- Australians have been given a third choice when describing their gender on passport applications, under new guidelines aimed at removing discrimination. Transgender people and those of ambiguous sex will be able to list their gender as indeterminate, which will be shown on passports as an X. New Australian passports allow third gender option (BBC News)
- Yesterday, photos of Scarlett Johansson were posted to BuzzFeed that appeared to have been taken by the star of herself. Johansson asked the FBI to investigate, the Los Angeles Times reported. FBI spokeswoman Eimiller said she could not comment on whether the agency was looking at the Anonymous group as part of its investigation. “There are lots of hackers out there,” she said. FBI investigating hacking of celebrities + Scarlett Johansson – Two NUDE Photos Leaked! (CNET, The phun.org forum)
- In the spring, public school students in Midland will cross what until very recently was the political third rail of sex education. For the first time, they will be taught about contraception — and how to practice safe sex. More Texas Schools Teach Safe Sex With Abstinence (The Texas Tribune)
- Religious broadcasters have told the Supreme Court that they think indecent speech, as “reasonably” defined by the FCC, should continue to be an acceptable exception to free speech protections. Religious Broadcasters To Supreme Court: 6 a.m.-10 p.m. Indecency Is Obscenity (Multichannel News)
- Two bioethics professors have said that they are willing to pay $11,000 for medical records that could prove that the story Michele Bachmann told about the toxicity of HPV vaccine, after Monday night’s GOP presidential debate, is true. Professors Offer $11,000 for Proving Bachmann’s HPV Vaccine Story (International Business Times)
- Smash Pictures has released its big-budget spoof, “Halloween XXX Porn Parody” featuring Lexi Belle. The company described the film as an X-rated re-imagining of the classic film and said it re-visits the Haddonfield setting with nubile babes in danger, the voyeuristic view point of Michael Myers and the sexual escapades of the partying young adults. Smash Pictures Streets ‘Halloween’ Parody (XBIZ Newswire)
- Billed as the largest exhibition of erotic photographs on the West Coast, their first show featured more than 400 photos by 17 photographers. It ran for a weekend in February at a San Francisco gallery and was so borderline pornographic that they called it “On the Edge.” Novato couple bonded by erotica produce art exhibit (Marin Independent Journal)
- A new art exhibit is turning some heads in Iowa because the exhibit centers around the male anatomy of deceased pornographic movie star John Holmes. “Well, there’s one that’s the Incredible Hulk’s, it’s the large, large green one,” artist Emily Barwick said. Her gallery is unique; it’s a gallery full of penises, nearly three dozen of them. Grad student makes X-rated art exhibit + The John Holmes Prick Parade (CBS3, emilymbarwickparade.blogspot.com)
- “I’m crossing my fingers that someone who is connected to poet and journalist Mark O’Brien is involved in the upcoming movie about his experiences with a sexual surrogate. The surrogate is being played by Helen Hunt, and John Hawkes is playing Mark O’Brien.” First Hollywood Does Vibrators, Next Up Sexual Surrogates and Disabled Folks (About: Sexuality)
Photo of Brooke by Steve Shaw from Treats! Magazine
Oh, Australia, it’s always two steps back and one step forward for you and sex and gender…