sundance

When sex and merchandise don’t mix

The only thing worse than sex being used to sell products that have nothing to do with sex is when sex is actually put into a product in some way when it shouldn’t be. Below are four sex product fails – don’t even think about them as potential holiday gifts, not even stocking stuffers. You’ve been warned:

• Bacon Lube: J&D’s wants the world to taste like bacon, so they made bacon salt, and baconnaise, bacon ranch and even bacon lip balm. So we guess it was only a matter of time before they made bacon lube. They say it started out as an April Fool’s prank but then got so many requests that they had to follow through with bacon-flavored personal lubricant and massage oil. Fortunately, it’s only available for a limited time.
  
  
• Erotic Energy Drinks: As if Red Bull weren’t bad enough – Big Cock cola and Little Pussy passion fruit drink are now available in Las Vegas. Of course they are.
  
  

Naked news: why normal looking porn stars are a threat

• Why porn that women actually like (i.e. with normal looking guys like James Dean, above) makes men so uncomfortable.
  
  
• Does success as an artist bring you more sexual conquests? Yes and no, say researchers.
  
  

The media’s pornification of women

Here’s a fascinating, but not all that surprising study from the University of Buffalo: they recently analyzed more than 1,000 images of men and women on Rolling Stone covers over the course of 43 years (they chose Rolling Stone since it’s a well-established, pop culture media outlet) and found the following:

Porn for women (must love dogs)

Don’t worry, no pets were harmed (or diddled) in the making of this porn. The Men and Their Dogs blog is exactly what it sounds like: photos of men with their dogs — making kissy faces, taking bubble baths together, or just being emo-artsy. Kind of like those Porn for Women and Porn for New [...]

Naked News: Botox makes it hard to feel for others

• A study finds that Botox may rob you of the ability to empathize. (Then again, perhaps people most likely to get Botox are the least empathetic among us…)
  
  
• How the same-sex marriage deal in New York nearly collapsed.
  
  

3D porn? Yeah, we’ll get back to you on that

Last year Em found herself — don’t ask why — agreeing to see JACKASS 3D on opening night in L.A. (On a date night, no less.) In what was either a moment of pure genius commentary on sex and technology — or else just plain jackassery — the movie featured a 3D dildo bazooka fight, in which a giant 3D wobbly dildo flies across the screen. Needless to say, the audience found it hilarious. And this is exactly what we think of when we hear the phrase “3D porn.”

Your brain on porn

There has always been great debate between sex-positive free-speech porn advocates and anti-porn chicken-little moralists. We’ve always fallen somewhere in the middle: you can’t really legislate desire and fantasy, but at the same time all this porn, like too much fast food, can’t be good for you. An interesting site we’ve found that seems to rely heavily on science without any moralistic judgment is YourBrainOnPorn.com — it smartly and succinctly explains how heavy porn use can have unwanted effects on the brain and offers suggestions for reversing those effects. The founders of this site have a blog on Psychology Today called Cupid’s Poisoned Arrow and just this week posted one guy’s account of his “rebooting,” an attempt to rewire his brain circuitry with a porn/masturbation/orgasm fast — pretty fascinating stuff:

Like surveys? Take this one about porn

Whether you’re not really into porn and only enjoy the occasional romance novel sex scene or you’re an addict whose love of Barely Legal Asian Sluts is jeopardizing your career and family life, there are three researchers from across the pond who’d love to hear from you. Clarissa Smith, Feona Attwood and Martin Barker have put together an online pornography survey that they say is “unlike almost all the previous research that has been conducted on pornography.”:

In the past, pornography has overwhelmingly been assumed to be a ‘problem’, and the only really important questions to ask about it are – how much do people (and especially children) encounter it, and how great is the ‘harm’ that it does? This research is different.

Our project is concerned with the everyday uses of pornography, and how the people who use it feel it fits into their lives. Pornography is of course a highly topical issue, subject to many opposing views and ‘strong opinions’. And we are not saying that there are no moral or political issues. But we are saying that the voices of users and enjoyers have been swamped. In fact, there is very little research that engages with the users of pornography, asking how, when and why they turn to it.

“Comics Stripped” at The Museum of Sex

The problem with live-action porn (okay, one of the many problems) is that it’s difficult (okay, it’s difficult for some) to forget that the actors on screen are somebody’s son or daughter, and could potentially be suffering from any number of issues (drug abuse, poverty, mental problems, bad taste) that got them in the biz [...]

Happy Lady Porn Day!

And you thought President’s Day was exciting! Lady Porn Day is the invention of sex blogger Rachel Rabbit White, who tells us, “It’s tough trying to explore porn as a girl. There just isn’t much lady-friendly stag. And, girls aren’t encouraged to talk to each other about porn, the same way we aren’t encouraged to talk to each other about masturbation. In girl-world, too often we expect our first orgasm to come from a partner. Then we expect our Sex-and-the-City-approved Hitachi-orgasms to come from our closed eyes. But porn is just another tool for your sexual growth.”

Meet The Black Spark

I don’t quite know what to make of the Black Spark. His website, and videos (which have gone missing, most likely to reappear on his new site), are creating much buzz in the gay world. He makes films. Beautifully shot, artistic films. That also include graphic sexual scenes. Anal sex. Cum shots. Some nasty stuff. [...]

The best sex and love news of 2010

Yesterday we told you about the sex and love news from 2010 that most pissed us off and/or depressed us — dubious studies, dubious reporting, and rampant STDs, et al. Today we hope to put a smile back on your face with some of the love and sex news that most inspired us. You’re welcome.

1. A kink study finds that the majority of men are open to fetishes once you get them behind closed doors. Just don’t expect them to dish about it over Monday Night Football.
   
   
2. College gals finally close the marriage gap — new research shows that white women with college degrees are just as likely to marry as those who didn’t graduate from college.
   
   
3. Okay, so yesterday we told you that the web is “luring” more women into porn addiction — but there’s a silver lining. We finally have proof that women are visual creatures too!
   
   

Finding the silver lining in porn addiction story

So the lurid headline in — natch — The Washington Times reads “More women lured to pornography addiction,” but we decided to find the silver lining in this news. The gist of the piece is that new research shows that women, and even — gasp! — Christian women are finding themselves “addicted” to pornography because it’s so much less risky to check it out online. (And for the record, our quote-marks around the word “addicted” aren’t meant to question the reality of pornography addiction, but rather to question The Washington Times’ definition of said addiction.)

Pumpkins + porn

Thanks to our friends at Lemondrop (although “thanks” may be the wrong word), we recently discovered Pornkins, “an all new way to spice up your Halloween party” according to the website. Whose parties are they talking about? Except for a few L.A. sex biz companies and some midwestern frat houses, we’re guessing (hoping) the demand [...]

Amy Fisher’s Porn Career

Amy Fisher, best known as the “Long Island Lolita” when her affair with Joey Buttafuoco helped scores of tabloid magazines survive the recession in the early 90′s, announced she has signed a deal with an adult video company to star in eight X rated films. Underage affair with Joey Buttafuoco, 7 years in prison for [...]

The good, the bad, and the ugly of the porn world… for women

We’ll admit it: we know very little about porn. In theory we know that there’s better porn out there than the crap our male hallmates used to watch in college with their doors “accidentally” left open. And we know that, as a professional obligation, we really should investigate this good porn more — especially given how many people write to us asking for advice about porn: what to watch, how to get over a partner’s porn habit, how to convince a partner that watching porn isn’t cheating, how to find ethically produced porn, etc. But we somehow never seem to get around it. Which is why we are beyond thrilled by the release of the excellent book Good Porn: A Woman’s Guide by Erika Lust. It’s our round tuit. Lust did the leg-work so we don’t have to. We chatted with the filmmaker, journalist, and cofounder of Lust Films…

EM & LO: You have a lot to say in your book about what exactly is wrong with male-produced porn. When and why did you decide to stop just critiquing and start actually producing yourself?

ERIKA LUST: My relationship with porn wasn’t quite love at first sight. But for me it seemed clear from the beginning that this does not lie in the nature of porn — it’s a matter of how it’s done. It just needed somebody to do it. But who? This bunch of guys that dominated the industry for decades, pestering us with the same sleazy sets, boring or hardly elaborated plots, bad make-up, terrible acting, and unrealistic or simply ridiculous sex scenes? Not really. They had their shot. We can simply complain about those guys, or we can get it on ourselves.

The Kids Are All Right, So Is The Porn

Perrin recently reviewed THE KIDS ARE ALL RIGHT, a new movie starring Annette Bening and Julianne Moore as lesbian mothers. It is the longest time I have ever spent with a lesbian couple in my entire life here on this great earth. And was rather enjoyable. Who knew?

Ad agency makes XXX-ray commercial for medical supply company

The German ad agency Butter recently released a series of award-winning print ads — “Pin-Up Calendar 2010″ — for Eizo, a medical supply company which apparently specializes in medical imaging. While it effectively shows the quality of their radiographs, it also entertainingly pokes fun at the whole porn genre: You can see everything! Check out [...]

Naked News: What About Prom, Bleckley?

• In modern John Hughes-ish news: After months of negotiations (and getting thrown out of his house by his parents), a gay boy in Bleckley County, Georgia is finally given permission to bring a same-sex date to his prom. (And then a couple of loser students protest the decision.)
  
  
• In geek news: The future of porn is 3-D.
  
  
• In kinky science news: Turns out black truffles have sex lives, too.

Buck Angel in gold

The Armory Show has come and gone, but one image is still very much alive in my mind. Last week I wrote about the transgendered porn star Buck Angel, showing his transexual PSA here on SUNfiltered. The above image is a stunning, solid gold, life size statue of Buck created by the British artist Marc [...]

Buck Angel’s PSA

Buck Angel is not your typical porn star. And the PSA above is most certainly not your typical PSA. See, Buck is female to male transgendered. Yes, that man, that big, muscular, tattooed man above, has women’s sexual organs. And regardless of what your exterior looks like, you still need to take care of, as [...]

“Off the Set: Porn Stars and Their Partners”

Photography duo Paulie & Pauline are coming out with a new book in April called “Off the Set” which features porn stars and their partners in intimate, non-porn moments. Paired with the images of the ten couples are essays by the photographers and some of their subjects, actual love letters, and stories that humanize people often thought of as sex machines. We asked Paulie and Pauline to give us some background on a few of the images from the book (which you can pre-order from Amazon):

“This cover photo is of Digital Playground contract star Jesse Jane and her husband Rich. Her given name is Cindy, which is just perfect because she reminds us of sweet little Cindy Loo Hoo from How The Grinch Stole Christmas! She’s a tiny slip of a thing, especially when she’s standing next to her husband, who could easily be mistaken for a Na’vi from Pandora if you painted him blue. We photographed them one hot summer morning at their home outside Oklahoma City earlier this year.

The other Michael Lucas

When you’re gay you cherish sex equally as pop. And we idolize our porn stars as much as our pop stars. Madonna shows as much skin as any adult entertainer.  Why wouldn’t we? We also don’t care about the taboos attached to porn. But, then again, we’ve never shared a name with a porn star. Michael [...]

Australia bans small breasts, ejaculation from adult entertainment.

Australia: a land where prostitution is (mostly) legal, cursing on TV is par for the course…and a byzantine structure of censorship renders most XXX material illegal to own, sell, or both. Newly added to the list of banned acts: small breasts and female ejaculation.

Why small breasts? Well, the ban is specifically focused on women who’s breasts give them the appearance of being underage (unlike America, Australia frowns on “barely legal” porn, as well as anything meant to make adult actresses look like they’re youthful or underage). Of course, declaring that one very common body type is unwelcome in erotic material does have more than a few unpleasant implications, as Jezebel outlines.

BUTT TV

I have written here about my love of the Ace Hotel. It is casual yet polished. It can be a wild time, but also peaceful. And it is the hotel with the hottest visitors. Don’t trust me? Check out the Palm Springs pool or the NYC lobby for proof. It is also the gayest hotel [...]