It’s been a busy week for porn:
A recent study in the Netherlands found that for women, watching pornography reduces blood flow to the visual cortex, indicating that their brain has decided that focusing on arousal is more important than fixating on exactly what’s occurring on the screen in front of them (which could be one reason why the book “Fifty Shades of Grey” is such a hit and being dubbed “mommy porn”).
If you forgot to celebrate Earth Day this past Sunday, Black Label is giving you until May 31st — from now until then, this online sex toy retailer with a fabulous no-phthalates policy (which stocks only items from our favorite quality manufacturers, like Lelo, Fun Factory, and We-Vibe) says they’re committing to planting a tree for every rechargeable sex toy they sell. They’ve already made their operation 100% carbon neutral by voluntarily purchasing Voluntary Carbon Units (VCU) to offset the greenhouse gas emissions their company produces, but they’ve also partnered with Carbon Neutral to take that a step further:
Check out this amazing PSA — we can’t even get into half of these positions! Their enthusiasm, willingness to experiment, and flexibility is something we — no matter what age — can all learn from.
We’re not big into comics, but apparently that’s where you have to go to find interesting, three-dimensional female characters who take center stage. Because you won’t find them in Hollywood (take the Bechdel Test) or at the theater. But you will find them in Danielle Corsetto’s strip GIRLS WITH SLINGSHOTS. A reader recently tipped us off to the site because “it’s closely related to the stuff you guys talk about all the time” — we’re guessing she meant it’s about real women who are their own sexual agents, who don’t fit a preconceived notion of femininity, who pave their own individual romantic paths, sometimes faltering along the way, but always trying to learn and progress as they go while maintaining a healthy sense of humor (and a sex toy drawer).
When do we want it? Now! Of course, these kind of things take time and money. And if these things don’t fit the Big Pharma money-making model (take a pill, day after day, year after year, and keep shelling out the dough for it), then getting backing and support is an uphill battle. But Vasalgel seems to be the little birth control that could. After three decades of research and trials in India, this method of reversible male contraception has made it’s way to America thanks to the Parsemus Foundation, which is dedicated to finding low-cost solutions neglected by the pharmaceutical industry.
“How come there are so many movies about a teenage boy who wants to have sex and this is the only one about a teenage girl who wants to have sex?” Thank you! We’ve been wondering all our lives where decent depictions of young female sexuality have been. Apparently in Norway. We haven’t seen it yet, but by all accounts the Scandinavian film TURN ME ON, DAMMIT! — an adaptation of the Norwegian novel of the same name — is refreshing, honest and hilarious. The film won “Best Screenplay” at the Tribeca Film Festival, “Best Debut Film” at the Rome Film Festival and “Best European First Feature” at Mons International Love Film Festival. And critics have been singing its praises:
This week, the GOP’s restrictions of freedom, both real and threatened, kept coming. At least they can’t take our orgasms at the gym away!:
This week’s Doonesbury comic (in five installments over the course of the week) is taking a harsh, satirical look at how Republican legislation all across America (specifically in Texas) is undermining women’s reproductive rights — and many papers are either refusing to run it at all or else moving it to their editorial pages.
Lolita, such a great book. So deserving of a great cover. One blogger held a contest. Now it’s being turned into a book, with designs from both contest entrants and solicited pieces by well-known designers. Here are all the links to follow:
Yesterday we discussed celebrities with porn names. Today we’re talking about celebrities in porn movies. Okay, not actual skin flicks. No, movies about skin flicks. Just as there are two modern movie versions of Snow White coming out at the same time (our money’s on Charlize Theron’s evil queen kicking Julia Roberts’ queen’s ass), there are also two competing star-studded Linda Lovelace biopics, plus an indie film about a fictional rising pornstar: INFERNO: A LINDA LOVELACE STORY, LOVELACE and CHERRY, respectively. The latter two star James Franco. (Of course they do.) Here’s a more elaborate breakdown of each’s cast:
This week, it’s all about binary questions: Is Liz Lemon still a feminist icon or now an adult baby? Is porn good for your sex life or bad for your sex life? The production of millions of condoms is a good thing, right? But what if they’re made in China? The case against and the case for Liz…
photo “Mish & Colin” from the series Switcheroo by Sincerely Hana
“Sincerely Hana” is a self-taught photographer raised in Whistler and currently living in Vancouver, Canada. On her website, she’s got an ongoing project called Switcheroo: dual portraits of two people each — almost always one man and one woman — standing side by side.
What makes a sex scene great — at least in our opinion — is when there is some genuine realism in it: maybe heads get bonked or tears are shed or body parts fail or giggles erupt. Call it skinéma vérité. Anyway, we hear there is some big, film awards show coming up this weekend, so we decided to honor a few of our favorite, most realistic sex scenes of the past year. These clips are the real deal, so use protection!
We’ve long known that The One Who Got Away makes for great late-night Google fantasies. And that makes sense: you rifle through your memory bank after another bad breakup — or after another inane argument with your spouse — and wonder how life would have been different if you’d stayed with X. Because through your rose-tinted glasses, you forget about how your ex chewed with their mouth open and only remember the grand romantic gestures.
The other night, we went to the book launch party for the new sex manual, “Great in Bed,” at the SoHo Babeland in NYC. It had been years since we’d seen our old friend and former coworker, Grant Stoddard, but he was his typical funny, charming self as he and his co-author — Kinsey sex researcher Debby Herbenick, PhD — answered questions from the anonymous drop-box…for an hour and a half. Fortunately, there was champagne:
In sci-fi news, scientists are working on a prosthetic testicle that creates and ejects human sperm for men missing one or both testicles who want to procreate. Yale Sex Week, once banned, is in full swing right now. Ron Paul says abortion is okay only when it’s an “honest rape,” you know, as opposed to all…
We both enjoy playing Texas Hold ‘Em, but of the two of us, I (Lo) enjoy it a little too much. So much so that when I just need a night away from it all, I go to Foxwoods to play the low limit table with a bunch of 65 year old men, half of whom have a drinking problem, the other half of whom have a gambling problem. It’s not as sinful or sexy as Vegas, naturally, but it does the trick.
One of our favorite toy creators, Jimmyjane, has just teamed up with Ace Hotels (in their NYC and Palm Springs locations) to offer guests a room upgrade that includes a Jimmyjane-curated selection of sexy goods, which can be purchased online, at check-in or from Ace’s late-night room service menu. No travel plans to NYC or Palm Springs? Jimmyjane.com is offering several packages that allow you to bring the Ace experience home with you (for example, the $89 “Voyeur” package includes TCHO Drinking Chocolate, a blindfold and cuffs, the French softcore Emmanuelle Collection, a bullet vibe, a feather tickler, Sir Richards condoms, and Good Clean Love lubricant — kind of an awesome Valentine’s Gift, hotel stay or not).
Have you ever wanted to know what it is like to shoot a sex scene while your parents are on set? Well, Josh Radnor fills us in over at Festival Insider:
With Santorum’s recent surge in the polls, it’s important to take time out to remind ourselves what a crazy sex-police zealot he is:
Writing about Santorum’s “Google problem,” a New York Times writer says Dan Savage’s prank was in response merely to the senator’s opposition to gay marriage, so Dan Savage sets him straight (try Santorum’s comparison of homosexuality to bestiality and child rape); the writer corrects his mistake.
On Funny or Die, Dan Savage comedically threatens to change the definition of the name “Rick” if Santorum doesn’t agree to stop attacking gay people during his campaign.
When we were sent a link to the new YouTube video “Bounce That Dick” on the Jenna Marbles channel, we didn’t know what to expect: some kind of safe-for-work sexual technique advice video by a porn star turned educator? Then, during the first 30 seconds, our hopes were raised, as the young “blogger and entertainer” began a rap parody, stating with much braggadocio, “I’ve been told since the day I started growing pubes to shake my ass. Well, guess what, my ass is fucking tired as shit. This time it’s your turn to wiggle your man junk for me. I wanna see you shake your muthafuckin penis, bitch.”
As you may have noticed (we’re not exactly subtle on this point), we don’t buy the idea that men are from Mars, women are from Venus, and shuttles between the two are infrequent at best. We tend to think that women and men are a lot more alike than rumor (or headline) has it — especially when it comes to sex and love. But this is not to say that men and women are alike in all matters of love and lust. We’ll even go so far as to admit that some of the cliches about the gulf between men and women turn out to be true.
It’s the most top-10-list time of year! And we’re not even going to try to resist its allure. 2011 was no stranger to sex scandals (is any year?). Most were political and/or not really all that surprising. And so, without further ado:
photo of DSK graffiti via Flickr
1. DSK
2. Shirtless congressman on Craigslist
3. Arnold’s love child
While doing a little internet research, our intern Alyssa came across this article from the Telegraph UK entitled “Average Man Has 9 Sexual Partners in Lifetime, Women Have 4″ accompanied by a photo like one of those above. Next to the link she sent, Alyssa wrote: “Random Side Note: Why do they always use photos of feet sticking out of a bed for these sex stories? Who has sex with cold feet like that? Doesn’t it make anyone else feel comfortable staring at these random people’s feet? Seriously!” It’s a legitimate (and funny) question.
HBO’s teaser trailer for Lena Dunham’s upcoming series Girls proves that everybody on television is having sex.
If that sounds too broad for you, let me put it another way—every girl on television and living in New York City is having sex. It might not be attractive or pretty or without use of the word ‘lube,’ but it’s something that is happening. In fact, it’s probably better television fare if it’s kind of gross. Gritty and unattractive are the new ‘honest’—like Kristen Wiig’s sex scene in BRIDESMAIDS or all the dark jokes in 2 Broke Girls. Sex has returned to its rightful place in the bottom of the gutter, and most female-centric comedies this season aren’t afraid to lay in it. It’s clear that the Sex and The City look-at-all-of-my-pretty-shoes-Lady is dead, only to be replaced by a vintage dress-wearing version who can’t stop rolling her eyes. She’s your new girl of the moment, and she’s certainly prevalent in Girls. She’s poor. She’s in charge of her sexual prowess but barely in charge of everything else, including her flailing limbs. No, I’m kidding, she’s not really in charge of anything because he’s not calling her back.