Jimmyjane (NSFW) makes luxury, design-oriented vibrators and other sex toys and accessories. ("Design inspired by Apple, not Hustler.") They'd like to change the way Americans think about them: instead of as 'dirty little secrets,' they're hoping for mainstream acceptance and to usher in an "
Age of Great American Sex."
(Via) [more inside]
posted by zarq
on May 15, 2012 -
38 comments
"Over the past few decades, 160 million women have vanished from East and South Asia — or, to be more accurate, they were never born at all. Throughout the region, the practice of sex selection — prenatal sex screening followed by selective termination of pregnancies — has yielded a generation packed with boys. From a normal level of 105 boys to 100 girls, the ratio has shifted to 120, 150, and, in some cases, nearly 200 boys born for every 100 girls. In some countries, like South Korea, ratios spiked and are now returning to normal. But sex selection is on the rise in Eastern Europe, Southeast Asia, and the Middle East." American journalist Mara Hvistendahl's new book: "
Unnatural Selection: Choosing Boys Over Girls, and the Consequences of a World Full of Men," examines and tries to predict the actual and potential effects of unequal sex ratios on men, women and the social economies of the affected regions, including the recent spike in sex trafficking and bride-buying across Asia.
More.
[more inside]
posted by zarq
on Jun 10, 2011 -
65 comments
Larry Gonick is a veteran American cartoonist best known for his delightful comic-book guides to science and history, many of which have previews online. Chief among them is his long-running
Cartoon History of the Universe (later
The Cartoon History of the Modern World), a sprawling multi-volume opus documenting everything from the Big Bang to the Bush administration. Published over the course of three decades, it takes a truly global view -- its time-traveling Professor thoroughly explores not only familiar topics like Rome and World War II but the oft-neglected stories of Asia and Africa, blending caricature and myth with careful scholarship (cited by
fun illustrated bibliographies) and tackling even the most obscure events
with intelligence and wit. This savvy satire carried over to Gonick's
Zinn-by-way-of-
Pogo chronicle
The Cartoon History of the United States, along with a bevy of
Cartoon Guides to other topics, including
Genetics, Computer Science, Chemistry, Physics, Statistics, The Environment, and (yes!)
Sex. Gonick has also maintained a few sideprojects, such as
a webcomic look at Chinese invention,
assorted math comics (
previously), the
Muse magazine mainstay
Kokopelli & Co. (featuring the shenanigans of his
"New Muses"), and
more. See also
these lengthy interview snippets, linked
previously. Want more? Amazon links to the complete oeuvre inside!
[more inside]
posted by Rhaomi
on Jun 6, 2011 -
29 comments
The Love of Lust: "The emancipation of social mores has played a bizarre trick on men and women. Far from giving free rein to the joyous effervescence of the instincts, it has only replaced one dogma with another. Reined in or forbidden in the past, lust has become mandatory."
posted by AlsoMike
on Dec 20, 2009 -
112 comments
Women's rights: What's in it for men? - "Women in rich countries largely enjoy gender equality while those in poor countries suffer substantial discrimination. This column proposes an explanation for the relationship between economic development and female empowerment that emphasises changes in the incentives males face rather than shifts in moral sentiment. Technological change that raises demand for human capital may give men a stake in women's rights."
[more inside]
posted by kliuless
on Jun 29, 2008 -
29 comments
Love thy Neighbor Photographer and author Steven Hirsh has photographed the homes of registered New York State sex offenders. A wonderful writer and photographer, this work is chilling, alarming, beautiful. I get that
Quentin Tarantino feeling of beauty and disgust. Look at me, nooooo look away. The series of 24 images are on
Hirsch's website.
posted by doug3505
on Jan 7, 2008 -
41 comments
NickCaveFilter: Fifty years ago this very day,
Nicholas Edward Cave [
previously] crawled from the womb and started to plot. At 16 he formed his first band which evolved quickly into the
Boys Next Door [
Shivers]. This in turn mutated into
the Birthday Party (1980) who terrorised the post-punk soundscape in Australia and the UK [
Release the Bats |
Nick the Stripper]. The
Birthday Party relocated to England and in 1984 the band imploded in an orgy of drugs and booze. Shortly after
Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds were born [The Ship Song -
video &
solo live | The Mercy Seat -
video &
live |
Where the Wild Roses Grow], and 23 years and 11 studio albums later (not to mention a
best selling book, a
great screenplay,
some acting and several soundtrack projects) he is still going strong. But, instead of sitting on his musical laurels he decided to get back to basics and, in 2006,
grew a huge moustache and formed
Grinderman – a four piece with a primeval hybrid Birthday Party/Bad Seeds sound [
No Pussy Blues |
Honey Bee]. Fellow Mefites, I ask you to raise a glass to
Mr. Cave… And, especially if you are not familiar to his work, don’t forget to “look inside” for my primer on the enigma that is Nick Cave, one of the
finest song-writers on the face of this miserable planet.
[more inside]
posted by the_very_hungry_caterpillar
on Sep 22, 2007 -
98 comments
onoes! teenz on teh pr0n webs! It's been a year since I posted about
Stickam, and in that time, one would be naïve to think that a community of unmoderated videos broadcast live from the private and semi-anonymous bedrooms of the world would not result in
epic lulz (nsfw). To no one's surprise, disgruntled Stickam ex-VP Alex Becker says
Stickam shares office space, staff, and equipment with live pornographic video providers -- this via
NYT tech writer Brad Stone. Cue the
"think of the CHILDRUNZ!" moral
panic. But popular websites being related to or backed up by prurient interest are nothing new: Wikipeda predecessor
Bomis was once accused of having
"softore porn" in its "Babes" section, and of course everyone knows
porn drives technology. What do you think the internet is
for? But if you use Stickam and this bothers you, the burgeoning field of live embeddable Flash-based webcam video streaming is rife with alternatives:
uStream.tv,
Justin.tv,
BlogTV,
Mogulus, and
Operator11, just to name some -- but there'll be naked girls on those too. I guarantee it.
posted by brownpau
on Aug 6, 2007 -
41 comments
So, ya got
bears. And you've got
bears,
BEARS,
Bears!, and
guys who love Bears. (From here, probably NSFW) But
bears? I had no idea. I guess they're everywhere. We know
they're in Chicago, but they also inhabit
northern woody areas,
southern coastal habitats, and from June 10-12 they will
ravage the countryside (can't deeplink, check "events"). These bears have their own
spam portals,
non-spam resource guides,
personals,
merchandise,
graphic novels,
newsfeeds,
rules and regulations, and of course lots and lots of
pr0n (that's not too graphic, but they're not called "bears" for no reason). I knew one of these guys my freshman year. I'm straighter than Peter North but he and his friends were some of the coolest people I've ever known. What are your favorite sex subcultures?
posted by saysthis
on Feb 11, 2005 -
26 comments
XXX: 30 P9RN STAR PORTRAITS (a bit NSFW, obviously) by
photographer Timothy Greenfield-
Sanders, is a
book that features paired portraits (one clothed and one nude) of the top stars in p6rn, straight and gay, from legends like (
best-
selling memoirist)
Jenna Jameson,
Ron Jeremy and Nina Hartley to (ahem) rising stars like Sunrise Adams, Belladonna, Chad Hunt. The
book includes short essays on the intersection of p6rnography and culture by a wide range of writers, from
Salman Rushdie to
AM Homes. XXX is, essentially, about the much-dreaded
"p6rnification" of the culture at large,
recently featured in the New York Times.
As
Gore Vidal writes in the book's introduction, “Doubtless, sex tales were told about the Neanderthal campfire and perhaps instructive positions drawn on cave walls. Meanwhile, the human race was busy establishing such exciting institutions as slavery and its first cousin, marriage.”
(more inside, with totally NSFW Terry Richardson)
posted by matteo
on Sep 18, 2004 -
12 comments
Sex between teenagers is illegal in Wisconsin. "Sex between kids is not legal," said Assistant District Attorney Lori Kornblum, who is prosecuting the case. According to the law, "Whoever has sexual contact or sexual intercourse with a person who has not attained the age of 16 is guilty of a Class C felony." There is no mention of consent. The boy's attorney will argue that children's privacy rights include the right to make "important decisions."
posted by Durwood
on Aug 21, 2003 -
92 comments
