- Queeriodic Table | Xtra! – Inspired by a blog post of a periodic table made entirely of cupcakes, artists Jen Crothers and Kona thought a queer version would be an ideal way to raise money for Out in Schools’ annual fundraiser, High School Confidential.
“What queer doesn’t love smart and delicious in the same thing?” asks Kona. The pair quickly realized that the logistics of baking 112 cupcakes was beyond their collective skill set and instead parlayed the idea of a queered periodic table of elements into a set of posters and buttons. - Understanding humankind. (Interview with Bacchus of Erosblog) – They are places in life, where a compendium of wisdom, art and eroticism collide to form a unique entity, beautiful on it´s virtues and the way it is presented to the world (in fact available for averyone) that special place is Eros Blog.
The ruler of this crazy world is Bacchus, someone who is totally motivated to show the world the bast regions of human mind, human and non human sexuality and how the work of erotic artists (of all kinds, and times) in general, is maybe the path that lead us to finally understand our past, present and future as humankind. - Sock Puppets, Jack Puppets, and Spotting Sexual Predators | violet blue ® :: open source sex – Socks are an oft-used tool of those who like to whip up controversy about themselves, as well as emotional infants who can’t accept contradicting ponts of view – not to mention people who just want to promote themselves, and are not always malicious trolls.
internet
- Invasion of Privacy Charges After Death of Tyler Clementi – NYTimes.com – The Sept. 22 death, details of which the authorities disclosed on Wednesday, was the latest by a young American that followed the online posting of hurtful material. The news came on the same day that Rutgers kicked off a two-year, campuswide project to teach the importance of civility, with special attention to the use and abuse of new technology.
- Twitter, Facebook, and social activism : The New Yorker – Gladwell disputes the usefulness of social media in motivating and coordinating high-risk activism. A very interesting look at the difference in utility between strong ties and weak ties. (via @sitps)
- 500 Internal Server Error – 500 Internal Server Error
- It Gets Better. Also … Grief. Please #stayalive. – Sugarbutch Chronicles – That’s five. Five people, five boys, who could have grown up to be part of our world, part of our community, part of gay activism, or who could have, at the very least, grown up. Five boys since school started less than a month ago.
- Larry Flynt, John Stagliano, Peter Acworth Say No to .XXX | violet blue ® :: open source sex – That said, I got a ping last night from the people who set up the nifty website Dot-XXX Opposition: The rest of the story. And guess what!? It shows ICM’s claims of adult community support are unsupported, groundless and unverified; ICM does not have support from the adult entertainment community. It is proof, in their own words. They also state they will not make a business out of the .XXX ghetto. A very diverse group of adult webmasters (not all of them male, either) have come out to say loud and proud, no ICANN, do not do this. Not only for their own businesses; in this video they say it’s also because they know it won’t help solve any problems around minors and adult material.
- Stop Hating on Campus Sex Education « Shanna Katz M.Ed — Sexuality Educator – ex education is helpful to people of all ages, but is crucial to people in their teens and early twenties, when they are developing their identities, making decisions about sexual activity. Getting sex education does NOT encourage anyone to be sexually active. In fact, many people who get comprehensive sexuality education in high school and middle school have better self image, are more comfortable in setting boundaries, know ow to say know, choose not to be sexually active as early, and/or choose not to be sexually active while under the influence of other substances. Almost everyone will have the ability to make healthier choices regarding safer sex, pregnancy prevention, and more.
- There’s Nothing Wrong with University Sex Weeks | Charlie Glickman – While Brooks raises some important points, she bookends her piece with not-so-subtle messages of fear. That should tell you more about her agenda than anything else.
- Comment Period Now Open on .XXX – Make Your Voice Heard | techyum :: – On August 24 the 30-day comment period opened for the proposed .XXX top-level domain. Until September 23, the public is invited to tell ICANN what they think. If you’re unfamiliar with the history and issues around .XXX, and the men who stand to profit from it (while exhibiting blatant disregard for the very serious problems it poses) please read Now Playing: .XXX. TLD Carpetbaggers Give New Meaning to “Drop and Snatch” (carnalnation.com).
- How To Get A Sex Blogger To Have Sex With You | Sex and the 405 – A good way to get to know me is to engage me regarding the content I post. Yes, we may talk about sex, my preferences and your own. That does not mean you should suggest we fuck. It just means we’re discussing our preferences. Please note that many people engage me in this way and the best way to differentiate yourself is by having intelligent conversation with me.
- An Interview with the author of Sex at Dawn; The Prehistoric Origins of Modern Sexuality | Examiner.com – I recently had the opportunity to speak with psychologist Christopher Ryan, one of the authors of a revolutionary new book that debunks the theory that monogamy is a natural and thus appropriate construct for our species. The book is entitled Sex at Dawn; The Prehistoric Origins of Modern Sexuality and was co-written by Ryan's wife, psychiatrist Cacilda Jetha.
- “it’s not about sex” and other lies « Sex Geek – I realize that I come to my poly from a place of queerness, where because of a long history of oppression, of being told our sex is bad, many of us hold onto and defend the beauty of our sexuality with great ferocity. I come to it from a place of kink, where we spend tons of time talking about how to play and have sex in ways that feel good to us. But whether you’re kinky or queer or poly, all of the above or none of the above, I invite you to join me in refusing to buy into any variety of “sex is bad” or “sex is less than,” no matter whose mouth it comes out of. Whether it’s conservative lawmakers, or our intimate partners; the American Psychological Association or our community leaders; the Religious Right or the sacred sexuality proponents.
- 5 Things an Affair May Not Mean | Christopher Ryan | Huffington Post – In "Sex at Dawn: The Prehistoric Origins of Modern Sexuality," Cacilda Jethá, my coauthor (and wife) and I argue that there's a good reason long-term sexual monogamy is hard for human beings. The evidence we present in the book shows that til death do us part may be a wonderful ideal, but it's anything but an easy (or natural) path for most human beings. Yes, we are moral beings (most of us) with the capacity to override our evolved predispositions to some extent, but maybe, just maybe, an occasional slip on that long and arduous path is to be expected…Or maybe not. Such notions of tolerance are actively discouraged in America. As Pamela Druckerman explains in "Lust in Translation," her survey of global attitudes toward infidelity, "It has come to seem obvious to Americans that the discovery of infidelity leads to a confrontation, followed by counseling, perhaps other forms of support, and a long period of discussion and recovery (sometimes in perpetuity)."
- Sex and Censorship: What Recent Attacks on Online Sex Discussions Have to Do With Your Blog | BlogHer – That is what is at stake here. This isn't an issue of us versus them, morality versus indecency, conservatives versus liberals, believers versus atheists. This is a matter of freedom to speak, freedom to congregate, freedom to learn about ourselves and to share that knowledge. That's what this country stands for and it's essential that those of us who believe in these tenets take a stance against those seeking to oppress them.
- Disability Dharma: What Including & Learning From Disability Can Teach (Everyone) About Sex | Scarleteen – Any temporary or permanent limitations, variations in embodiment or ways of functioning we or others have with our bodies or minds doesn't mean we or they are not sexual or not human or are any less sexual or less human. If anything, it's exactly those things which clearly demonstrate our being human.
- Significant National Shift Found in Sex Education | RHRealityCheck.org – This year’s edition mirrors the national shift. While we continue our tradition of “following the money” by documenting all federal abstinence-only-until-marriage dollars, we also document more comprehensive approaches to sex education that are happening across the country. For the first time, the SIECUS State Profiles identify examples of model programs, policies, and best practices being implemented in public schools across the country that provide more comprehensive approaches to sex education for young people.
- ‘.xxx’ Ruling Has Far-Reaching Implications for the Internet | TechNewsDaily – The ruling has implications beyond just the porn industry, and could affect the content and form of the vast wave of Chinese- and Arabic-character web address that are sure to change the nature of the Internet in the coming years. Milton Mueller, a professor at the Syracuse University School of Information Studies, said that by codifying internal definitions of consensus, morality and social good, ICANN took its clearest stance yet on how it might deal with the rush of domain name applications from societies far more restrictive than American and Western Europe.
- R-Wipe & Clean – CNET Download.com – We like this system-cleaning utility's feature set and flexibility. Naturally, R-Wipe & Clean can erase your browser's cache, cookies, temporary files, and typed URLs. In addition, you can securely delete any file via the right-click menu in Windows Explorer. You can perform common system deletions as well, such as emptying your Recycle Bin and erasing your Clipboard history.
- They Shoot Porn Stars Don’t They | Words & photos by Susannah Breslin – A photo-and-text essay on the adult movie industry and the recession.
- Want To Break Up? Tis The Season, So Better Hurry : NPR – It's not just turkeys that get nervous this time of year. Chances are high that a failing relationship will also meet its end during the holidays. That's because it's not just turkey season — it's turkey drop season.
- The Complete Guide to Google Wave: How to Use Google Wave – The Complete Guide to Google Wave is a comprehensive user manual by Gina Trapani with Adam Pash. Google Wave is a new web-based collaboration tool that's notoriously difficult to understand. This guide will help. Here you'll learn how to use Google Wave to get things done with your group. Because Wave is such a new product that's evolving quickly, this guidebook is a work in progress that will update in concert with Wave as it grows and changes. Read more about The Complete Guide to Google Wave, and follow us on Twitter for updates and Wave tips.
- A Few Questions for Belle de Jour, Call Girl and Scientist – Freakonomics Blog – NYTimes.com –
- Indecent Exposure: When Sex Workers Get Outed | Carnal New York – The most common complaint leveled at Belle both before and after the reveal is that her memoir "glamorizes" prostitution—as though simply telling the truth about one's life is synonymous with promoting those circumstances. It's fascinating that in both England and the US, selling sex for money is assumed to be so alluring to most women as to need nothing more than one woman's non-traumatic experiences to convince thousands of others to join the hooker ranks. (Perhaps this is, in some ways, tacit acknowledgement of how few high-paying careers seem readily accessible to women or the pay gap that exists in both countries?)
- SHPANK, CRØSS & STÖCK: Flat-pack on your back — Bookkake – Fake ikea instructions for bondage gear
- Where The Party’s At: The Real Stars Of The Fleshbot Awards –
- Bad Reputation: Doing Damage Control on Your Internet Profile | TechCoquette – If you find that you’re not pleased with how the internet reflects you, there are two basic approaches to fixing it: removing stuff, and patching up blank spots. You do what you can to control unflattering information, while adding in things that represent you more accurately. If you’re an absolute baseball fanatic, or you like to bake, that’s the sort of information you can add to your online profiles without much effort. But first things first: how do you delete incriminating info from your “internet record”?
- High BPA levels linked to male sexual problems – washingtonpost.com – BPA, which was developed in the 1930s as a synthetic version of estrogen, appears to throw off the hormonal balance in the human body, Li said.
- BBC NEWS | Health | New warning on ‘perfect vaginas’ – But rather than curing sexual problems, Dr Creighton suggested surgery might exacerbate them by damaging the nerve supply to the area, impairing sexual sensitivity and satisfaction.
- Welcome to the 6th Feminist Carnival! | Scarleteen – In the spirit of rebirth, and in alignment with the readers and mission of Scarleteen, this round puts it's focus on young feminist bloggers and feminist issues particularly pertinent to younger women.
SXSW Interactive “features five days of compelling presentations from the brightest minds in emerging technology, scores of exciting networking events hosted by industry leaders and an unbeatable line up of special programs showcasing the best new websites, video games and startup ideas the community has to offer.” I’ve never been there, but it sounds like the ultimate geek fest. Plus I hear the parties and swag are pretty awesome.
The SXSW Panel Picker lets you browse and vote on the 2500+ presentation proposals. SXSW Panel voting ends at the end of the day on Friday, Sept 4th, so you have a little less than a week left to vote. (Update: voting is now closing COB on Monday, September 7th.)
I’ve searched the Panel Picker and listed what I could find of the panels relating to dating, sex, sexuality, social issues, privacy, the adult industry, etc.
If you haven’t yet, go vote. I’m especially interested in the panels Melissa Gira, Lisa Vandever and Nina Hartley (who I know from Dark Odyssey) are proposing, and suggest you vote for them too. Please help send them to to Austin, Texas!
Adult Industry
The Adult Industry and Social Networking (Jay Kopita, YNOT.com)
Future Smut: How To Become An ‘Adult Webmaster’ (Quentin Boyer, TopBucks.com)
The Intersection of Hollywood and Porn (Kathee Brewer, YNOT Network LP)
Nina Hartley: Porn Star, Sex Educator, Social Networker (Nina Hartley, Nina.com)
Not Your Mama’s Porn: Web 2.0 and Women (Jay Kopita, YNOT.com)
Porn’s Future as a Digital Force (Tom Hymes, Daily Babylon)
Working In Adult – The Double Standard (Connor Young, YNOT.com)
Dating & Relationships
CyberSex2.0: Is Social Networking Ruining Your Sex Life? (Dayna Nicole, UglyNot!)
Social Media Konkatsu (Thomas Edwards, The Professional Wingman)
Privacy
Data Portability for Multiple Identities
Making Sense of Privacy on the Social Web
Social Security: Protecting Your Privacy in Social Media
Sex & Sexuality
An Avatar’s Eye View of Sex in Games (Kathee Brewer, YNOT Network LP)
Engaging The Queer Community (Trish Bendix, MTV/AfterEllen.com )
A discussion on maintaining successful and active blogs and social networking sites that are geared toward the LGBT community and its niches.
Interactive Sex & Love (Stephanie Frasco, AskFrasco – Video Advice)
Negotiating the Parent/Teen Divide Over Social Networking (Karen Rayne, Adolescent Sexuality Today)
Parents are often at odds with their teenagers being on social networking sites. Can these sites please parents and appeal to teens simultaneously? This panel brings parents, teens, and experts together to address this digital divide and offer suggestions on how social networking sites can build a workable bridge.
Professionally Naked: What Women Gain From Exposing Ourselves Online (Melissa Gira, Audacia Ray and Sarah Dopp)
Can you be sexual and professional online, even if sex isn’t your job? However women get naked online – in revealing photos, or in revealing our lives – we draw scrutiny and judgment. From blogging to porn, these panelists push the lines of “respectable” behavior with honesty and success.
Sex Education in a Web 3.0 World (Herbert (Herb) Coleman with panelists Shelby Knox (from The Education of Shelby Knox), Laura Rad (The Smitten Kitten & Sex is Fun) and Heather Corinna (AKA Scarleteen).
This will be a discussion with podcasters, internet based and college sex educators, on the present and future of sex education, the internet and digital technology. The panel will address issues such as countering misinformation, appropriate information for teens and younger, availability of resources, proper and improper use of technology and their own experiences with sex education and social networks.
Social Issues
The Porn Police Are STILL at the Door (Lisa Vandever, Cinekink)
Not just for pornographers, the notion for this panel grew out of our work curating CineKink, as we noticed that entries submitted by filmmakers from the adult sphere typically included notice that federal record-keeping requirements for sexually explicit material had been properly met, while those coming from the independent film world did not. (If you’re thinking “2257, huh?†that could probably be you!)Making matters worse, the regulations have recently been expanded to cover not just actual or documentary depictions of sex, but simulated situations—ie fiction—as well.
Was It Something I Said? TOS And Content (Lisa Vandever, Cinekink)
Meanwhile, this panel was inspired by the frustrations we’ve experienced over the years trying to position and promote a sex-related endeavor on the internet–from finding a web host and sending email blasts, to processing ticket sales and donations, to creating an identity in social marketing and getting our videos placed on popular sites. Seemingly the old adage–“I’ll know it when I see it‖flourishes online, where murky definitions of what content is and is not allowed abound. One gatekeeper’s “inappropriate†is another’s “adult†is another’s “offensive, obscene and/or pornographic.†How are we affected as users and creators–and is there any recourse?
Sex, Drugs and Social Media — What’s Legal, What’s Not? (Adam Metz, METZ Consulting)
Sexting+Nudie Pics = Digital Violence Among Teens (Chloe Gottlieb, R/GA)
South African Sexting, Colombian Cyber-Bullies: Global Virtual Risks (Katherine Maher, UNICEF)
Sarah Seltzer:
The last time a doctor was murdered in cold blood for providing abortion care to women, we were not in the digital age. While the pro-choice community in the 90s reacted to Dr. Bernard Slepian’s murder with the same outrage and hurt as it has this week to Dr. George Tiller’s, the Internet has provided us with tools that have enabled us to more effectively shape the discourse.
Yes, many TV shows and mainstream pundits (ahem! Chris Matthews and Will Saletan, popular offenders) have trotted out the expected all-male panels and high-minded philosophical musings in the wake of an unspeakable tragedy. But a strong counter movement calling the incident “terrorism” and pointing out the the far-right “pro-life” movement’s rampant hypocrisy has emerged online. We owe this to an engaged, savvy and active blogosphere and twittersphere of feminists that have been able to launch accurate, appropriate language into circulation and gather evidence that this assassination was part of a larger pattern of purposeful hate and intimidation.
Link
Which brings me, finally, to the next generation of attenders, the so-called “net-gen†or “digital natives,†kids who’ve grown up with the Internet and other time-slicing technologies. There’s been lots of hand-wringing about all the skills they might lack, mainly the ability to concentrate on a complex task from beginning to end, but surely they can already do things their elders can’t—like conduct 34 conversations simultaneously across six different media, or pay attention to switching between attentional targets in a way that’s been considered impossible. More than any other organ, the brain is designed to change based on experience, a feature called neuroplasticity. London taxi drivers, for instance, have enlarged hippocampi (the brain region for memory and spatial processing)—a neural reward for paying attention to the tangle of the city’s streets. As we become more skilled at the 21st-century task Meyer calls “flitting,†the wiring of the brain will inevitably change to deal more efficiently with more information. The neuroscientist Gary Small speculates that the human brain might be changing faster today than it has since the prehistoric discovery of tools.
Link
A meddlesome hussy takes on the enemies of sexual sanity: Furry Girl has a new blog: Feminisnt.com.
Karina Longworth reviews The Girlfriend Experience:
“On the whole, Soderbergh seems less interested in what it feels like to be a professional girlfriend, and more interested in what it looks like to be in any kind of relationship in a time and place where economy is at the center of every conversation, everyone is looking to get more out of every transaction, and the culture accords an extraordinary amount of fetish power to young, beautiful women who can  commodify themselves without compunction.”
Always Aroused Girl has a new project:
“Beyond the Birds and the Bees will be an online resource where people can share accounts of conversations between parents and children on the topic of sexuality. We’ll explore how people have taught their children about sexuality, how they’ve been taught, what’s effective, what’s not, and what’s downright funny.”
Violet Blue has a column about the terrific new Carnal Nation site (and is nice enough to mention this blog in the same paragraph as Fleshbot and Nerve.com):
“Locally run, it’s a new national sex magazine that’s starting from home base with Carnal San Francisco — with features like Andrea Nemerson’s sex and parenting “Now What” column, a column on sex disasters, sex horoscopes, and timely news features like Dead Wood: Hard Times Equal Flaccid Sales for Erotic Mags, Bigger Prices for Bigger Bras: A Bust in Britain, Doin’ It Doggie Style: French Company Making Sex Toys for Dogs and even Idaho Mayor Declares May Anti-Pornography Month.”
Bacon lube: “Damn, that’s bacony!”
A Bronx woman was stalked and killed yesterday by a man she met online (NOT CL).
Tristan Taormino is posting pics on Twitpic from the set of her latest movie (NSFW)
The adult theme park of your dreams. With butt sinks.
The inaugural Kinkforall was a smashing success!
I remember reading the Tweet worrying whether we’d get 40 attendees. Turns out 100 people turned out for 45 presentations. Tremendous energy, lots of different conversations, lots of folks from different organizations and lots of new folks. I know there was was poo-pooing about this event and I was proud to have helped sponsor it.
Now there are other Kinkforalls being organized. See the gallery below for my pics from the event. Kudo to MayMay, Sara Eileen, the timekeepers (who kept us on track) and all the volunteers who came out and made the event happen. I’m looking foward to the next ones.
The next opportunity for us sex nerds to geek out will be Sex 2.0 on May 9, 2009. Will you be there?
- The Kinkforall wiki
- Kinkforall Google Group
- Kinkforall Flickr group (you may need to be signed in)
- Twitter search (Kinkforall/kfanyc)
- Google blog search
- Technorati (kfanyc)
Do you Tweet during sex? You might moan or squeal, but even if you’ve never heard of the free, minimalist social networking service that allows users to write, send and post to the Internet short messages via devices ranging from phones to laptops via SMS (text). This might sound like an “only in San Francisco” kink. Since Twitter.com started here, we may be able to hold them responsible for a new fetish. If there is such a thing. But really, you know that somewhere, someone is doing something sexual with it. It is technology, after all, and humans just can’t seem to resist sexualizing their tech toys.
So the thought of sending a message out to the Internet (the world) while having sex might seem a bit rude. Or, it might be a turn on. For some, it just sounds weird; on the verge of orgasm can you send a coherent text message? Now that sounds like something a cyber-dominatrix might have a field day with.
And it seems, they do. Sex and the Tweet isn’t a new idea, and it’s on the rise – perhaps even moreso as sex workers, international fetish models, dominatrixes, tech savvy porn stars, adult companies with marketing departments, hip porn directors, sex toy makers, and yes, even sex educators have created accounts and sporadically tell the world what’s on their mind (or other bits) in 140 characters or less. Not to mention all those other “normal” people who use the service, too. The normal people tend to be the dirtier ones, by the way – they’re just harder to find.
(More. . ..)
Add to Google
