Have any questions or comments? If so, fire away.
Gendered marketing.
Design and print your own dildo.
in Sex Toys
From Jezebel:
The Future is Now: You Can Design and 3D Print Your Very Own Dildo By Isha Aran
It has become very clear over the course of history that the dildo is truly pinnacle of technological determinism as we know it. YAASSS GAGA.
A brilliant programmer Ikaros Kappler has built www.dildo-generator.com, a website that allows users to design their own sex toy(s). Sure, 3D printed sex toys are nothing new, but this is pretty damn user friendly. You can toggle with the width and length, as well as the bézier curves, angle, how it bends and you can choose from a handful of different colors. Why, you can even upload your own background! (Though I'm not certain how exactly how that translates when the dildo itself when it's printed out.)
You can either 3D print that shit out yourself—the program will provide an estimated weight in silicone—or if you don't have access to a printer, Kappas suggests enlisting the help of some tiny Hackerspaces in Berlin that have printers to order a mold and/or silicon models. Or perhaps you can take it to yourlocal 3D printer if you're not, you know, in Germany.
As far as design options go, it's pretty simple and straightforward. And really really fun. I definitely got lost in there for a while (at least an hour), trying to make a design that at least vaguely resembled a dolphin—utter fail. So seriously, have a blast.
A Reddit user describes what it's like to be an unattractive woman.
in Attraction, Body Image
Video: My Gynaecomastia and Me.
From Metro:
Man with ‘man boobs’ posts brave video (and the internet loves him)
Sometimes, just sometimes, the internet is a beautiful place.
When a young man posted a thread on Reddit saying that he was considering suicide because of his ‘man boobs’, Christopher Pineda decided it was time to step in.
Like the man who posted the Reddit thread, Chris suffers from gynaecomastia, a condition that causes boys’ and men’s breasts to grown larger than normal.
Posting a reply on Reddit, Chris wrote: ‘Hey there, I just want to tell you that it’s okay to feel the way you do. You’re not wrong in feeling the way you do, it’s only natural given the problem we’re facing. It’s difficult and I’ve felt the same way, and still do at times.’
He went on to direct the man to a video he’d made, ‘to help empower myself and others.’
The video shows Chris, topless, standing in front of a mirror.
Touchingly, he starts the video: ‘Sorry if I offend you, there is a good purpose to this video.’
He then goes on to explain that although living with gynaecomastia is hard, it’s definitely not worth ending your life over: ‘It hasn’t made my life easy as you can imagine. I’m not depressed, not at all. Yes, I’m sad, but not depressed. What I am, however, is very frustrated, I am frustrated with the cards that I have been dealt.’
He ends the video by reaching out to the Reddit user saying: ‘so yeah, if you have any questions, you wanna talk to me about your gynaecomastia, things you’ve been through…talk to me, I’m here.’
The best part of this story however is the overwhelming support Chris has been shown since posting his video. Yes, unfortunately (and predictably) there have been some nasty comments, but the vast majority have been supportive.
In fact, the response has been so positive that Chris has launched a fund to try and raise the money he needs for surgery.
Go Chris! Go internet!
And the video (turn captions 'off', if they annoy you):
Online dating partner preferences.
in Attitudes, Attraction
Thursday mail - June 4th.
Have any questions or comments? If so, fire away.
Penis enlarger.
From The Star:
Man buys penis enlarger, gets magnifying glass instead By Natasha Joibi
KUALA LUMPUR: A man who purchased a penis enlargement device online had a rude shock when he received a magnifying glass instead of the device he thought he had purchased.
MCA Public Service and Complaint Bureau chairman Datuk Seri Michael Chong said Tuesday that the disgruntled customer, known only as Ong from Seri Kembangan, had paid RM450 for the penis enlarger.
“When he received the package, he was shocked to find a magnifying glass inside.
“The instructions that came with the package merely read ‘Do not use in sunlight’,” he said.
Chong told reporters that Ong was one of many who have fallen prey to online scams of this sort.
“Men and women are equally vulnerable to these scams. Three people lost a total of more than RM80,000 to these scams this year alone,” he said.
Chong added that scammers lure their victims by selling their products at a low price and very often, the items never get to their customers.
Lawyer Alex Kok said that unsatisfied customers who wished to sue these scammers would find it difficult to do so due to the dubious nature of the business.
“It is especially hard if there is no proof of purchase, such as receipts.
“We wouldn’t know who to sue or where and how to sue them,” he added.
12 victims of online scams have sought assistance from the MCA Public Service and Complaint Bureau since 2012.
Virgin births.
From Reuters:
Claims of virgin births in U.S. near 1 percent: study By Sharon Begley
Nearly 1 percent of young women in a U.S. study who have become pregnant claim to have done so as virgins, according to a report in the Christmas edition of Britain's BMJ medical journal.
The authors of "Like a virgin (mother)" - whose prose is devoid of irony - say such scientifically impossible claims show researchers must use care in interpreting self-reported behavior. Fallible memory, beliefs and wishes can cause people to err in what they tell scientists.
Based on interviews with 7,870 women and girls ages 15 to 28, 45 of the 5,340 pregnancies in this group through the years - 0.8 percent - occurred in women who reported that they conceived independent of men. The figure does not include pregnancies that result from in vitro fertilization or other assisted reproductive technology.
Each year, the BMJ Christmas edition publishes untraditional science papers. In addition to the report on virgin pregnancies, the latest BMJ includes papers on whether there is a local baby boom nine months after home sports teams triumph (only a small one, but statistically significant) and whether an apple a day would keep the British doctor away (yes, saving about 8,500 lives in the United Kingdom each year, about as many as would expanding the use of cholesterol-lowering drugs to everyone over 50).
For the study of putative virgin pregnancies, researchers at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill analyzed data from the thousands of teenage girls and young women who took part in the long-running National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health.
The girls were 12 to 18 years old when they entered the study in the 1994-95 school year and were interviewed periodically about their health and behavior over 14 years, including via computer as a way to encourage them to be candid when answering questions about their sexual history.
The 45 women and girls who became pregnant despite, according to what they told interviewers, being virgins at the time of conception differed in several ways from peers who acknowledged that men had had a role in their procreation.
Of those who said they became pregnant as virgins, 31 percent also said they had signed chastity pledges; 15 percent of nonvirgins who became pregnant said they had signed such pledges, in which a girl vows not to have sex until she marries.
The 45 self-described virgins who reported having become pregnant and the 36 who gave birth were also more likely than nonvirgins to say their parents never or rarely talked to them about sex and birth control. About 28 percent of the "virgin" mothers' parents (who were also interviewed) indicated they didn't have enough knowledge to discuss sex and contraception with their daughters, compared to 5 percent of the parents of girls who became pregnant and said they had had intercourse.
The ostensibly chaste mothers were also less likely to know how to use condoms, according to the report. UNC biostatistician Amy Herring and public health expert Carolyn Halpern led the group.
The researchers found that although the mothers in question were more likely to have boys than girls, and to be pregnant during the weeks leading up to Christmas, neither similarity to the Virgin Mary was statistically significant.
More PostSecrets.
in Humour Etc.
True sexual monogamy.
in Monogamy
Interview: Dr. Zhana Vrangalova on casual sex.
From Salon:
Casual sex isn’t just for college kids The creators of the Casual Sex Project collected hookup stories from around the world. Here's what they learned By Tracy Clark-Flory
Guess what! Hookups are not just for college students. In other news: Young people didn’t invent sex. You wouldn’t know any of that from the media coverage of casual sex, which invariably focuses on the carnal aerobics of hot young keg-standing coeds. Nor could you tell it from scientific papers on the topic, which, like so much research, rely on collegiate samples. Zhana Vrangalova, herself a sex researcher, is changing that perception with the Casual Sex Project, a website that solicits true hookup stories from people of all ages and from around the world.
These flings are not set in dorm rooms, frat houses or university libraries. Among the responses Vrangalova has collected thus far, there’s a threesome outdoors in the countryside, impromptu sex next to a headless stuffed sheep, a tryst at a swinger’s club in Manhattan and a “happy ending” at a massage parlor. There are also more prosaic flings in bed and, of course, in the back of a car. There is awful sex, glorious multiple orgasming, and one experience that sounds like sexual assault (and yet the woman writes that “it was so hot”). Sex is had sober, drunk, stoned and high on coke. There is BDSM, infidelity and bittersweet ex-sex (“He felt his way around my body, and I let my hands remember all that they once loved to hold”).
Some descriptions are erotic: “Rubbing my neck, holding my hand, slipping his fingers in and out of the sleeves and neckline of my shirt. Dipping a few times into the edges of my bra.” Some are schoolgirl gushy: “He grabbed me and kissed me and my head exploded. BEST. KISS. EVER.” And of course, this being sex, there is plenty of humor, too: “I’m panting and looking at her smiling while she out of nowhere grabs some moisture off her vagina and brings it up and anoints it across my forehead while saying ‘siiimmmba,’” writes one man. (The “Lion King” reference was apropos of nothing, making it all the better.)
Vrangalova, who has conducted plenty of for-reals scientific research on hookup culture, spoke with Salon about what makes a casual sex seeker, why women regret hookups more than men, and who benefits most from hookups.
[…]
What have you learned so far about people’s casual sex experiences?
That there is an incredible diversity of hookup experiences in terms of what counts as casual sex — from one-night stands, to sex with an ex, to paid sex, online sex — the quality of the experience — from that hookup being the best sex they’ve ever had to it being the worst sex they’ve ever had — the transformative power of the hookup — from opening their minds and bodies to enjoying sex more freely to making it painfully clear to them that sex without love is not for them. Some people have only had one single hookup and they remember it 20 years later, others hook up on a regular basis; some cheat on their partners, others have group sex sanctioned by or together with their partners. The variety is really astonishing.
Women see their vaginas for the first time.
The YouTuber is DaveyWavey, who has made a slew of hilarious and informative videos, almost exclusively related to sex.
Kitty Carpet.
From Fashion First Aid:
Botched brazilian? Misbehaved shave? Unveiled va-jay-jay?
thesolution is Kitty Carpet: reusable downstairs toupee
For the prodigal hippie, the French-web-footed-prostitute-in-another-life, and the woman who wants to bring some spice into the bedroom, the wait is over! Long gone are the days of picking up hairs from the bathroom floor and saving them to make your own merkin. Now you can buy a rug for Mrs. Downstairs in the color you want, cut it to the shape you need, and experience life to the fullest. Each Kitty Carpet measures 3.5" wide on top and is 4.5" long. Infinitely reusable, it comes with one sheet of Quick Fix Sticks (medical grade double-sided tape) with 16-24 pieces of tape to start you out. And don't fret, no actual kitties were harmed in making this product, as Kitty Carpet is 100% polyester faux fur.
Choose between the following 3 colors:
Michael Jackson's Hair The Carpet Matches the Drapes Natural Pink Using Kitty Carpet is easy as:
1) Trim your Kitty Carpet to the desired shape. (Stencils available at solutionsthatstick.com/downstairscarpet) 2) Peel off at least one included Quick Fix Stick and stick it to the non-fuzzy side of Kitty Carpet. 3) Adhere your Kitty Carpet exactly where yo uthink it should go. Contains: 1 carpet with 16-24 pieces of Quick Fix Sticks Measures: 4 1/2" x 3 1/2" x 1/5" (11.5 x 9 x 0.5 cm)
TED: Dr. Helen Fisher on Why we love, why we cheat.
in Attitudes, Love, Monogamy, Relationships
Victoria, BC really likes sex toys.
From Vice:
Why do the residents of Victoria, B.C. buy more sex toys than any other place in Canada? By Sarah Berman
Let me just get out in front of this and say it: I don’t think Victorians are dramatically kinkier than the rest of us.
Not any more, anyway. When I first read that Victoria, BC had been ranked the highest per-capita consumer of sex toys, I assumed the islanders were in on some sex secret the rest of Canada had yet to discover. Balloons, maybe? Showerhead orgies on acid? I really wasn’t sure.
After hanging around a couple sex shops and chatting with a few industry wonks, though, I’ve come to understand Victoria’s higher-than-average dildo acquisition is a product of demographics and maybe weather. As one of the most elderly cities in the country—like, 113th birthday party elderly—there are naturally some folks seeking to rectify (ha) legit plumbing issues. At one sex shop I visited, couples as old as 96 and 98 have dropped in searching of means to keep their tickle trunks twiddled.
But when I tell another sex shop owner the good news, Christine Page is genuinely surprised. She says in-person sex shops have taken a hit—a few in Victoria have closed recently—which is why she’s diversifying into Eyes Wide Shut masks and rave gear. This trend is a shame, Page said, because knockoff Fleshlights are too rampant online—which are totally not worth it, apparently. (I felt this was a PSA worth sharing. You’re welcome.)
Women also outnumber men in Victoria, making vibrating anythings an alternative—if not a necessity—for boring heteros. Yes, I hate myself for even writing that—but this fact and framing was repeatedly pointed out to me, often accompanied by hyperbolic stats like “there’s three women for every man in Victoria.”
“I have heard over the years so many complaints from women age 19 to 70,” said Page, “no single men in Victoria.” I looked at 2011 census data, and it’s more like five women to every four men. There are 22 percent more unattached women than men, a surplus of 14,000-ish single ladies. This phenomenon has a disappointing Urban Dictionary entry: Chicktoria.
The constant, unrelenting February rain also keeps the toy business chugging/pumping/whatever semi-gross metaphor you prefer: “Our high spot for selling toy stuff is the winter compared to summer,” Page said. “In the summer people are out hiking and doing stuff, but this time of year it’s quite rainy and gloomy, the weather.” A Netflix account can only get you so far on days when it’s too miserable outside to leave the house. Victorians make sure to stock up for the season.
Thursday mail - May 29th.
Have any questions or comments? If so, fire away.
Ninja kegels.
Keep in mind that these exercises will increase PC muscle strength, and therefore may allow men to have dry orgasms (i.e., ejaculatory control). On the other hand, strengthened PC muscles may actually increase premature ejaculation (PE) in men already prone to PE.
Some straight men respond to Grindr.
For those who aren't familiar with Grindr, from their website:
Grindr is a simple app that uses your mobile device’s location-based services to show you the guys closest to you who are also on Grindr. How much of your info they see is entirely your call.
While it's described as a social-media app, it's primarily used by men looking to hook up for sex with other men. There's a version for opposite sex partners called Tindr, but it's a little more subtle, at least on the hooking-up-for-sex front.
A YouTube regular, Neil McNeil, asked a bunch of his straight friends what they thought of Grindr, and here's the result:
"I am cumming day and night!"
in Hormones, Orgasm, Humour Etc.