- Continuing financial and social insecurity have been big news in 2011 and the world of porn has also seen its share of uncertainty. Something that has become apparent over the last 12 months is that female porn consumers have become incredibly comfortable with adult material; the new generation of internet users see porn as their birthright and nothing to be shocked about. And alternative visions of porn are increasingly being embraced by more and more people. Porn For Women Retrospective 2011 (Ms. Naughty)
- Groupon: $28 for Armory and Adult-Film Set Tour for Two (Up to $60 Value) Employees lead 60-minute tours for guests aged 18 & older through five floors of historic armory & elaborate adult-film sets. Yes, this would be a Kink.com Groupon – only in San Francisco, my friends… SF Armory Deal of the Day (Groupon San Francisco, thanks Eve!)
- YES! When American kids leave middle school in America, they should be able to differentiate between gender identity, gender expression and sexual orientation, according to the new sexual education guidelines released Monday by a coalition of health and education groups. Kids should be able to explain why a rape victim is not at fault, know about bullying and dating violence and describe the signs and impacts of sexually transmitted diseases. Kids leaving 8th grade should be able to evaluate the effectiveness of abstinence, condoms and other “safer sex methods” and know how emergency contraception works. New Sex Education Standards Released (CBS)
- A much talked about new film tackles the very modern illness of sex addiction. But one leading psychologist has been attacked for suggesting that it isn’t an illness at all – it’s a weakness. Why there’s no such thing as sex addiction (Telegraph)
- In a rare disruption of two yin-and-yang forces, C.E.S. will not coincide this year with the Adult Entertainment Expo, a trade show and fan event. This is only the second time in recent memory that the event will not overlap with C.E.S., said Brian Gross, a spokesman for AVN, the publishing company that produces the conference. Silicon and Silicone Split, as C.E.S. and Adult Entertainment Expo Part Ways (NY Times)
- The study is “the longest-running study ever conducted on American lesbian families (now in its 24th year).” The paper found that none of the adolescents reports having ever been physically or sexually abused by a lesbian parent or other caregiver. (26 percent of American adolescents report parent or caregiver physical abuse and 8.3 percent report sexual abuse.) New Study Shows Child Abuse Rate in Homes With Lesbian Parents Is Zero (AlterNet)
- A neuroscientist at Uber (indie upscale taxi service) deconstructed data to examine how riders flow from one part of San Francisco to another – and plotted a map of probable singles’ gathering places by neighborhood. Uberdata: Mapping the San Franciscome (Uber Blog)
- The owners of the Tool Box, the embattled sex-positive shop in Iowa, are laying low and waiting to see what happens next after rejecting the offer of a new lease, which stipulated — among other things — that they couldn’t talk to the media. ‘Sex-positive’ shop rejects lease offer, stays in downtown space (Iowa City Press Citizen)
- Here’s Anderson Cooper refusing to answer whether he sexts, divulging his “freak number” and using a Shake Weight. Anderson Cooper Talks Sexting, Uses Shake Weight On “Watch What Happens Live” (Buzzfeed)
- A Supreme Court hearing on the power of the Federal Communications Commission to regulate broadcast indecency set for Jan. 10 is sure to be, in the famous words of Vice President Joe Biden, a “big f—ing deal.”The Supremes Get Indecent Proposals (Adweek)
- “This could be the final nail in the coffin for the Obscene Publications Act in the digital age because the jury’s verdict shows that normal people view consensual adult pornography as a part of everyday life and are no longer shocked, depraved or corrupted by it,” Myles Jackman said. Not guilty verdict in DVD obscenity trial (BBC)
- In one memorable exchange, Smith was asked what a buttplug was. Her response prompted the defence lawyer to reply, “Oh, like an earplug but for your butt”. All the details from the UK obscenity trial are here – featuring Craigslist, cowboy music, ball-busting, a shocked-then-bored jury: Making a Fist of It: The Law and Obscenity (UK Human Rights Blog)
- Abstinence-only programs, with their emphasis on purity, marriage, and heterosexuality, create hostile environments. Why Abstinence-Only Sex Ed Makes Kids Into Bullies (AlterNet)
I wonder if sex addiction, like alcoholism and drug use (not for every person, but for many people) just another way to combat extreme and long-lasting depression, sadness and unhappiness. Even bad sex feels good for a while (mostly), and chasing that elusive good moment is one of the principles of intermittent reinforcement (the principle that casinos use to pull people in).
Good sex helps you feel better, sex can be a coping mechanism for unhappiness, if you over-use it, you may get classified as addicted to sex. But is it sex itself that you’re addicted to, or is something else (or, more commonly, a whole set of things) making you reach (on a very regular basis, and to a dangerous level) for something that makes you feel better than you normally do?