Sex News: Bradley Manning, Nick Denton wants Lux to pay for Fleshbot, porn monogamy, Gay of Thrones

• Congrats to my pals at MiKandi for their newly revamped adult app store! And a lot of success after iOS left porn’s money on the table (7K apps; 4 million customers).
  MiKandi Adult App Store V4 (YouTube)

• Great news! Porn Studies, to be published by Routledge starting in 2014, is described as “the first dedicated, international, peer-reviewed journal to critically explore those cultural products and services designated as pornographic and their cultural, economic, historical, institutional, legal and social contexts,” with particular attention to “the intersection of sexuality, gender, race, class, age and ability.” (Gleeful disclosure: I am on the Editorial Board! Please submit!)
  Routledge to Publish Porn Studies Journal (NY Times)

• Not everyone dislikes yummy human flavors, but if you do… Masque Sexual Flavors are orally dissolvable flavored gel strips (Listerine-like) that counter the salts, bitters, and proteins in semen. The pleasure-giver simply puts a strip on his or her tongue and lets it melt in mere seconds. Masque (their Amazon store) comes in strawberry, watermelon, chocolate, and mango, and the flavor will last for about fifteen minutes.
  Sexy Feast: Juicebox Gets the Juices Flowing, Flavorfully (Seattle Weekly)

• Federal prosecutors have charged 13 people in a sex slave ring they say forced young Mexican women into prostitution in New York and New Jersey.
  Women in NY, NJ Forced Into Sex 25 Times a Day (ABC News)

• Gawker Media boss Nick Denton hasn’t been paid for Fleshbot, the 11-year-old porn site he sold last year to former employee Noa Gottlieb, who is also known as “Lux Alptraum,” according to court papers. Denton alleges Noa Gottlieb signed a promissory note to pay $100,000 Fleshbot. The total would be paid in four installments that were supposed to begin May 1 of last year. Denton and his legal team claim that never happened. “Fleshbot made none of the $25,000 payments and despite repeated requests for payment still owes Gawker $100,000 plus interest,” read a court filing.
  Nick Denton in Fleshbot Payment Dispute (Fishbowl NY)

• Woman sues ex-boyfriend and four sites that allegedly hosted her nude pictures (including XHamster).
  “Revenge porn” suit targets generic porn sites, Web hosts (Ars Technica)

• They fucked us all and ICANN once, so why not let ICM Registry fuck everyone again? ICM Registry, the registry operator for the .XXX top level domain (TLD) for online adult entertainment, announced that new .XXX domain registrations created from May 1 through May 31, 2013 will be available at .COM prices. ICM is currently positioning itself with its recent applications to operate three additional adult entertainment-related TLDs: .SEX, .PORN and .ADULT.
  dot-XXX Sale (ICM Registry)

• James Franco Celebrated His Birthday With This S&M Birthday Cake (Buzzfeed)

• Pharma’s race for a women’s ‘pink viagra’ finally has a winner, and the promises for it are grand. Osphena, as the recently FDA-approved drug is called, is the newest answer for post-menopausal painful sex.
  Will This Pill Fix Your Sex Life? (Newsweek and The Daily Beast)

• Sexism isn’t the problem at the so-called online encyclopedia Wikipedia. The real lie of Wikipedia is its culture of revenge and its legacy of distorting history and diminishing the lives, accomplishments and careers of women who have criticized Wikipedia. This is not new.
  Wikipedia’s shame (Salon)

• Racing to stanch a flow of criticism, the president of San Francisco’s annual gay pride celebration said Friday that U.S. Army private Bradley Manning charged in a massive leak of U.S. secrets to the WikiLeaks website will not be an honorary grand marshal after all.
  WikiLeaks Suspect Won’t Be San Francisco Pride Parade Marshal (CBS San Francisco)

• Such a beautiful post, and an incredible affirmation of love. “So it is here where I have found myself, a monogamous porn performer. Some people asked me “how it was possible to be monogamous, while having sex with other people?” For me, monogamy is about emotional commitment and having an established relationship with one person. To me, what truly defines the character of a relationship is our commitment to each other.”
  Sex, Money and Monogamy (crashpadseries.com)

• Love this!
  Hitachi Magic Wand (Oh Joy Sex Toy: A Sex Toy Comic Review Site)

• This article calls it creepy, but I think the polite flattery might be fun. Virgin America is offering a “Seat-to-Seat Delivery” feature to aid passengers in their efforts to flirt with fellow travelers. Seat-to-Seat allows passengers to send drinks, snacks, and meals to other passengers using the in-flight entertainment system.
  Virgin America to Let Travelers Send Each Other Flirty Drinks (Eater National)

• From May 2012 – February 2013, former Romney campaign intern Adam Paul Savader sent anonymous text messages using Google Voice numbers to 15 women stating that he had nude photographs of the women and threatening to distribute the nude photographs to the women’s friends and family members unless the women sent him more nude photographs of themselves. Savader sent some of the victims links to a photo-sharing website where nude pictures of the victims had been posted.
  FBI — New York Man Charged with Internet Extortion and Cyber Stalking

• “In the Human Rights study, sex worker Anastasia L., claims she had unprotected sex “many times” to avoid the risk of arrest. In the Pros study, a “56-year-old participant in Brooklyn” describes a situation where a police officer took her condoms. “No, these are for healthy people; hope you get killed tonight,” the officer told the participant, according to the report.
  ‘No Condoms as Evidence’ Legislation Up for Debate in Albany (VICE)

• This report describes a group experiment undertaken by 8 women curious about the potential effects of vaginal administration of drugs, primarily LSD and MDMA.
  LSD, MDMA, 2C-B, Ketamine, & Alprazolam – Cunt Odyssey: Search for Vaginal Datapoints (Erowid Experience Vaults)

• Gay of Thrones: Game of Thrones Ep. 3 Recap with Alfie Allen (Funny Or Die)

• A unanimous appeals panel of the New Jersey Superior Court has ruled that an out gay teacher forced to resign from a private boarding school is entitled to a trial on his claim that the school violated his rights under the New Jersey law barring anti-gay discrimination.
  Teacher, Accused of Webcasting Sex Tape, Can Sue (Gay City News)

• This short film from 2012 illustrates what it would be like if homosexuality was the “norm”, making heterosexuals outcasts. A powerful must-watch that deals with the trend of teen suicide and bullying. [Warning: graphic content]
  If “Heterophobia” Were Real (Buzzfeed)

• “What worries me is this constant battering Internet access and Freedom of Expression is receiving from some people, and from government authorities, and I’m afraid there is a move to make use of extreme cases like rape, defamation and pornography – as real as they are – to exercise some control over this seemingly uncontrollable space.”
  The Tricky Thing About Fighting Blocking Of Porn In India (MediaNama)

• Clashes broke out between protesters and riot police near France’s lower house of parliament late on Tuesday just hours after the country legalized gay marriage, with opponents of the law hurling projectiles at police, who responded with tear gas.
  Violent Protests In Paris After Same-Sex Marriage Law Passes (NPR)

• A major scandal in the Baltimore city corrections system indicted of 25 people — including 13 prison guards — on charges of drug conspiracy, money laundering and racketeering, all run through a prison gang operation in which inmates virtually controlled the jail in which they were incarcerated. Officials say ringleader Tavon White gave corrections officer Jennifer Owens a diamond ring and bought Mercedes Benz, BMW and Acura automobiles for Owens, Katera Stevenson, Chania Brooks and Tiffany Lender — all prison guards that he allegedly had sexual relationships with. These relationships, the indictment says, were used to influence the women who facilitated the operations.
  Racketeering, Smuggling, Sex with Guards: 25 Indicted in Massive Baltimore Prison Scandal (TIME)

• The encryption issue is front and center as a federal magistrate is refusing to order a Wisconsin computer scientist to decrypt his data that the authorities seized from kiddie-porn suspect Jeffrey Feldman. The reason is simple: The Fifth Amendment right against compelled self-incrimination protects even those suspected of unsavory crimes.
  Here’s a Good Reason to Encrypt Your Data (Wired)

• Stoya loves her job, and it shows: She giggles so exuberantly throughout her sex scenes that an early partner, Mick Blue, initially thought she was mocking him. “Her performances are ones of genuine pleasure,” says Jiz Lee, a genderqueer performer who once posed as Jack the Ripper while Stoya dressed the part of a Victorian prostitute. “It’s hard not to fall in love with Stoya,” says Lee. “I cannot help but be aroused by the joy she expresses while she’s fucking.”
  Stoya, Pop Star of Porn (Village Voice)

• How a revolution started. “We don’t give gay bars the respect they deserve. After several prominent bars in San Francisco started shuttering — victims of Manhunt and Grindr and time — I started mapping a city’s worth of shuttered gay bars. The project, part of the Pop-Up Museum of Queer History, shows a lost world of piano bars and bathhouses, butch-femme discos and beachside hustlers.”
  12 Bars That Made San Francisco Gay, In Chronological Order (Out Magazine)

• After Joseph Gordon-Levitt’s directorial debut, “Don Jon,” premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in January, festivalgoers questioned whether the pornography-laden version of the movie would make it to theaters intact.
  Joseph Gordon-Levitt: I cut some graphic porn from ‘Don Jon’ (LA Times)

• Once a week, Daily Intelligencer takes a peek behind doors left slightly ajar. This week, the Woman Shopping for Nipple Clamps: Female, 21, Dallas, receptionist, single, bisexual.
  Bisexual Woman Shopping for Nipple Clamps (Daily Intelligencer)

• The proposed law [AB332] that would require condoms in porn throughout California passed a key committee in Sacramento; one more committee and the full Assembly, and then it passes, taking effect in January 2015.
  Statewide Porn Condom Law Passes Key California Committee (LA Weekly)

Tweet below, sexual trauma survivor warning ahead: presented in light that I have reported to police my very real death and physical violence threats over the years, and that the context of this woman fabricating, posting online and lying about an online sexual violence threat was the basis for her being the featured speaker at a ‘rape culture protest event’ – an event held based on her “threat.” How do we solve this problem?

My skepticism toward the “I receive rape and death threats” meme appears well founded: kowb1290.com/meg-lanker-sim…, uwyo.edu/uw/news/2013/0…

— iamcuriousblue (@iamcuriousblue) May 1, 2013

• A man in Auckland, New Zealand has been jailed for watching cartoon videos of elves, pixies and other fantasy creatures having sex.
  Ronald Clark Jailed For Watching Cartoon Pornography (Stuff NZ)

• Rob Black’s porn put him in jail. Now he’s out and spilling porn industry secrets on a podcast. Unsafe practices on set, business arrangements that exploit performers, common sidelines such as porn talent agents working their charges on escort sites – the industry is in trouble, Black says.
  Rob Black, Porn’™s Dirty Whistlebower, Spills Trade Secrets (The Daily Beast)