Sex News: ‘Vagina kayak’ artist guilty, Uganda porn ban, spiderlingus, Gwyneth Paltrow endorses “Mandingo”

• U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch held a press conference Monday to officially file suit against he state of North Carolina, Gov. Pat McCrory, and more, over HB 2 (which requires transgender people to use the bathroom facilities that match the gender on their birth certificates). The language used was a revolution unto itself. “But no matter how scared or isolated you may feel today, the Department of Justice and the entire Obama Administration wants you to know that we see you; we stand with you; and we will do everything we can to protect you going forward. Please know that history is on your side.”
  * Loretta Lynch Owned the North Carolina Bathroom Bill (NY Mag)

• Gwyneth Paltrow’s GOOP released a sex issue, and it’s as cluelessly privileged and upper class as you’d expect. It’s also extra special for the fairly racist sex toy she endorses. Slate cautiously writes, “This is the same Goop we’ve grown to know and love, the Goop that once recommended an herbal vaginal steam … Even when Goop is cloaking racist language in the fun parlance of a sex-toy guide, its ooey-gooey mysticism veers not from the brand.”
  * Gwyneth Paltrow’s GOOP released a sex issue. (Slate)

• “A Japanese artist who is known for creating a vagina (vulva, dammit! -VB) kayak has been found guilty of obscenity by a Tokyo court. Megumi Igarashi (aka Rokudenashiko) … has been ordered to pay a 400 yen (£3,560) fine for distributing digital data from a scan of her vagina which could be used to make a realistic 3D replica of her genitalia, the court ruled. Ms Igarashi was arrested in December 2014 for displaying small figurines modelled on her vagina and for distributing digital data of her vagina.”
  * Megumi Igarashi found guilty of obscenity over ‘vagina kayak’ artwork (Independent UK)

• “The California Republican Party has voted to oppose a state ballot initiative that would allow private citizens to sue adult performers if a condom is not visible in an adult film. Eric Paul Leue, executive director of the Free Speech Coalition, said Republicans were disturbed about the California Condoms in Pornographic Films Act’s fiscal impact, as well as its enforcement mechanism. That mechanism would allow any Californian who views an adult film without a visible condom to file a lawsuit against performers and others involved in the production and distribution of the film.”
  * Calif. Republican Party Votes to Oppose Condom Ballot Measure (XBIZ)

• “[Kevin] Bollaert (of revenge porn site YouGotPosted), about as unsympathetic a defendant as you can possibly imagine was convicted of a variety of things, including not just extortion, but also identity theft, which raises some serious questions, given that Bollaert was only posting info given to him by others.”
  * Revenge Porn Creep Kevin Bollaert’s Appeal Underway… And Actually Raises Some Important Issues (Techdirt)

• “Uganda officials this week paved the way for the country’s “Anti-Pornography Act 2014” to be enacted. The law, yet to be enforced but signed off by the east African country’s president in February 2014, creates and defines the offense of pornography and its prohibition, according to a report at KFM News. Anti-Pornography Act 2014 bans anyone from producing, trafficking, publishing, broadcasting, procuring, importing exporting or abetting any form of pornography.”
  * Uganda to Enact Stiff Anti-Pornography Law (XBIZ)

• “The Madagascan Darwin’s bark spider is not only known for its extreme web sizes and producing the world’s toughest biomaterial, but it is a total stud in the bedroom. A new study entitled ‘spider behaviours include oral sexual encounters’ discovered the species has a “rich sexual repertoire” and is keen to engage in marathon cunnilingus sessions with its female counterparts. At first, this may not seem like strangest thing in the world, however scientists were quick to point out oral sex is an infrequent occurrence in the animal kingdom.”
  * Male spider gives oral up to 100 times during sex (News AU)

• “The researchers [of new study Sexist Attitudes Among Emerging Adult Women Readers of Fifty Shades Fiction] believe that a person’s perspective on Fifty Shades of Grey says more about their personality than it does about the quality of the books. According to the study, the more you like the Fifty Shades of Grey franchise, the more sexist you are. … the researchers found that those readers who read part or all of the books and also found the books to be “hot” or “romantic” also held more sexist attitudes.” (It’s not the first academic study to conclude this, FYI)
  * A new study found what ‘Fifty Shades of Grey’ fans have in common—and it’s not good (Fusion)

• “Deutsche Lufthansa AG, operator of the largest European-based airline, was able to rein in two domain names that used brand name “Lufthansa” with the .porn and .adult extensions. On Wednesday, a WIPO examiner suspended the Lufthansa.porn and Lufthansa.adult domains for the life of the registrations, despite the fact that the domain holder never used the sites for commercial exploitation with adult content. Lufthansa never registered defensive domain registrations for the websites and left the two unprotected.”
  * WIPO Examiner Suspends Lufthansa.porn, Lufthansa.adult Domains (XBIZ)

• “Four words.

  JON SNOW’S BUTTOCK CREVICE.

  Hoooooh, boy. All hail the supremacy of the televisual medium.

  George R.R. Martin is a fine writer, but not even a bastard hybrid child of Wordsworth and Sir Mix-a-Lot could conjure up verse that would adequately describe the magnificence of those sweet cheeks.”
  * Raven On Game of Thrones Recap: S6E3 “Oathbreaker” (Cheeseburger Gothic, via Ms Naughty)

• “Over 15 years, radio shock jock Howard Stern and his buddy Donald Trump periodically carried on like towel-snapping “bros” in a locker room, rating women’s [tits] and [asses], debating whether [blowjobs are] “important,” and egging each other on about whether they would like to [fuck] famous women from Cindy Crawford to Diane Sawyer. “You could’ve gotten her, right?” Stern asked Trump on-air shortly after Princess Diana’s death in 1997, “You could’ve nailed her.” “I think I could have,” Trump said. How about singer Mariah Carey? “Would you bang her?” Stern asked. Trump replied, “I would do it without hesitation.””
  * From playboy to president? Trump’s past crude sex talk collides with his White House bid. (Washington Post)

Main post photo via: These Beautiful Photographs Explore The Wide Spectrum Of Gender Identity (Huffington Post) — from Gender as a Spectrum, a new book from photographer Joseph Wolfgang Ohlert.