As your humble sex and tech cultural attache…

Image via stigma rest room.

I bring you links, commentary and props from around the ‘sphere that happened to catch my eye:

* Everyone’s a-tweeting about former NY Governor, vehement anti-sex work crusader Eliot Spitzer’s outing as “client 9” from the Emperor’s Club VIP escort service. Slate offers up this handy guided tour (including interactive map) of Washington sex scandals, and though they’ve got the DC Madam’s Sen. Vitter, they neglected to include Bush’s notoriously anti-condom, anti-prostitution “AIDS Czar” Randall Tobais, who resigned instantly when it was revealed the madam had turned over her client records. (Think Tobias used condoms?) Since he wasn’t “caught” I guess he doesn’t win a spot on the map, but I love the idea of EZ-tech-guides to political sexual hypocrisy.

* Speaking of Spitzer, this is a nice tie-in to my upcoming SXSW Sexual Privacy Panel video/audio/multimedia wrapup post: guess what!? It only took the Times 24 hours to “unmask” Spitzer’s “high-priced” prostitute. (Thanks, J!) She didn’t try very hard not to be found, eh? But here’s this, if you’re interested: Client 9’s court records and transcripts (.pdf).

* Bored now — our politicians are hypocrites about sex, yaaaawn. How about some thought-provoking commentary on the state of “altporn” (you know, non-barbies in stripey socks with tattoos that became commercialized by mainstream porn five years ago)? Fellow female Fleshbot contributrix Lux Nightmare (whom I met at SXSW and adore) writes the eloquent The End Of Alt: A Memoir. She breaks it down to laws, sellouts and bullies like Suicide Girls, and delivers a roundhouse. Comments on her post are picking up steam, and my other pal Dana DeArmond is not pleased.

* Sexy retro audio filesharing alert: VA – Mood Mosaic Vol 03 [Sexploitation], VA – 1998 – Mood Mosaic vol 5 [Supervixens] and my favorite, VA – 1999 – Electronic toys 2 [A retrospective of 70’s synthesizer music] (album cover images via, thanks for the tip Praemedia!).

* Big props and a funny, informative post at Eros Blog: Your G-Spot Has NOT Gone Missing. Yay! I was worried because the TSA searched my bag *again* on the way back and I was concerned that they might have kept it out of envy. (Side note: I’m convinced it’s the tireless JimmyJane I travel with which makes them open my bag each time).

* Nina Hartley was seriously screwed around and dissed by Nightline and Yale (for their “Sex Week” debates, which I have been invited to participate in the past but have not). Nina blogs how they dropped her for a “starlet” and shored up the anti-porn opposition with a douchebag (and then goes on to list smart sex-savvy women she thinks could have filled the “young, hot” qualifications of Monique Alexander they dropped her for). Here’s a snip:

Readers here already know that I was originally scheduled to appear on Nightline as a participant in a staged debate at OSU between herself and Ron Jeremy on one side and the dudes from the XXX Church on the other. You can see a snippet of my speech on Youtube. Whom you will not see, as I explained in my previous rant on this topic, is Martin Bashir, Nightline talking-head-in-chief, who was supposed to moderate this confab but was mysteriously called away at the last minute to cover some more important story. Nightline kicked down for my ticket, then no-showed the event.

The bottom line is that Bashir and Co. showed up at Yale’s much discussed Sex Week, where the debate was re-staged with Vivid Girl Monique Alexander taking my place. I’ve already acknowledged that the Sex Week gestalt was probably viewed by ABC programmers as having more eye-ball drawing power, and I’m sure Monique, though young and inexperienced, did a creditable job. And Ronnie, though no forensic ace, has been at this for some time and picked up a few chops. He’s also developed some fun chemistry with the holy Joes from what I understand. But still a major opportunity lost to let serious people discuss a serious topic in a serious way, and a serious dis on mea. No way they could slip me or anyone else from our community with significant credentials into the discussion (…)

(…read more on this from Nina by scrolling to February 25, 2008 — no permalink I can find. Esp. read Nina’s list and her angry letter to Nightline — and I *humbly* bow at her mention. I’ll add that at least Monique Alexander was quick on her feet when faced with the usual, tired women and porn exploitation questions at Yale.)

* Dr. Marty Klein just emailed me to say he’ll be on 20/20 tomorrow night (Friday March 14) about the age of consent and sez they’ll be taking a non-hysterical approach. Let’s hope for the best.

* And here’s my OMGWTF seriously!?! of the day: On Photobucket, babies in diapers are seen as “nudity” (cNet, news.com).

* Finally, I’m seriously looking for a job as someone’s personal sex and tech cultural attache. It’s an interesting article (New Yorker) and looks like a dream job…