Attitudes

Twincest porn.

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From Salon.com:

Gay porn’s most shocking taboo "Twincest" is pushing limits in an industry known for extremes. What is it, and why are so many people watching?

Based on their YouTube channel, Elijah and Milo Peters just seem like your average, slightly awkward Czech teenage twins. They enjoy role-playing games and steak. They like frolicking around on the beach in their elaborately patterned underwear and taunting each other while bodybuilding. (“Hey you lazy-ee boy! Put some weight on eet!”) But the Peters twins aren’t quite as innocent as their goofy grins and adorable accents suggest.

Over the past few months, they have become two of the most controversial performers to hit the gay porn world in a very long time. That’s because they’re willing to break a taboo that, even in an industry that thrives on extremes, is too extreme for many: twin incest (or, more succinctly, twincest). While the concept of twin performers is not new to the gay porn world, the Peters twins are notable both because of the extent of their popularity and the things they are willing to do with each other on camera. They French kiss; they perform oral sex on each other; they have anal sex; and most shockingly of all, they do it in a tender and romantic way.

“My brother is my boyfriend, and I am his boyfriend,” says one of the twins during a phone call from Prague (Elijah and Milo sound so much alike on the phone it is impossible to tell which one is speaking). “He is my lifeblood, and he is my only love.”

The twins’ astonishing lack of shame — and their willingness to do anything with each other on camera — has helped turn them into a gay porn phenomenon. Since they first began appearing on Czech porn studio Bel Ami’s website (NSFW, like all links in this story) in 2009, the company’s traffic has doubled to 1.5 million users per month, and Milo and Elijah have become the subject of breathless coverage on adult blogging sites like Fleshbot and The Sword. They’ve even been flown from Prague to the United States for a whirlwind tour of Florida gay nightspots. But their surprising popularity raises some disturbing questions: Who are these twins? What keeps so many people watching them? And what, exactly, are viewers getting off on?

[...]

The twins first appeared on Bel Ami’s site in the summer of last year, as performers in a couple of “group scenes.” At first, Elijah and Milo didn’t really touch each other in their scenes, but over the course of several months, in a rollout worthy of “Cloverfield,” the studio either let them (or pushed them to) go further and further with each other on-screen. At first this involved them jerking each other off during group sex, then, in a scene with a gangly performer named “Trevor Yates,” performing oral sex on one another, and finally, in a much-hyped video, having full-on sex. The studio sent out a press release in the days preceding it, warning gay porn bloggers that “twincest” was coming.

Read the rest here.

Documentary: Virgins Wanted.

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As far as I can tell, this is legit (check the crazy terms and agreements here - of course, they got the hymen aspect totally wrong). Trailer:

Virgins Wanted follows one man (Alex) and one woman (Catarina) as they defy social norms, putting their virginity up for auction to the highest bidder. The series examines their motivations behind remaining virgins, as well as their day to day lives and their hopes and dreams for the future.

 

The homepage is here.

Currently, the highest bid for Catarina is $450,000 - the highest bid for Alexander is $2,500. This massive difference is not surprising. If you rule out attractiveness, there are likely two other factors at play: (1) men's interest in, and willingness to, pay for sex; and (2) that women's virginity is considered a much more valuable asset than men's.

Orientation, identity and sex all explained in less than 4 minutes.

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This has been making the rounds: 

In which Hank takes on a topic he's been afraid to cover for a while now. How should we talk about sexuality, what is the difference between sex and gender...and between sexual orientation and sexual behavior. It's very interesting...and I think understanding it is a key to decreasing the amount of hate and self-hate out there.

Film: The Sessions.

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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:

http://www.joblo.com - "The Sessions" - Official Trailer Based on the poignantly optimistic autobiographical writings of California-based journalist and poet Mark O'Brien, THE SESSIONS tells the story of a man confined to an iron lung who is determined--at age 38--to lose his virginity.

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.

Bodyform and Richard.

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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:

On October 8th Richard Neill sent this Facebook post to Bodyform. See the response from Bodyforms' CEO Caroline Williams here: http://youtu.be/Bpy75q2DDow

And the response from Bodyform:

Hi Richard. We loved your post on our Facebook page. (https://www.facebook.com/Bodyform/posts/10151186887359324). We are always grateful for input from our users, but your comment was particularly poignant. If Facebook had a "love" button, we'd have clicked it. But it doesn't. So we've made you a video instead. Unfortunately Bodyform doesn't have a CEO.


Couples talking about porn.

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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.

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Posted in the comments section by Aubrey (thanks!). NSFW language!

Canada & USA Calling, Exclusive Live DVD Back Out Of Mrs Brown's Vault But For How Long??? http://shop.mrsbrownsboys.com/store/product/52/For-the-Love-of-Mrs-Brown-NTSC/ With a phenomenal response on You Tube of over 3.2 Million hits and a huge demand from our fans - Finally for the first time ever the 4th Play in the Mrs.


Beastiality documentary causes headache for Okanagan Film Festival International organizers.

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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!).

Bald men seen as more powerful, masculine, and strong.

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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:

  1. 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.

  2. 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.

  3. 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.

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Posted in the comment section this week by a past student (thanks!): 

Director -- Heath Cullens Written by -- Kelley Robins Hicks, Stephanie Yeager Producers -- Heath Cullens, Kelley Robins Hicks (exec), Stacey Storey, Stephanie Yeager Starring in order of appearance-- Laura Spencer (Mad Love) Artemis Pebdani (It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia) Nadine Velazquez (My Name is Earl, The League) Kelley Robins

Are purity balls effective?

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Back during the second week of class, I spent a bunch of time reviewing the research on the effectiveness of abstinence-only sex education and virginity pledges. Large meta-analyses show that neither delay first incidence of sex or reduce transmission of STIs. I also mentioned purity balls during that class, and have previously posted about them on the blog (here and here).

The following piece was recently published in the New York Times:

‘Purity Balls’ Get Attention, but Might Not Be All They Claim

In 1998, in Colorado Springs, Randy Wilson threw the first “purity ball,” a formal dinner and dance at which he and other fathers signed pledges to protect the virginity of their unmarried daughters. This October, Mr. Wilson will host his 13th purity ball (they have been almost annual). And from the first ball to now, the Wilson family has made an industry of purity.

A field director for the Family Research Council, a conservative Christian organization, Mr. Wilson has promoted purity balls across the United States, and his Web site says they have been held in 48 states. He and his wife, Lisa, have written a book, and they sell a “purity ball packet” for $90.

Three of their five daughters also wrote a book, “Pure Woman.” One of those daughters, Jordyn Wilson Peppin, runs the Purely Woman School of Grace, a weeklong program where “ladies” can learn a godly path to “etiquette, grace and hosting.”

The media have lustily promoted the Wilsons. The family has been featured on Anderson Cooper’s television show, in magazines like Glamour, in many newspapers, includingThe New York Times, and in at least two documentaries: one, a Swiss production called “Virgin Tales,” was released this summer.

But there is something fishy about all this media attention.

Despite all the coverage of the Wilson family and their balls’ dramatic imagery — the girls doing ballet, placing roses before a cross, ballroom-dancing with their dads — there is little hard evidence that purity balls have spread much beyond Colorado Springs. And even some alumnae of Mr. Wilson’s dances express skepticism that they had much effect.

In her 2010 book “The Purity Myth,” the feminist writer Jessica Valenti, founder of the blog feministing.com, reported that “more than 1,400 purity balls” were held in 2006. Her footnote refers to a 2007 article by Jocelyne Zablit, who gives as the source of that figure Leslee J. Unruh, the president of the National Abstinence Clearinghouse, in South Dakota. Reached by telephone this week, Ms. Unruh was rather more vague with her figures.

Go get the rest of the scoop here.

A lesson in grace and respect.

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This story has been making the rounds the last few days.

From the CBC:

Bearded Sikh woman teaches Reddit a lesson

A young Sikh woman -- whose photo was taken at an airport, posted online, and then ridiculed by hundreds -- is being hailed across the web today after defending herself so eloquently that her original tormenter felt compelled to apologize to all Sikhs everywhere.

In the widely-shared photo, Balpreet Kaur, an Ohio State University student, is shown waiting in line at an airport. She glances down at her iPhone, unaware that her picture is being taken.

“I’m not sure what to conclude from this,” wrote a person with the handle European_douchebag when he posted the photo to Reddit’s /funny section.

 

It is clear from the thread that user is referring to the hair on Kaur’s face, but commenters also took digs at the young woman’s turban and looks in general.

 

Kaur, a neuroscience major, was unaware that her image was starting to go viral until a classmate mentioned it on Facebook.

Showing a commendable amount of grace and maturity, Kaur signed up for Reddit and visited the thread to defend herself and her religion.

Hey, guys. This is Balpreet Kaur, the girl from the picture. I actually didn't know about this until one of my friends told on facebook. If the OP wanted a picture, they could have just asked and I could have smiled :) However, I'm not embarrased or even humiliated by the attention [negative and positve] that this picture is getting because, it's who I am. Yes, I'm a baptized Sikh woman with facial hair. Yes, I realize that my gender is often confused and I look different than most women. However, baptized Sikhs believe in the sacredness of this body - it is a gift that has been given to us by the Divine Being [which is genderless, actually] and, must keep it intact as a submission to the divine will. Just as a child doesn't reject the gift of his/her parents, Sikhs do not reject the body that has been given to us. By crying 'mine, mine' and changing this body-tool, we are essentially living in ego and creating a seperateness between ourselves and the divinity within us. By transcending societal views of beauty, I believe that I can focus more on my actions. My attitude and thoughts and actions have more value in them than my body because I recognize that this body is just going to become ash in the end, so why fuss about it? When I die, no one is going to remember what I looked like, heck, my kids will forget my voice, and slowly, all physical memory will fade away. However, my impact and legacy will remain: and, by not focusing on the physical beauty, I have time to cultivate those inner virtues and hopefully, focus my life on creating change and progress for this world in any way I can. So, to me, my face isn't important but the smile and the happiness that lie behind the face are. :-) So, if anyone sees me at OSU, please come up and say hello. I appreciate all of the comments here, both positive and less positive because I've gotten a better understanding of myself and others from this. Also, the yoga pants are quite comfortable and the Better Together tshirt is actually from Interfaith Youth Core, an organization that focuses on storytelling and engagement between different faiths. :) I hope this explains everything a bit more, and I apologize for causing such confusion and uttering anything that hurt anyone.

Kaur’s short essay shot up the thread immediately, earning her the “best comment” spot and soliciting a flurry of supportive words.

By Tuesday, the original poster, came forward with an apology:

“I felt the need to apologize to the Sikhs, Balpreet, and anyone else I offended when I posted that picture. Put simply it was stupid. Making fun of people is funny to some but incredibly degrading to the people you're making fun of. It was an incredibly rude, judgmental, and ignorant thing to post.” He wrote.

“I've read more about the Sikh faith and it was actually really interesting. It makes a whole lot of sense to work on having a legacy and not worrying about what you look like. I made that post for stupid internet points and I was ignorant.”

News of Kaur's eloquent retort and its ability to solicit a heartfelt apology from a person who only four days earlier felt it was okay to mock photos of unsuspecting women online, started spreading out from feminist and web culture blogs this morning.

Soon, thousands were praising the young Sikh woman who refused to get rid of her facial hair – and proudly so.

Many were taken by the apology, noting that perhaps the internet's meanest are growing up.

 

See some of the other Reddit comments here (scroll down). They will restore your faith in humanity.

Male body enhancing garments.

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No longer just for women. From Buzzfeed:

Have Male Enhancing Body Garments Finally Hit The Mainstream?

Remember a time when mirdles, Manx, and butt pads were simply a lifestyle story that no one actually took seriously? No longer a niche item, they are now sold on major websites and retail stores at reasonable prices. Here are 14 ways to jazz up your junk.

And an example:

6. The "Original" Ball Lifter®

From the description: "A soft cloth elastic band rests under your balls, lifting them up and forward giving you a fuller package. The best part is it's all you!" This is like the male equivalent of a push-up balconette bra.

They cost between $18-20. (Link is NSFW!!)

Go see the other 13 garments here.

Manscaping.

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Female pubic hair trimming, shaping, removing, sculpting, etc., is a relatively new phenomenon. While female body hair removal has been around for centuries, pubic hair removal has only become really popular among the Western female population in the last century (especially the last few decades). Not to be left out, men have very recently been jumping on the pubic hair removal bandwagon and many men of the younger generations are now dedicated manscapers. The execs at Gillette saw this shift as an opportunity to sell their products in a new market. Gillette is clearly trying to get ahead of the curve (i.e., get a jump on their competitors).

This is a recent ad from Gillete, which is part educational, part marketing:

Have you ever thought about manscaping or shaving down there? You might say when there's no underbrush, the tree looks taller. http://gillette.com/en-us/products/razor-blades/fusion-proglide-razors/proglide-styler-beard-trimmer-power-razor Follow these simple tips from Gillette and get the best shave of your life, down there. Go further with body shaving tips from Gillette.

I'm in no way promoting Gilette products - this is simply an interesting study in cultural shifts in preferences. To make the idea of manscaping more palatable to men who might be hesitant, Gillette has cleverly played the it looks bigger card.

Vulval whitening.

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From The Guardian:

Thailand's skin-whitening craze reaches woman's intimate areas

Critics say vaginal whitening wash is extreme example of how cosmetic industry has changed Thai definition of beauty

A new product said to make women's intimate areas "fairer within four weeks" has revived the beauty debate in colour-conscious Thailand, where fair skin is associated with opportunity, success and status, and caused critics to question when, if ever, the skin-whitening craze will end.

Products promising to lighten the face, body and armpits are already available across the country, with skin-whitening pills and diet supplements claiming to pick up where the cosmetics leave off. But this is the first time that a vaginal whitening wash has hit the Thai market.

In the adverts, which are available online, on TV and on radio, a fair-skinned woman in skinny jeans wanders into her closet to change clothes, describing how "everyone wants to look good – but tight shorts can leave your skin darker". The camera then zooms in on her new outfit, which includes a pair of white shorts, to a voiceover claiming that Lactacyd White Intimate can make skin in that area become "bright and translucent".

The launch of a similar product in India this year was met with international disdain after a TV advert insinuated that having a fairer vagina would make women more attractive to men. In Thailand, however, the companies responsible say they have been successful. "Products [have] evolved from face-whitening to body and deodorant solutions to even out dark areas in the armpits," said Louis-Sebastien Ohl of Publicis Thailand, which created the adverts. "Now an intimate toiletry also offers a whitening benefit, because research evidenced that … women [are] keen to have such a product."

In many countries across south-east Asia, fairer skin is equated with higher class as it suggests a life not spent toiling in rice paddies under the sun. The Thai language is peppered with expressions that denigrate dark skin, such as the insult dam mhuen e-ga – "black like a crow". These days, rice farmers wear long sleeves, trousers, wide-brimmed hats and gloves. According to DRAFTFCB, the agency behind many of Nivea's skin-lightening ads in Thailand, such labourers make up much of of the Thai market for Nivea's face- and body-lightening products.

Using pale Korean and Japanese pop stars as illustrations, Thai women's magazines are full of fair-skinned Asians promoting products that promise to whiten, lighten and "boost" the complexion, with slogans such as "Show off your aura" and "Get to know the miracle of white skin". Fair-skinned actors and singers dominate the media nearly all over the Asia-Pacific region, where the skin-lightening industry is expected to reach $2bn this year , with the fastest growing markets in China and India.

But the trend has been associated with health risks as many products contain ingredients such as hydroquinone and mercury, which can lead to permanent skin discolouration or kidney damage. Some products are illegal. There is no suggestion that Lactacyd White Intimate or Nivea products are illegal or contain hydroquinone or mercury.

Critics of the whitening trend, such as Kultida Samabuddhi of the Bangkok Post, who wrote an opinion piece on the whitening feminine wash, say such products have changed the country's value system.

"As the definition of beauty has been changed by cosmetic industry, Thai women who fail to meet the beauty standards set by cosmetic producers and ad agencies have to struggle very hard to maintain their self-esteem," she told the Guardian.

But the skin-whitening craze looks set to continue. The male market is yet to be fully tapped, said Ohl, who added that future variants of Lactacyd White Intimate would be formulated to include anti-ageing properties, "so you can keep intimate parts fresh and young" as well.

Europe > America.

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Via Copyranter. In class last week, someone noted how ridiculous it is that North American tampon and maxipad ads always depict menstrual discharge as blue or green, rather than red. Finally, an American ad came out that makes reference to the real colour, albeit very subtly:

Europeans, typically have a far more relaxed attitude towards sex and the body. Here are two clever ads that don't try to obfuscate the issue: