- The biggest ever study on the personality of sperm donors has just been published. Each was asked to fill out the Temperament and Character Inventory personality scale. So who donates sperm? The personality of sperm donors (Mind Hacks)
- Researchers at George Mason University and Indiana University recently studied the sexual behaviors of 24,787 gay or bisexual-identified men who had a same-sex encounter within the last year. STUDY: Young Men Suck At Sex, Bottoming Doesn’t Hurt, And 1 in 2 Guys Bareback (Queerty)
- The NYT says that men wearing high heels with ordinary clothing is a serious trend. As much as I’d like it to be true, I have to wonder, are they being pranked? Some Men Are Dressed to the Nines, the Height of Their Pumps (NYTimes)
- ‘Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives’ host and Food Network star Guy Fieri demands to be told whenever he’s about to interview someone who might be gay so that he can prepare and brace himself. Guy Fieri is weirded out by gays (What Would Tyler Durden Do)
- Peter Acworth of Kink.com isn’t excited about nearby building plans. The porn studio expresses concerns about diminished light if building is allowed to move forward. Porn Studio Puts a Kink in Armory Plan (NBC Bay Area)
- I love, love, love the Nerdy Dirty illustrations (like the one above) by Nicole Martinez, and can’t wait until she makes e-cards. Nerdy Dirty Illustrations for Nerds in Love by Nicole Martinez (Etsy)
- Plenty of prostitutes turn down clients. They turn down clients who they think are dangerous, or who won’t respect their limits, or who they just find personally unpleasant. They turn down first-time clients; they say no to previous clients they’ve had bad experiences with; they fire long-term clients who are becoming difficult. Sex Work and the Power of Choice (Greta Christina’s Blog)
- I’m astonished at the unethical business practices going on with .XXX – for instance, domain names that adult businesses thought they had rights to may have been reserved by ICM for auction to the highest bidder. How Not to be Fleeced by ICM Registry (Dot-XXX Opposition)
- New research on women and porn is emerging. “Naturally I was interested in their demographic data, particularly when it came to women. Perhaps unsurprisingly, the survey threw up the same “one third” figure that repeatedly appears in statistics about porn. In this case, 31.6% of respondents were female.” Porn Research: Younger Women More Likely To Use Porn (Ms. Naughty’s Blog)
- In a press conference yesterday with high-powered attorney Gloria Allred at her side, Assistant NY State Attorney General and accused money-for-lashings dominatrix Alisha Smith resigned her post, but not before criticizing her employer for a breach of public decency. Alleged Dominatrix-For-Hire Assistant State AG Quits And Lawyers Up (Gothamist)
- Interested in the facts about porn, not just strongly-held opinions? Check out these excerpts from a recent academic review of Gail Dines book Porn Wars. Before You Buy in to Porn Wars…. (Leslie Cannold)
- A British teacher was on BBC Sunday Morning Live where she was equated to a pedophile for teaching kids about sex and relationships, and for suggesting that kids should be listened to about their sexuality. Shame on you, BBC. Her response to this treatment is much more restrained than I would be: BBC Sunday Morning Live: Some things I wanted to point out (Sexedukation)
Main post image: Anja Rubik and Sasha Pivovarova by Mert & Marcus for Vogue Paris.
Regarding Leslie Cannold’s excellent takedown of Gail Dines, I have to say that, as a consumer of admittedly mainstream pin-up-level stuff (You know, MET, Errotica, Abby Winters), there are some weirdly subtle misogynist signals you can get from Tumblr curators by looking at their archive pages. The two that drive me the most batty are:
1) “I like all women, of all shapes and sizes.” Except his collection is nothing but white, skinny women as close to the age of majority as possible without getting them into trouble.
2) “I like women with big tits.” Nothing wrong with that, except when he crops the picture to consistently cut out their faces, reducing them to mere body parts. At that point, he may as well buy a dekunoboo.
Both of these are mixed message issues, where the guy really likes one particular thing, often a very mainstream thing, but he feels uncomfortable admitting it, and because he can’t come to grips with his own desires, often creates a vibe that I perceive as oddly resentful.
I have repeatedly seen UK journalists and hosts viciously attack anyone who’s holding a slightly different viewpoint, or who is trying to make a subtle, nuanced point. Why should we abhor tabloid journalism? Because it colours every other aspect of media and forces the other channels/outlets to drift towards it to retain viewers, as they become accustomed to the slander and villification