Have any questions related to sex or sexuality? If so, fire away in the comments section.
Isabella Rossellini's Green Porno.
I've posted about Isabella Rossellini' Green Porno series previously, but it's worth a repost.
Growing up, I became acquainted with Isabella Rossellini, an actress, through two David Lynch films, Wild at Heart and Blue Velvet (I was a huge David Lynch fan as a kid). She is widely regarded worldwide as an exceptional actress.
Having achieved world domination as an actress, she turned her sights to various philanthropic conservation causes and a related pet project called Green Porno.
The series, which aired on the Sundance Channel, featured Ms. Rossellini and other actors dressed up as creatures and having sex. It was intended to be both educational and fun. You can read more about it here: link.
Here are a sample of the shorts:
Pronunciation.
in Humour Etc.
Some ridiculousness to ease you back into the week.
In case you were wondering...
Field trip to Sweet Adult Boutique, October 14th.
in Sex Toys
Velvet Steele (website) has kindly offered to do a free educational session on sex toys at Sweet Adult Boutique, where she works. She loves sharing her expertise.
We're confirmed for this Wednesday, October 14th, 7:30 meeting time. This event is open to current students, past students, and anybody who you might want to bring along (friends, family, etc.).
Address: 1402 W Broadway, Vancouver.
NOTE: This is not a UBC event!
A dominatrix challenges some long-held beliefs.
A very unique perspective on some of our cultural myths and assumptions, from a professional dominatrix.
From the article at the Rumpus:
There’s no such thing as:
- Intimacy without vulnerability
- An accurate definition of sex
- A typical submissive man
- A woman who isn’t someone’s wildest fantasy
- A neat cause-and-effect explanation for the nuances of human psychology
- “Normal”
- A replacement for hard work
- A one-sided relationship
- Universal taboos
- A good age to stop playing
Read the whole thing to get all the details(it's a good read): link.
Thursday mail - October 8th.
Have any questions related to sex or sexuality? If so, fire away in the comments section.
Another approach to classifying sexual orientation.
Linked article passed along by someone in the comments section (thanks!).
Before Kinsey, sexual orientation was classified predominantly as heterosexual or homosexual. In the 1940s, Kinsey introduced a new way of thinking about sexual orientation. He viewed it as a continuum with the anchor points being 100% heterosexual and 100% homosexual. In between were shades of grey, or bisexuality. When he created a corresponding scale to measure sexual orientation, he focused on sexual behaviour as the indicator. Here's what it looked like:
This model persisted until the 1980s when Storm introduced a model that conceptualized sexual orientation not as a single continuum, but as two unrelated but interacting continuums: interest in people of the same sex (homoeroticism), and interest in people of the opposite sex (heteroeroticism). People were scored on both continuums:
This model proved to be much more helpful and importantly, it includes the experiences of people who identify as asexual.
The article linked below describes another model. The model was proposed by a non-academic man who identifies as heteroromantic asexual. He felt that other models of sexual orientation didn't apply to his identity and experiences. While the model isn't entirely effective, it's still an interesting approach to thinking about sexual orientation and identity.
Snippets from the article published at Connections.Mic:
Parks decided to develop a more comprehensive alternative: the Purple-Red Scale of Attraction, which he recently posted on /r/Asexuality. Like the Kinsey scale, the Purple-Red scale allows you to assign a number from zero to six to your level of same-sex or heterosexual attraction, but it also lets you label how you experience that attraction on a scale of A to F. A represents asexuality, or a total lack of interest in sex "besides friendship and/or aesthetic attraction," while F represents hypersexuality.
Parks told Mic that he came up with the idea for the Purple-Red scale after learning about asexuality and realizing that he was a "heteroromantic asexual, or a B0 on the scale" — someone who is interested exclusively in romantic, nonsexual relationships with the opposite sex.
"I then thought, not only are there sexual and asexual people, [but] there are different kinds of sexual people as well," he said. "I thought of adding a second dimension to Kinsey's scale to represent different levels of attraction." (As for the color scheme, Parks opted for purple because of its designation as the official color of asexuality, while "'red-blooded' is a term often used to describe someone who is hypersexual.)
Read the rest here.
Man has 80-pound scrotal mass removed.
For 20 years, Dan Maurer had been living with a rare condition called scrotal lymphedema that causes the scrotum to grow to an enormous size. The condition had gone misdiagnosed and doctors had told him that he simply needed to lose weight. When he did lose weight and the mass continued to grow, he knew it was something else. It wasn't until he saw a piece on TLC featuring another man with the same condition that he realized what was going on. He immediately sought out treatment. Recently the mass was successfully removed.
You can read more about his story here.
And a video clip:
If you're curious about the surgical procedure to remove the mass, check out this video (NSFW, and features surgery):
Accidental vulva art.
Passed along by someone in the comments section (thanks!).
Apparently this was part of a grade school art project called "Candlelight." Via Reddit and The Frisky. A particularly poignant comment from the Reddit thread:
“I think it’s great to let the students know that each individual can have their own unique ‘candlelight’ and that mine doesn’t necessarily look like that other girl’s. Still, it gets everyone hot just the same.”
Jessica Biel and WomanCare Global team up for funny sex ed videos.
In response to the mostly piss-poor sex education in the states, Jessica Biel, Joy Bryant, and Whitney Cummings teamed up with WomanCare Global (a nonprofit women's sexual health service provider) and Funny or Die to produce a series of educational comedy clips that address some misconceptions related to sex. The clips have received a lot of attention, and for good reason.
From an article in Slate:
Today, Biel and WomanCare Global, an international nonprofit that works to improve access to products such as contraception and menstrual cups, released a series of videos on Funny or Die called “If You Don’t Tell Them, Then Who Will?” Named to encourage parents and other informed adults to speak honestly with the kids in their lives about reproductive health, the three clips feature Biel kibitzing with fellow actresses Joy Bryant and Whitney Cummings about hetero sex, birth control, dudes, and periods in someone’s kitchen.
The three women cite some messed-up ideas of how female bodies work—e.g., if a condom gets stuck in your vagina, it cannot travel up and out your mouth, contrary to the anatomical fantasies of one Idaho lawmaker—which work as straw men for on-screen text to bat down. “We thought the best way to encourage women to get educated and start the conversation around our bodies was to make it comically clear that people like me, and other non-experts, should not be the source for this information,” said Biel in a statement.
Read the rest here.
Check out WomanCare Global here.
And the videos:
Hymen 101.
Found via Twitter:
Gardasil for men who have sex with men.
In class, I only mentioned the relationship between certain sexually transmitted strains of the human papilomavirus (HPV) and cervical cancer (I think?). Those same strains of HPV can also lead to anal/colorectal cancer. Following class, a student emailed me this, which is a good heads-up to those males who have sex with males, and would like to be protected:
I want to mention that although Gardasil is not offered at school immunization clinics for men, it is offered at youth clinics around Vancouver. Also, men who have sex with men are at an increased risk of HPV/anal cancer compared to men who have sex with women, based on anal sex rather than vaginal sex. Therefore, Gardasil can be used to decrease the risk of HPV/anal cancer for men who have sex with men. I got this information from a nurse at a youth clinic who suggested that I get Gardasil to protect myself against HPV.
Video: Spider vs. Penis from Smarter Every Day.
Passed along by someone in the the comments section (thanks!):
Yesterday's lecture reminded me of a video from the youtube series "Smarter Every Day". Apparently a bite from the Brazilian wandering spider can cause priapism. The video goes into what causes priapism and has some good info on penis anatomy and erections. Hope it's interesting! (and not too painful to watch)
The village where girls grow penises.
In a place called Salinas in the Dominican Republic, a strange thing happens to some girls as they enter puberty - they begin to grow penises. This is know as guevedoces, which translates roughly to balls at twelve (heuvos are eggs).
It's prevalent in Salinas, as many families carry a mutation of the gene that is responsible for 5α-reductase, the enzyme that converts testosterone (T) into 5α-dihydrotestosterone (DHT). DHT is a much more potent androgen (male sex hormone) than T, and is largely responsible for male sexual differentiation of the genitals in utero. It is also responsible for male pattern baldness and enlarged prostates. The drug finasteride (Proscar) inhibits conversion of T to DHT, which makes it effective in treating these problems.
During development of a male embryo, an absence of DHT due to a mutation of the gene responsible for 5α-reductase means that the genitals will remain female, or intersexed (all embryonic genital tissue comes from the same origins in males and females). However, at puberty, there is often a sufficient surge of T produced by the testes for male sexual differentiation to happen. This can account for females seemingly becoming male.
A recent article in the Washington Post describes this in more detail: link.
Thursday mail - October 1st.
Have any questions related to sex or sexuality? If so, fire away in the comments section.
The goods on hypersexuality (i.e., sex and porn addiction).
The media and many health professionals give the impression that sex (and porn) addiction is one disorder that looks the same across people, and a clinically/scientifically valid diagnosis. Neither is the case. Having said that, many people do struggle with sexual behaviours that are out of their control. This can very much feel like an addiction.
There are diverse pathways to what we call out of control sexual behaviour (OCSB), or hypersexuality (what's known as sex/porn addiction). That's to say, there is no such thing a prototypical sex or porn addict.
OCSB is most often the symptom of some other underlying problem. If treatment addresses that issue (often in conjunction with behaviour management), OCSB typically decreases.
This piece emanates from one of the best labs and clinics working with OCSB patients. It does a great job outlining the diverse nature and presentation of OCSB.
From the Independent:
Sex Addiction: What it Means to be Hypersexual
by Deborah Soh
It is not much about sex itself, but that sex is distracting, and offers an enjoyable outlet for frustrations in life, a sort of escapism. If you think you might be hypersexual, ask yourself if your sexual behaviours cause you harm or distress, or impairment in your day-to-day functioning
Whenever we hear about hypersexuality, it is usually in the context of celebrities who have gotten themselves into trouble and are seeking therapy to remedy their ways. However, most people would be surprised to learn that the root cause of hypersexuality, or so-called “sex addiction,” is hardly ever related to sex.
“Why am I like this?” is the most common question I encounter, as a sex researcher working with hypersexual men. Problems with pornography and cheating have had severely detrimental effects on their lives and they are desperate for a solution. After ruling out bipolar disorder or borderline personality disorder as the underlying condition (as high-frequency sexual behaviour is a common symptom of these disorders), this is what I have found.
Read the rest here.
More PostSecrets.
in Humour Etc.
Freud plays Tetris.
Source unknown.
Book: Gay Men Draw Vaginas.
A project that started as a fun idea and then become a hardcover book. You can find out about the book here.
Some samples:
Art: The Great Wall of Vagina.
I've posted about this project previously (link), but it's come up again - two students passed along a link to a recent article in Cosmopolitan.
From Cosmopolitan:
McCartney says the vagina has become something that companies have begun shaming people for so they can make money off of them by telling the they need to have surgery to make it look better, saying, "I do believe that cosmetic surgery is a fairly unnecessary procedure, it's a psychological problem. There's a whole industry base set up to persuade women they're defective and to give them an answer." He says he gets letters almost daily from women wanting to volunteer or who have told him that his artwork has helped with the anxiety they had surrounding the appearance of their vaginas.
[...]
His hope is that the project will help women of all ages (which is something that is desperately needed), since he says, "every generation is going to go through the same anxieties, every girl is going to think, 'Oh my god, what's wrong with me'."
And his artist statement:
For this, my latest major sculpture, I cast, over the course of 5 years, the vaginas (well the vulva area in fact) of hundreds of volunteers. The Great Wall of Vagina is an exploration of women's relationships with their genitals. When I assembled the first panel of 40 casts in summer 2008, I stepped back disappointed. I realised the sculpture would need to be much bigger to have the impact I wanted. From this original piece (called Design A Vagina) has grown an epic sculpture. The final piece now has 400 casts arranged in 10 panels of 40.
"Why did I do it and what's it all about?" I hear you ask. Well, it became clear to me whilst working on a not dissimilar piece for a sex museum that many women have anxiety about their genital appearance. It appalled me that our society has created yet one more way to make women feel bad about themselves. I decided that I was uniquely placed to do something about it.
The sculpture comments on the trend for surgery to create the 'perfect' vagina. This modern day equivalent of female genital mutilation is a bizarre practice which suggests that one is better than another. Taste in nothing is universal and any desire for 'homogyny' could be very misguided. 400 casts arranged in this manner is in no way pornographic, as it might have been if photographs had been used. One is able to stare without shame but in wonder and amazement at this exposé of human variety. For the first time for many women they will be able to see their own genitals in relation to other women's. In doing so they may dispel many misconceptions they may have been carrying about what women look like 'down there'. The sculpture is serene and intricate and it works on many levels.