- This week we see what happens when a data nerd analyzes call girl ads and a sex worker survey in Britain, Facebook’s obscene and pornographic flagged photos turn out to be false claims, and beloved search engine expert Danny Sullivan takes a look at Rick Santorum’s enduring issues with Google search results. Sex Tech Weekly: Escort Data, Santorum SEO, Facebook Porn Photos (Pulp Tech)
- I am particularly enjoying all the people who think Santorum is some sort of unfortunate but long-standing homonym. But when even the New York Times starts getting the story wrong, Dan Savage (who, for my money, deserves recognition as one of the greatest memetic engineers of the 21st century) gets to set the record straight… Dan Savage Schools The New York Times (ErosBlog: The Sex Blog)
- Last night some Washington journalists couldn’t stop themselves from cracking jokes on the Santorum matter, with the former senator surging and all. Raunchy Santorum Sex Jokes Abound (FishbowlDC)
- Senator Rick Santorum, not to be confused with the neologism coined by Dan Savage meaning “a frothy mixture of lube and fecal matter sometimes the byproduct of anal sex”, is publicly very much against abortions, especially “partial birth abortions”. In October, 1996, his wife Karen had a second trimester abortion. Santorum’s wife’s abortion was different, you see. (Lousy Canuck)
- Though the skate gave way to the blade, which almost no one outside of diehard hockey fans in warm climates use, the hot girl in roller skates motif is right up there with sexy schoolgirl. 78 Ridiculously Hot Roller Girls [PHOTOS] (COED Magazine)
- A warning to beware “flirting” journalists has been issued to Metropolitan Police officers amid suggestions reporters may use the tactic to trick them into revealing information. Is flirting really a tool of a journalist’s trade? (BBC News)
- Actress Maggie Gyllenhaal says attacks on Planned Parenthood are attacks on women’s health. Maggie Gyllenhaal on Planned Parenthood: “We Have to Fight for What We Believe In” (Glamour)
- The United States is experiencing an epidemic of sexual violence. New findings from the National Intimate Partner and Sexual Violence Survey (NISVS), a study launched by the Center for Disease Control and Prevention in 2010, report that nearly 1 in 5 women are estimated to have been the victims of rape. Rape more common than smoking in the US (Significance Magazine)
- File under OMG FINALLY. The Justice Department announced Friday it is revising a decades-old definition of rape to expand the kinds of offenses that constitute the crime and for the first time, include men as victims. Now, any kind of nonconsensual penetration, no matter the gender of the attacker or victim, will constitute rape — meaning that attacks on men will be counted. Rape definition broadened to include men (CNN)
- Equinox, which has outposts in New York, South Beach and Hollywood among others, is famed for its fashion editorial-style campaigns, and in choosing controversial photographer Terry Richardson, was clearly keen to shock. But while some members took issue with the racy nature of the ads, most were concerned by the fact that all the models were too thin to be healthy role models. Racy advertising campaign for high-end gym chain slammed by members for using too-thin models (Mail Online)
- “Cognitive testing began after the first hour of drinking to assess immediate, short-term, and remote memory as well as calculation abilities. In brief, the drunk participants looked at toys and watched porn and were asked to recall these items after a delay.” Subjects Wanted to Drink Bourbon and Watch Erotic Films (The Neurocritic)
- In early America, farm animals took the blame for zoophilic sex. Can an animal be smart enough to give sexual consent to a human partner? Even if it were smart enough, would it have means by which to express its desire? The zoophiles themselves would say that it can. When bestiality gets blamed on the animals (Slate Magazine)
- “More Than Just Sex” features five public service announcement-styled videos on the popular site Vimeo.com where baby-faced actors use terms like “raw dogging” to describe not wearing a condom. Safe sex web series launches using city teens speaking in slang using terms like ‘Raw Dogging’ (NY Daily News)
- According to the National Survey of Family Growth, which surveyed thousands of people between the ages of 15 and 44 in 2006-2008, anal sex is really popular with heterosexuals. 44 percent of straight men report having anal sex at least once in their lives, and 36 percent of straight women do too. The CDC wants you to know that anal sex has gotten really popular among heterosexuals (io9)
- Los Angeles arson suspect Harry Burkhart has been formally charged with setting the series of fires that terrorized Los Angeles over New Years weekend – and may have been vengeance for his erotic masseuse mom. Mom Dorothee Burkhart’s Sunset Blvd. address and phone number were listed in connection with nearly a dozen kinky websites, classified ads and Craigslist posts offering “erotic, sensual, tantra massage,” according to reports in the LA Weekly and the Times. Mom of LA arson suspect ran massage business, was wanted in Germany for fraud (NY Daily News)
- New findings reveal that almost two thirds [61 per cent] of women as old as 80 were satisfied with their sex lives, even though just one in five reported a high sex drive.
Sex gets better with age say scientists (Telegraph)
- Here’s a list of the hottest, raciest, sexiest ads of 2011; a year of advertising-fueled orgasms of epic proportion including Justine Jaro, Keira Knightely, Kelly Brook, Rhian Sugden, Megan Fox, Lara Stone, Spaz De La Huerta and many more.The Sexiest Ads of 2011 (Adrants)
- This sex guide for women from 1948 is eye-opening, and very focused on masturbation and those “hard to clean areas.” The Best Excerpts From 1948’s “You And Your Sex Life: An Illustrated Guide Book For Women” (Buzzfeed)
- Best Sex Writing 2012 is selected and introduced by Susie Bright and edited by Rachel Kramer Bussel. It collects two dozen of the best non-fiction sex-on-the-brain think-pieces published in 2011. Sexy Books: ‘Best Sex Writing 2012: The State of Today’s Sexual Culture’ (Examiner.com)
- A slew of unheralded but significant films helped pave the way for critically acclaimed Pariah. But Pariah is also indebted to a cadre of often overlooked but no less important documentaries and coming-out films released during the height of black lesbian filmmaking from 1991 to 1996. Black Lesbian Films: Before Pariah (The Root)
I think the point, Violet, is that you’re linking uncritically to articles that badly misrepresent a woman’s gynecological and obstetric experiences for political purposes. The fact that I think that the woman involved is gross and that her hypocritical reaction to her experiences blows my mind a little doesn’t make me feel like that’s okay.
She didn’t want the fetus to die inside her. She didn’t want the fetus to die at all. It’s why she went through the very dangerous-to-her surgical procedure to try to prevent that. I seem to recall from other articles covering their full interview that they were (understandably) glad that the baby was born alive so they could spend even a small amount of time together before his death. She understood (totally accurately) that whether he died inside or outside her body, he was going to die. She just didn’t want to take steps to terminate the pregnancy herself. I think that undertaking the risks to herself that were inherent in that choice was wholly irrational, but that was her choice and her body, “her body, her choice” being a concept of which I am a fan whether or not I agree with said choice or personally like the owner of said body. She admits that had it truly been necessary, she would have done more. That warrants discussion, considering she and her husband’s political opinions on that issue. A factually inaccurate twisting of a woman’s traumatic obstetric experience, however, does not.
“both misleadingly call it an abortion, as do you, Violet, in your roundup, which is simply not correct.”
Just so we’re clear, the writing in this post is a pull quote from the original article I linked to. If you had read this post closely, and then Lousy Canuck’s post closely, you would see that you are reacting to Lousy Canuck’s words, not my own.
You’ll also want to re-read the account: http://oursilverribbon.org/blog/?p=188
What Mrs. Santorum did to avoid the situation being called an abortion is horrifying. Basically, she wanted the infected and dying fetus to die inside of her first – the outcome of the fetus was already known either way. What’s most bizarre is that when you read it, you realize that childbirth itself – the act of labor, induced or otherwise – is being defined here as “abortion” (by the Santorums).
BUT – she did say she would have done it anyway:
“Karen, a soft-spoken red-haired 37-year-old, said that “ultimately” she would have agreed to intervention for the sake of her other children.
“If the physician came to me and said if we don’t deliver your baby in one hour you will be dead, yeah, I would have to do it,” she said. “
Thank you, Zaftiguana. I feel exactly as you do, i.e. I can’t believe that experience did not give the Santorums more compassion for people that are faced with a pregnancy that truly puts the life of the mother at risk.
BUT both that article by Lousy Canuck and the article that it links to (“Our Abortion was Different,” which gives all the harrowing details of the delivery) both misleadingly call it an abortion, as do you, Violet, in your roundup, which is simply not correct.
Rick and Karen Santorum are both repulsive human beings, but they did not abort her 19 week pregnancy. Karen delivered a living child, uninduced, that died shortly after birth due being extremely premature, among other reasons. Her body expelled the fetus early due to a uterine infection resulting from a long-shot surgery intended to help the fetus survive a defect.
Where they’re total fucking hypocrites is that they both acknowledged that if they’d had to “induce,” which would likely have amounted to abortion, in order to save her life, they would have, but both still believe that the option of life saving pregnancy termination should be unavailable to other women. As it stands, though, Karen gave premature birth to a living infant on her own before the threat to her life made intervention necessary.
Hi – have you seen the outcome of the ‘R v Peacock’ ‘extreme’ gay porn case in the UK? (Comment piece here or search with Twitter hashtag #ObscenityTrial)
The statement “Rape more common than smoking in the US,” is untrue and I would expect better from a magazine which says it is, “statistics making sense.” Significance magazine article compared the number of CURRENT smokers to the number of people reported being raped in their LIFETIME. I hate to use this cliché, but that’s comparing apples to organes. The article says that in 2010 1.27 million American women were raped, while the CDC reports that in 2010 there were close to 60 million smokers in the US in 2010.