Sex News: Pamela Anderson is an antiporn nutjob, Ask First is back, porn blocking against EU regs, Ruffalo and transface

• “No unexpected union says “the apocalypse is nigh” quite like actress Pamela Anderson and Rabbi Shmuley Boteach’s recently assembled anti-porn task force. The orthodox rabbi and former Baywatch star took their message to the masses on Wednesday with an [anti-porn] op-ed in The Wall Street Journal.”
  * Why Pamela Anderson’s Bizarre Anti-Porn Crusade Does More Harm Than Good (Daily Beast)
  “Let’s start with the very first sentence: “If anyone still had doubts about the addictive dangers of pornography, Anthony Weiner should have put paid to them with his repeated, self-sabotaging sexting.” Wait, what? Sexting and looking at porn are different activities.”
  * Pamela Anderson: Porn Made Anthony Weiner Sext (New York Magazine)
  * See also: Pamela Anderson Warns That ‘The Crack Babies of Porn’ Are Nigh (Reason)

• “The momentum is building and our community wants consent to be visible. This year we plan to DOUBLE our presence at the Folsom Street Fair by passing out 20,000 stickers to the 400,000 attendees. In order to do this we need a bigger booth and a dedicated crew of 40 volunteers. So we need your help! Your contribution will go directly to printing the Ask First stickers, which are the heart and soul of this project. We are committed to celebrating and promoting consent in public spaces, and look forward to your support.”
  * The Ask First Campaign (The Ask First Campaign, generosity.com)

• “PlayStation VR is going to launch with support for the girl-ogling simulator Dead or Alive Xtreme 3 in Japan, and a video showing off some of the groping mechanics in that game has gone viral. … But while many of us recoil at what is happening in that video, a significant part of the VR community is chipping away at improving a broad spectrum of virtual sex experiences. And no matter how uncomfortable it makes us to see a man grabbing a Dead or Alive character’s private parts, it is going to keep happening as more people begin adopting VR and AR technology.”
  * Dead or Alive’s VR groping is uncomfortable, but virtual sex is only going to get messier (VentureBeat)

• Typical Daily Mail gratuitousness, made extra hilarious by the gallery’s awkward and confused captions. “An adult expo in Asia has showcased what could be the future of sex – with a mind-boggling variety of silicone toys and dolls.”
  * Is this the future of sex? Silicone dolls and VR headsets on display (Daily Mail)

• “Internet service providers that restrict online access to pornography or block ads could be breaking EU guidelines on net neutrality even if customers opt in. EU regulations only allow providers to block content for three reasons: to comply with a member state’s laws, to manage levels of traffic across a network, or for security. Guidance on the interpretation of guidelines issued by EU body Berec says that even if a person indicates they want certain content to be blocked, it should be done on their device, rather than at a network level.”
  * ISPs that restrict porn or block ads could be breaking EU guidelines (Guardian)

• This is exactly what my book says, and explains how to mitigate risk around. “Young women have been told not to take any photographs that they would not want shared with the world. But teenagers and experts say the current approach of prohibition-as-prevention doesn’t make sense. ”
  * Nude selfies: what if they are just an ordinary part of teenage life? (Guardian)

• “Ah, Utah — home of abstinence-based education, banning teachers for using the word “condom,” and skyrocketing gonorrhea rates. That last piece is according to a new report by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (and, you might say, basic common sense).”
  * Gonorrhea Rates Skyrocketing In Sex-Ed Unfriendly Utah (Voactiv)

• “On Monday, Mark Ruffalo said he was excited to be the executive producer of a “daring project”: the upcoming movie “Anything,” about a transgender woman sex worker living in Los Angeles, played by actor Matt Bomer. … But many in the trans community didn’t agree, and took to social media to argue that the film, based on the play by Tim McNeil, was just another example of “transface” — casting a cisgender actor in a trans role.”
  * Mark Ruffalo responds to criticism over his newest movie, which stars Matt Bomer as a trans woman (Washington Post)

• Warning for survivors of sexual assault and trauma. “Former Stanford University swimmer Brock Turner will be released on Friday after serving three months for sexually assaulting an unconscious woman near a fraternity party, a sentence that has ignited fierce debate over the way California defines and punishes rape. Turner’s sentence to months in county jail instead of years in state prison stoked international outrage, leading California lawmakers to call for mandatory prison time for sex assaults involving unconscious victims, and expanding the state’s definition of rape.”
  * Stanford sex assault case spurs get-tough rape proposals (Yahoo)

• “Teen pregnancy is way down. And a study suggests that the reason is increased, and increasingly effective, use of contraceptives. From 2007 to 2013, births to teens age 15 to 19 dropped by 36 percent; pregnancies fell by 25 percent from 2007 to 2011, according to federal data. But that wasn’t because teens were shunning sex. The amount of sex being had by teenagers during that time period was largely unchanged, says the study, which was published online in the Journal of Adolescent Health. And it wasn’t because they were having more abortions. Abortion has been declining among all age groups, and particularly among teenagers.”
  * Drop In Teen Pregnancies Is Due To More Contraceptives, Not Less Sex (NPR)

• “Melania Trump is suing a British newspaper and a US blogger for $150m (£114m) over allegations she was a sex worker in the 1990s, her lawyer says. The Daily Mail suggested Mrs Trump may have worked as a part-time escort in New York, and met husband Donald Trump, who is now running for the White House, earlier than previously reported.”
  * Melania Trump sues Daily Mail and US blogger for $150m over sex worker claims (BBC)

• “Fear not lazy 21st century human, for Amazon has found a solution to a problem that – for most of us – doesn’t exist. The almighty US retailer has imported the Dash button to the UK, Germany and Austria: a Wi-Fi connected plastic device that allows consumers to order a specific household product at the touch of a… you’ve got it. There are around 40 buttons at launch including one for Ariel, Nerf, Olay, Playdoh, Kleenex and Durex.”
  * Got to dash out for some rubber johnnies? Amazon has a button for that (The Register)

Main post image: Illustration by Eric Stanton, via Dangerous Minds.