Twighlight Sparkle and the man who loves her.

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From A.V. Club:

The Internet finally reaches its apex as man marrying My Little Pony character writes angry email to erotic pony artist

The Internet—the global system of interconnected networks that’s become an increasingly central means of commerce and communication capable of bringing far-flung civilizations together—reached its apex this week, after a man claiming to be the fiancé of My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic character Twilight Sparkle contacted a user of online community DeviantArt to demand he stop drawing sexual pictures of his imaginary pony-bride. The request was made in a letter that was then published in full on the Internet, which no longer has any reason to exist, having achieved everything it has ever set out to do.

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“I would really appreciate it if the next time your birthday comes around you would request that your clop artist friends (who like to give you sexually oriented pony art as gifts) draw some pony other than Twilight Sparkle for you,” one grown man typed to another, using the system developed through decades of work by British scientists and military contractors. Their dedication paid off in their descendants’ easy access to forums where other, similarly pioneering men could discuss their love for a cartoon pony show, even forging bold new identities as “bronies,” as well as explore virtual art galleries in which those ponies are drawn engaging in erotic acts—all without ever leaving their homes. This, after all, may have led to social situations where caring so intensely about cartoon ponies might have been discouraged.

Instead, the system was in place for a man to not only develop such feelings, but to have “actually found a wedding chapel that will let me marry someone that most people would consider a fictional character” but at least isn’t the same sex as him. The innovations of the Internet also enabled him to share that love—not only with the family and friends who will attend that wedding while staring with a vaguely pained expression into space, but with everyone in the digital world, so that they too may know its very detailed depths.

Read the rest here.

And just because it's amazing - BRONIES, the documentary:

Trailer for the documentary film. Full film available at http://www.bronydoc.com/ This trailer features the following music: Alex S. - Party With Pinkie (The Living Tombstone's Remix) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hBYGTEj7s0w A Long Way from Equestria -- Original MLP music by MandoPony & AcousticBrony http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LH8Ri2VULHo Eurobeat Brony - Discord (The Living Tombstone's Remix) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xPfMb50dsOk ©2012 BronyDoc, LLC Neither this film, nor any view or opinion expressed in it, is approved or endorsed by, or is in any way associated with Hasbro.

Interview with a phone sex worker.

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From The Frisky:

Frisky Q&A: Phone Sex Operator Sabrina Morgan Talks Kinky Sex, Dirty Talk Tips & Melon Humpers

Be honest: “For A Good Time, Call …” has made you just a tiny bit curious about what it’s like to work a phone sex line. Is it just pervs who call up and pant into the phone before hanging up? Are all the women who do it just paying their way through grad school?

We went to Sabrina Morgan, a 28-year-old phone sex operator in San Diego, for the real story. She got involved in phone sex back in 2005 and was kind enough to answer some questions over email. Everything you want to know about dirty talk, stocking fetishes and melon humping!

Why did you start working a phone sex line? I’d been teased before about having a phone sex voice, and when I was looking for part-time work in college a close friend jokingly suggested phone sex. A friend of mine I knew through volunteering was actually a stripper; she told me where to find out more about the work, and it proved to be such a good fit for the weird hours I was keeping in college as well as for me personally.

Read the rest of the interview here.

Also, check out Ms. Morgan's excellent blog here.

Documentary: Virgin School.

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From the documentary description:

Virgin School follows the emotional and physical journey of a 26 year old virgin as he embarks on a unique four month course for sexually inexperienced men in Amsterdam. The course is designed to boost his sexual confidence. If he makes enough progress the course could end with him losing his virginity to one of the sex therapist coaches.

According to a recent study (by Radio 1, MTV and Durex) the vast majority of people lose their virginity between the ages of 16 and 18. However, there is a small section of society who remain virgins well into middle age. Around 4% of people haven’t had sex by the time they hit 25. James is one of them. He’s ‘never even got to first base.’ He says that ‘Being a virgin you get judged, you’re isolated, an outcast. For me losing my virginity is a rite of passage, it’s about becoming a man and feeling like everyone else, feeling that you’re not abnormal ’.

James has given up all hope of ever having sex or having a meaningful relationship with a woman but that could all be about to change as he heads off to Virgin School.

The documentary is uncomfortable to watch at times, but is also fascinating. This type of school is the sort of thing that could only happen in specific jurisdictions, and raises some interesting ethical questions.

NSFW!

Virgin School part 1

Virgin School part 2 continued

Virgin School part 3 continued

Virgin School part 4 and final

Coregasms.

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From Salon.com:

Working the coregasm

New science sheds light on the unexpected pleasure that some women feel during exercise

“At the end of yoga,” my friend whispers, inching closer, “something sort of … strange happens.” A quick glance around confirms that the good patrons of Starbucks are less interested in her confession than they are in the nearby screaming banshee baby.

“I usually sit with my feet together and my knees splayed,” she continues tentatively, “for one final stretch before I take shavasana.” I nod her on. So far, I follow. “Leaning over to bring my head down to my feet, as my breath regulates I feel a sort of … tingling and pulsating down (ahem) there. And … the feeling isn’t entirely unwelcome.” She exhales, as if a great weight has lifted. “But I mean, that’s pretty weird, right?”

Turns out it’s actually not. Exercise-induced female sexual pleasure has been the subject of casual discussion and un-researched speculation for years. Even sexologist Alfred Kinsey mentions the phenomenon in his “Sexual Behaviors in the Human Female” (1953). But until now, the experience was mostly anecdotal. Now, a study by Indiana University researchers offers scientific evidence that confirms confessions once incredulously traded in gym class locker rooms.

According to Dr. Debby Herbenick, co-director of the Center for Sexual Health Promotion at IU and sexual health educator at the Kinsey Institute, the oft-deemed “coregasm” (because of its association with crunches) can actually be linked to various exercises, including abdominal workouts, biking, weight-lifting and climbing.

With co-author J. Dennis Fortenberry, M.D. and professor at the IU School of Medicine, Herbenick surveyed 370 women, ages 18 to 63, all of whom had experienced some sort of exercise-induced sexual experience prior to the study. Most of the women were in a relationship or married, and about 69 percent identified themselves as heterosexual. One hundred twenty-four of them had experienced exercise-induced orgasms (EIO) and 246 had experienced exercise-induced sexual pleasure (EISP). Forty percent of the women reported that they experienced sexual pleasure from exercise 10 times or more.

Read the rest here.

Gay-for-pay.

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In the porn industry, gay-for-pay refers to actors that identify as straight, but appear in gay porn. There are three explanations for this phenomenon:

1. In straight porn, male actors are paid much less than their female counterparts. Male actors in gay porn are, on average, paid more. Also, male actors in gay porn are much more likely to become stars than male actors in straight porn, where they're overshadowed by the female actors. For these two reasons, there's an incentive for straight actors to do gay porn. Criticism from gay actors has led some gay-for-pay actors to claim that they're bisexual to legitimatize their gay porn careers.

2. In gay porn, story lines that feature supposedly straight men being seduced into sex by gay men have become extremely popular. There is the allure of the unattainable, and power associated with being the first to sleep with a straight-identified man. For this reason, actors who market themselves as straight (regardless of their orientation) are sought after, and are a valuable commodity to agents and producers.

3. Gay-for-pay actors are actually closeted or bisexual, and the porn industry provides them a platform to experiment with their sexuality, or a stepping stone to coming out, under the guise of a career.

The following two clips are of a gay-for-pay actor named Aaron James. The first clip is from his appearance on the Tyra Banks Show (I can't believe I'm linking to the Tyra Banks Show - there goes what credibility I might have had). The second clip is from a promo for a porn site (and for Aaron).

The Tyra Banks Show - ''Men who are 'gay for pay''' (Recorded Jan 22, 2009, WWOR)

More clips from the Tyra Banks Show episode on gay-for-pay here: part 1 part 3 part 4 part 5

And yes, Tyra's 'interview' style is embarrassingly bad. There's some interesting commentary in the comments section from an article on this episode here, at Queerty.

So which theory (or theories) seems most credible?

I imagine that all three are somewhat valid, although given the specificity of male sexual response, the third theory probably accounts for more cases. But, without data, it's impossible to say for sure.

iO Tillett Wright: Fifty shades of gay.

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A must-watch TEDx by iO Wright:

Artist iO Tillett Wright has photographed 2,000 people who consider themselves somewhere on the LBGTQ spectrum and asked many of them: Can you assign a percentage to how gay or straight you are? Most people, it turns out, consider themselves to exist in the gray areas of sexuality, not 100% gay or straight. Which presents a real problem when it comes to discrimination: Where do you draw the line? (Filmed at TEDxWomen.)

As a child actor, iO Tillett Wright turned her shoes around in the bathroom stall so that people would think she was a boy. As a teenager, she fell in love with both women and men. Her life in the grey areas of gender and sexuality deeply inform her work as an artist.

Photographer iO Tillett Wright grew up between genders and sexualities. She's shot 2,000 people who consider themselves somewhere on the LBGTQ spectrum and asked many: can they assign a percentage to how gay or straight they are? Most people consider themselves to exist in the grey areas of sexuality, which presents a real problem when it comes to discrimination.

Bidding for sex doll's virginity passes $100,000.

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From the Huffington Post:

Brazilian Sex Doll's Virginity: Bids For Valentina's Flower Surpass $105,000.

Would you spend more than $100,000 on a one night stand? Did we mention it's with a sex doll?

Well, apparently there are quite a few people in the world who would.

Sexônico, an online sex shop, has started a bidding war for the virginity of Valentina, Brazil's first life-like sex doll. So far, the bids for the faux lady's flower have surpassed $105,000.

According to a Huffington Post translation of the website, whoever places the highest bid before March 31 -- when the auction ends -- will win the full romantic package, which includes:

  • A night in the presidential suite of Motel Swing [a pay-by-the-hour motel] in the city of São Paulo
  • A special candlelit dinner with French champagne
  • An aromatic bath with rose petals
  • Roundtrip flights (if you don't live in Sao Paulo)
  • Special lingerie (this is for her!)
  • A digital camera so you can film and after show it to your friends

As Gawker notes, Sexônico posted the offering ahead of the first international convention of inflatable dolls, a four-day expo which began Wednesday in Brazil. Valentina will be unveiled in real life -- so to speak -- for the first time at the event.

Unlike other sex dolls, Brazil's first "real doll" features skin that's similar in texture to human skin.

"She has green eyes, fleshy lips, full breasts and a body that inspires envy in all women," Sexônico describes on its website.

While the current price of Valentina's virginity is nowhere near the $780,000 Catarina Migliorini, a 20-year-old Brazilian woman, won for her v-card, with a$5,000 starting bid, the auction has certainly taken off. Bidders can make their offers online, but they must use their real names so they'll be obligated to pay.

View the NSFW photos of Valentina on Sexônico's website.

NoHomophobes.

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Passed along by Sherrine (thanks!) - I can't believe it's taken me this long to post.

NoHomophobes is a site that tracks homophobic language by Twitter users in real time. It's displays the word frequencies as well as the actual tweets. The tweets move so quickly (i.e., there are so many of them) that it's impossible to read them before they are replaced by new ones (the site displays 10 at a time). Here's a completely random sample (click to make larger):

Watch the feed here. It's depressing.

Worldwide porn preferences.

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I can't even begin to describe how much I love data like this (and like the data from Match.com posted earlier this week). Academic research is obviously the gold standard when it comes to the sciences, but data collected through websites that have millions of users is also highly informative, despite it's typical lack of scientific rigour.

PornMD is a worldwide porn search engine that searches content across many very popular porn websites (SpankWire, YouPorn, XTube, etc.). As you can probably imagine, millions of searches have been conducted through the site, and someone wise has been collecting all the data from those searches. PornMD recently released some of that data. They've tallied the most frequent searches by region (within the US and across the world), and created infographics to display their findings. Check them all out here.

Some of the more interesting findings:

  • MILFs (Mothers I'd Like to Fuck - in other words, women aged ~30+) are now more popular in the states than teens (and in many other countries, too)
  • Asians top the list in Canada
  • Ebony (African American) tops the list in Mississippi, Louisiana and Arkansas
  • despite claims by Ahmadinejad, the president of Iran, that there are no homosexuals in Iran, 5 of the top 10 most frequent searches in Iran are for gay content

Polyandry.

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From The Atlantic:

When Taking Multiple Husbands Makes Sense

For generations, anthropologists have told their students a fairly simple story about polyandry -- the socially recognized mating of one woman to two or more males. The story has gone like this:

While we can find a cluster of roughly two dozen societies on the Tibetan plateau in which polyandry exists as a recognized form of mating, those societies count as anomalous within humankind. And because polyandry doesn't exist in most of the world, if you could jump into a time machine and head back thousands of years, you probably wouldn't find polyandry in our evolutionary history.

That's not the case, though, according to a recent paper in Human Nature co-authored by two anthropologists, Katherine Starkweather, a PhD candidate at the University of Missouri, and Raymond Hames, professor of anthropology at the University of Nebraska. While earning her masters under Hames' supervision, Starkweather undertook a careful survey of the literature, and found anthropological accounts of 53 societies outside of the "classic polyandrous" Tibetan region that recognize and allow polyandrous unions. (Disclosure: I first learned of Starkweather's project while researching a controversy involving Hames and he is now a friend.)

Indeed, according to Starkweather and Hames, anthropologists have documented social systems for polyandrous unions "among foragers in a wide variety of environments ranging from the Arctic to the tropics, and to the desert." Recognizing that at least half these groups are hunter-gatherer societies, the authors conclude that, if those groups are similar to our ancestors -- as we may reasonably suspect -- then "it is probable that polyandry has a deep human history."

Read the rest here.

Research from Match.com.

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Back in 2011 Match.com, a massive online dating site, bought OKCupid, another massive online dating sites. Someone at OKCupid, being a total data dork and genius, started analyzing data the site collected and published the findings on the OKCupid blog, OKTrends. It was amazing, and became very popular. I've posted about it before (here, here, here and here). When Match.com bought OKCupid, they were smart enough to keep the blog going, albeit under a new name (link here). They've started creating videos based on their data. Here is the most recent one: 

Starring Tim Dunn, Jim Santangeli and Matt Gehring www.r-d-media.com

They also still publish their data in text format, too. Here's some recent data on FWB relationships:

Friends with Benefits: An Emerging Stage in Romance? 47% of singles are have had a friend with benefits relationship in the past (40% of women and 53% of men). More than ever before, friends with benefits are turning into long-term relationships (2012: 44%, 2011: 20%).

More than ever before, singles are having friends with benefits situations and one-night stands:

One-night stand: 2011: 13%; 2012: 54% Friends with benefits: 2011: 20%; 2012: 47% One Night Stands

1/3 (33%) of singles have had a one-night stand turn into a relationship; more men than women (35% vs. 30%) have experienced this 1/3 of singles (31%) had a one-night stand last year (2012) 44% of single women have had a one-night stand in their past 63% of single men have had a one-night stand in their past

Much more here.

Documentary: The Homosexuals.

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From 1967! Shows you just how far we have come (or not): 

"The Homosexuals" is a 1967 episode of the documentary television series CBS Reports. The hour-long broadcast featured a discussion of a number of topics related to homosexuality and homosexuals. Mike Wallace anchored the episode, which aired on March 7, 1967.

Pure awesomeness.

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This clip has been around for a while and has been posted before, but I figured it would be worth bumping again. Thanks to whoever mentioned the clip in the replies this week. Take it away Zach:

Zach Wahls, a 19-year-old University of Iowa student spoke about the strength of his family during a public forum on House Joint Resolution 6 in the Iowa House of Representatives. Wahls has two mothers, and came to oppose House Joint Resolution 6 which would end civil unions in Iowa.


Summary of social science research on same-sex parenting.

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In 2008, the people of California narrowly voted in favour of Proposition 8, which led to a state constitution amendment reaffirming the original definition of marriage as only between a man and woman. Previously in California, marriage had been legally redefined to include same-sex couples. Immediately, there was a legal challenge and Prop 8 was eventually overturned. This decision was later appealed by the anti-gay-marriage folks and is still in the process of working it's way through US Supreme Court. How this case turns out could influence marriage law across the States. In cases like these, outside interest groups (intervenors) are able to submit input to be considered by the courts. Typically this is in the form of an amicus brief, or report to the court. The American Sociological Association recently submitted the amicus linked below. It is a fantastic review of the research on same-sex parenting and demolishes the claims that stable, same-sex parent families are unhealthy for children. Here's a particularly poignant quote:

The social science consensus is both conclusive and clear: children fare just as well when they are raised by same-sex parents as when they are raised by opposite sex parents. This consensus holds true across a wide range of child outcome indicators and is supported by numerous nationally representative studies. Accordingly, assuming that either DOMA or Proposition 8 has any effect on whether children are raised by opposite-sex or same-sex parents, there is no basis to prefer opposite-sex parents over same-sex parents and neither DOMA nor Proposition 8 is justified. The research supports the conclusion that extension of marriage rights to same-sex couples has the potential to improve child wellbeing insofar as the institution of marriage may provide social and legal support to families and enhances family stability, key drivers of positive child outcomes.

Read the whole report here.