeland
April 11 NYC Urban Gypsy
April 12 FunkyBrown Chick
April 13 Boinkology
April 14 Audacia Ray
April 15 Pretty Dumb Things
For all you writers wondering how a blog tour actually works–and how to set one up for yourself–I’m teaching blogging seminars at upcoming conferences and will def cover the topic. For starters:
Council on Contemporary Families – April 26, U of Illinois, Chicago
National Council for Research on Women – June 7, New York University
This just in: Rachel Kramer Bussell, along with her fellow Cupcakes Take the Cake bloggers, will be appearing on The Martha Stewart Show this coming Monday, March 31st, to kick off Cupcake Week on the show. As Rachel notes, that’s not (yet) a national holiday. They’re on at the top of the hour (1 pm ET on NBC). Click here for local listings.
Now, I’m just waiting for the moment Rachel, who also blogs at LustyLady and edits these amazing sex anthologies, slips sex toys into the conversation with Martha.
Rachel also just passed along a great link to me–an article by Violet Blue about how women are treated online, over at SFGate. Read it and weep. And then, go eat a big fat cupcake. For reals.
