This has been making the rounds:
Sex in the City: Tantric Massage.
ZeFrank on Sex on Sex Education.
Thursday mail - October 18.
Have any questions or comments related to sex or sexuality? If so, fire away.
Film: The Sessions.
Sex surrogacy is a very controversial type of sex therapy. The role of the surrogate is to have sex with the client, the purpose being to foster therapeutic gains. The type of sex, and the interpersonal context of that sex, depends on the client's presenting problem. The sex surrogate is typically part of a therapeutic team, working alongside a psychologist, clinical counsellour or sex therapist. The Sessions is a soon-to-be released film about a handicapped man who wants to lose his virginity. Virginity isn't a psychological problem, obviously; however, with the help of his therapist and the support of his priest, he seeks out a sexual surrogate to meet his needs. The film has been getting good reviews (link here).
The trailer:
One comment: After hearing from women who have done sex work, I think it's somewhat problematic that Helen Hunt's character draws a distinction between herself and a "prostitute," as if what she does is more legitimate or commendable. She's still providing sex and intimacy for money, which is nothing to be ashamed of. And if you talk to sex workers, at least the ones that aren't survival sex workers, they'll tell you that many of their clients work through the same sort of issues with their sex worker providers as clients would with their sex surrogates. It's just not in the context of official therapy.
Dinosexual.
in Attitudes, Sex Toys, Humour Etc.
(click to make larger)
Bodyform and Richard.
Bodyform is a UK company that makes menstruation products. Their PR department (agency?) put together a clever marketing campaign playing on social media and men's attitudes towards menstruation.
A supposed Facebook post from Richard Neill:
And the response from Bodyform:
Couples talking about porn.
in Attitudes, Pornography
Interesting piece in The Cut, from New York Magazine (via Violet Blue):
What Porn Means to Us: Twenty Couples on Tentacles, Baywatch, and the Skin Flicks They Share, Fear, and Imitate
A man I was dating told me that he liked watching anime scenes of sea creatures raping schoolgirls with their tentacles. His arousal bothered him. I was surprised to discover that it didn’t bother me, but my live-and-let-live attitude gave me pause: Was I colluding with misogyny?
Conflicting studies have suggested that porn leads to aggression, divorce, and depression — as well as lower rates of rape, better sex, and deeper commitments. We only know for certain that since the start of the Internet’s reign, porn has moved online, diversified, and sped up: Every day nearly 20 million viewers visit Xvideos, the web’s most trafficked porn site, and YouPorn is six times the size of Hulu. With porn consumption ubiquitous — and, by most reports, increasing and evolving — I asked couples and individuals how they discuss porn with their dates and partners. The result: twenty conversations about porn.
1. Porn is fantasy.
Jill “has no idea” what kind of porn her husband of two years watches, but she “doubts it’s anything that would bother” her. Tom says he doesn’t want to “expose Jill to all the craziness” of the videos he stumbles upon — like a woman riding a dildo-studded bicycle. He explains: “If she saw the porn I’m watching, she’d probably think I’m holding something back, but I’m not. I don’t want to bring what I see into the real world. It’s like how you don’t actually want to kill your boss.”
Unlike sex, “masturbation is a win every time,” Tom says. His threshold keeps changing: “When you’re a kid, a nipple is enough for five years, but once you start seeing girls climbing out of clown cars, you want more clown cars.” He’s glad his wife “doesn’t like anything gross” because he doesn’t think he’d want to be with someone who watched what he sometimes watches. Every so often he pretends he and his wife are in their own porno.
Jill occasionally uses her imagination to “sneak quickies” while her husband is in the shower. She read the whole Fifty Shades of Grey series, mostly on airplanes. Reading erotica means her husband “isn’t beholden” to what she likes, which she imagines “is tamer than what he likes.” She’d love for him to put on a favorite video and masturbate in front of her, but she suspects “it’s his private thing.”
2. Porn is quick.
Now Anthony really does read Playboy for the articles. The Internet has killed his interest in pictures. He rapidly surfs through porn, which he describes as fast food. He doesn’t hide the regular habit from his wife Anjuli, a dietitian. She doesn’t mind it except when he gets off to really fat women — “They are not obese,” he interjects. “But they have huge boobs,” she replies — and Indian women, because she’s Indian. “I don’t want to think he has a fetish,” she says. “I don’t!” he laughs, “They just pop up sometimes!”
Read the other 18 conversations here.
Mrs. Brown.
Posted in the comments section by Aubrey (thanks!). NSFW language!
Jizz.
in Humour Etc.
From Happy Place's Unintentionally Inappropriate Test Responses from Children:
See many more here.
Beastiality documentary causes headache for Okanagan Film Festival International organizers.
From the CBC:
Controversial documentary forces Kelowna film festival move Movie about bestiality stirs outrage
Controversy over a documentary about bestiality has forced a Kelowna film festival to try and secure a new home on the eve of its scheduled opening.
The Okanagan Film Festival International had been slated to start its four-day run on Thursday at Kelowna’s Paramount Theatre, which has hosted the festival for several years.
But this year’s program includes the movie Donkey Love, a documentary about village life in remote parts of Colombia where men have sex with donkeys.
It has screened at four film festivals around the world and won the best documentary award at the Melbourne Underground Film Festival.
After local media reported on the film’s inclusion last week, outrage quickly spread over social media.
"I’ve had the craziest week," said festival organizer Jeremy Heymen. "I honestly cannot believe it. This is so surreal to me, that a documentary would upset so many people. It blows my mind."
Theatre refuses to screen film 'of that nature'
Paramount Theatre manager Sarah McFernie said the theatre had yet to finalize an agreement to host this year’s festival when the theatre’s parent company, Landmark Cinemas, learned about the festival’s plans.
“Now our theatre has other commitments it has to fulfill so we can’t play [the festival]," she said. "But our head office said that they would never agree to play that film, a film of that nature even, so it was the final straw."
The decision left Heyman scrambling to find a new venue with a week to go or be forced to cancel the festival.
He says he was approached by a group of students from UBC Okanagan, who asked him to move the festival to a theatre on the university’s Kelowna campus.
Heyman said he hoped to finalize an agreement to do so by Wednesday afternoon. If he’s successful, the festival will be shortened by a day and start on Friday.
Donkey Love remains on the program and its filmmaker, Daryl Stoneage, plans to be at the screening. He says the outrage over his movie is misplaced.
"It seems a little bit much for a documentary," he said.
"The film is a well made film, it’s a well researched film. We interview animal rights activists, police officers, lawyers, doctors, history professors, musicians. We even interview a guy who wrote a book on the topic. I think people are forgetting that this actually is a documentary."
This isn't the first documentary about human-donkey sex in Columbia. Vice Magazine produced a documentary called Asses of the Caribbean a few years ago. You can watch it here (NSFW!).
Thursday mail - October 11.
Have any questions or comments related to sex or sexuality? If so, fire away.
Sextortion.
From Ars Technica:
Laptop theft leads to "sextortion"—and arrest of family friendSecret Service says man demanded nude video of his wife's "hot" friend.
Sextortion—it's not just limited to creepy guys you've never met in real life; now even people you know are getting in on the act.
Back on April 7 of this year, a woman in Dover, New Hampshire called the police. Someone had broken into her house and stolen her MacBook Pro—normal enough in the grand scheme of criminal behavior—but also some of her underwear. Disconcerting. Making it even worse was the victim's knowledge that her now-stolen laptop contained not just e-mails and Web browsing history, but several years' worth of private, sexual pictures of her and several partners. But perhaps the underwear-and-laptop thief wouldn't find them.
Months passed. The computer was not recovered, but the situation hadn't gotten any worse—until the e-mails arrived. They began on July 10, coming from a Gmail address. "What if I told you I have 'pics' of you?" one asked. "Like a lot. Would you send me more?" A second e-mail added that the victim was "crazy hot"—unlikely to be much of a compliment coming from a random Internet creepo asking for more nude pictures.
They began corresponding, the woman trying to figure out how the guy had gotten her photos, which were stored only on her computer. (He sent her several of the unpublished photos as proof of his claim.) The guy on the other end of the Gmail account never admitted to burgling her home; he claimed that some random person with a craigslist account had just happened to send him the pictures.
"Send me more," he demanded.
Read the rest of the story, including how they caught the perpetrator, here.
Bald men seen as more powerful, masculine, and strong.
in Attitudes, Attraction
This recently published study has been getting lots of attention.
From the CBC:
Men shaved bald perceived to be better leaders University of Pennsylvania study also notes bald men rated lower in looks and seen as older
Chrome domes, take note: New research from one of the premier business schools in the U.S. suggests men who shave their heads are perceived to be more dominant, more athletic and better leaders.
Research by information management lecturer Albert Mannes at the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School of Business suggests that while men with male-pattern baldness tend to view themselve as having poor self-esteem, those who take the pre-emptive step of shaving a thinning head of hair enjoy numerous benefits in terms of how they are perceived by others.
In the paper, published in the journal Social Psychological and Personality Science, Mannes outlines the results of three recent experiments involving men with shorn heads:
Participants were asked to look at pictures of men of a similar age, including some with shaved heads, and then rank them across many categories, including attractiveness, confidence, leadership ability and how much power they exuded.
Mannes attempted to control for other features, by showing pictures of the same men with hair, and then images in which their hair has been digitally removed. The same questions were again asked.
Physical descriptions of men were given, without pictures, and respondents were asked to describe their impressions
Two of the experiments showed that shaved men were perceived as being as much as an inch taller, on average, and stronger: the survey showed shaved men were estimated to be able to bench press 13 per cent more, on average.
In all three, they were also perceived to have better leadership qualities.
Mannes, who has shaved his head since he started going bald in his thirties, said the idea for the experiments came from his own experience.
"After fighting it for a while, one day I just decided to shave it off," he said in an interview published on the Wharton school's website.
While he received positive reviews from those who knew him, he noticed that new interactions with strangers were different. Others seemed "stand-offish and even deferential" to him, where they hadn't been before.
The experiments also showed a downside, however.
Men with shaved heads were rated lower in attractiveness and also seen as being older. But they nonetheless scored higher than men with thinning hair, who were ranked lower in almost all categories.
Another public service announcement - dick pics.
Posted in the comment section this week by a past student (thanks!):
Promiscuous species may have stronger immune systems.
in Monogamy
From Science Daily:
Monogamy and the Immune System: Differences in Sexual Behavior Impact Bacteria Hosted and Genes That Control Immunity
In the foothills of the Santa Cruz Mountains two closely related species of mice share a habitat and a genetic lineage, but have very different social lives. The California mouse (Peromyscus californicus) is characterized by a lifetime of monogamy; the deer mouse (Peromyscus maniculatus) is sexually promiscuous.
Researchers at the University of California Berkeley recently showed how these differences in sexual behavior impact the bacteria hosted by each species as well as the diversity of the genes that control immunity. The results were published in the May 2012 edition of PLoS One.
Monogamy is a fairly rare trait in mammals, possessed by only five percent of species. Rarely do two related, but socially distinguishable, species live side-by-side. This makes these two species of mice interesting subjects for Matthew MacManes, a National Institutes of Health-sponsored post-doctoral fellow at UC Berkeley.
Through a series of analyses, MacManes and researchers from the Lacey Lab examined the differences between these two species on the microscopic and molecular levels. They discovered that the lifestyles of the two mice had a direct impact on the bacterial communities that reside within the female reproductive tract. Furthermore, these differences correlate with enhanced diversifying selection on genes related to immunity against bacterial diseases.
[...]
Based on a comparison of the two species' genotypes he confirmed that the promiscuous mice had much more diversity in the genes related to their immune system.
"The promiscuous mice, by virtue of their sexual system, are in contact with more individuals and are exposed to a lot more bacteria," MacManes said. "They need a more robust immune system to fend off all of the bugs that they're exposed to."
The results, published in PLoS One, match findings in humans and other species with differential mating habits. They show that differences in social behavior can lead to changes in the selection pressures and gene-level evolutionary changes in a species.
Read the rest of the article here.
More Damn You, Auto Corrects!
in Humour Etc.
Thursday mail - October 4.
Have any questions or comments related to sex or sexuality? If so, fire away.
California bans conversion therapy for teens.
Ostensibly, the purpose of conversion therapy is to treat peoples' same-sex attraction (i.e., make them straight). It's practiced all over the world in many different forms. The main proponent of conversion therapy in North America and Europe is the religious right, who take their cue from scripture (i.e., homosexuality is a sin).
As you might suspect, this type of therapy has caused outrage among those who believe that sexual orientation is a human rights issue. Additionally, there's no evidence that conversion therapy works. However, there is evidence that it leads to several negative outcomes (i.e., increased distress, depression, anxiety, suicide, etc.).
Last week California passed a law banning conversion therapy for teenagers. This is an interesting move. On the surface, it seems like an excellent thing to do given its ineffectiveness and potential harm. But, many therapists and clinicians are concerned that using the law to change and control treatment approaches is inappropriate and dangerous. They note that there are many, many types of therapy that are legal but have no scientific support (i.e., no evidence supporting their effectiveness).
Paul (thanks!) passed along an article about the change in the law. Not surprisingly, the religious right has already started pursuing lawsuits to have the legislation overturned.
From the BBC:
California bans teenage gay conversion therapy
California Governor Jerry Brown has signed into law a ban on therapy aimed at making gay teenagers straight.
When the law comes into effect on 1 January, the Golden State will become the first to outlaw the practice for people under the age of 18.
The bill was backed by mental health groups, and gay rights activists say reparative or "conversion therapy" can increase risk of depression or suicide.
Counselling and prayer is used to help some Christians deal with gay urges.
The bill was signed over the weekend along with more than 100 pieces of legislation sent to the governor by California's state legislature.
Two Christian groups, the California-based Pacific Justice Institute and the Florida-based Liberty Counsel will challenge the law.
The Liberty Counsel said it planned to argue in its lawsuit that the measure infringes on the First Amendment and equal protection rights.
'Junk science' In his statement, Gov Brown said sexual orientation change efforts "have no basis in science or medicine and they will now be relegated to the dustbin of quackery".
The Human Rights Campaign, an advocacy group, said: "We're grateful to Governor Brown for standing with California's children.
"LGBT [lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender] youth will now be protected from a practice that has not only been debunked as junk science, but has been proven to have drastically negative effects on their well-being," the gay rights advocate added, urging other states to take up similar measures.
But the National Association for Research and Therapy on Homosexuality said the bill was a "legislative over-reach".
Some conservative groups have said banning the therapy would restrict a parent's right to care for children going through gender confusion.
California is embroiled in a long-standing legal tussle over gay marriage.
A law called Proposition 8 banned same-sex marriage in California just months after it had been introduced. But a court overturned the ban in 2010.
After an appeal was upheld, the matter may now come before the US Supreme Court for a final ruling.
Diane Kelly: What we didn't know about penis anatomy.
Generally speaking, I'm a huge fan of TED talks. Here's one that's related to material we covered in class last week:
"[The penis is] a really effective solution to a very basic biological problem.”
For many more TED talks, click here.