Image by Skye Shelly.
A hugely amount of sex, tech, culture and health (and even sex-impacting legislative) stories are of great importance but never make it to mainstream media, and came in under the radar. In this week’s SF Chronicle I give these stories their due — and more. My column is titled The Child Porn Lie (And Other Hits): Violet Blue: The top five underreported sex stories of the year, NOT “The Year in Sex” which they have nonconsensually titled it on the front page (or, perhaps what they’d have you believe) — to my great dismay and disappointment. Click through for all solid linkage, especially when you get to the #1 underreporetd story, (Though I added a link here that they they would *not* include. It’s intense. Snip:
Sure, we all heard about the Spitzer scandal, and the sad news that the DC Madam hung herself, but what about the sex stories no one told you about? A lot happened in sex this year; did you know that Playgirl Magazine folded (putting many gay porn stars out of work?) And why so little buzz that sex toys are no longer banned in Texas, a move that significantly impacted Texan vegetable industry sales, while shares of battery stocks climaxed?
Then one study said that women aren’t turned on by naked men, though they do get turned on by explicit imagery of all kinds, and another stated that most would pick the Internet over sex any day of the week. Even though for most of us girls, the Internet is our sex toy. Australia announced a national “mandatory” Internet filtering program against “obscene” material to the horror of many, and Britain passed a law banning “extreme” porn (even possession is illegal) making UK spanking enthusiasts want to spank the government right back. Many women from British BDSM communities spoke out against the law and its infringement on their liberty.
Scholars also proved that strip clubs are not harmful to neighborhoods: American Ethnography Quasimonthly dispelled myths about the effects of adult businesses on communities with hardcore academic studies (hardcore as in thoroughly researched and cited – mind out of the gutter, please). Then, in Texas, offended parents sued a school over the school’s privacy-invading sex offender check system. Over in Europe, people started getting threatening settlement letters for illegal porn downloads in a porn piracy witch hunt – when they hadn’t downloaded a thing. And the US recession was helped along by the widespread practice of people trading sex for home loan borrower portfolios.
While substitute schoolteacher Julie Amero’s schoolroom computer pop-up porn case was resolved (though justice went unserved) Prince (or The Artist Formerly Known as Loved by LGBT Communities Worldwide) came out – as homophobic. We found out that red state teens regularly break their abstinence pledges and pregnancy rates in the 13-17 age range of evangelical young girls are off the charts. Companies started to realize that sex doesn’t really “sell”. A study claimed that monogamy has to do with genetics – the “monogamy gene”, do you have it? Yet another study linked homophobia and homoerotic arousal.
The Craigslist Experiment troll was sued in Federal court; he ran a fake Craigslist sex ad and published the privacy information of all who responded and now he’s facing charges for it. COPA (the Child Online Protection Act) was overturned, and for good, solid constitution-upholding reasons. Google Trends was used to show that Kentucky is the most obscene state in the nation. (Road trip!) The journal of the American Psychological Association, Janis Wolak and co-researchers examined several fears about child sexual predators online – and they concluded that many are myths. Lastly, bloggers caught the Geek Squad pilfering porn.
But of all the underreported news and developments about sex, these top five should have seen more headlines – and they might shock you:
5. Google Can’t Find the Clitoris
Blogger and erotic filmmaker Tony Comstock (comstockfilms.com, not work safe) wanted to see what would happen when he searched for sex with the filters on. Disturbingly, he discovered that with SafeSearch turned on, Google delivered no – zero – results for the word “clitoris,” but 33 million “safe” results for the word “penis”. Which leaves us all wondering why a penis is somehow safer than a clitoris. True, one could argue that because the penis is a biological reproductive organ and the clitoris is not – she exists purely for female pleasure – that one might want to protect “the children” from knowing about it. Susie Bright said that the word “clit” was the new four-letter word. (…read more, sfgate.com)
Image by Skye Shely.
Update: I already just got the *best* email about this article,
I must implore you, no, demand that you stop talking, writing, referring, inferring, thinking about, imagining, supposing the existence of, or anything else in regards to the clitoris. (Please make sure to eat your laptop after reading this message.)
If you continue to speak of the little love button, (code for: Pleasure Point. And I’m not talking about the surfing spot in Santa Cruz if you get my meaning,) in such an open fashion, men, (of which I am one, unless you talk to my last girlfriend,) are going to hear about it, become curious about it, then they’ll find out what it’s for, what can be done with it, that it can supply women with more pleasure than a Devil’s food chocolate layer purse, and they’ll use it to enslave women all over the world.
Now so far I, being one of the only six men on the planet who actually know the purpose and proper operation of the afore mentioned clitoris, have been able to provide the much needed occasional human operation of… You know, the thing, the little buddy.
Now I am perfectly willing to carry my share of the burden in order to keep women from facing a life of servitude to men but…
Shit. Too late.
See what you made happen.
By the way, in regard to the false numbers on the child porn issue: Have you seen Doug Stanhope’s bit on this in his No Refunds DVD? If you haven’t it is a pretty funny bit.
Keep the faith. Remember: All it ever gets is worse.
–B
Great article. I was wondering where the “pregnancy rates in the 13-17 age range of evangelical young girls” study could be found. I’ve got someone whose being educated on evangelicals.
I know I’m late commenting, but I just wanted to say that I found this a fabulous article, and thanks so much.
and DDog, thank you for the link to Tyra Hunter’s story. you’re absolutely, chillingly correct. here, too:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tyra_Hunter
@ none: click through for the rest of the column, plus the numerous links!
@ Ken — nothing like an obscure Tom Waits reference applied to the clitoris… (pun intended)
I had an Oldsmobile Clitoris back in the early 80’s.
Got fantastic mileage – thing would go forever, but it was pretty high-maintenance.
We have only number five of the top five? Not four to one?
Bush’s parting shot is dangerous for many more reasons than listed in your article, particularly to trans and queer people. Need HIV counseling? You might not be able to get it because you could be one of them gays and those people deserve what they get. Need emergency care? You might be left on the street to die when the paramedics see a penis where they weren’t expecting one. And there would be little recourse against these (non)actions. This is a really scary thing.
On the question of penis vs clitoris, one may also want to check the content of the sites, the penis has another use beyond sex, in that it is the channel for the elimination of urine.