Jezebel: Porn

The Tragedy Of Althea Flynt

Slut Machine — Fri, 08 Aug 2008 11:00:00 EDT

Last night IFC aired the documentary Larry Flynt: The Right to be Left Alone, which went into detail about the porn publisher's life, work, and crusade for free speech. The most gripping parts of the film focused on Flynt's wife Althea, whom he met when she was just 17. Althea had a really tragic life — her father shot her mother and grandparents when she was eight, then she and her four siblings were raised in orphanages until she ran away as a teenager — and perhaps an even more tragic death. Once a driven, articulate woman and editorial director of Hustler, she spiraled into drug addiction, was diagnosed with AIDS in 1983 (which Larry insists was caused by a drug transfusion after a hysterectomy), and, four years later, drowned in a bathtub after drug overdose. There were together for 16 years, Flynt's longest relationship, and he still calls her his soul mate. Clip above.

Jenna Jameson Plays "Coy" In Order To Get What She Wants

Jessica — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 12:30:00 EDT

There's a short feature on retired porn star Jenna Jameson in this month's Esquire, and in it, she describes herself as a "powerful woman" and goes on to say "I think that’s intimidating to a man, on every level. That’s why I always go out of my way to be ultranice and ultrasweet and coy, because it makes people feel comfortable, and I want people to feel comfortable around me before I put them in a headlock." Ugh.

You know, if you're really comfortable with your place as a powerful woman, you don't need to pull that manipulative, coy bullshit — you're actually just assertive. I've heard a lot of people say they respect Jenna Jameson, and even call her a feminist, because she's a good businesswoman and makes a lot of money, but just because she's in charge of her bank account these days, that doesn't mean I have to adore her or stop questioning her. What has she really done that's overly commendable, anyway?

Besides arguing on behalf of porn at the Oxford Union, Jameson's post-porn life seems to have consisted of going to fashion shows and starting her own clothing line. In the pantheon of women in porn, there are many women whose achievements are much more laudable. Yesterday we got a tip asking us to write about Nina Hartley, and she's a woman who always made her own films, always campaigned for porn and sex positivity, and is a self-proclaimed feminist. Joanna Angel tries to employ "imperfect" body types in her films, while Jenna seems to only employ the slender, fake-boobed "ideals." I feel like Hartley and Angel would have no need to be fakey "ultranice and ultrasweet" in order to get what they wanted in a social situation, because they're actually empowered — they don't need to use old-fashioned notions of feminine wiles to get ahead. The saddest thing is, Jenna is in a position now where she show herself as overtly ambitious and strong, and apparently she chooses not to.

What I’ve Learned: Jenna Jameson [Esquire]

Playgirl Showed Us All The Peen That Was Fit To Print

Megan — Tue, 05 Aug 2008 16:00:00 EDT

Former Playgirl editor Colleen Kane's solemnly salacious goodbye to her former editorial home does a lot more than make me want to surf the internet for pictures from the back issues (though, it does that too, as this picture shows). But once I got done making my way through my Google search results (David Duchovny! Bert Reynolds! Brad Pitt! John Travolta! Scott motherfucking Bakula!), my re-ordered thoughts turned to the big question raised by Kane's piece — when did Playgirl stop catering to actual women?

Kane attributes the problem to a magazine that had its resources slowly taken away a publisher on high. Gone were the days of interviews with Keanu Reeves or the ability to get anyone remotely famous to pose. After the "notorious experimental year without willies" in the eighties and a few rounds of using gay models and gay photographers whose sensual sensibilities were slightly different than the female readership that Playgirl was supposed to be attracting (think: spread ass-cheek pictures), the magazine began to be thought of as a periodical closet case. Kane puts it this way:

I disagree that only gay men would ever want to look at pictures of naked men. This was a half-baked conjecture I heard over and over when I met new people and the subject of my job came up. To me it came off as a careless denial of women's sexuality; it was equivalent to saying that women don't fantasize.

In Kane's analysis, the magazine succeeded when it successfully projected the image of catering to women and what at least some of us want to look at (hot naked dudes) and read about, rather than a magazine in which a woman is wondering why she's staring at some naked guy's asshole and flipping through ads of dudes blowing each other. It succeeded because some women wanted to buy it, and the kinds of famous people that could get women to buy it could tell themselves they were appearing in it for their female fans and put out of their minds the legions of gay men pleasuring themselves to the same pictures.

But those days are long since gone, and so Playgirl withered on the vine as porn for not-women rather than a magazine for women that happened to have naked people in it — the tune Playboy has been singing for a while now. And all Kane's got to show for it is a bunch of naked pictures of hot naked guys. Well, I mean, that actually doesn't sound so terrible. Being unemployed with a huge stash of porn isn't the worst trade-off. Normally I just end up with some extra pens.

Goodnight, Sweet Hunks [Radar]
Related: Playgirl Comes to the End of Its Road (Sorta NSFW) [Best Week Ever]

What It's Like For A Girl (On The Internet)

Megan — Tue, 29 Jul 2008 13:40:00 EDT

From Britain's The F Word blog comes a nifty little program that scouts your Internet browsing history and predicts your gender. Anna is very ladylike, scoring 69 [Ed: heh, heh] percent female. Megan, due in no small part to her prodigious political surfing (she swears), scores an impressive 93 percent male — even though she gets at least a third of her reading material from Anna. [The F Word, Mike on Ads, extremely hot photo that might explain Megan's score from Herb Ritts]

Japanese Porn Star, 74, "Is Healthier Than He's Ever Been"

Dodai — Mon, 28 Jul 2008 13:30:00 EDT

We've written about famed 74-year-old Japanese porn star Shigeo Tokuda before. And this morning, there was report on CNN detailing Tokuda's success. (Clip above.) He has 200 X-rated flicks "under his belt" and plans to work until he is 80… Or older. Why porn? "I retired and didn't have anything to do," Tokuda laughs. Though Japan has more people over 65 than any other country in the world, CNN's Kyung Lah notes that 80 million Americans are about to retire. Will this trend catch on stateside? And will there ever be an older woman porn star?

Earlier: "Old Man" Porn Is Fun For All Ages

Movie Sex Still Has The Power To Titillate

Jessica — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 16:00:00 EDT

The sex scene between Donald Sutherland and Julie Christie in the 1973 Nicholas Roeg classic Don't Look Now always makes the top ten lists of best cinematic nookie ever. And for good reason, as the Guardian's Mark Lawson points out: the scene is "an extended, fragmented, ecstatic encounter." But Lawson uses that sex scene, and other "soft-porn" scenes from the 70s, to prove a point that I don't necessarily agree with.

"When Don't Look Now was released, the big screen was the only place that people might expect to see sex scenes in which they were not personally involved," Lawson argues. "Now, any act involving any actors - animal, child, living, dead - is available online. Philip Larkin, a poet subsequently revealed to be keen on porn, immortalised the view that 'sexual intercourse began in 1963'. But, for cinema at least, sexual intercourse ended in about 2005, when the most explicit images possible became as readily available as television." Sex in cinema still has erotic power in my mind because of the medium more than the message.

Sure, you can download any sort of DIY banging you want from the confines of your own home. But there is something powerful, and transgressive, about sitting in a room with a bunch of other people witnessing an explicit act of sex. Because the end game (unless you're Paul Reubens) isn't the consummation of your own sex act, you can appreciate the artistry of the director, the bond between the actors, and the reactions of the people around you.

I saw the notoriously horrendous Brown Bunny in a theater with a platonic dude friend. The explicit blow job scene between Chloe Sevigny and Vincent Gallo was, in person, shocking and sort of funny. It comes out of nowhere in the context of the movie, which is largely ponderous and dialogue-free. Sitting in a room full of people, shifting in our seats and giggling nervously, made the viewing of that cinematic BJ an experience. Had I seen some XTube clip of that same scene, divorced from the rest of the film and viewed from my couch, I'm pretty sure I would have just thought, "Huh. The Sev's giving a BJ to some greasy looking dude. Gross."

I agree with Lawson that there has been a "sexual desensitisation" since the days of Don't Look Now, and perhaps there is something "passe" about the sex in Roeg's new release, Puffball. But as someone who never had a chance to see Don't Look Now on the big screen, there's still something transgressive about watching sex on the big screen.

The End Of Cinematic Sex [Guardian]

Elisabeth Hasselbeck Has Never Used A Vibrator

Slut Machine — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 13:30:00 EDT

So this explains a lot: Elisabeth Hasselbeck has never used a vibrator, and she won't be starting anytime soon. This morning on The View, the ladies were discussing something that they've talked about a million times before: whether or not your man jerking off to porn — or jerking off at all — is a deal breaker. (It's insane to think that people would hold masturbation against someone.) Elisabeth said she's not OK with it, because it makes her feel as though, if a man has to go to fantasize about anything but her, then that means she's not good enough. Jeez, for someone who's not into masturbation, she's sure as shit into herself. Anyway, Whoopi asked if she ever used a vibrator, and Elisabeth said no, because she enjoys sharing intimacy with another person. Clip above.

Airport Sedition: The Surge Isn't Working And Neither Is John McCain's Common Sense

Megan — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 10:00:00 EDT

I'm chilling out at Frankfurt Airport, desperately trying not to eavesdrop on any of the completely uninteresting conversations going on around me or gag from the smells of weird German lunch meats wafting up from the group of old people eating behind me. Luckily I have the redesigned Washington Independent's Attackerman, Spencer Ackerman, by my electronic side, ready, willing and able to provide me with some pre-flight entertainment in the form of a discussion about Republi-porn, the Surge, McCain's Viagra usage, Iraqistani and how my masseur Antoine and Alex Pareene kept me from going absolutely crazy.

MEGAN: Let us kick off the first of two airport-edition Crappy Hours! Impressions of Frankfurt: very large and very shiny, and the people behind me are either eating egg salad or changing a baby's diaper.

SPENCER: Part I: Germany. What's in german egg salad? Is it like the potato salad, which is like potato salad here except flossy?

MEGAN: I'm going to take a wild guess and suggest it probably includes dill, since I always think dill smells like ass and have trouble eating it without a touch of a gag reflex kicking in. There was a potato salad consumed at some point this weekend, but I'll be damned if I really noticed a difference.

SPENCER: you're out of your mind! Dill is one of the most soothing aromatics you can have. My mother immediately disapproves of this CH and speaking of things to disapprove of, should we talk about McCain & Obama on Iraqhanistan or is that just me hijacking your feature?

MEGAN: We should definitely talk McCain and Obama and the Surge and whatever. And please apologize to your mom for me. If she wants me to give it a second chance, I will. So, like, they disagree about it, is what I'm given to understand.

SPENCER: what's amazing is that as recently as two months ago, McCain was denying the need for additional troops in Afghanistan

MEGAN: Oh, well, I mean, if we're going to be in Iraq in 100 years, we probably need a refueling point.

SPENCER: even as 2008 casualties in Afghanistan are nearly match the US death toll in all of 2007 and we're only at July 16 but Obama has been saying for almost a solid motherfucking year that we need to redeploy some forces from Iraq, which is not strategically crucial, to Afghanistan, which is.

MEGAN: Oh, man, that ain't good. Actually, I was talking about that with some Germans, too, they think we've fucked up Afghanistan pretty well.

SPENCER: yesterday McCain flipflops and basically adopts Obama's position, except he starts acting a bitch and saying Obama doesn't understand the "success of the surge":

“Senator Obama will tell you we can’t win in Afghanistan without losing in Iraq. In fact, he has it exactly backwards. It is precisely the success of the surge in Iraq that shows us the way to succeed in Afghanistan. It is by applying the tried and true principles of counterinsurgency used in the surge, which Senator Obama opposed, that we will win in Afghanistan.”

MEGAN: Oh, well, that's me, you, Obama, more than half of all Americans and a majority of Congress, so I feel like Obama's in good company.

SPENCER: now, on the one hand, I admire McCain's tactical savvy — he's disguising his retreat with an artillery barrage, which is sensible, but substantively, it's fucking crackers

MEGAN: Wait, so, like, when we're done surging in Iraq we're going to surge in Afghanistan? Is that what McCain's suggesting?

SPENCER: the idea that we can apply the "lessons" of Iraq — and McCain is dead-set on applying the wrong lessons — to a much, much much different country is insane yeah and that we've got to call it a SURGE because SURGEs are totally rad and he was in favor of the SURGE and the SURGE worked except when it doesn't.

MEGAN: I'll bet you he calls it surging rather than thrusting when he takes his once-a-year Viagra and bangs Cindy, too. Also, what are the lessons of Iraq? If you stick enough cannon fodder on the street the insurgents will quiet down until we go? Good plan.

SPENCER: and the most asinine thing? Obama is saying, fine, ok, you want to say Iraq is safer, whatevs, that means we should take our troops from a safe place and put them in a place that we need to make safe McCain says that security in Iraq means we have to stay forever; violence in Iraq means we have to stay forever; we need to redeploy some forces from Iraq so we can SURGE in Afghanistan; but not too many because that will mean Iraq will become less secure and that means we have to stay there forever. Okay, what else should we talk about?

MEGAN: Does McCain think that if he talks about it in the most confusing and obfuscating way possible that the rest of Americans will be as confused as the 30 percent that still like Bush and vote for him?
SPENCER: oh man - i want to make a web video of the 26 percent that still supports Bush

MEGAN: We could talk about McCain advisor Phil Gramm's porn career? And particularly the Nixon-imitator porn film, only I might start gagging again if I think too hard about that. Nixonland has a whole new meaning to me over here.

SPENCER: as, like, forming the 26 Percent Nation and harassing people on their way to work as street preachers dressed in weird robes and vestments with swords

MEGAN: Oooh, I would totally go harass Bush supporters. Only it would be hard to find any in Germany outside the Merkel government and even really in.

SPENCER: "You know you know you know Katrina was a hoax! They they they they said the levees broke but they they they they never broke, they never broke! We fight in Iraq so the terrorists won't make us fight in Dubuque and they'd follow us home because they like to chase freedom because they they they they hate freedom! You only chase what you HATE!"

MEGAN: And don't forget how they want to hurt our malls. Our malls! The symbols of our culture!

SPENCER: i recall reading a Doonesbury comic like 15 years ago about Phil Gramm bankrolling pornosbut Mighty Max gets yet another hot story.

MEGAN: And, yet, it's actually fucking true? The hell? And his bankrolled Nixon porn. He might as well have bankrolled Reagan bukkake porn.

SPENCER: hahaha Truck Stop Women

MEGAN: No rig too big?

SPENCER: i had a girlfriend last year who's an artist and she also used to drive trucks w her ex-bf; she designed an entire metallurgy show around truck stops, and made this awesome belt buckle around the 'No Lot Lizard' symbol, lot lizards being truck-stop whores

MEGAN: Yeah, I'm actually aware of the term. Actually, every time I drive home, between Hazleton and the NY border, there are all these billboards for massage parlors and every single time I wonder... that would be easy for the cops to figure out, right?

SPENCER: I'm waiting for Rick Perlstein's take on naked Nixon. Yeah, you should get a massage, see what they offer you.

MEGAN: I'm going to guess we will all be equally horrified.

SPENCER: oh before I forget, the new Nas record totally shouts out Jezebel
on a great track called "America".

MEGAN: Usually, by that point in the ride, I am considering it even though I'm totally sure it wouldn't be as good as my normal masseur, Antoine's, hands.

SPENCER: You have a normal masseur?

MEGAN: When I had a grown-up job I hated that paid me a lot of money, I paid Antoine to rub my naked body with oil and talk to me with his French accent once every two weeks in the middle of the work day. Usually about the time my Wonkette column was set to run. Both made me hate my life marginally less.

SPENCER: And at this point every dude who reads CH has just excused himself to furtively enjoy a tender moment.

Germaine Greer Pissed At Playwright • Playboy Meets The Olive Garden

Maria — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 17:30:00 EDT

Germaine Greer calls a female playwright an "insane reactionary" after she wrote a play loosely based on Greer being held hostage by a teen. • An Alaskan prison is home to America's only all-female prison orchestra. • Tempest Storm, a self-described "classy" 80-year-old stripper, says she isn't giving up her vocation any time soon. • The Swedes say that a reduction in hormonal therapy for menopause has resulted in less cases of breast cancer in women over 45. • Elderly residents of an all-female English nursing home are addicted to the Nintendo Wii. Their fave? Wii Boxing.

• Hugh Hefner and his gang are planning on opening a new Playboy club and casino in London. • Speaking of Playboy: readers can find out what "the girls of Olive Garden" look like behind the shapeless white button-downs. • An adorable and blind 5-year-old girl in Korea who never learned how to formally play piano can play a song on the piano after just one listen. • Indian cricketer and mega-celeb needs female bodyguards to protect him from crazed female fans. • Hey '80s TV fans: Square Pegs is on DVD! See SJP before SATC! • Missy Chase Lapine's charges of plagiarism against Jessica Seinfeld for her create-bad-food-habits-by-lying-to-your-kids-about-healthy-food cookbook have lifted the sales of both books on Amazon. Whatever, Jessica Seinfeld still sucks. • A 14-year-old girl broke the record for fastest swim across Lake Erie on Sunday with a time of 5 hours, 40 minutes, and 35 seconds.

This Week We Defended Fashion And Dismissed Deluded Ladymags

Jessica — Fri, 11 Jul 2008 18:00:00 EDT

Sadie defended fashion from hateful Wintourish anti-heroes.
We told Seventeen's constructive criticism and eyeshadow advice to suck it.
Women's magazines "saved" Cathy Alter's life.
But not ours.
Dodai revealed her secret passion for juniors fashion..

Tracie slayed the "emotional conquistador."
Lamb cums all over Gwen Stefani's face!
We were fondly embarrassed by our fathers.
It's thankfully, oh so thankfully Friday! So enjoy your Cocktails n' Dreams and have a fantastic weekend

CB2, Anthropologie & Delia's: More Bedding Porn For SleepyHeads

Dodai — Fri, 11 Jul 2008 15:00:00 EDT

There's just something about pictures of bedding. Sheets, comforters, shams and pillows, pillows, pillows! Cozy, cuddly, dreamy. They just get you in the mood to... *yawn*. Take a look at some bedding setups from CB2, Anthropologie and Delia's after the jump, complete with a patent-pending sheep rating system: The fewer critters you have to count before you fall asleep, the better!

Remember: The fewer the sheep, the better the bedding.

Brightly colored bedding can bring some oomph to the bedroom, okay? Digging everything here except the ankle-busting bed.
Marimekko Hedwig bedding, $99.95 for a Queen set. [CB2]
Grade: 1 sheep

Another ankle-buster. Some people like pain. Bruises in the bedroom, wink, wink. As for the pattern? Meh.
Kikku bedding, $99.95 for a Queen set. [CB2]
Grade: 3 sheep

Loving this! Plush, with pops of color. Soothing, but fun. An aside: Awesome pink bedside table.
Taj linens, $24.95 - $129.00; henna pillows, $39-$59. [CB2]
Grade: 1 sheep

Delia's sometimes has really cute bedding. This isn't it.
Victorian sheet and pillow case set, $49-$99; comforter cover, $48-$78.
Grade: 4 sheep

This is some kind of test, clearly. If you are under the age of 21 and your favorite movie is Moulin Rouge, this bedding is acceptable. Otherwise: No.

French twist sheet and pillowcase set, $49-$79. comforter cover, $48-$68. [Delias]
Grade: 3 sheep

Too cutesy? Too fun? Too girly? Not if you choose the blue or the polka dots, instead of both. But why not leave it the way it is: Can you really ever have too much fun in the bedroom?
Antique chic sheets, $69 for a Queen set; comforter cover, $68. [Delia's]
Grade: 1 sheep

While this is a dreamy bed, it's a wee bit plain. Plus, putting it in the lobby of an abandoned hotel might make it hard to sleep at night.
Crowned crane bedding, $58-$348. [Anthropologie]
Grade: 2 sheep

Into hideous acid-trip nightmares? This is the bedding for you!
Iris bedding, $58-$228. [Anthropologie]
Grade: 4 sheep

Gah. All of my secret desires to be in the remake of Les Liaisons Dangereuses could be fulfilled here. I'd love un peu more color, but mon dieu! Très sexy!
Rosemallow bedding, $58-$228; Italian campaign canopy bed, $1,250-$1,898; wingback chair, $1,998; mirrored dresser, $1,298. [Anthropologie]
Grade: Zzzzzzzz.

Earllier: Pottery Barn, Anthropologie & West Elm: Bedding Porn For Sleepyheads

Advertising Taking Cues From Porn: What Is The World Cumming To?

Dodai — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 17:00:00 EDT

Over on Copyranter yesterday, there was a Trojan ad in which a pig shoots a cum-shot-looking load of tanning lotion onto a woman's back. The point of the ad is that human men are not swine and therefore jizz into a condom. Only pigs spooge on your back! Sure, it's a condom ad, anything goes. But Trojan is not the only company using images straight out of porn flicks to shill their products.

There's LAMB: Gwen Stefani, in orgasmic throes, whispering the words "I want you all over me." What about American Apparel? Or, you know, American Apparel? Sex sells, they say. Nudity in advertising is nothing new (see: Obsession and such). But what is up with all the ejaculation in your face? Somehow, the newer ads seem misogynistic, rude and degrading. Are we living in an age where everyone's only interested in their own orgasm?

Trojan, 2008

Lamb, 2007

Obsession, 1987

Chanel, 1984

Trojan Slips Piggish, Sloppy Cum Shot Into Ad In Fitness Magazine [Copyranter]
Earlier: Is Rubbing Cum All Over Your Face The Secret To Eternal Youth?
Bukkake Alert
A Letter To American Apparel's Latest Spokesbottom, "Kristen"

Stimulate This!

Megan — Mon, 07 Jul 2008 17:00:00 EDT

When Congress and the President announced the economic stimulus plan ($600 for almost everyone, we think!), I'm pretty sure they intended us to spend it on things like capital purchases, consumer goods and services, most of which would hopefully be Made In America and thus stimulate the economy. Whoops! But it turns out there are some things that are getting stimulated, both economically and otherwise: the porn industry.

The Adult Internet Market Research Company reports that, in their survey, most sites have seen a 20-30 percent membership growth since the checks began to hit mailboxes in May. What, like Fleshbot isn't good enough for you pervs once you guys have money?

But it's not just American pervs using economic boons to relieve some stress. Brazil has seen a huge spike in sex toy sales in recent years as the economy has taken off and some modest wealth has been redistributed to the lower-middle class, which they've apparently used to buy lingerie, porn and imported sex toys. But it's not just men — women account for 70-80 percent of adult sales according to Evaldo Shiroma, president of the sex goods indsutry trade association.

I have to say, when I finally (supposedly) get my long-awaited stimulus check, I'm not spending it on porn sites, though I'll admit that if my vibrator finally bites it I will be buying a new one regardless (that's an emergency purchase on a par with needing coffee or alcohol, though). But it's cool to know that once women have just enough money stop worrying about how to feed, clothe and house themselves and their families, they get on with their naughty selves and start getting it on — even if that's just in Brazil. Maybe if we could get that started in Ohio or Kansas, we would talk less about the red state-blue state divide and more about the plug-in vs. battery-powered schism. One could hope, anyway.

Job Cuts May Help Curb Inflation [Chicago Sun-Times]
Rebates Stimulate Porn Industry [NY Post]
An Economic Stimulus — To Brazil's Sex Life [Time]

"Is It Normal For Straight Girls To Only Like Girl-On-Girl Porn?"

Slut Machine — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 16:20:00 EDT

It's time for another installment of Pot Psychology, the "advice column" in which everyone's problems are solved with an "herbal" remedy. (Remember, kids: Don't do drugs!) In this episode, Rich and I got help from our pal Sasha Frere-Jones again, to tackle problems like leaky vaginas, syphilis, and boyfriends who drool during oral sex. Got a burning question? Send it to potpsych@jezebel.com. (Please keep them short; they're verrrry hard to read when stoned.)

Women Have A Complex Relationship With Porn

Megan — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 14:00:00 EDT

Pornography is a complex issue for feminists, coming as it does [heh] at the intersection of sexuality, exploitation, morality and personal choice. Some women are pro-, some are anti- and most of us are a combination thereof. Given the current widespread public perception of political feminists as humorless, sexless bitches and/or lesbians, it's probably no surprise that some studies want to also portray us all as anti-porn or just doing it to please men. So, as long as we're clear, feminists are sexless prudes, women who like porn are only pretending to please men, and "normal women" — i.e., neither feminists nor slutty man-pleasers — hate it. Right, got it: damned if I do and damned if I don't. Luckily, there are women like Katha Susie Bright and the Nation's Katha Pollitt who, in a new podcast up on Bright's website, are willing to deconstruct that myth just a little bit.

Susie says it best, perhaps, when she points out the origins of feminism in the sixties and inside of the hippie free-love movement:

What I didn't expect is that feminism would ever get wrenched apart over sex. I never saw that coming. I never thought that people would think that because I was a feminist, I was a prude or a square or that I wasn't on the cutting edge of sex radicalism.

It is a little odd, isn't it, that feminists went from being bra-burning sluts to being buttoned-up humorless lesbians in the public perception — though, I'm sure that has not just a little to do with the fact that the bra-burning sluts grew up to be, you know, older women and older women are obviously not sexual beings anymore.

Susie attributes an anti-porn sentiment among women to two things: one which she identifies as a more political sentiment, grounded in a sense that there's exploitation going on, that it's for male pleasure and rooted in a continuing sense of male-domination; and another one more grounded in women's sense of self:

When I hear a woman express a vernacular anti-porn sentiment... I started to take it as code for a couple of things. One, particularly if they are afraid that they are going to be left for porn... I realize that they don't understand their incredible value as a real woman who can really have sex with their partner. And I often identify it as someone who is not enjoying orgasms, who doesn't recognize her own sexual self-interest, because if she did, she would say, "Well, whatever I think about his porn interests or his masturbatory fantasy interests, I have some myself." And she would compare them to her own. Where as a woman who's not aware of her own fantasizing, who isn't masturbating and so on, it's just "What is this?", it really is another woman [to her].

Katha, on the other hand, cautions against that strict a delineation, noting that women can enjoy porn on a visceral level and still be concerned with the labor issues — safety, exploitation, the potential for coercion, what is happening when the cameras go off, etc. On the other hand, Katha's experiences with porn have been mostly limited to the literary, as she started her career as a copy-editor for pornography, and evinces a certain discomfort with modern porn:

When I looked at visual pornography — which I haven't seen a lot of — I'm often really turned off. In all kinds of ways. The people look so sterile, and implanted and shaved. I'm always worries about the labor issues... I think it's a very complicated thing to watch other people have sex.

Like Katha, my experiences with porn started off with the literary — my high school boyfriend found a dog-eared copy of a book Katha might have copy-edited in his parents' room (and I kept it for years). If you think it's hard to masturbate while typing, well, it ain't easy while you're trying to read, either. A few guy friends in high school had some porn mags (gay and straight) that they showed me that were interesting, but it's hard to ask a dude friend to borrow one. My first experience actually watching porn was — again — with dude friends in college. Most of it was old shit on VHS, none of it was online (it was 1998, everything was pay-porn then, so sue me) and none of it was as plastic and unfeeling as the titty mag my college boyfriend and his roommates subscribed to "for the articles". The only time I ever had a problem with porn in a relationship was when my boyfriend of two years developed a secret habit that reflected sexual differences I'd thought we'd resolved in our relationship (and when it coincided with personal ads he was posting on the Internet). I do watch it myself now (thanks, Fleshbot!) when it's free, and utilize it for its intended purpose, mostly when I'm too mentally distracted by stress or depression to conjure up my own fantasies but need the release. In those moments, do I worry about the labor issues? No. Do I miss my little book of 70s erotica? Kind of. Would I be happy to see more unionization and regulation in the porn industry so that I could be more sure that the stuff that's getting me off is safe for the women (and men) who are virtually assisting me? Yes, but that's the subject for another post.

Women Watch Porn To Please Men? [Salon]
Susie & Katha Pollitt, on "Virginity or Death!" [Susie Bright's Journal]

Penn & Teller Call Bullshit! On The War On Porn

Slut Machine — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 14:00:00 EDT

Penn & Teller: Bullshit! debunks myths and ideas by approaching every topic the duo cover with logic and science. The most recent episode focused on "The War on Porn." As magicians, Penn & Teller know when someone is trying to pull one over on them, like anti-porn activists, who have no statistical evidence to back up their assertions that porn is damaging to those who watch it. And as porn enthusiasts, P&T know how important it is to shoot down such activists. In fact, I think I'm a little bit in love with Penn! NSFW clip above.

"Old Man" Porn Is Fun For All Ages

Moe — Fri, 20 Jun 2008 15:40:00 EDT

Shigeo Tokuda is the famed 74-year-old Japanese porn star behind a new Japanese genre of Japanese adult entertainment dubbed "old man porn." And its growth is anything but mature. Tokuda's ouevre comprises such diverse titles as Maniac Training of Lolitas to Forbidden Elderly Care. Young people love him because he has "something that only an older generation has and the young people do not possess, because they lived that much more," in the words of the director. And older people love him because, in contrast to the youngsters and their "school dramas," they can relate to him. Really, it's somewhat analogous to the John McCain phenomenon! And yeah, I know what you're thinking, readers. You're thinking, "Great, just another way men get to grow old and saggy and clog their arteries without any of the devastating desexualization we have to go through." But!

Although films featuring women in their teens and 20s are the mainstay of the industry, a trend toward "mature women" has become evident over the past five years. Currently, about 300 of the 1,000 adult videos on offer at Tsutaya, and 400 out of the 2,000 at DMM, are "mature women" films.

Sadly, this brave new artform has not translated into old people actually getting more sex, but, you know, it's Japan. Someone will make a viral sex tape and touch off a thousand imitations soon enough. And no I will not be watching them.

Japan's Booming Sex Niche: Elder Porn [TIME]

Porn Star Tera Patrick Plans "World Domination"

Slut Machine — Wed, 11 Jun 2008 12:30:00 EDT

The Insider loves its female porn star coverage, so it was no surprise to us to see Tera Patrick featured on last night's "In Depth" segment. What was surprising (and encouraging) was how positive the piece was. Tera is sort of the new Jenna Jameson, in that she's totally crossing over into mainstream media. However, unlike Jenna, Tera doesn't have a bitter attitude toward the industry that's made her a star. Also, unlike Jenna, Tera seems to still be eating. She's voluptuous and upbeat and unapologetic, and we kinda love her for it. However, at the end of the segment, The Insider noted that Tera and her husband (ex-Biohazard bassist Evan Seinfeld) are working on a joint "biography." Really, Insider? Who are they writing about? Clip above.

A Porn Addiction Is A Little More Than Just An Interest

Megan — Tue, 10 Jun 2008 15:30:00 EDT

Not that anyone here is looking to get sex advice from Fox News Sexpert Yvonne Fulbright, but some people probably do so I figured someone needed to respond to her article 8 Signs Your Partner is Addicted to Porn, which is actually more like "Universal Signs There Are Problems In Your Relationship" rather than an actual addiction — which, if you accuse him of having, you're not likely to really get a productive response because you're already not communicating if these things are going on. But, join me after the jump as I deconstruct her unhelpful advice that is mostly based on porn-shaming and the people who do it and less on actual protocols for identifying addictive behavior.

So, here are her eight signs:

Your partner is not as social as he used to be.
Your partner lacks interest in sex or is sexually unresponsive.
Your partner is being uncharacteristically demanding or rough during sex.
Your partner does not seem “present.”
Your partner has started to nit-pick your appearance.
You feel like you’re no longer getting straight answers from your lover.
Your partner is practically wed to the Internet.
You’ve noticed a change in your partner’s demeanor.

Great, well, welcome to the world of a bad relationship. Numbers 1, 2, 4, 5, 6 and 8 are stereotypical signs also of someone who is unhappy in a relationship, having and affair, thinking of having an affair or simply creating emotional distance for whatever reason. Spending a lot of time on the computer could be a porn addiction, or it could equally easily be him, say, communicating with his other romantic interests — for instance, in the 2 months before I caught a long-ago ex posting personal ads on the Internet, his computer time spiked because he was obsessively checking his online profile and IMing potential dates and looking at profiles, not because he was downloading porn (though he was doing that, too, and obviously that was the least of our problems and not representative of an addiction).

Look, people like porn. Some people like it more than others. Some people masturbate to fantasies in their head and some people masturbate to porn and as long as neither one is significantly interfering with any aspect of your life then it doesn't really qualify as an addiction. Normal people don't look at porn or masturbate to compete with their sex life. The moment that it becomes more important than your actual sex life, than your lover or your partner, the second you can't achieve orgasm without your porn of choice in your face or you forego (good) sex to masturbate to porn, the second you start plunking dollar after dollar down to access this or that webcam or some specific actress's site and you feel yourself attached to someone you don't even know and will never meet, yeah, that's heading into addiction territory. But some images on a hard drive, or an interest in viewing it is not an addiction.

A couple of friends-of-friends have actually struggled with porn addiction. One spent tens of thousands of dollars and drove himself and his family into bankruptcy. Another got to the point where he was consistently turning down sex with his hot wife in favor of masturbating to straight vanilla porn. Both required therapy (and one required a strategically placed mirror by his computer) to start to deal with their lives again, because their interest in pornography turned into a need for it that interfered with their relationships and their lives writ large.

So, look, if your partner is not communicating, refusing sex, experiencing personality changes and spending a lot of time on the computer and/or wanking to porn, the problem you need to focus on is not the porn. It's the lack of communication, the deliberate or even subconscious creation of emotional distance and the lack of honesty. By attacking the porn, you'll be inviting the other person to become defensive and allowing both of you to ignore the actual issues in your relationship that are much sadder and more difficult to deal with.

But, hey, it's your relationship and so if you want to believe your partner's pornographic taste is totes a reflection on you and if that partner just stops masturbating, then everything will be sunshine and rainbows and you'll live happily ever after, the end, go ahead. I know a good lawyer that will help you with your eventual divorce, and a great house cleaner you will help get the stains out from the underside of your computer desk.

FOXSexpert: 8 Signs Your Partner is Addicted to Porn [Fox News]

Possibly-Fake 13-Year-Old Seduces Prostitutes With Fake World Of Warcraft Winnings

Moe — Tue, 13 May 2008 13:30:00 EDT

That kids today are exposed to massive amounts of porn and heavily porn-influenced content at impossibly tender ages is an unavoidable fact. Parents and teachers and the whole "Village Thing" can do a certain amount to censor and filter and limit this, but a part of me thinks that all young men should just start listening to Howard Stern at age five because then they would at least have the sense not to title their Peer Pressure-inspired YouTube videos Rape Dat Ho and would instead do like 13-year-old Ralph Hardy of Newark, Texas. Ralph, the son of a workaholic attorney who forgot his birthday, allegedly decided to take it upon himself to steal his father's credit card to get a few pals together and hire some hookers.

In a heartwarming tale that may well be apocryphal — but if it is, it is truly the "Gift of the Magi" of the GTA generation, so it's worthy of a post — the young Hardy told the girls he had a "growth disorder" a la Andy Milonakis and the motel clerks that he had just won a World of Warcraft tournament.

When police arrived at the motel they found $3,000 in cash, numerous electronic gadgets, an Xbox video console with numerous games, and the two local escort girls.
Ralph had reportedly told police that his father wouldn't mind, as it was his birthday last week and he had forgot to get him a present. The father, a lawyer said he had been too busy, but would take him on a surprise trip to Disneyland instead.

Asked why he ordered two escorts, Ralph said he thought it was the thing to do when you win a "World of Warcraft" tournament. They told the suspicious working girls they were people of restricted growth working with a traveling circus, and as State law does not allow those with disabilities to be discriminated against they had no right to refuse them.

The $1,000 a night girls sensing something up played "Halo" on the Xbox with the kids, instead of selling their sexual services.

Ralph's ambition is to one day become a politician.

I can't find a news source more legitimate than The Sun to source this to, so I'll believe it when young Ralph hosts his first YouTube party with Cory Worthington, but it's a pleasant enough screenplay idea, no?

13-Year-Old Steals Dad's Credit Card To Buy Hookers

A Lynwood, Washington mom amusingly surnamed ...

Moe — Tue, 06 May 2008 10:45:00 EDT

A Lynwood, Washington mom amusingly surnamed "Milfs" is angry over a book called Pornogami being sold at Urban Outfitters. "It's not freedom of speech. It's selling adult books to teenagers" she says, demonstrating the sort of logic that could finally shut down the internet and force us to pick up meaningful pastimes like origami again. (Our brother site, Consumerist, has a video demonstration of Pornogami and yes, Master Sugoi has a creepy voice.) [Consumerist]

Just Desserts

Slut Machine — Wed, 30 Apr 2008 14:30:00 EDT

We aren't the types who think that desserts are "sinful," but the recipes on Porn Bread kinda are. It's a site that gives DIY instructions on how to make sexed-up treats like Dirty Sanchez cookies, Viagra cupcakes, penis pretzels, "Jiggly Gelatin Boobs", Kama Sutra gingerbread cookies, and much more. [Porn Bread]

Father Gives Daughter Bikini Waxes, Rides To Work At A Brothel

Slut Machine — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 19:00:00 EDT

Today's episode of Tyra was about women who are looking to become legal prostitutes in Nevada. One particularly fucked up segment featured Summer, a pretty 18-year-old who is an "up and coming" adult film actress about to start working at the infamous Moonlight Bunny Ranch. Summer's father is also her manager, and he not only talked her into working at the brothel, but gives her Brazilian bikini waxes. Almost more insane? They actually show him doing it. Now, I'm pro-porn and pro-sex work, and I feel like people should be allowed to make their own choices when it comes to how they want to make their money. But maybe I'm not as progressive as I thought I was, because this shit is just wrong. Oh, and when Summer is shown crying when her dad drops her off at the brothel? He says, "you forgot something," and you think he's gonna give her words of encouragement or a hug, but instead, he hands her a giant bottle of lube.

Strippers Lose Jobs To The Internet • The Simpsons Are Back on Venezuelan TV

maria — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 17:30:00 EDT

Print journalists aren't the only ones losing jobs, strippers feel the burden of the digital age. • Iranian says Barbies are "destructive" and must be stopped. • Incarcerated 400-pound man loses 100 pounds, sues county for underfeeding. • Six conservative women talk about dating whiny liberal men. • Two teenagers are jailed for life for killing a goth woman. • Mexicans try to quell the anti-emo riots by promoting diversity among teens. • Lourdes basically has the coolest mom hand-me-downs to pick from. • National Lampoon launches website to rate prostitutes. • Scientists just realize that periods are awesome, can repair hearts. • American Family Association attack soap on lackluster gay kiss. • An ironically long article on shorthand text speak, lol grwn ups r so lam3! • The Simpsons are back in Venezuela! • Baseball star Roger Clemens had a relationship with Mindy McCready when she was 15 years old (he was 28 and married). • Easy mistake to make: Woman attacks boyfriend, thinking he is a porn actor. • "Chinese eatery specializes in penis." That is all you need to know.

This Week We Learned About Hookers, Muumuus And Moms.

Jessica — Fri, 25 Apr 2008 18:20:00 EDT

If this whole Jezebel thing doesn't work out, we now know how to become an internet "escort."
Lilly Ledbetter is a stand-up lady. Maybe someday women will get equal pay for equal work, but not today.
But look! Babies and puppies!
We became certified Tina Feynatics.
We talked about moms! You can't live with them, can't shed their DNA.

Spitzer? I don't even know 'er!
We were not that into the Sex and the City-branded lingerie. Shudder.
The Real Housewives of New York City reunion was possibly the best 60 minutes of television we've ever seen. Thank GOD it's been picked up for a second season! We can't wait to hang with Ramoarawn again.
So throw on that muumuu, and remember: VD is for Everybody.

Cumming To A Smut Shop Near You: The Eliot Splitz-Her Story

Slut Machine — Fri, 25 Apr 2008 11:00:00 EDT

Well, it was bound to happen: The Eliot Spitzer call girl scandal has been turned into a porn film and the title is perfect: Gov Lov: The Eliot Splitz-Her Story. (How great is it that the DVD box cover looks like the New York Post? Fleshbot has the NSFW version of the box cover.) The film is being released by Hustler, which has a long history of making sex and politics strange bedfellows. "This movie parody is an example of one of the reasons I went to the Supreme Court in 1988 — to make parody protected speech," Hustler publisher Larry Flynt said via a press release we received last night. The movie comes out May 27, but you can see the trailer after the jump. (No worries, it's safe for work.)

Plot synopsis from the press release:

Mike Horner, who bears a striking resemblance to the former governor, eagerly places his order with the Pimperor's Club. As "Client 69," he agrees to fork over thousands for an all-expense-paid trip so that his mistress, Kristen, can meet him in Washington, D.C. Kristen, played by Cassandra Cruz, arrives at the governor's hotel to find him eagerly awaiting her arrival. Watch as the governor reveals his overzealous sex drive and gets sucked and fucked by his sexy mistress. "Client 69" is under the impression that he is going to get away with his sexcapade, but little does he know there are FBI agents on a stakeout in the next room. The agents, played by Van Damage and Veronica Jett, are so incredibly turned on by what they are overhearing in the governor's room that they decide to have some fun of their own.

Vivid director Tristan Taormino will be launching ...

Slut Machine — Fri, 18 Apr 2008 18:30:00 EDT

Vivid director Tristan Taormino will be launching a new reality-based porn series called "Rough Sex." Tristan will direct the first film in the series, and plans to have the rest of the series directed by women as well. "The problem isn't with the depiction of hardcore sex itself," she said in a press release today. "It's about sex that is seen as one-sided, degrading and hostile. Many women love rough sex and these films will give us a chance to present their desires from their perspective."

Avril Thinks It's All About Her; Men Are The "Vanilla Gender"

maria — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 17:00:00 EDT

• Avril Lavigne teaches young girls the importance of narcissism. • Indianapolis is the most sexually satisfied city? Uh, okay. • France's only female 3-star chef is opening a cooking school in Valence. • Scientific breakthrough! Sexually inhibited women have a harder time getting off. • Men are the "vanilla gender" and are what female job performance is based on. • Women are often "being cheated" by microfinance programs, according to Time. We still gave to Kiva. • Prozac may cure lazy eye. • Accused rapists will not be prosecuted because the mentally disabled woman and alleged victim is not a "reliable" witness. • Almost 3,000 websites produce the bulk of child porn on the internet.

Can A Self-Respecting Porn Star Ever Succeed As A Mainstream Actress?

Dodai — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 14:00:00 EDT

An article from Premiere.com attempts to tackle the issue of actresses going from porn to mainstream projects. The story is tied to the fact that Jenna Jameson is starring in Zombie Strippers, which, while it may be kitschy, is not porn. Writes Glenn Kenny: "While recent advances in sexual frankness onscreen seem to be constantly bringing porn and mainstream entertainment closer and closer together, crossing over remains an elusive dream for performers who come up through the world of adult. Is there a double standard? Given that the likes of Kerry Fox, Mark Rylance, and Chloë Sevigny, to name just a few well-regarded actors, have appeared in explicit unsimulated sex scenes and not been tagged with some sort of career stigma suggests there is. But it's a little more complicated than that."

Kenny goes on to document the post-porn careers of women such as Linda Lovelace, Marilyn Chambers, and maybe most well-known, Traci Lords. It's interesting that she found success by bad-mouthing the porn industry (which she got into when she was underaged) and by appearing in "mainstream" flicks — helmed by decidedly left-of-center director John Waters. (Lords also appeared in workout videos that were highly sexualized.)

But why is it so hard for porn stars to become "mainstream" movie stars? It's not like a singer trying to be an actor or a actor attempting to have a music career. Is it because we assume the acting is bad? So are the performances on tons of soap operas. Yet soap stars break out into flicks all the time. Is it the (shh!) ess-ee-ex? Do we lose respect for a woman who's been paid to fake (or have!) an orgasm on film? Why her and not Meg Ryan? We don't expect our actresses to be virginal Doris Day clones. Angelina Jolie, Helen Mirren and Judi Dench have been topless on film. But do we have some sort of ingrained puritanical values in our collective psyche that prevents us from respecting porn stars? That keeps us from accepting them as hard-working actors?

From Porn To Mainstream: Can Jenna Pull It Off? [Premiere]
Related: YOUTUBULAR: Traci Lords' Shameful Post-Porn Career [Best Week Ever]

Earlier: New Movie Zombie Strippers Has A Formula For Awesome

Graphic Design

Slut Machine — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 13:45:00 EDT

Porn posters used to be so arty and cool. (If only sex actually looked this awesomely in real life.) This gallery of old adult film one-sheets is totally inspiring. [Vintage Ads]

Bjork Feels Bad For China; Hair Dye Equals Death

maria — Fri, 11 Apr 2008 17:20:00 EDT

• Bjork feels sorry for China. You know, over all that Tibet stuff. • Italian porn star runs for office, promises to create "cute" red light district. • H.S. teacher resigns after being outed as madam. • Macho, alcoholic men have trouble dealing with serious injuries. • Gabrielle Union sues Craigslist pranksters over faux ad. • India bans sale of cheap hair dye after farmers use it to commit suicide. • Uterine fibroids can now be treated with a non-invasive ultrasound. • Australians engage in wife-carrying competitions. • Hayden says: Sexual harassment is wrong, even if it makes you "feel good."

It must be sexy pregnant lady day today or ...

Slut Machine — Fri, 11 Apr 2008 13:40:00 EDT

It must be sexy pregnant lady day today or something. Nina Hartley has announced the release of her latest DVD Nina Hartley's Guide to Great Sex During Pregnancy. Hartley, a former nurse, said, "There's a real curiosity and a lot of misinformation on sex during pregnancy. I felt it was time to set the record straight ... and I believe the public is ready to accept that a pregnant woman can be a sexual, desirable woman." [AVN]

In Defense Of Joe Francis (Sort Of)

Slut Machine — Thu, 27 Mar 2008 15:00:00 EDT

Don't get me wrong, Girls Gone Wild founder Joe Francis is a douche nozzle. He has a lot of idiot friends (Tara Reid, Paris Hilton), he's bristling with entitlement, and probably worst of all, he's under the assumption that his brand of objectification is merely the observation of women's sexual liberation. But people shouldn't have to go to jail just because we aren't fans of them or their work. Joe's legal problems have been going on for years, a lot of which has been at the hands of the Justice Department's Obscenity Prosecution Task Force. Here's the thing about that: The government doesn't give a fuck that drunk girls are flashing their tits for frat guys to jerk off to. They care that they don't get a cut of the action it's bringing in. (Stuff like firearms, tobacco, and alcohol all have hefty government taxes.) The business of sex is a lucrative one, and the Obscenity Task Force was formed to catch smut peddlers on shit like sloppy record keeping, in order to fine them or seize their assets. "It's terrifying, honestly," Vivid Alt's Eon McKai* told us. "It's a bit like a witch hunt."

Do you know how open to interpretation "obscenity" is to that task force? Anything remotely sexual as far as nudity goes, could be considered obscene without a clear definition, because obscenity is so fucking subjective. Joe's violations have to do with "Project Safe Childhood," which looks to protect children from being the subjects of pornography. And while it's come to light that he has featured girls under the age of 18 on his DVDs, it was more because the girls lied to be on camera, and not because he's some kiddie porn producer.

A lot of people (me) hold the opinion that going after porno in the name of protecting children is only the first step to an eventual free for all attack of the porn industry as a whole based solely on content and what some suit considers "obscene."

"Obscenity laws give the government far reaching powers to fuck with all of us," says McKai. "So it's no laughing matter."

The real issue here is that people like Joe and Max Hardcore are super high profile and super wealthy. The government is way more interested in that than the fact that a couple of girls have some regrets about what they did when they were on spring break, only because their little brother saw them on an infomercial in the middle of the night. George Bush and his ilk are not Captains Save a Ho. It's always about money.

*Eon's new movie The Doll Underground was released today.

When Tracie's Away, The Cats Come Out To Play

Jennifer — Wed, 12 Mar 2008 17:30:00 EDT

Since Tracie is en vacances and we're missing her (and her videos) terribly, we decided to make do with the next best thing: Put up a new video of her favorite cat, Winston, stuffing his face like the lovable freak he is.

My Cat The Pig [Four Four, via YouTube]
Earlier: Sushi + Cats = Feline Feeding Frenzy

DIY Porno

Slut Machine — Fri, 07 Mar 2008 18:30:00 EST

For the aspiring film director, the Make Your Own Erotic Movie Game: Doctors and Nurses edition provides three scripts and set ups for people to make their own hospital-themed pornos. [Love Honey via Shiny Shiny]

Porn Ultimatums

Jessica — Fri, 07 Mar 2008 14:20:00 EST

Bret Stieghorst and James Van Iveren were in court this week. You see, last month, Stieghorst was just sittin' in his Oconomwoc, Wisconsin apartment, watchin' some porn and minding his own business when his downstairs neighbor Van Iveren burst in and started threatening Stieghorst (pictured at left) with a 3-foot-long sword. You see, Van Iveren thought the yelps he was hearing from Stieghorst's apartment were the sounds of a woman being raped. In fact, Van Iveren was so convinced that Stieghorst was assaulting a woman that he held the dude at sword-point and made him open all the closets in the house to verify that no woman was hiding. "I intended to hold it behind my back and knock. But I froze and instead, what happened happened," Van Iveren told Mikwaukee's NBC affiliate, WTMJ. "Now I feel stupid. This really is nothing, nothing but a mistake." Stieghorst plans to invest in "some decent headphones." [Breitbart, WTMJ]

Do Men Who Do Housework Get Laid More?

Dodai — Thu, 06 Mar 2008 13:00:00 EST

"Men Who Do Housework May Get More Sex," the headline of this AP story reads. Well, duh. Anyway, a report released today by the Council on Contemporary Families states that men's contribution to housework has doubled over the past four decades. Let's hope so! Because a modern wives, as the Daily Mail so helpfully points out, are "a long way from the regimented unselfishness of the idealized wife" of the 1950s. Plus, the Telegraph reports, 59% of modern men think it's important that their woman stand up to them. Retro-submission be gone! The AP story quotes Joshua Coleman, a San Francisco-area psychologist and author of a book called The Lazy Husband: How to Get Men to Do More Parenting and Housework. He says: "If a guy does housework, it looks to the woman like he really cares about her - he's not treating her like a servant. And if a woman feels stressed out because the house is a mess and the guy's sitting on the couch while she's vacuuming, that's not going to put her in the mood." Also, guys look hot when they're doing dishes, laundry or vacuuming. That's been established.

Unfortunately, the report also found that there is still a gender gap for "invisible" household work: Women still do the majority of the management stuff, like scheduling children's medical appointments, buying gifts for birthday parties, arranging holiday gatherings, etc. Still, the overall findings in the report suggest that couples are moving towards more equitable partnerships. "The younger set of dads have their own expectations about themselves as to being helpful and participatory," says Carol Evans, founder and CEO of Working Mother magazine. "They haven't quite gotten to equality in any sense that a women would say, 'Wow, that's equal,' but they've gotten so much farther down the road."

But is the media trying to convince men that dirty dishes = potential blow job? Do men who do housework get laid more? Is it because they're not selfish jerks? Do you think we'll ever get to place where all men and women share the housework (visible and invisible!) equally? Or are there some things that will always be "the woman's job"?

Men Who Do Housework May Get More Sex [Yahoo! News]
Honey, You're Out Of Date: Why Men No Longer Want A 1950s Wife [Daily Mail]
Today's Perfect Wife: A Good Cook Who Argues [Telegraph]

Related: A Fifties Wife? No Thanks, I've Got One [Daily Mail]

Earlier: Is A Hot Guy Hotter When He's Doing Your Laundry?
The Porn Ultimatum

Gay For Pay: Can A Guy Really Be Straight If He Bones Dudes?

Slut Machine — Thu, 28 Feb 2008 20:00:00 EST

A new episode of MTV's True Life aired last night called "I Work in the Sex Industry." While "sex industry" is defined kinda loosely (one of the girls they follow hosts a college radio sex show), the storyline following Aaron, a 23-year-old straight guy who works in gay porn, was pretty interesting. He says he really, truly is straight but that he can't turn the money down, since gay sex scenes offer about five times the cash as straight ones, and he simply relies on Viagra to get him up. The thing is, his family seems to have a hard time believing that he can do that job and be straight, and even his gay male costars tease him about how he just doesn't know he's gay yet. Clip above.

Fair & Balanced

Dodai — Tue, 26 Feb 2008 14:20:00 EST

Does conservative cable outlet Fox News consistently use porny images of women? Yes, says the site FoxNewsPorn. Click the picture to see an embedded video and check out the raw, steamy clips — all of which were taken from Fox News broadcasts. [FoxNewsPorn, via Feminist Law Professors]