I’m getting a lot of emails like this tonight:

“Hi Violet,
I really enjoyed your “quickie” and when I saw you also had OSS26 I went to itunes but could not find it there. (…) I tried to search on “sex” and “open source” in the itunes podcasts but could not find ANY of your work there! What Gives?”

Also, another: “This is so frustrating, I don’t know how you deal with it.”

No kidding — but in the time it took for me to check iTunes, write this post, and check again, my podcast was put back into iTunes (but with no #26: New Year’s podcast, which I downloaded from iTunes earlier this afternoon). So my podcast was off iTunes for several hours, so weird. I really appreciate everyone helping me keep an eye on this strangeness; iTunes seems hella buggy — but I have to wonder while I sit here waiting for my hair to set before going out, *who* at Apple has to work on New Year’s?

My dear, ever-subtle friend Thomas emails me with the best New Year’s wishes, a message worth sharing with the world:

“Have a debauched and hopefully drunken NYE celebration without me. Try not to puke on the Baby New Year. Remember: HE IS NOT THE BABY JESUS. Puking on babies is something good girls save for the Baby Jesus alone.”

Wait — I’m not naked. Not yet anyway. But listen, and get inspired before the ball drops! text:

Last quickie of 2005! A special story just for tonight: “Naked New Year” by Dante Davidson — including hot public sex in the cool night air, delicious oral sex and an unusual spanking technique. Happy New Year everyone — and thank you for listening, and for all of your warmth and heartfelt support. It’s been quite a year, and I feel like you and I, dear listeners, are doing something really amazing here. Image: Siege @ Nerve.com.

Open Source Sex 26 (MP3)

* I seem to be dropped from the iTunes search interface. My page is still there though direct link, but the usual searches for “violet blue” and “open source sex” and even “sex” in the “podcasts” genre make it look like I’m no longer listed in iTunes. Anyone else having this problem? Email me: violet at tinynibbles dot com

The first of many quickies. A little giggly, but that’s how we geek girl shut-ins get… Text:

The first quickie! One red-hot short story, on request: “Whose Panties” by Alison Tyler. A bite-sized nibble of erotica including a taste of rimming and panty subterfuge. Yum!

Open Source Sex 25 (MP3)

I read a lot of sex books, but when I want to depornosaturate my brain, I read a lot of non-sex books. Though I’ll admit that for a book to be exciting to me, there needs to be some sort of sexual, criminal or horror component; a book without these things is like food without salt. Sure, it keeps your blood pressure down, but… here are a few favorites I read (or re-read) in 2005:

The Crimson Petal and the White (read it twice) and Under The Skin by Michael Faber * Stormy Weather (3rd reading) and Strip Tease (2nd reading) by Carl Hiaasen * Dead Reckoning: The New Science of Catching Killers by Baden + Roach * The Da Vinci Code and Deception Point by Dan Brown * Middlesex: A Novel by Jeffrey Eugenides * What the Corpse Revealed: Murder and the Science of Forensic Detection by Hugh Miller * Dark Ladies by Fritz Lieber * Unnatural Death: Confessions of a Medical Examiner by Michael Baden * Cat Owner’s Manual by Brunner, Stall, Kepple, Buffum * Under the Banner of Heaven: A Story of Violent Faith (2nd reading) by Jon Krakauer * Slammerkin (2 readings) by Emma Donoghue * The Dress Lodger by Sheri Holman * Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers by Mary Roach (2nd reading) * JG Ballard: Quotes (endlessly thought-provoking) by Vale + Ryan * The Field Guide to Tools by John Kelsey * The Fig Eater by Jody Shields * Carter Beats the Devil by Glen Gold * Blood Meridian by Cormac McCarthy * The Simple Art of Murder by Raymond Chandler * I also re-read all my still-awesome Sin City comics (which I have in original form, not this fancy box set!)

Image: must-see Film Rotations Sin City Comparisons

Cat’s coming out of the bag: Jackson points out to me that if you read today’s San Francisco Examiner, you’ll see this in P.J. Corkery’s column:

“SFist.com, that daily gallimaufry of things San Francisco, showed that San Francisco hospitality isn’t just an old-school drill - by jamming ‘em in jolly down at Otis, the Otis elevator size club on Maiden Lane. That makes for intimate mixing. Weighing in on the seminarlike salon: Matt Gonzalez … law partner Whitney Leigh. … SFist co-editors Eve Batey and Rita Hau. … That Liebling of the blogs, Jon Shurkin, and founding genius Jackson West … Maiden Lane’s been cleaned up since the Gold Rush days when it was a street of stews, but one argument fit the old themes: Wade Lagrone of Tribe.net was chewed out by local sexpert Violet Blue (and lawyer Jason Schultz) over changes that Tribe has made to cozy up to new fed obscenity regulations. Very hot talk. …”

Goodness, there were a lot of witnesses. Scott Beale remarked to me afterward that he was very bummed he didn’t have his camera on hand. Also after, Jason told me I’d make a good lawyer because I was relentless with Tribe’s esteemed marketing pawn. In my own defense, I was minding my own business at the holiday party (in 8″ heels and sock garters) when Lagrone interrupted me. He apparently came to the party to confront me “off the record”; at first I pretended not to see him to avoid a holiday party bloodbath but he insisted on making me talk to him and jumping right into a Tribe.net 2257 policy discussion. I was very excited to challenge him to every bit of bullshit about this whole thing, from start to present; I didn’t care who heard or saw. So I did. Jason Schultz just happened to walk into the party mid-confrontation; he calmly walked up, folded his coat over his arm, listened for a minute, and joined in.

When Jason was finished calmly and bemusedly grilling (receiving what people called later “oh shit” looks from the Tribe man), Jason took a spot on a nearby couch. (I’m just getting to know Jason, but our timing in countering Lagrone’s bullshit and not letting up on him was… unexpectedly awesome.) I finished with Lagrone, who kept insisting on trying to get my sympathy about their poor plight. (I hate it when people try to get me to agree with them about something I obviously don’t, just so they can feel better, or at least feel like they “got” me.) I told him “I am not talking to you about 2257 anymore.” He wouldn’t stop, going on about how it’s just awful they have to do this and decide the fate of gay tribes and artwork, etc. I told him several times to stop talking to me about it because I was getting very angry. I had to ask him at least three times that I can remember to stop talking to me until I finally ended it in a somewhat ugly way.

I was fuming. I told him something along the lines of, “I *said*, we’re not talking about this anymore. It doesn’t matter now. Now that you’ve lumped obscenity and sexually explicit conduct together, 2256 and 2257, with your site’s content filtering policy, you are going to be very VERY busy. Good luck to you.” He kept talking about it as I was turning away. Some men don’t know how to leave a woman alone, even after she tells him to repeatedly. I finally said, not nicely, “I *told* you we’re not talking about this anymore. I do not agree with you, and that’s the end of it. Someday you won’t work for Tribe anymore, and I’ll be seeing you around town for quite a while I’m sure. So good luck. You’re going to need it.”

Don’t confront me if you don’t want a fight. And do your fucking homework if you do.

(best part: me = no panties that night.)

From SRL cohorts, this, leading to: Tortura. Listen to the sexy MP3 — whipping put to jazz was never so sexy! Even stranger, “sound effects of US Air Force firepower“, “Instant Insanity Drugs” (too late for some of us), “Suicide Prevention” (opposite effect), and the NSFW album cover of all time, “The Sensuous Black Woman meets The Sensuous Black Man“. Nice cock, but I’ve got to get my jive on. (And isn’t this Edward Gorey artwork?)

I’m pinching myself all over: I’m one of the Wired News “2005’s Sexiest Geeks“! Eeeeee! With their list and my list (and all the runners-up), it means that geeks will only become sexier as a species from this point on as demand for brains and sexiness increases. We will be hunted and much prized for our savory flesh. Baby got back end (usability)!

* I’m excited to be on the list with Nick Denton, who I’m pleased to report is tall and all accented and handsome in person. Okay, it’s true that I was drinking on the Gawker tab that night; but look, here’s my proof.

You know me, I just can’t sit still over these long holiday weekends. In a minute I’m running off to an SRL friend’s house for a holiday beer, but in the meantime, if you get a bit of alone time over the next day or so… I’ve got your hot holiday smut: the down and dirty edition. From The Merry XXXmas Book of Erotica by Alison Tyler — “Santa’s Favorite Elf” by Molly Laster, with spanked feminine behinds and spontaneous lesbian exhibitionism; “Trimming The Tree” by Alex Mendra, featuring handcuffs and forced blowjobs; and N.T. Morley’s “Christmas Morning”, including a very unusual sex toy as a prelude to intense anal sex. Happy holidays!

Audio: Open Source Sex 24 (MP3)

Video option: sexy and fun photo slideshow by Siege (Daily Siege @ Nerve.com)! Download the video file to watch and listen, only 30MB: http://violetblue.libsyn.com/media/violetblue/open_source_sex_24.m4v

Click here to launch iTunes: Open Source Sex

New podcast! Text and links:

On a cold San Francisco night, I read “Sperm Bank Teller” by Polly Enmity, from Best Sex Writing 2005. When I found out that someone I knew not only works in a really dysfunctional local sperm bank — but that she also regularly has sex with “donors” — I asked her to write about it for my book. It’s all real and all true, from the bizarre way donors are screened to the blowjobs in the donors’ rooms.

Open Source Sex 23 (MP3)

Photo: quick self-portrait in my kitchen from last night before the SFist holiday party.

Guilt, murder, weird sex, dinner… sounds like a typical date to me, but no matter how I taunt Thomas, it’s not how to get on next year’s Top Ten Sexy Geeks list. Yesterday’s emails:

Thomas Roche wrote:
It is my sole purpose for existence, now, to make the 2006 list. My propeller beanie, mail-order law degree and build-your-own-sex-robot kit are all on their way.

violet/blue wrote:
Jackson made me dinner last night, so he’s ahead of you already. :)

Thomas Roche wrote:
Jackson, huh? Not to be Geekiavellian about it, but I’m just sayin’ you maybe oughta tell him and any other sexy little psychopharmacologists, pomo social theorists, computer engineers, alt-porn models, intellectual property lawyers and sex machine inventors on the waiting list to take it easy when they walk down the sidewalk listening to Weezer on their iPods, you know, them sidewalks get real slippery and it’d be a shame if they all happened to take a little spill between now and next December…. hahahahahahahaahahahahahahahah!

violet/blue wrote:
I just sent your threat to Xeni. oh, it’s ON.

Thomas Roche wrote:
As I said to Keely, to make that list I will arrange to be double penetrated by Stephen Hawking on Caverject and Annalee Newitz with a strap-on. Ass and mouth, of course - I’m not getting a sex change even for you, honey.

Unless there’s a cash prize involved for the 06 list.

Then, maybe.

Thomas Roche wrote (3 minutes later):
Xeni already made the list — she’s in the clear. She can wear tap shoes during the ice storm for all I care.

It’s my competition for second-string consolation-prize didn’t-make-it-the-first-year-but-put-a-guilt-trip-on-Violet sexy geekdom that I’m concerned with.

Yesterday Tribe.net removed all its “mature” age screening pages in favor of making any Tribe marked as formerly “mature” or flagged by anyone who objects to the content, invisible unless you’re in the Tribe. Why care? For one, it’s an interesting experiment to see what happens when interpretation of 2257 porn record-keeping requirements is taken to its extreme, and essentially made into a censorship tool anyone in a tinfoil hat can enforce. Another reason is that they’re censoring users’ content and profiles (mine included). It’s also interesting because you can see just how fucked up and useless the 2257 laws are. It’s like 1984 in there; anything deemed offensive is made to go away. I’m giving them a report card on Fleshbot about how they scored, and below is where I reveal more information about Tribe and 2257, and why I’m feeling a cold, cold anger toward Tribe.net about this whole thing.

The Details
In Tribe.net’s new Terms of Use guidelines and in emails to users (such as myself), Tribe tells us:

· Members now have “the ability to flag (and ultimately remove) content that is prohibited by the Terms of Use.”
· “On December 20th, the Terms of Use will prohibit content that portrays sexually explicit conduct. This is driven in part by changes in the legal environment surrounding content that portrays sexually explicit conduct on the internet.”
· “One consequence of this change is that any bookmarks you may have to tribes that are currently “mature” may not work after 12/20. You may wish to go ahead and join those tribes now, to continue your access to them. (After 12/20 they’ll be available by invitation only).”
· Tribe tells moderators of “mature” tribes that, “If you’d like for your tribe to have public status after today, first doublecheck that you’ve removed all content that portrays pornography, obscenity, and sexually explicit conduct.”

All Tribes marked as “mature” have now been converted by Tribe.net to “private” tribes, meaning that they cannot be viewed by external links nor can they be seen by genreal Tribe members. Only the people in the Tribe can see the Tribe. This renders groups such as The Center for Sex and Culture’s Tribe (433 members, no sexually explicit photographs, topical discussion on sex education events) — now invisible. The community’s goal of fostering accurate sex information and socially networking all who share this goal, is silenced. Also made to “just go away” are individuals’ profiles that violate Tribe.net’s very unusual interpretation of the 2257 recordkeeping laws, including my own, which contains no sexually explicit imagery (one photo in my profile shows my boobies). And now headmistress is mad: The Smart Girls’ Porn Club, my 450+ member discussion group comprised of pro-porn women is now silenced and invisible to the public.

It Makes Sense if You Stand On Your Head and Squint
But does it make sense to apply 2257 laws (or 2256 for that matter) to a social networking site, such as Tribe.net, Friendster, or Orkut? Only if you have another agenda. Tribe.net is putting themselves in the “republishing category for “pornography”, “sexually explicit conduct” and “obscenity”.

As I wrote in my previous Tribe and 2257 post, it’s important not to confuse obscenity with “sexually explicit behavior”, because it’s two different things in the eyes of the law. but Tribe is telling users they’re yanking both kinds of content. And by including the word “obscenity” in their definitions, Tribe.net now steps into the steaming pile of how to determine community standards of obscenity for their internet Tribes scattered all over the US.

According to Jason Schultz, Staff Attorney at the Electronic Frontier Foundation, Tribe.net “can’t be held to 2257 requirements for things they don’t exercise traditional editorial content control over. Otherwise, all ISPs who host 3rd party websites would be liable as well, and the law explicitly says that isn’t true. So as long as Tribe as a company isn’t editing the content, they can host any groups they want that have sexually explicit material, even if it qualifies under 2257’s weirdo definitions. Moreover, if Tribe had a backbone, they could join the suit to overthrow 2257; it wouldn’t even cost them much, since the Free Speech Coalition is already leading the charge.”

And They Gain What, Exactly?
Why is Tribe doing this? Well, to protect the children, of course. I’ve received several emails from their competitors and allies about this whole thing, and I’m more inclined to believe that maybe they’re worried about the new Justice Department agenda to censor anything sex related, but since they don’t make porn (and I will scrub my eyes with Brillo pads if they ever do), it’s more likely they’re trying to clean up their image, for whatever those reasons are; ad revenue, whatever. But that’s just my opinion.

The Lukewarming Effect
Now everyone is confused about whether or not they can put up a picture of their own boobies and not end up in federal prison. They’re confusing everyone, and kind of really doing the Justice Department’s job for them by making everyone very nervous and confused about obcenity and sexually explicit materials, and who owns them. But the hilarious part of this whole sad joke is that 2257 is just another organized crime tactic from the government to keep people confused about whether what they’re doing is illegal or not in realtion to sex (and free speech). It’s supposed to be a record-keeping requirement to prevent children from being exploited as porn performers. But as seen in the Traci Lords case back in the 1980s, where she used a US-issued passport as proof of her age and the case was tossed out of court because she fooled the government at age 15, 2257 would do nothing to prevent this from happening again. The law violates the privacy of all porn performers and erotic models in a very serious way by making the Social Security and ID information of performers available to every seedy dude with a TGP site. In a recent edition of Eros Magazine (The Journal of the Eros Association in Australia), it was reported that US-based adult performer Kami Andrews is quoted as stating she’s had a mountain of mail show up a her home address and she’s had “fans” loitering in her driveway—is this how 2257 works? Also, it would be easy as pie for Photoshop experts to create their own ID photos, thereby possibly further driving the real creators of child porn even deeper into the underground — and who do these laws serve, anyway?

What Really Pisses Me Off
I don’t do Fleshbot for the money (that’s for sure). I do it because our attitude toward sex and culture, adult fun, and intelligent sex speaks to the very core of ethics that make me who I am. And it’s free, and accessible — if you don’t have access to information, *you’re* not free. For many women, the cage has been their own bodies; I regularly have contact with women who have been alive for many decades who have still never had an orgasm. Many women (and men) are still afraid of their own bodies, or are disgusted by their genitals because no one ever told them that what they have is not only beautiful down there, but fun and healthy and totally normal and that pleasure is good for you. And porn is a healthy, if sometimes annoyingly bimbonic, component of shedding sexual ignorance and learning to make healthy choices about individual sex and sexuality.

Anyway, when I was working in retail and renting/selling porn videos to customers face-to-face (almost 8 years), I was totally blown away that the stereotypes about who is interested in porn were a rarity; I had discussions with straight women and men, couples, gay men, trannies, lesbians and lots and lots of *women* about the newest titles, our favorite directors, and my recommendations, all as if we were discussing the latest predictable Hollywood release.

I knew there were lots of female porn viewers, but porn has no consumer advocacy outside of sex sites. So when I got invited to Tribe.net, I saw a normalized context to bring women together in discussion about porn. It wasn’t just about sex; it was a teeming mass of all kinds of open discussion communities. So on Tribe I started the Smart Girls’ Porn Club, got on a little soapbox, and shined a light for other women to be able to check it out — they didn’t have to join or make a forced commitment to explore our discussions; they could lurk and never join if that was their comfort level. And lots of women found comfort knowing they weren’t alone in liking explicit imagery, as there were a constant stream of women joining and exclaiming excitedly about what a healing thing it was for them to even just be in the club and knew they weren’t alone in enjoying this kind of sexual enjoyment. They traded tips and complaints about porn, talked about whether they felt porn exploits women, they even talked about better ways to have orgasms during sex. The light turned into a beacon, and by the time Tribe made us invisible yesterday there were over 450 women in the Club, and literally over 20 more asking to be let in.

Now, because Tribe is using 2257 as a content filter, no one can see the club or its many discussions. And it’s insidious; we’re not technically shut down but instead we’re invisible and silenced to everyone except each other in there, and to allow more members in (if they can find out about it in the first place) I have to make them first my “friend”. This means that the concept of “friend” in Tribe is useless; that’s also a lot of effort around adding hundreds of friends and getting them into my discussion groups. Regulated into unfeasability. Think about what that means in a historical context in regards to women and their sexuality, and women and porn. This, to me, is the biggest wrong in all of this. I hope no one in Tribe can sleep at night for a very long fucking time for their role in perpetuating this whole 2257 sham.

And now, my self-indulgent nerdy quote:

“Alright. Leave this camp, and draw a map for anyone who wants to believe your fuckin’ lies. Anyone who wants to put your daughter or her holdings in jeopardy, you show ‘em how to get here. And you tell ‘em I’ll be waiting.”
–Sheriff Bullock, to the widow Alma Garrett’s father after knocking his teeth out, Deadwood season one.

Photo: ioerror

Personal favorites, get ‘em while the links last:

Black B.eatles (MP3 instru: B.lack Eyed Peas - Let’s get R.etarded; acapella: The B.eatles - R.un for your life + The B.eatles - Girl + L.udacris Feat, P.harrell - F.atty girl + The C.lipse - G.rinding (remix) + K.elis - C.aught out There)
F.atboy S.lim Vs. B.lackstreet (MP3 instru: F.atboy Slim - W.eapon Of Choice; acapella: B.lackstreet - No D.iggity)
No Humping on the D.ance Floor (MP3 No P.arking On The Dance Floor - M.idnight Star + My H.ump” - B.lack Eyed P.eas + “O.ne Hump Or Two” - D.etroit Grand Pubahs + “N.o More Drama” - M.ary J B.lige)

Add this iMix and Stevie Wonder’s “Bad Mama Jama” and you’ve got my new current party playlist. I make a playlist at the end of every year… hope you like the funk!

Um, I mean, I did this totally awesome interview in Altporn’s excellent podcast; I talk about Tribe and 2257, what the genre of altporn means to me and the world, about the mainstream porn conspiracy (I actually say “fuck AVN”), and I tell a little about going from homeless teen gutterpunk to… whatever it is I am now. But the photos, um, what a surprise :)

Altporn.net Podcast #2: Violet Blue (link to post, altporn.net)

(photos by Charles Russo and Thomas Roche)

Also: Tribe goes black tonight. All ‘mature’ tribes and profiles will be made invisible and there is no sound reason for it; they are in no danger of 2257 prosecution, they are simply making the “undesirables” disappear so they can try to get soccer moms to join and to attempt to sop up their revenue hemhorrage with more ads. Just like the Bush administration, except they’re succeeding with making the gays, sex educators, the Smart Girls’ Porn Club, and anyone who has the word “bitch” anywhere in their tribes or profiles just *go away*. Freaky 1984 microcosm. I have to get all the Tribe links off my site, I don’t ever want to send them any business ever again. Talk about 2257 abuse.

* okay, not *these* soccer moms.

One thing I didn’t expect when I first posted my call for nominations for the top ten sexiest geeks of 2005 was that I’d get so many (thank you!). But I’m glad I did. The world is truly a better place with more sexy geeks to go around, and this is my tribute to every crush on the math nerd, every Wonder Woman fan, every hot librarian, all the sexy hackers that mostly live in my mind (but sometimes in my social circle), and all nerdy girls and super-smart boys who blink a lot in the sunlight and have allergies to many common things — but all of whom are inclined to read the ingredients on a lube bottle. Which is *so* hot.

Geeks are sexy. Big, powerful, lubricious, restless brains are just about as hot as it gets — the brain *is* the biggest sex organ in the body, after all. I’m focusing here on computer and tech geeks; while sexy geeks come in all tasty flavors, I wanted to stick with the geek types I know are not just hot, but pervy enough to give the fantasies a little more fire *while* coding a script to run your vibrator in twenty more different ways via the web. I’m not counting celebrity geeks, as they occupy a more privileged realm than most and if given half a brain can buy their way into at least *looking* like a geek. Though there are a couple worth mentioning and you should look at their sites to see why they merit a GILF (Geeks I’d Like to Fuck) nod on this list: David Bowie, Wil Wheaton and David Byrne all have innovative sites and ideas, are totally hot. And let’s not forget my number one celebrity crush for 2005, Stephen Colbert was also nominated and he’s definitely the kind of guy who knows what kind of browser he’s using.

So, here come the GILFs. Some are single, some are not, and I don’t care — I’m just here to tell you how hot they are.

There were simply too many sexy geeks looking oh so downloadable this year for a 2005 top ten list. Nominated runners-up are:

* Amanda Congdon: cute and fun show — but did she do it all herself, and where’s the blog? Congdon was nominated by a reader, but instead I’ll take the news delivery and DIY sexy geekiness of Ms. Kitka’s KitKast any day of the week.
* Liz Henry: delicious ubergeek in oh so many ways.
* Lee Montgomery: a nominee said, “he has such a hackable ass” (and Jon Brumit, oh yes), both of pirate radio and other pranky hacky fame.
* Jacob Appelbaum: gorgeous goth boy who took tech to Katrina survivors, Iraq, and just won’t stop being incredible (and sexy).
* Ken Goldberg: hot daddy UC Berkeley professor who teaches things like “Algorithmic Foundations for Robotics.” Don’t stand so close to me, indeed.
* Eric Rice: just a garden variety hot geek, if there is such a thing.
* Peter Radavitch: the ultimate dark horse candidate and an uber-sexy programmer boy — h4wt. Click both links and you’ll thank me later. I’m going to thank myself later, too.
* Irene McGee: She walked off MTV’s Real World in Seattle because of their crap ethics after getting hit by a male co-star (are we shocked?) and went on to lecture around the country about fakery in reality TV; now she has a kickass podcast — and she’s yummy. Total GILF; click both links.

The Top Ten Sexiest Geeks of 2005

10. qDot (Central Time Zone, location unknown)
Besides being the sole power source behind awesomely named Slashdong, which he considers “more about the porn of engineering than the engineering of porn”. Hottie qDot has tirelessly dedicated his passions toward all things sex and tech — most especially hacking slippery connections between Xboxes and dildos, and taking up the revolutionary cry of horny nerds everywhere and working earnestly to open source teledildonics, once and for all. On Slashdong he posts news and new discoveries about the true intersections between sex and technology and this year began work on what could basically be called Make Magazine (or Hack A Day) for sex — DIY tutorials on hacking sex toys for web use and more. I especially love it when he talks dirty, as in “we abandon the ‘nasty ghetto hack’”, and has great posts titles such as “The Defeat of the Pink Sparkly Buttplug of Doom“. When he’s not qDot, he’s Kyle Machulis, the founder of Nonpolynomial Labs, a research and consulting firm dedicated to helping UI and game developers create immersive environments using alternative control methods. He was nominated not once, but several times for this list, all by women who saw his photo and emailed me things like, “my sex life has gotten so, so much better since he started putting text on the web.”
(photo: Flickr qdot76367)

9. Irina Slutsky (San Francisco)
First of all, yes, it’s her real name (and so is mine), and she’s wearing it loud and proud, even using it as her stage name when she performs at Trannyshack. What — a sexy geek girl who gets on stage at Trannyshack!? You heard it right. This super-sexy geekette plays a hilarious geek-bimbo persona as the main correspondant on Geek Entertainment Television and is one of the co-founders of this awesome show — and it’s no wonder, since she is one of the main voices/writers at TopTenSources and writes things like GEEKSTARS, a list of uber-coders. She also writes all kinds of really cool articles as a Silicon Valley reporter, and she rocks harder than Judas Priest on Under the Radar Blog, but most importantly, she looks really hot in a corset.
(photo: Flickr Irena Slutsky)

8. John D’Addario (New Orleans)
This incredibly sexy boy — I mean, MAN — is not a coder or a hacker, nor does he create any innovative tech. But he is an important sexy geek in the tech arena, primarily because he is the sole force behind the creation of the most popular and highest trafficked sex blog, ever — he is the Editor and founder of Gawker’s Fleshbot. (Full disclosure: he is my boss and friend, and no, he does not know I’m doing this.) John ran Fleshbot solo until I arrived earlier this year, when he got his first time off since Fleshbot’s creation. Here’s the thing: in case you haven’t noticed, the web is run by two things: the trafficking of information and sex. Sex and the web are as intertwined as a double helix — and if you know sex on the web, you understand the world of the internet, what people want, how they click and shop, how to get and keep their attention and can predict the rise and fall of stars, sites, marketing techniques and every other way people try to become successful (or fail) on the web. John D’Addario knows the world of sex on the web like no one; he is a walking encyclopedia of porn site tactics, sex news facts, and his skills at being able to find anything, anywhere (and surf safely) are mind-boggling. It’s important to understand the value of this; sexy skillz for a sexy geek. Plus, he’s as handsome as the devil himself.
(photo: NickDenton.org)

7. Annalee Newitz (San Francisco)
With sparkling eyes, sexy specs, an ever-casual demeanor and the ability to look H4WT in the many men’s suits she wears, this Wired contributing editor and syndicated Techsploitation columnist isn’t shy about her interests in tech and sex (or that she packs a HUGE sex and tech resume in her slacks), though her understated persona belies this truth. As if all this wasn’t enough to turn anyone’s crank, she’s taught courses at UC Berkeley with alluring titles such as “Violence and Horror After 1930″ and “Corporate and Anti-Corporate Culture”, she is also a Policy Analyst at the Electronic Frontier Foundation. Even better — when I once emailed her to ask if I could refer to her as a “sexy butch” she replied that she didn’t mind being called a hot anything, “…even a hot Bunsen burner”.
(photo: Flickr Laughing Squid)

6. Eddie Codel (San Francisco)
Webzine 2005 (and past Webzines). Geek Entertainment Television (”Why not, I was bored.”). The League of Pissed Off Voters. These are things that Eddie has made happen, from organizing people in his kitchen to putting up the websites, to going out with a camera and filming GETV — or getting arrested at the Republican National Convention for taking pictures (and then having friends geeky and fuuny enough to auction his bail off on eBay). Eddie’s gorgeous, his big sexy brain is even more gorgeous, as are his views on pranking and playing with everything, as seen with his work making big scary machines in Survival Research Laboratories randomly controllable from remote locations via the web — which he’s been doing for fun since 1999, along with working on our site, working on the machines and being a machine operator during shows. If there’s a “bubble“, Eddie’s coding bubble bath. (Full disclosure: I met Eddie working on the Tokyo show, and he might find this awkward, but he’s so easygoing I’m sure all will be fine.)
(photo: Flickr Eric Rice)

5. Josie Nutter (Seattle)
Josie Nutter is one of those girls… can this fantasy femme possibly be real? Nominated via email for two primary and all important reasons: by day she works on a secret project doing design and scripting for gaming company Snowblind Studios, and by night she’s an uber-hot Goth fetish model. It’s *almost* like someone designed her. A game designer who performs in burlesque shows (with acts like Glitzkreig), she’s also got a huge and impressive modeling portfolio and could most likely totally kick your ass just by flexing her little finger over an Xbox. Simply delicous.
(photo: Josie Nutter site)

4. Chris Wetherell (somewhere in Silicon Valley)
A nominee with enough geek + sexiness to leap search engine giants in a single bound, Chris Wetherell is a welcome member of the world of sexy geeks. A User Interface Engineer at Google, he has been called by some of the brightest guys in programming a “wizard.” I know lots of sexy guys I’d call programming wizards, but what do you think of Gmail? How about Blogger? The new Google Reader? According to my sources, it’s Wetherell’s work, one and all. But wait, there’s more — he’s a musician to boot, and is a drummer in two bands: Citizens Here and Abroad and Dealership (CHaA recently played at the Metreon and SF’s Virgin Megastore). And he’s gorgeous. GORGEOUS!
(photo: Flickr Mai Le)

3. Melissa Gira (SF Bay Area)
Several nominations came in for this brainy, sexy babe, and I concur will all my parts. She has a terrific podcast (Whorecast — check out her cool in-browser Flash player), does volumes of advocacy work for sex workers (including priestessing/presiding over a sex worker memorial service recently), she is a major voice, founder and force behind Sexerati, runs DIY webcam workshops, and she works on really mind-boggling projects such as her AnaisCam Livecast and BeautifulToxin. Yes, she’s also heartbreakingly beautiful, but she’s also unafraid to unwrap the layers of her life and show the world all the hard, sexy, smart, fragile, complicated and beautiful parts of being alive, being sexual and just plain being human. A sexy, *very* female human, that is.
(photo: Flickr Melissa Gira)

2. Jason Schultz (San Francisco)
Jason Schultz is an unbelievably sexy geek. A sexy LawGeek, that is. If there was a straight tech-centric version of Anderson Cooper, it’s Schultz, who is the handsome, smiley Staff Attorney at the Electronic Frontier Foundation and is the most tech-savvy, humorously scary smart, sex-positive intellectual property lawyer ever created by the Flying Spaghetti Monster. When he’s not expressing distaste about Diebold threatening college kids with bogus copyright claims and [Diebold] defrauding transparency and security requirements in state e-voting laws, he’s leading EFF’s Patent Busting Project. Prior to his amazing work for bloggers’ rights at EFF, Jason worked at a law firm where he spent most of his time invalidating software patents and defending open source developers in lawsuits. And dear jesus in a sparkly rubber thong, he’s funny and cute — see for yourself when he gleefully slams it to Sony for their horrendous practices in “EFF’s Jason Schultz explains how Sony BMG is about to be so pwned!“.
(photo: Flickr ioerror)

1. Xeni Jardin (Los Angeles)
It comes as no surprise, I’m sure, to readers of this blog or any BoingBoing readers out there (especially if you’ve seen the pictures), that Xeni Jardin surely reigns as The Sexiest Geek of 2005. A tech culture journalist par none, BoingBoing co-editor, regular Wired Magazine and Wired News contributor, NPR contributor (”Xeni Tech“) and much more — look at her bio to see all of her TV, radio and print/web tech reportage. Not to mention that she “has hosted, produced, and/or created tech culture events including Wired Magazine’s Nextfest, and the Investment Capital Conference (which, in its 15th year, is the world’s longest-running venture capital conference)”. She’s just not from our planet, but I’m glad she’s here with us for a little while so we can all ogle her gorgeous brain (and other tasty-looking bits).
(photo: Flickr ioerror)

Check it out. I’ll keep growing it as time goes by (and editing it as podcasters flake off).

Fresh and hot — here’s the text accompanying my new podcast:

“Cozy up with some hot holiday erotica! Reading from Alison Tyler’s brand-spanking-new The Merry XXXmas Book of Erotica, I dish out two explicit gems starring, well… holiday erotica anti-heroes, if you will. In “Here Comes Santa”, a young woman escapes her crazy family and finds solace in a local sex toy store, buying herself a *big* holiday gift. In “‘Tis The Season”, an office worker with a very negative holiday attitude gets an attitude adjustment on his knees in the supply closet at the hands of a surprising blonde… Slightly snarky, hip, and fun stuff — just what the season calls for.”

Open Source Sex 22: Holiday Erotica (MP3)

Remember when I went to that Sex Machines book release slideshow and was interviewed about Tribe.net and 2257? Well, after that I was asked to become a GETV guest correspondant, and strangely I accepted, and then I went on to do three interviews. The first of those three are up — the one where I interview Timothy Archibald, photographer and author of Sex Machines.

Link to post: Violet Blue probes Timothy Archibald over the sex machine.

Also, I’ve been toiling in the Tiny Nibbles dungeon, and have squeezed out a Tiny Nibbles schwag shop at Spreadshirt. I liked the range of color shirts at Spreadshop better than CafePress, and I ordered a few samples for quality — nice mugs, solid letter printing. Get your “open source sex” t-shirts, “sexy geek” mugs and “user friendly” G-strings. Guaranteed to make you more lubricious, delicious and bootylicious!

Now, if I owned a men’s underwear concern (and hopefully someday I will), this is exactly how I would present my products. Except I would call this The One-Armed Bandit Banana Hammock. Seriously, how does that thing stay on/up? I’d love to be in the team of engineers that worked round the clock on that particular feat of weight and suspension. (Link to other ’secret’ collection, vizeau.com)

A friend wrote me recently asking for toy suggestions for leading her boy-toy down the road to bend-over-boyfriend bliss; more friends emailed about gifts for their lovers; I just wrote a San Francisco focused sexy gift guide for SFist; next, an autofellatiotasticmeta gift guide roundup for Fleshbot. But in all of that, I felt like dishing out my own opinions on what’s hot this year — not last year’s warmed-over vibrators. Full disclosure: I’m linking to JT’s Stockroom throughout because they’re cool people, have sexy product presentation, and Lucky Lana is La Bomba. (I do not, however, endorse the use of a product they sell called Anal Eze.) The only company linked here that I make money from is Amazon; I might make 30 cents off a calendar. This is all my own opinion. If you’re the sugar type, feel free to donate gift certificates for me to any of the places I’ve linked to below — I’m broke and not celebrating this year, so I’m basically giving you a very biased wishlist of my own! And no, I’m not going to the Good Vibes holiday fetish party because I am not invited, though I do find it amusing that their theme this year is marching bands and cheerleaders. Because I totally don’t have any oufits for that, or know any marching bands. (New readers: I worked there for 7 1/2 years.) Also, I’m not making the trek to AVN in January because there’s no business reason that’s justifiable for the enormous expense — most people will agree that it’s really hard to do business there, and I’d only be going to see and get drunk with many friends (that I miss a lot).

But I *do* plan on going to a lot of other fun holiday parties this year and will post photos as I dress up and go out on holiday thrill-seeking adventures. I’ll also be busy compiling the Top Ten Sexy Geeks of 2005 list — *lots* of nominations coming in — I’ll publish it here monday. So, if you feel the urge to shop in the meantime…

Have a kinky holiday: bend him over with a couture Yule log, and white is the new black.
Wearing a strap-on is one of my favorite ways to play. A two-strap harness is ideal (as opposed to the g-string style). Allows for lots of access so you can jack yourself off (rub your clit) while you jack your cock, pleasurable and menacing/titillating at the same time. I prefer leather and buckles, but for airports/travel you might want a fabric model; machine washable, very nice for cleanup. You could also get a harness with a hole (no backing) and use one of Vixen’s unique double dildos that penetrate both partners at once with the thrusting of the harness.

How about no harness required? I have a Feeldoe (actually two sizes), and you can find advice for double dildos and bend-over-boyfriend fun here. The bulb end is held in your pussy and the dick is a nice shape for ass fucking as it’s not contoured. The small one would be my recommendation for novice ass-tronauts.

That brings me to the dil for your hapless doe (buck). For any thrusting activity get a dildo that is not contoured, or wider at the base than the top. The sphincter muscles are a ring about 1-2″ in depth and wide based dildoes are not comfy as they stress the (possibly already tense and worried) muscles. A bulb at the end is fine, and can be nice for prostate stim, but remember you’ll then be putting the biggest part in first, which might be too intense for your virgin. I’ve had that happen. This looks like a fab kit.

Things in white are rare in the sex toy world, and they just look oh so sexy for holiday gift giving. Check out strap-on kit The Honeymooner; the Echo silicone vibrating dildo in Ambrosia; a white leather leash; white leather ankle or wrist cuffs; white leather collar (or dainty choker). For machine washable fabric versions, this restraint kit and blindfold in white nylon looks lovely.

I can’t forget to mention the leather santa hats and stockings those crazy kids at JT’s have, too — for the purists; the model is a total hottie, too. Madame S’s bondage balloons will make your fetish holiday party the most talked about all year long.

Items I’d give my eye teeth for this holiday season
Feather Cocktail Dress, 60s Jumper, Latex Opera Gloves, China Girl Dress, rubber motocross oufit (!), Ribbon Cincher, and I’ve been drooling over this cammo corset all year.

Sexy 2006 calendars
I regretted my hasty purchase of Neglected Murderesses and The Deranged Cousins by Edward Gorey 2006 dayplanner once I saw all the hot dirty ones I could’ve gotten… I guess it’s not too late for me to get On the Couch, Wild Guys (hawt) or Lust. Or the delicious flipside: Elvgren, Trevor Watson: Kinky, She! Sie! Elle!, Steve Diet Goedde and Erotic 2006. Of course, you can always get you free calendor porn fix here.

Best porn of 2005
Xana and Dax. Nina Hartley’s Guide to Erotic Bondage. Suck It Dry. Alternative Worldz: Atlanta XXX. The Crash Pad. City of Flesh 5: Lisa’s Little Secret. Erocktavision 3: Sapphic Desire. Jenna Loves Pain. Pirates. Halcyon and Tassy’s Pinkgasm site; right now see a teaser for “Pink Santa Daddy & slave reindeer tassy” photoset for the RobOnt 12 Babes of Christmas.

Get The Merry XXXmas Book of Erotica, edited by Alison Tyler, and grab my new Best Women’s Erotica 2006 (nice writeup at Babeland). Package a jumbo candycane with my Guide to Fellatio (how new cover!).

And finally, if you’re looking for that perfect item that screams “pervert” and “originality” all at once, check out the variety of sites and software (like iPhoto/iDVD, FlipAlbum and Flipbook Printer) that can take sequential images or short .avi movie files and turn them into a flipbook. Portray yourself giving a jumbo candycane the holiday of its life, wiggling your tushy, spanking your butt, spanking your monkey… or any other naughty but nice message you’d like to pass on to that special someone. (Thanks, Kathryn!) And for all you horny cheapos out there, there’s always the adorably naughty and ever-sexy free vintage nude e-postcards at Retro Raunch, or MyPleasure’s mild-but-kinda-spicy holiday ecard selection.

Photos via RobOnt 12 Babes of Christmas.

From the ten mile long RE/Search email I got from my pal Vale:

> 4. SRL founder Mark Pauline has to move his legendary “shop” where
> SRL has been headquartered for almost 25 years. Blame the anti-artist
> unreal-estate conspiracy. RE/Search, in cahoots with
> MarkPauline-AmyCritchett-KarenMarcelo-Scott Beale-Eddie Codel &
> more… is barely beginning to plan a fund-raiser benefit for the SRL
> Move to New Quarters–a move that may cost a staggering $100,000 …
> scheduled date of the SRL benefit: Sat, Feb 11, 2006 in San Francisco
> at the Hayes Valley Market, corner of Hayes/Laguna in San Francisco.
> Watch for it — like we said, it’s still in the planning stage…
>
> The night before, Fri Feb 10, 2006, the SF Indyfest will celebrate
> SRL with the San Francisco premiere of the video of the SRL Los
> Angeles, April 2, 2005 Show, followed by a conversation between
> RE/Search founder V. Vale and SRL founder Mark Pauline. A Q&A, and
> small party, will follow. Women’s Building, San Francisco, 18th St
> near Valencia, 9 pm.
>
> We recommend that all SRL fans plan to come to San Francisco for the
> SRL Weekend: Fri-Sat, Feb 10-11, 2006. Anyone from out of town will
> hopefully be granted special attention!

Yup, we’re getting kicked out of our warehouse where we’ve been for about 20 years (we’ve been around for 25, but not always in the same location). I truly believe that when we (re)move the archaeological history of industrial culture that consists of machines, half-finished projects and historical-yet-functional multi-ton machine tools, the ceiling will cave in because our stuff will no longer be holding up the crumbling walls. It’s like that. We are a not-for-profit, volunteer run group; we have repeatedly refused to be co-opted by Hollywood and corporate culture. We are also still in debt from our last show; please do set aside a few bills for our fundraiser next year and keep your eyes peeled for a space here in SF we can move to…

I’m taking nominations for my list of the Top Ten Sexiest Geeks of 2005 — email me at violet at tinynibbles dot com with suggestions. Or, tell me who you *don’t* think deserves to be on the list; all confidentiality will be respected to the utmost. I’ll publish the list here on my blog next week. There’s been so much hot geekage this year that it would just be an oversight not to put together a wanky, snarky, funny year-end list about whose back-ends we’d most like to hack our way into.

And yes, I’m getting tons of mail about the Tribe thing; from a lot of big players who won’t let me quote them, dammit.

Last night’s Sex Machines show was excellent! BUT, my SRL friend Eddie showed up with Irina Slutsky, who cornered me and said “Hi, I’m Irina Slutsky. Can we interview you for Geek Entertainment Television and then can you take over as a guest correspondant and do interviews — I feel sick and need to go home.” I said, “Okay. What!?” It was about 1 hour after I posted the Tribe and 2257 post, and told them about my day; they made it into an interview. So, if you’ve ever wanted to see me talk… here I am, dressed as usual — they caught me in jeans, glasses, with all my dirty unstyled hair tucked into a hat. Totally not expecting it.

Violet Blue tells us what 2257 means to Tribe.net (post + link to video)

I’ll drop the file into my podcast feed, and as soon as GETV posts the interviews I did later that evening, you can watch me grab the microphone and chase and harass the inventors of The Thrillhammer, the Monkey Rocker, and Timothy Archibald. I show how one machine works, and one of the inventors humps my leg…!

“Vote Chris ‘Christmas’ Rodriguez to replace Santa this year. (…) He’s just a man. But so is Santa.”

Not totally new, but still quite enjoyable. Link — warning: will make your nose into high-velocity eggnog sprayer.

Tribe.net started implementing their version of adhering to 2257 laws, and the Smart Girls’ Porn Club, among other tribes, is affected. My permanent link to the discussion group of over 450 women about porn, may not be a valid link for much longer. Women in the club lamented Tribe having the “2257 brick thrown at them”, but I have a different story to tell. My Smart Girls’ Porn Club post is below:

This might get me kicked off Tribe, so I’ll reproduce the text on my blog :)

Tribe has not been hit with the 2257 brick. Tribe is *voluntarily* applying the 2257 laws to itself — its members, the tribes and the very architecture of Tribe itself.

Two weeks ago Tribe asked me for a phone meeting; I didn’t know what it was about but I figured it had something to do with Tribe’s mature content. They explained to me in a half-hour conference call that they were gearing up to change Tribe’s architecture (entry pages, etc) to conform to updated 2257 laws, which are record keeping requirements. The federal law now requires website owners to keep *physical* records documenting, among other things, that “a book, magazine, periodical, film, videotape, digitally- or computer-manipulated image, digital image, picture, or other matter that contains a visual depiction of an actual human being engaged in actual sexually explicit conduct” is over the age of 18. Visual depictions *after* 1990, mind you.

Link to text of law.

“Sexually explicit conduct” and “obscene” are the key words bandied about by means of definition of what falls into the law. Keeping records, according to this law, means that for each image the webmaster must have copies of the person in the images’ Social Security info and legal photo ID, and all names they have ever used in a physical location somewhere; a business that is open at least 20 hours a week.

When the Tribe guys told me what they were doing, I first lamented that I’d just finished wirting a great book about our porn club due out next year (full of awesome quotes from y’all). Then I asked just how they were going to try and define images depicting “sexually explicit conduct” and “obscenity”. I explained to them that the definitions in the law are shadowy and subjective at best, and here’s why:

Over at adult site Eros Zine, my friend (the editor) had to go through all of their images and try to define the difference between a photo that was sexually explicit vs. not. It made him insane; “Is her butt red from a sunburn or a spanking?! Is she holding her breasts in a sexually explicit way, or just posing!?” Then there’s the matter of images that fall into the freedom of speech category — 2257 would prohibit *everyone* in the US from seeing images such as the prison photos from Abu Ghraib. The law is so broad, it can include bloggers, publishers, television and Hollywood. A political or human rights tribe would be wiped off the Tribe map for failing to conform to the laws, by including an Abu prison photo in their photo album.

I then explained that they were putting themselves in the tricky position of defining obscenity — that by considering Tribe a porn producer and conforming it to 2257, the law would put them in that position. I explained to them how obscenity is defined in the American court system.

I told them that the state of the law in the United States about sexually explicit material revolves around keeping pornographers and adult retailers on their toes, never knowing for what, or when, they might be prosecuted for offending “community standards.” The law in the U.S. states that something is considered “obscene,” and therefore illegal to create or distribute, if a court *somewhere* says it is. You might hear people in and out of the adult industry say things like, “Showing urination is illegal,” or “Showing S/M with sex is illegal,” or “Portraying Bill O’Reilly as a journalist is illegal” (and if isn’t, it should be) — and all these cautious statements are incorrect. In fact, there’s only a single test, which is when a court in any of the 50 states decides that a particular thing (DVD, book, picture, fake journalist, whatever) is, by the “standards of the community,” obscene.

No one making porn knows if what they are doing is illegal or not. This situation, I explained, is reminiscent of organized crime tactics, and is not an oversight; the U.S. Supreme Court is quite aware that the only way that retailers and pornographers can really be sure they won’t be prosecuted for “obscene” material is for them to avoid portraying activities that might possibly be interpreted as obscene (and now, sexually explicit) — anywhere. In a court case for obscenity, the accused is held to whatever the local community’s standards are for obscenity, as determined by a jury.

Okay, I probably left out the part about Bill O’Reilly, but I was on my toes enough to rake them across the coals a bit to try and let them know what they were about to step into. They told me flat out that they felt that the definitions in 2257 in regards to sexually explicit conduct were absolutely clear — I even asked them to repeat the statement. I asked them to think about the fact that they were going to enter an arena of applying community standards to tribes all over the United States, and what is not obscene here in SF, like a picture of a leatherman in assless chaps, would most certainly be considered obscene to someone in a Kansas tribe.

Their reply to all this was that they were going to rely on users to “flag” images and tribes as obscene. And that they were going to rely on the architecture of Tribe to force people to join in order to even look at a URL. Of course, I was instantly upset about what this means — the links I have put on Fleshbot, and on my site to the Smart Girls’ Porn Club are essentially dead links that lead through a multiple page signup process requiring personal informaiton. No one, I told them, would click through that. Linking to Tribe would be pointless. We’d lose the women who are just curious and maybe a little nervous about porn and exploring their own sexuality — many of which are in this 450+ member tribe.

I thanked them for the courtesy call; it was clear that they had already decided all of this and the call to me was just to make nice. I told them to please call and talk to Jason Schultz over at the Electronic Freedom Foundation before making a move. I don’t know if they did; I have yet to talk to Jason. I got notices in my tribe mail about removing images as the moderator of mature tribes, the penalties and the changes to Tribe’s Terms of Use. I have done nothing. I am waiting to be penalized.

I think they are making a huge mistake, based on a law that is unenforcable. The law violates privacy — I was sent the 2257 information for the porn performers I featured in my last podcast. I now have enough information to steal the actual identity, and stalk, every performer in that film. They performers don’t even know I have that information, or who else might have it as a legal requirement, and nothing makes me more uncomfortable than having that information in my posession.

The law is meant for primary and secondary producers of porn, not online communities. The law violates our federal right to freedom of speech. The law is obstensibly created “to protect children from being exploited as [porn] performers”, not healthy adult enjoyment of human sexuality. In truth, 2257 laws are less about protecting children from porn exploitation, but instead about regulating porn businesses, free speech and healthy adult sexual expression into unfesability.

My boyfriend sent me a link this morning, “check out this dude’s Tribe profile!” I clicked the link and went to a signup page, with no login. I signed in, and tried to go to the URL, and went to the same signup page. I can’t get to the link. And what will happen to our RSS feeds!? This tribe is now frozen in Tribe time.

More 2257 info and the shady definitions under the law here.

Photo: Jacob Appelbaum.

Update: video interview on Geek Entertainment Television: Violet Blue tells us what 2257 means to Tribe.net (post + link to video)

Update: a dear friend (who has a big famous site and wants to remain anonymous) writes me:

“Very powerful post you put up this morning (yesterday?) about Tribe eating itself. I’ve never been to their sites except once following your links to the porn club; now I clearly never will. They have just commited suicide in response to vague-but-real dangers, like a man jumping off an urban bridge because he hears approaching sirens.

A suggestion, though, if I might — please don’t confuse obscenity with “sexually explicit behavior.” I doubt you have, but your post could lead to confusion on that point — whether something is obscene has zero impact on whether 2257 applies to it, nor is 2257 content rescued by redeeming social value or a context of supportive community standards. That’s exactly why the Abu Graib torture photos are in no danger of being deemed obscene, but could still be prosecuted under 2257.”

Update: BoingBoinged — Tribe.net self-censoring to conform with 2257 porn laws?

If you’re in San Francisco tonight, please do check out my pal Timothy Archibald’s Sex Machines: Photographs and Interviews slideshow and talk at Modern Times Bookstore. Timothy wrote an amazing piece about his sex machine travels and experiences all over America in my book Best Sex Writing 2005, and we’re both familiar with 888 Valencia, as that’s where we did the opening night reading for the book! There will be machine makers from various west coast locales on hand — notably the maker of