Archive for the ‘Trivia & Links’ Category
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I try to make my rants on here as educational as possible by throwing in the odd statistic or society shocking must read book. But this week I’ve decided to skip most of the “did you know” part and veer more towards amusing (although I’m sure if you manage to sit through the Killing Us Softly Video you will learn something).
Enjoy 
The Good…. Messages Worth The Air Time
The Bad…. Killing Us Softly (Advertising and its effects on women)
And The Funny???…. Sex in Advertising
The Little Black Book
I was talking with a girlfriend a few weeks ago about her recent dating activity and she happened to mention her ‘little black book’. It was then that the question struck me…. Do people still physically use little black books? Or has it simply become a label for ones cell phone directory of sexting partners?
Well after a little research I learned that nowadays, it looks as though these books have fallen victim to the viral industry. The webpage ‘Bedpost’ is a free site whose tagline is “Ever wonder how often you get busy?” Users of the site simply enter details of their latest sexual encounter – in a calendar black book type style – which includes everything from how long it lasted and who it was with, to a rating of the experience on a scale of one to five. The site then creates a map of your sexual activity and generates your own statistics and tracks your averages. So now when you’re laying in bed at night ruminating over whether ‘Hump Day’ (Wednesdays) truly lives up to its name, you’ll have a statistically verified answer waiting for you at your fingertips. Now Bedpost claims that the password protected site is for personal private use only, but I’m sure many users are thinking, ‘what’s the use of tracking your stats if you can’t compare?’
If comparing and sharing are up your alley, then the website ‘I Just Made Love’ might be more your style, as it allows users to do this on a global level. Individuals simply input where they’ve just done the deed (using Google Maps to mark exact locations), whether sex was indoors or outdoors and which sexual positions they tried. So, if you’re curious about your cities action meter, or which country favours doggy style, give the site a quick look up and down. You might be shocked by what’s going on down the street!
Anonymous E-Card Addressed to You: Please Get Tested, I Think I Gave You Gonorrhea!
In Sex and the City Carrie was dumped via a post-it note. Harsh? Yes, but nowadays, there’s worse. A man by the name of Bradley Laborman, from IDUMP4U.com, is paving new ground in the break up scene by doing the dirty deed for you for a measly $10. May seem cheap, but Bradley’s getting his fair share out of the deal as he tapes his phone conversations and then posts them online for all to hear (check out the link above entitled ‘Bradleys Work’ to hear a short clip).
In Bradley’s eyes, he is performing a service by delivering the exit line for you. And surprisingly, many women agree, as women are his number one clientele. So what is the main driving force for using the service? “It’s fear”, Bradley claims, “I had one guy who couldn’t do it because every time he tried to do it, he’d end up having breakup sex with her and get back together. I think a lot of them have tried a couple times to break up with the person, and it’s just not getting through to them.”
Ok, so getting a phone call from a complete stranger telling you your relationship is over, pretty cold. But what about getting an anonymous ecard informing you that you may have an STI (Sexually Transmitted Infection)?!
‘Hello Sarah, I’m so sorry to inform you that you might have an STI. We had fun but now we’re done and I’m sorry to say that I ‘came’ with strings attached. Tests reveal I have herpes. Please get tested.’
Anonymous egreetings can now be sent to your past sexual partner(s) explaining your current ‘situation’ down below. The program that is facilitating the ecards is called inSPOT, a non-profit organization dedicated to developing and using Internet technologies to prevent disease transmission and enhance the sexual well-being of individuals and communities. Now I know what you’re thinking, who wants to receive an impersonal ecard telling them they might have an STI?! Well no one, of course. But this program might be the best option when considering your choices. One, don’t tell any past partners and live with the guilt that you helped spread an infection (possibly life threatening or fertility affecting) to others. Two, tell them in person that you are the reason for the burning sensation between their thighs. Or three, send them an anonymous ecard with an apology and a list of all the closest STI clinics in their area.
IDUMP4U.com and inSPOT may be harsh in their delivery systems (I think Bradley gets a woody from delivering the bad news…. yes you do Bradley, just admit it), but don’t many adhere to the statement that all’s fair in love and war?
Or possibly – insert Jack Nicholson – YOU CANT HANDLE THE TRUTH!
Weird Sexual Facts – What’s Your Sex IQ?
Nothing says 'DONT TOUCH YOURSELF' like a bowl of corn flakes
1.) Kellogg’s Cornflakes were originally produced as a ‘cure’ for masturbation
2.) French kissing is bad for your teeth
3.) Condom sales have decreased since the recession hit
4.) Sex is the most frequently searched word online
5.) Graham crackers were invented to tame lusty libidos
6.) Women find a man’s willingness to do housework erotic
7.) Targeting accuracy (such as throwing a ball in a hoop) is a visuospatial skill that varies with both sex and sexual orientation
8.) The hypothalamic nucleus (INAH3) is smaller in homosexual men than in heterosexual men, and the anterior commissure (band of fibers connecting the left and right hemispheres of the cerebral cortex) is larger in homosexual men than in heterosexual men
9.) Women fantasize about making love with the possibility of being discovered significantly more than men
10.) The higher the education level the more likely the individual is to masturbate
11.) Studies show that 30-50% of American men and 20-40% of American women have at least one extramarital affair over the course of a marriage
12.) A squeezed half-lemon was commonly used as a diaphragm and crocodile dung was inserted inside the vagina to prevent pregnancy in the ancient Mediterranean world
13.) Married women have sex less frequently, engage in less oral sex, and are less likely to experience orgasm than are women in dating relationships
14.) Prostitution is on the rise
15.) The record number of medically verified breasts in a single person is ten
Answers: Are you sure you finished answering the questions? No peeking!!!
1.) True: Unsweetened corn flakes were introduced at the Battle Creek Sanitarium in Michigan by anti-masturbation crusader John Harvey Kellogg. His brother Will added sugar to the flakes and successfully marketed them as a breakfast cereal
2.) False: Saliva from a kiss keeps your mouth healthy as it has elements that neutralize the acids that lead to tooth decay
3.) False: After the stock market crashed sales increased by 6%. People seem to be more conscious of contraception because of the cost of raising a child. Not to mention many more nights spent at home instead of out on the town spending money
4.) False: BUT it was the most frequently searched word until last year (2009) when facebook overtook it
5.) True: Sylvester Graham back in the 1800’s thought that spicy foods lead to lust and lust leads to disease so he came up with a bland diet that included the graham cracker
6.) True: When a man does his share to maintain the home both he and his partner report a more satisfying sex life than in relationships where the woman believes her partner is not doing his share
7.) True: Heterosexual men were the most accurate, then homosexual women. Followed by homosexual males and then heterosexual women
8.) True: This is just one of the many reasons given for a biological basis of male homosexuality
9.) False: The only behaviour that women fantasized significantly more than men was getting married. (Women fantasized about being forced to submit, performing sex before an audience and homosexual fantasies more than men but the difference was not scientifically significant)
10.) True: Those with a masters or advanced degree are more likely to masturbate and have more liberal views regarding sex and sexuality
11.) True: Evolutionary psychologists have argued that the real figures are much higher
12.) True: Lemons acidity actually has some spermicidal action
13.) True: But they are more likely to derive physical and emotional satisfaction from sex than women in dating relationships
14.) False: Since the mid-twentieth century prostitution has declined. Kinsey estimated that men’s usage of female prostitutes had dropped by nearly 50% (Reasons? Birth control and woman’s willingness to have sex before marriage)
15.) True: A women by the name of Therese Ventre was also able to nurse her children from a breast on the side of her left thigh
Over 5,000 Naked People at the Sydney Opera House
(Click here to watch a short video on the event)
Less than two weeks ago thousands of Sydney residents congregated at the famous Opera House to shed their cloths in support of a free and equal society. The Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras commissioned the famous American artist Spencer Tunick to take the picture, however neither party expected such a tremendous turn out.
Among the naked supporters were a pregnant woman (who was taken to the hospital shortly after the shooting to give birth) and a local weather man, who showed Sydney more than just the daily forecast.
“Gay men and women lay naked next to their straight neighbours and this delivered a very strong message” Tunick said. This was a message to the world, a message letting them know what Australians really embrace. It is stories like these, and individuals like Tunick, that help to spread these ideas to the rest of the world. Ideas that speak to the sameness of individuals, regardless of their sexual preferences.
Whenever I hear of such amazing events happening within our society I’m always moved. I often struggle with thinking optimistically about the future of gay rights, animals rights and mother nature’s rights. However stories like this bring me back to the power of the human spirit and the direction we’re moving in.
Thank you Tunick and thank you Sydney, for paving the way to equality…. one naked butt cheek at a time.
College Students Urged to Trade in Their Bibles for Playboy
The Atheist Agenda, a student group at the University of Texas in San Antonio, is urging students to trade in their holy books (Koran, Bible, Vedas) for pornography. The group feels that ‘religious texts are so appalling, you’re better off having porn’.
The ‘Smut for Smut’ program, which has drawn widespread attention during its campaign, has apparently done fairly well. Riding on the idea that the program presents a fair trade, group member Brian Talker states, “[Religious texts] are so full of genocide, misogyny and ludicrous ideas that far overshadow any banal common-sense platitudes like loving thy neighbour, that you are better off having porn, which isn’t nearly as smutty.”
Although many question the groups tact, the students profess that ‘Smut for Smut’ is an excellent way to draw attention to religious leaders and the hypocrisy of their condemnations of pornography. “They’ve been going and rallying against pornography for the longest time,” the unidentified student said, “and the disgusting, depraved acts that are within the Bible, Koran and Vedas completely outnumber any [faults] of any pornographic image.”
Christian groups have risen up against the program by establishing anti ‘Smut for Smut’ websites (drawing thousands of members) and by giving away anti-pornography literature in a booth situated across from the Atheist Agenda. As of yet, neither group has backed down and both continue to campaign for their cause.
Although I have always lobbied for freedom of speech, even I know better than to venture my unsolicited opinion on this topic. So I will simply say that I think it’s important to fight for our opinions, but not to believe that they contain the whole truth, or the only truth. And that we ought to always entertain our belief with some measure of doubt – a point I still struggle with – as I wouldn’t wish people to dogmatically believe any philosophy…. not even mine. So instead of inserting ______ Teesha’s thoughts here _______ I will simply leave you with the facts and let you decide whether you’re offended by this story, or you find gentle amusement in its progressions.
Swingers Clubs for the Artistic Type
A very renowned Vienna art museum has asked a swingers group to ‘move into’ a Gustav Klimt exhibition to help visitors confront their sexual inhibitions.
Gustav Klimt, who was famous for shocking Edwardian Europe with his sexually explicit artwork (most notably his 1902 “Beethoven Frieze”), is at the centre of the new exhibition. The museum felt that sexually explicit artwork, such as Klimt’s, was important and historic, but no longer shocking enough to the public. To combat this, the workers have combined artistic sexual expression with physical sexual expression. The result? Shock and amazement.
So what are the swingers actually doing in the museum? Well having sex of course. Orgies among the artwork begin in the evening and continue throughout the night. Visitors to the museum are therefore given the opportunity to overcome their inhibitions while ‘taking in’ as much of the artwork as possible.
My view? I think it’s fabulous that museums – often thought of as pretentious in nature – are not only embracing a radical and very liberated view of sexuality, but exposing this view for all to see. My swingers club experiences were not only shocking and liberating, but educational as well. The club that I first attended had multiple rooms with multiple themes (Arabian, Pillow Talk, Club Scene, Jungle etc) and each room had its own vibe. Some were very inviting, others had more of an exhibitionist feel. The rules of “No Means No” and “Ask Before You Touch” were strictly followed. And whether you were just there to observe or you were in to participate, everyone was overtly nice and welcoming. All and all, I think that more people could benefit from this type of experience. Now I’m not saying I joined in on all the ‘love’, but my opinion of the scene was positively altered but my openness to accept other peoples sexual expression.
My only critique is that all swingers could get tagged with an ‘orgy’ label. Many individuals who identify as swingers have more conservative practices that involve dating and couples only get-togethers. Be that as it may, I commend the museum for paving the way for a more liberated view of human sexuality. My motto: If it’s consensual and safe, all the power to you!
100,000 Condoms & Counting in the Vancouver 2010 Olympics!
During Sydney’s summer games people were provided with 70,000 condoms and ran out! Beijing brought in 100,000 but had 5,000 left over. So what’s the lucky number? Well apparently in Vancouver its 14.6 condoms for each of the 6,850 athletes. Assuming that most condoms are used by couples, that works out to 29 encounters in 2 weeks, or 2 a day!
So why the condom spurge and sex extravaganza? Well, experts say it’s a combination of things. The fact that many athletes abstain from sex before the games, and that a large number of them don’t have steady partners because of their dedication to the sport (therefore they are more able to ‘hook up’ afterwards). Also many of the athletes are surrounded by alcohol, the party atmosphere and are constantly meeting new people.
Ok so those reasons may seem obvious, but what isn’t is why we’re so interested in the athletes condom usage. Is it because we are bombarded with mysterious and alluring sexual imagery in media daily, and this imagery is almost exclusively tied to young, fit people… So athletes are sexy by definition? Are we just a sexually curious species, voyeurs by nature? Or is it because when it comes to sex, many people feel as though they are somehow missing out on something? Sex is sold to us as this amazing, mind blowing out-of-body experience. When in reality it’s usually messy, sometimes awkward and – for women especially – often lacking an orgasmic ending.
Well regardless of the reason, I’m elated condoms are on the ‘must have’ list. As STI’s don’t discriminate, and the world is over populated enough. Although you can’t argue the fact that those athletes would produce some genetically gifted individuals!
“Condoms aren’t completely safe…. A friend of mine was wearing one and got hit by a bus!” ~ Bob Rubin
Semen Cookies!?
Wanna Bite?
Recently I was sent the book Natural Harvest – A Collection of Semen Based Recipes. The author proclaims that “Semen is not only nutritious, but it also has a wonderful texture and amazing cooking properties. Like fine wine and cheeses, the taste of semen is complex and dynamic. Semen is an exciting ingredient that can give every dish you make an interesting twist. If you are a passionate cook and are not afraid to experiment with new ingredients – you will love this cook book!”
This ‘Gourmand World Cookbook Award’ nominated book does present a plethora of recipes and tips for cooking with semen. However, my question isn’t so much why someone would want to cook with semen, as I feel that drinking milk that was squeezed from the teat of another animal isn’t that much better, but rather how consistent is semen as an ingredient? As sexual scientists we’ve studied the precarious nature of semen and its changing consistency between people and within each person throughout their lifespan. Some semen is quite acidic (such as the ones that leave yellow stains on a man’s ‘hanky’ socks/towels from his ejaculate) some semen sweet. Sweet is of course a relative term, as semen usually doesn’t taste like lollypops. But my point is, if a man is living on fast food and beer as opposed to fresh fruit and veggies, his semen is going to present with vastly different flavour properties. So, can we really trust the ingredient to taste as the chef intended it to? Or will each of these recipes be dependent on the donors’ lifestyle?
A quick sidebar before you try the Natural Harvest recipes, I should point out that the sous-chef (for lack of a better term) must not have a Sexually Transmitted Infection (STI), a contagious blood borne disease, acute long term exposure to poisons, heavy metals, radiation or intravenous injections. The receiver must also be careful that they are not allergic to the semen, have cancer tumours that could contact concentrated ejaculate, or are sensitive to testosterone. However, if you and your partner are both free of the above constraints and want to try some tasty new recipes, please feel free! I would love to hear your reaction to the dish you made, and whether or not you’d recommend it to others…. as I think I might sit this one out.