- Last month director Tristan Taormino announced she’s condom-only in her porn productions from now on – this week, award-winning director Axel Braun is adding a new stipulation for adult performers who wish to appear in sexually explicit roles in any of his movies: effective immediately the minimum age requirement will be 21. “If the law says you are not old enough to handle alcohol responsibly, then you are probably not ready to make a career decision that will have such strong repercussions on the rest of your life,” Braun said.
Axel Braun Raises Performer Minimum Age to 21 (XBIZ; video above is Axel Braun’s Batman XXX trailer)
- In response to stories about unethical porn practices, writer, sex-educator and one-time professional dominatrix Nichi Hodgson has launched the Ethical Porn Partnership. Hodgson is concerned about the ethics of production in porn and is aiming to create a self-regulatory body to monitor abuses and bad practice within the industry.
Worry About Porn Stars, Not What They Act Out On Screen (VICE Nordics)
- Posted as a warning: the numbing spray product described as a “new sex drug” in this article is harmful. It is also not a drug, and it is not new: for decades, “novelty” companies have been selling harmful numbing sprays and creams to make men’s erections last longer. Sex educators have been warning people about these products for years. It’s simple: If you can’t feel your cock, you can’t feel yourself damaging your cock. CNBC should be raked over the coals for this.
Move over, Viagra. There’s a new sex drug in town (CNBC; video autoplay warning)
- The title of this great article is misleading; the article is on writing about sex, not reading it. “Writing about sex can be uniquely powerful – and perilous. A group of novelists, memoirists and poets tell us about working blue: what novels first inspired them, what nouns they strive to avoid and who they think writes sex best.”
Let’s Read About Sex (NY Times)
- Des Lashimba, a probation officer based at Manchester Magistrates’ Court, took part in the UK Channel 4 show Sex Box with partner Lynette Ellis. He could now face disciplinary action as he did not ask bosses’ permission to take part – and promotional material made it clear he worked as a probation officer.
Probation officer who took part in UK Sex Box TV show facing disciplinary action (Daily Mail)
- I posted here about this before it became law, and now it’s real. On Wednesday, Sept. 25, New York state’s highest-ranking judge announced a first-of-its-kind initiative: sex workers are now considered victims under the law, who are required to undergo abuse-related “treatments” when arrested – and the policy fails to distinguish between sex workers and sex slaves.
New York’s Trafficking Court Turns Sex Workers Into Victims (Reason)
- Posting this link as a warning: TIME puts forth several harmful and false generalizations about female sexuality. Most of TIME’s “surprising sex facts” are not true, or are only party based in fact. When will sexual health articles be fact checked? If you want facts about female sexuality as it pertains to orgasms, read Mikaya Heart’s incredible book The Ultimate Guide to Orgasm for Women – not this fallacious TIME article.
12 Sex Facts You Won’t Learn From ‘Masters of Sex’ (TIME)
- Gov. Jerry Brown has signed a bill outlawing so-called revenge porn. Senate Bill 255 was signed Tuesday and takes immediate effect. The ACLU thinks it’s a free speech trainwreck. Senate Bill 255 was signed Tuesday and takes immediate effect. It’s aimed at people who post nude pictures of their exes online.
Brown signs anti-revenge porn bill (News 10)
- A New York State Senator who is seeking a statewide ban on revenge porn said this week that a similar law in California does not go far enough.
State Senator: New York Law Against Revenge Porn Should Be Tougher Than Calif. Law (CBS New York)
- Janani Balasubramanian writes an incredible post that ends up also describing emotionally abusive – yet sadly common – polyamory tactics. It helps explain why I’m super allergic to gropey guys who think that saying “I’m poly” and me saying “That’s cool” means that I’m instantly sexually available for them. “Don’t police other people’s monogamy or other relationship structures. You can do your thing, but everyone else has their own circumstances too, often informed by class, ability, leisure time, and racialized ideas of sluthood–all of these might limit someone’s access to non-monogamy. Not everyone wants to or can fuck/date multiple people.”
9 Strategies For Oppressive Polyamory (Black Girl Dangerous)
- Christie Sims, the next E.L. James (hell, I think she’s the next Mark Twain) who is the literary genius behind such dino-porn classics as Taken By The Pterodactyl and Ravished By The Triceratops.
Christie Sims: Hot Slut Of The Day! (Dlisted)
- Don’t want your Web dating service matching you up with any fatties? OkCupid.com is now allowing users to filter their prospects by “body type.” The site is charging a filtering fee of $4.95 to $10 a month for its A-list members who can now hide people by body types. The site offers 10 body-type choices, beginning at thin, and ranging to average, “a little extra,” “full figured,” “overweight” and even “used up.”
Now OkCupid lets you filter out plus-size dates (NY Post)
- Anti-porn pundit Gail Dines talks about the problem of racism in gay porn (and the problem of gay men siding with pro-porn women), saying she wrote a book about gay porn (which does not exist) – while Gay Porn Blog founders Mike Stabile and Jack Shamama talk sensibly about Asian tops and what gay porn’s racial makeup *actually* looks like.
Is gay porn racist? (Gay Star News)
- The UK’s Culture Secretary delivered an anti-porn speech to a near-empty hall at the Conservative Party Conference yesterday, less than an hour before 2,000 people packed the room. Mrs Miller, who is in charge of internet policy, also used a fringe meeting at the conference to call on teachers, parents and internet companies to step in to prevent children from accidentally viewing pornographic images.
Maria Miller fears boys could be harmed by porn (Telegraph)
- Discussion on Reddit about what appears to be the first transgender person to utilize euthanasia, with appropriate chastising of the Daily Mail’s treatment of it.
A Belgian man has been killed by medical euthanasia after claiming that a botched sex change operation had turned him into “a monster” (Reddit)
- Fetish fans arrived en masse to the 30th Folsom Street Fair in SoMa for day full of fun, sun, whips, chains, and brazen nudity. (It was packed! I took sweet Eon McKai and we had a blast!) The event, which raised $325,000 for local and national charities in 2012 alone, was greeted by cloudy skies, perfect for festival goers wear next to nothing.
NSFW: Scenes From Folsom Street Fair 2013 (SFist)
- Before he designed vibrators, Jimmyjane founder and chairman Ethan Imboden spent more than a decade designing cellphones, footwear and furniture for the likes of Motorola, Herman Miller and Nike. So, when he finally turned his attention to luxury sex toys, he had considerable consumer electronics acumen to apply to them.
From Cellphones to Sex Toys: Jimmyjane Founder Ethan Imboden on the Reinvention of the Vibrator (AllThingsD)
- Swedish officials say there is no reason to circumcise young boys and the practice violates United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child.
Swedish officials express concern over circumcision (UPI)
- This isn’t news. But it’s great news for me! Night Own Reviews got their hands on my new book on sex toys for couples, and they really like it! “If you and your partner are considering introducing some sex toys or other sexual aids like specialized furniture into your love making, I think this would make the perfect book to use as a reference point. Ms. Violet Blue gives plenty of detailed information of what’s available on the market and explains how to use these products correctly so you can have the most fun using them with your partner.”
Review: The Adventurous Couple’s Guide to Sex Toys (Night Owl Reviews)
I feel like this post needed some sort of a warning on it. As a trans person I felt very uncomfortable getting hit with that link with no sort of primer. Not as in made me not wanna look at porn, but rather as in there are people out there, including government officials, who think that being trans and having non-normative genitals is something worth dying over. We’re talking hope I can sleep tonight.
A typically impressive array of content. The Folsom images were interesting for those of us never there. Thanks.