June 2014

• Finally, the birthday party you’ve always dreamed of is now complete with this bouncy castle lined entirely with giant, plastic breasts. The jumper is the brainchild of creative duo Bompas & Parr, who’ve teamed up with New York’s Museum of Sex for FUNLAND: Pleasures & Perils of the Erotic Fairground.
  Check Out the World’s First Bouncy Castle Made Entirely out of Plastic Boobs (Nerve, Museum of Sex)

• “There is but one positive, heroic bisexual male in all of mainstream sci-fi, and that would be Captain Jack Harkness from Doctor Who and its spinoff Torchwood. Played by a gay actor, Capt. Harkness is a forthrightly sexual fellow that often sleeps with both men and women, and kisses men on screen. But beyond him, can you name me one bisexual male hero from any sci-fi movies?”
  Editorial: Where my sci-fi bi guys at? (Nerdist)

• “None of this excuses the predatory nature of men who are out looking for targets. I share this story because I want to better understand Violet Blue’s perspective. I want to better understand what’s safe for me and what is safe for women. I want to better understand how I can achieve my goal of meeting somebody while balancing that with not making women uncomfortable or intimidated when I first meet or engage with them.”
  I Target Women (Medium)

• An FBI raid on an SF Bay Area sex worker listing website ended in the arrest of at least two employees and a complete shutdown of the site. Advocates are decrying the action, saying that the site’s closure could endanger, not help, local sex workers. The FBI’s charges are for racketeering, facilitating prostitution and money laundering, and not for sex trafficking of minors; CNN reported that the shutdown was part of a broad FBI crackdown on child prostitution, but only cited anonymous law enforcement sources. Meanwhile, Eros Guide (Eros Ads) is giving a discount to those who lost their advertising channel and need a safe place to advertise. Update: Eros just told me “Eros discount code is SFLA30.”
  Safety Of Sex Workers Questioned After Feds Shut Down MyRedbook.com (FBI.gov, SFist, Eros Ads, SF Examiner)

• A well-known conservative pundit and secrecy expert who once worked as an NSA officer has deleted all of his social media accounts after screenshots leaked this weekend that appeared to show him sending a shot of his soft penis to a Twitter follower who was not his wife. John Schindler is a professor at the Naval War College who has written conservative analyses on global security for Politico and Foreign Policy while scrapping with leftists and libertarians online. A former naval officer who worked as a counterterrorism operative at the NSA for more than a decade, Schindler has long defended that agency’s secret surveillance efforts while attacking information activists like Chelsea Manning, Edward Snowden, and Glenn Greenwald.
  NSA Spook-Turned-Twitter-Pundit Goes Dark After Dick Pic Surfaces (Gawker)

• “Time magazine published a cover story titled “The Transgender Tipping Point“. The trend-hungry American press is toppling over with spurious tipping points, but this one is real, and it’s important.”
  Laurie Penny: What the “transgender tipping point” really means (New Statesman)

• A top aide to an Ohio congressman is facing a hard reality after his porn star ex-girlfriend posted a picture of his penis online. Adam Kuhn, the chief of staff to Ohio Republican Rep. Steve Stivers, resigned Tuesday after an X-rated ex, whose performing name is “Ruby,” uploaded the questionable photo, purportedly sent to her by the former staffer, to her Twitter account.
  Staffer to Ohio congressman resigns after porn star ex tweets picture of his penis (NY Daily News)

• With her eye-opening book, Hanne Blank tactfully deconstructs a facet of modern sexuality that most of us take for granted: Straight: The Surprisingly Short History of Hetrosexuality is a provocative history of heterosexuality. Blank, a writer and historian who has written extensively about sexuality and culture, looks at the ways in which social trends and the rise of psychiatry conspired to create this new category in the late 19th and early 20th century.
  The invention of the heterosexual (Salon)

• A recent study conducted by researchers from NYU and Cornell dispels the popular notion that casual hookups — defined as sexual activity outside the context of a romantic relationship — will leave you with low self-esteem and depression.
  Casual Sex Is Good for You, According to Your New Favorite Study (TIME)

• “Online dating profiles have brought new visibility to racist dating criteria. When it comes to sexual preferences, people who don’t think of themselves as racist, and who in other situations would feel compelled to cloak their implicit racism in socially acceptable forms, evidently feel no qualms about proclaiming their desire for “only white guys,” “no blacks, no Asians,” etc.”
  Choose Your Own Adventure (The New Inquiry)

• The kGoal is the first ever smart Kegel trainer from Minna Life, which is part device and part app. The kGoal works to guide you through exercise routines, measure your performance, and track your progress on your way to a toned pelvis. Is this Fitbit for your vagina? Basically, yes. The kGoal just launched a Kickstarter campaign (it made it through the notoriously puritanical hoops) this week.
  Introducing the First App-Based Gym for Your Vagina (Nerve)

• James Deen‘s Reddit “I Am A: Ask Me Anything” Q&A went really well last night. So well, in fact, that it’s still listed as the number one Reddit AMA this morning.
  James Deen’s ‘Ask Me Anything’ Q&A Hits #1 on Reddit (XBIZ)

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• Pornhub announced their new creative director, out of over 3,000 entries from over 2,000 contestants. The winner of their PornHub Creative Director Challenge for best “safe for work” advertising campaign is 24-year-old Nuri Gulver, of Istanbul, Turkey. Gulver’s submission, All You Need Is Hand, “beat out the final 15 due to its inherent mass appeal and ease of penetration to different advertising platforms.”
  PornHub Selects Winner of Creative Director Challenge (Mediabistro)

• On Friday afternoon, a young American in Tübingen had to be rescued by 22 firefighters after getting trapped inside a giant sculpture of a vagina. The Chacán-Pi (Making Love) artwork by the Peruvian artist Fernando de la Jara has been outside Tübingen University’s institute for microbiology and virology since 2001. Police confirmed that the firefighters turned midwives delivered the student “by hand and without the application of tools”.
  US student is rescued from giant vagina sculpture in Germany (Guardian UK)

• According to Morality In Media’s latest victory announcement, adult marketers may be facing further restrictions on advertising via search giant Google’s AdWords and Image Search programs. Following its pronouncement of “a major win” against Verizon last week, “this win is better than we knew at first,” Dawn Hawkins, Executive Director of Morality In Media (MIM) and PornHarms.com, told supporters. In appreciation of Google’s submission to its demands for censorship, MIM is encouraging supporters to sign a virtual “thank you” card.
  Porn Under Attack: Google Tightens Content Restrictions (XBIZ)

• Dov Charney is gearing up for a legal battle against the American Apparel board that ousted him as chief executive. American Apparel said the termination “grew out of an ongoing investigation into alleged misconduct.”
  Dov Charney demands American Apparel job back or he’ll sue, says lawyer (LA Times)

• The outraged response to Towie stars revealing all shows how conditioned we are to think of male nudity as sordid and unsexy. “When we’re surrounded by media reinforcing the ridicule of men, it’s hard to see them as people who are equally alluring and desirable.”
  Are men’s naked bodies the stuff of nightmares? I think not (Guardian UK)

• The California State Auditor blasted federal and state oversight of sterilization surgeries for female prison inmates, finding numerous illegal surgeries and violations of the state’s informed consent law. Of the 144 inmates who underwent tubal ligations from fiscal years 2005-06 to 2012-13, auditors found nearly one-third were performed without lawful consent.
  California female inmates sterilized illegally (Desert Sun)

• Pharmaceutical corporation Trimel has been testing its new drug that releases testosterone into the nasal cavity, which, at increased levels, is associated with an increased chance of female orgasm.
  Company Creates Nasal Gel That Increases Female Orgasm (YourTango)

• The wording from both the artist and the author of this piece – specifically the “iceberg” analogy, and descriptions in the listicle – are “amazingly” similar to much of the wording I chose and descriptions I wrote in my book on cunnilingus. How annoying.
  14 Crazy Amazing Facts About The Clitoris (Psychology Today)

• Although a number of industry companies have already adopted Bitcoin as a means to pay for online porn, Titcoin claims to be the first digital currency aimed squarely at the porn industry. Ceated by Edward Mansfield, Richard Allen, and a third anonymous founder, the payment method recently created a buzz on a bogus YouTube introduction video.
  ‘Titcoin’ Aiming to Be Adult’s Own Cryptocurrency (XBIZ)

• This article is confused. “Business models old and new are responding to demand for one-night stands as well as soul mates. The competition between dating apps has been called an “arms race”, with one startup flying in single women from New York to meet potential partners. Sex workers, meanwhile, are charging thousands of dollars per night.”
  Sex and Silicon Valley: the veritable arms race of the dating app industry (Guardian UK)

• Having promised an eight hour sex marathon if Chile defeated Australia (which she extended to 12 hours), porn star Marlen Doll went one better and offered a 16 hour event if her home nation beat Spain. Miss Doll later announced she’d spend 24 hours with a host of strangers if Chile beats Holland.
  Porn Star Marlen Doll Promises 24 Hour Sex Marathon if Chile Beat Holland (Caught Offside)

• Kelly Shibari is the first plus-size woman to grace the cover of Penthouse Forum in the magazine’s 40-year history.
  Meet The First Plus-Size Porn Star To Appear On The Cover Of Penthouse Forum (Buzzfeed)

• Starz has given the greenlight to Steven Soderbergh’s 13-part anthology series inspired by the 2009 film of the selfsame title starring Sasha Grey, “The Girlfriend Experience.” The series will explore the relationships of exclusive sex workers who provide their clients with far more than sex.
  Starz Greenlights ‘Girlfriend Experience’ TV Series (XBIZ)

• What could be hotter than a robot who can seduce and murder you with ease?
  Bionic is a great example of what happens when a sexbot becomes murderous. But she isn’t the only one. Here are seven of the sexiest killer robots…
  7 Killer Sex Robots (Future of Sex)

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