- On Thursday Death and Taxes reported the open letter that artist Molly Crabapple wrote to Lena Dunham about why she won’t work with her as long as she’s got her name on a letter to Amnesty International urging it to reverse its stance on sex work. (To wit: Dunham supports the continued criminalization of sex work despite numerous studies showing how harmful these policies are to sex workers.) Now Dunham has responded to her critics by doubling down on her well-intentioned but misinformed stance.
Lena Dunham doubles down on her dangerous opinions about sex work + Hollywood Actresses Oppose Amnesty International Sex Worker Vote; Sex Workers and Their Supporters Tell Them Kindly to STFU (Death and Taxes + The Mary Sue)
- Bowing to a public outcry, the Indian government said it would lift a days-old ban on hundreds of porn sites after critics accused the government of encroaching on personal freedoms. However, few are reporting that access to the blacklisted sites was not actually restored by the telcos. India had issued an order to ban 857 websites, strangely most of which are MILF porn sites, well-known tube sites and other very random porn URLs. India’s porn block also targeted torrent sites, CollegeHumor and 9Gag, and other non-porn choices like Barstool Sports, PopURLs and YouRather. The full list was posted online by the Centre for Internet & Society.
India rescinds ban on Internet porn after public outrage, ridicule + Porn in India is actually still banned (Los Angeles Times, Independent UK)
- Verizon, one of the largest communication technology companies in the world, has filed the first cybersquatting claim for a .porn domain name. Adam Rothman of Roslyn, N.Y., registered Verizon.porn on June 4; however the site hasn’t been exploited and remains parked. Stephen Winyard, director and vice president of ICM Registry, which offers .xxx, .porn, and .adult, as well as the upcoming .sex, domains, told XBIZ that “brands can choose prevention or cure.”
Telecom Fights to Scoop Up Verizon.porn Domain (XBIZ)
- A Netflix for porn? That sounds irresistible — especially for online media trying to keep up their page-view counts late in the summer, when nothing is happening at all. That’s why dozens of outlets were eager to take the bait when Pornhub, a site known for hosting thousands of free porn clips, pitched them the Netflix-for-porn idea. There’s only one problem: It’s a bogus story.
No, Pornhub Did Not Just Launch the Netflix of Porn (Variety)
- In 200 Years of Sex British health website DrEd.com dove into the entire corpus of dirty words in literature, both fiction and nonfiction, to explore the way certain words having to do with “venereal” matters have appeared, faded, or been associated with new companion words over the last two centuries.
How Sex Talk in Literature Has Changed Over 200 Years (NAME)
- We’ve told you before about Malibu Media, the porn company that has filed more than 3,500 lawsuits against alleged illegal online sharers of its adult content, thus earning its “copyright troll” badge with ease. Malubu is also known as X-Art, a company I refuse to do business with. But the company doesn’t want that term being used against it in court. In a case that’s been going on for three years, Malibu recently filed a motion [PDF] asking a federal court to block the defendant from using terms that it believes “would be unfairly prejudicial.”
Noted Porn Copyright Troll Asks Court To Block Use Of Terms Like “Porn” & “Copyright Troll” (Consumerist)
- Microsoft’s new operating system, Windows 10 gave one user an unwanted porny surprise after installing the new software – the update automatically made his porn image collections into a slideshow and used it as a screensaver — then discovered by his wife, who apparently wasn’t okay with it. The OS auto-pulls screensaver slideshow images from the ‘My Pictures’ folder, evidently without warning.
Wife sees husband’s hardcore porn slideshow thanks to Windows 10 upgrade (Geek.com)
- Great headline, epic stock art, and an actually interesting article: “What is a Good Looking Penis?” That was the title of a recent scientific study. No, seriously – researchers investigated what women look for in a penis, and there seems to be a lot more to it than just size and girth.
Scientists Reveal What The Perfect Penis Looks Like (IFL Science)
Learn all about writing and selling erotica from a seasoned pro, Rachel Kramer Bussel: https://t.co/nr76piJROG @raquelita
— LitReactor.com (@LitReactor) August 6, 2015
- HBO has ordered a pilot about the early porn biz called “The Deuce,” which now has James Franco attached as the star.
James Franco Attached to HBO Pilot on Early Porn Biz (XBIZ)
- Kennston Productions is striving to change how consumers see trans men content. With their launch of FTM.porn they are giving consumers the opportunity to find any kind of FTM porn they want — gay, straight, queer or solo FTM porn. This blog-based site updates every few days with a new set from one of Kennston’s sites or other FTM sites.
Kennston Productions Launches FTM.porn (XBIZ)
- Britain’s independent police watchdog agency said on Monday that it would investigate an allegation that the police in Wiltshire had dropped a criminal investigation in the 1990s when the subject threatened to go public with accusations that the former Conservative prime minister Edward Heath had sexually abused children.
British Police to Review Sex Abuse Claims Against Ex-Premier Edward Heath (NYT)
- Ex Machina, written and directed by Alex Garland, is a hard sci-fi flick addresses big ideas while remaining a rather intimate film. It is also an intense psychosexual thriller with a classic mad scientist element. Link warning for spoilers.
Exclusive: Alex Garland on the ending of Ex Machina (Blastr)
China Now Clamping Down on Amateur Porn http://t.co/6Xo9be4cVn pic.twitter.com/KBZ6B7FVHf
— XBIZ (@XBIZ) August 6, 2015
- Ela Darling is the creative director, star, and co-owner of VRtube, a burgeoning VR porn company and lab for development in the emerging tech space of virtual reality. The company started with VR porn, expanded into the market with the first-ever real-time VR porn video game, and this week launched an interactive VR camera, the launch of which marked the first ever Oculus Rift-enabled 3D virtual reality live cam offering.
What It’s Like to Be the First VR Cam Girl (Vice)
- Among the NFL documents unsealed by a federal judge in the Tom Brady “Deflategate” appeal is a fact sheet on HIV and AIDS given to all players. And the document acknowledges that some of its players may have sex with men.
NFL includes sex between men as part of AIDS awareness (Outsports)
- Warning for sexual trauma survivors: Despite Bill Cosby’s best legal efforts to fight it, a Los Angeles judge has ordered comedian Bill Cosby to give a deposition in a lawsuit by a woman who says she was molested as a 15-year-old at the Playboy Mansion in the 1970s. L.A. County Superior Court Judge Craig D. Karlan ruled that Cosby, 77, must be interviewed under oath Oct. 9 as part of a civil suit filed by Judy Huth. In the latest Bill Cosby revelation, he admitted to having seven prescriptions for Quaaludes in order to use them for sexual encounters with women.
Bill Cosby ordered to give deposition in Los Angeles sex abuse lawsuit (LA Times)
- Warning for sexual trauma survivors: When Carter Reynolds (who commands an army of 4.3 million fans on the short-form video platform Vine) showed up at Vidcon last week the conference hotel received so many death threats that Reynolds was promptly and unceremoniously banned. “I’m NOT a rapist,” he tweeted to his 2.4 million followers. “Don’t believe everything you read on the Internet.”
Inside the underage sex scandal that’s tearing Vine apart (Washington Post)
As a dedicated coffee drinker, I'm excited to read new @circletpress #coffee #erotica book! http://t.co/YSnyifkxeh pic.twitter.com/4HXjnTi0lM
— Rachel Kramer Bussel (@raquelita) August 8, 2015
