Don’t get hacked. Make safe online profiles. Fight back against harassment. Learn how in The Smart Girl’s Guide to Privacy (also on iTunes).
- Rent a Gent offers hot guys for hire, but no one seems to understand exactly what that means. Especially the company. I mean, what’s the point of renting a man if it’s not for sex?
We Hired A Male Escort And All We Got Was A Lousy Lecture On Dismantling Capitalism (Buzzfeed)
- A website called Personal Dating Assistants (whose press release went out three days ago and is now being repurposed as news) helps would-be casanovas with their online dating game by taking over profiles on services like Tinder, OkCupid, and Plentyoffish, offering different levels of involvement depending on how much their game-challenged clients can pay. If the platonic ideal of a pick-up artist fedoradouche got his soul uploaded onto a computer and made into a website, this would be that website.
You can hire a professional pick-up artist to run your Tinder profile (The Daily Dot)
- Louisa County prosecutor Rusty McGuire of Virginia has decided against charging young people for sexting and instead do a bit of education. Louisa schools are expanding programs to teach teenagers “the dangers of social media and how to make smart choices” and are launching a program for parents to help discuss the issue with their kids.
Virginia Prosecutor Educates Sexting Teens Rather Than Prosecuting Them (Techdirt)
- Science, like an old pay-per-minute fortune teller, believes it can predict the state of your sex life based upon a few arbitrary personal facts. One of those facts is, of course, the natural shape of your body. Big hips, well endowed, long legs? You may not agree with it, but science knows what your sex life is really like.
What Your Body Type Says About Your Sex Life, According to Science (Nerve)
- WREAL, LLC, makers of the FyreTV box, recently filed a complaint in a Florida court against Amazon alleging five counts of unauthorized use and infringement upon Wreal’s FyreTV and FyreTV.com trademarks, reminding the courts that the two trademarks were registered six years prior to the Amazon Fire TV’s announcements. The court documents reveal Wreal’s contention that “Amazon’s continued use of the “Fire TV” moniker has caused, and will continue to cause, serious irreparable harm to Wreal’s established business, necessitating this action.” (FWIW I was first contacted by FyreTV in 2010, they’re really nice guys.)
The FyreTV Porn Streamer Maker Is Suing Amazon For Trademark Infringement (TechCrunch)
- Courtney Trouble’s been performing in feminist and queer porn for 12 years and running the production company Trouble Films for three; now, Smash Pictures is set to release the director’s first mainstream lesbian offering (I can’t wait!) The Cut spoke with Trouble about the new gig and giving viewers “what they want, and what they don’t know that they want yet.”
Q&A: A Queer Porn Director Takes on Mainstream ‘Lesbian’ Porn (NY Mag)
- While administrative agencies such as the FDA, CPSC, and FTC regulate thousands of other consumer products for dangers such as toxic chemicals, harmful design flaws, and inaccurate or misleading packaging, sex-toy manufacturers remain free to engage in all three practices.
Getting The Government In Bed: How To Regulate The Sex-Toy Industry (Tantus)
- Linkbait, presented in case you missed it on your lamer friends’ Facebook feed.
Naked porn star tossed off roof of Hollywood mansion, breaks foot before splashing into pool (NY Mag)
- “I wasn’t sure what to expect when I attended New York’s branch of Naked Girls Reading, a monthly literary event during which there are, yup, naked women reading. The event started in Chicago five years ago, and now has branches in over 20 cities.”
Are Naked Reading Events Going Mainstream? (ELLE)
- Super massive trigger warning – and I think we have one answer to the question “where do guys [who say sick shit to women about raping them online] come from?” A series of emails thought to be culled from a listserv of an unofficial fraternity at American University shows just how depraved some all-male campus groups can be—and that protecting students from assault will take more than just yanking frat charters.
The Dark History of EI, the Latest Frat Accused of Rapey Emails (The Atlantic)
- Sina Corp, one of China’s top Internet companies, has been caught in a government crackdown on pornography. Official state media reported that authorities will strip Sina.com of its video and audio publication licenses after finding lewd images on the website. It was not immediately clear how Sina’s operations would be affected, but the company’s social media platforms and websites appeared to be functioning on Friday. Still, the news prompted shares to drop more than 3% Thursday in New York trading.
Internet giant Sina caught in China porn crackdown (CNN Money)
- Scenes described in a Rolling Stone article detailing Anonymous’s vigilante efforts to expose the Steubenville rapists, may soon be heading to a movie theater near you thanks to Brad Pitt and his production company, Plan B, which bought the rights to the story earlier this month.
Brad Pitt’s New Movie About the Steubenville Rape Has a Strong Message For Men (PolicyMic)
- “The Stupidest Things Straight Guys Say to Lesbians” is a hilarious video in which a handful of lesbians make a mockery of some of the most repeated, trite comments ladies who love ladies hear on a daily basis. Gems like “Are you sure you’re gay?” and a personal favorite, “Well, how does scissoring work?” are included — all accompanied by just the appropriate amount of snark.
The Stupidest Things Straight Guys Say to Lesbians (PolicyMic)
- When a startup centers on sex, it will meet a host of roadblocks from funding to advertising. Here’s a look at how sex- centric startups find ways to pay the bills – without compromising their missions.
The Difficulties of Running A Sex-Inspired Startup (Fast Company)
- Older article, but still interesting: Strippers at a Taiwanese funeral are simply doing their job of entertaining the dead and helping loved ones overcome their grief. They are integral to the healing process for bereaved families and their performance is part of a larger cultural trend that places an emphasis on happiness and celebration, even in death.
If You Die in Taiwan, There Will Be Strippers At Your Funeral (PolicyMic)
- In another crowdfunding first, a former lawyer has decided to go the Adam & Eve route and create what one would euphemistically call an onahole. The product, called the Autoblow 2, is designed to allow the ingress of the male member and, with the help of a judicious drubbing, bring the male to issue. The team is crowdfunding and has been making sex toys in China for many years. They’ve raised $35,000 of their $45,000 goal.
A Word With The Creator Of The Autoblow 2 (TechCrunch)
- Three sex abuse lawsuits against the man who once voiced “Sesame Street’s” Elmo character have been dismissed by a federal appeals court. A district judge had dismissed the New York suits last July, ruling that the statute of limitations — which requires a filing within six years of the alleged crime or three years after the now-adult male plaintiffs turned 18 — had run out.
3 sex abuse lawsuits against Elmo actor dismissed (CNN)
- “Almost nine months ago, I was told I might never be able to have intercourse. Now I’m trying to make peace with my medical condition — and hoping my partners will as well.” Note: let’s hope she finds out what another woman with her condition did – see Botox Saved My Life (DAME Magazine).
Learning To Love Life Without Sex (Buzzfeed)
- Le ragazze del porno is an Italian collective of 11 women who create female-friendly porn. They include journalists, filmmakers, writers and actresses who have launched an online fundraising campaign to finance their first 10 erotic short films.
Is female-friendly porn the next feminist frontier? (West/Welfare, Society, Territory – via Ms. Naughty)
