Sex News: Coldplay, Silicon Valley Sperm, Penis Injection Death, Shame’s Casual Sex

• In the new film “Shame,” an examination of the extremes of human sexuality, Brandon Sullivan, a successful, handsome New York executive afraid of intimacy, has frequent, random sex with prostitutes and strangers. But “Shame” draws an inaccurate comparison between casual sex–an experience typically outside the context of a romantic relationship–and reckless sex. In Defense of Casual Sex (Psychology Today)

• Since 2006, the 36-year-old Silicon Valley computer security specialist has been running a one-man sperm bank out of his Fremont home. Arsenault gives couples his sperm for free. They pick up the samples and use them to artificially inseminate one of the partners. Unfortunately, for Arsenault, his gift of himself has landed him in the crosshairs of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. Fremont sperm donor in feds cross hairs (San Jose Mercury News)

• Badoo, the social network which has been criticised for being the Facebook for sex, has become the world’s fourth-largest with over 132million worldwide and over 1m in the UK. ‘Sex social network’ Badoo has 1m users in Britain (Telegraph)

• Following a cascade of negative comments by online readers of a piece about pre-marital sex titled “How Do I Even Begin To Explain This?” the student council elected to withdraw its funding from the newspaper and several editors resigned. Meanwhile, stories about the clash between freedom of expression and fealty to Orthodox Judaism’s emphasis on modesty appeared in news outlets such as The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times. Shh! Don’t talk about sex at Yeshiva University (JTA – Jewish & Israel News)

• A report about a cleric in Europe issuing a fatwa banning women from touching fruit resembling male genitalia went viral but has yet to be verified. Muna Khan: Bananas, cucumbers, carrots, oh my (english.alarabiya.net)

• Coldplay’s flashing wristbands were created by a sex toy inventor. Frontman Chris Martin has now revealed the person who invented the gadget, Jason Regler, who runs RB Concepts, previously made erotic aids that could be used with cell phones. Coldplay’s ‘Xylobands’ created by sex toy inventor (The Times of India)

• “I consider “dark erotica” to be fiction where the “dark” element exists in service of the erotic element, and “SF/F/H erotica” to be a broader category where the unusual or unreal element is not necessarily dark or scary — just paranormal. “Erotic horror,” on the other hand, puts the erotic element in the service of fear — in a sense, just the opposite.” The Line Between Dark Erotica and Erotic Horror (Write Sex)

• Most of Africa’s 54 nations ban homosexuality, so President Obama’s promotion of gay rights as a human right draws quick ire from African governments. Africa reacts to Obama’s pro-gay rights foreign policy (CSMonitor.com)

• Authorities have filed homicide charges against a woman after she allegedly administered a silicone injection into the penis of a 22-year-old man, who suffered a fatal blood clot. The victim, who died in May, had been seeking a penis enhancement, authorities said today. N.J. man dies from penis enhancing injection, authorities say; woman charged with manslaughter (NJ.com)

Image: Camilla Hansen + Yasmin Brunet by Aram Bedrossian for Lovecat Magazine #3