A long-awaited obscenity trial opened and was promptly put on hold, after revelations that the top federal judge hearing the case had posted sexually explicit material on the Internet.
Judge Alex Kozinski agreed to the prosecution's request for a 48-hour delay so the Justice Department could look into possible issues of prejudice in the case, in view of the judge's actions
Category: Sex Laws and Crimes
Posted on 6/14/2008 5:17:30 PM by Gloria Brame
Feelin' groovy
R. Kelly was just acquitted -- but I got interviewed while the trial was underway.
Funny, isn't it, what reporters choose to excerpt from an hour long interview...dear me.
from the Chicago Tribune:
A case of discomfort
The elephant in the room at the ongoing child pornography trial of R&B icon R. Kelly is the fact that the man shown in the amateur sex video—the prosecution's key piece of evidence—seems to take pleasure in urinating on his sex partner.
Tearing away from the heinous possibility that the girl in the video may be underage, a question on the minds of many who have followed Kelly's case is: Who on earth would want to urinate on someone else, or be urinated on themselves?
The question might not make for polite dinner conversation, or even a topic normally discussed in a family newspaper. But that has not stopped people from talking about it.
The act performed in the video has gained widespread notoriety in the realm of popular culture. An episode of "Sex and the City" once explored the practice. Comedian Dave Chappelle brought the issue into millions of homes in 2003 with a mock music video in which he dresses and croons likes R. Kelly, guzzling a gallon bottle of water, spraying dancers with a garden hose and singing a song titled "[I Wanna] Pee on You."
The intermingling of sex and urine—known by the euphemism "watersports"—has been around for centuries, but it still makes most people cringe.
Lawyers in the Kelly case warned prospective jurors that they would have to witness "acts you've never seen before." Journalists reporting on the case have had to tiptoe gently around what is often viewed—some would argue incorrectly—as a deviant act.
Sex therapists say that while watersports are not a common practice, plenty of healthy, consenting adults engage in them for an array of reasons.
"There are indeed people who do it as an act of anger," said Gloria Brame, a Georgia-based licensed therapist and author of the book "Different Loving." "But there are a lot of people who think it's groovy. . . . It's a breaking of taboo."
Category: Sex Laws and Crimes
Posted on 6/13/2008 8:43:22 PM by Gloria Brame
p.s. to clients
...and anyone else who needs urgently to get in touch with me this weekend...I will have my cellphone and my laptop so if it's an emergency, don't hesitate to call or email. Can't promise I will be able to reply immediately but will do my best to get back to you asap. You can also call my office and leave voicemail -- someone (i.e., my husband) will be here to make sure I get the message.
Be back Sunday (if there's time, I may even blog live from SELF).
One piglet. One phobia. One pair of stylin' mud boots.
A piglet in Northern England who developed a phobia of mud has overcome its fear with the aid of some Wellington boots.
Cinders, a young saddleback pig, appeared to have a condition called mysophobia - a fear of dirt - having refused to wallow in the mud with her siblings
Link
So if mysophobia means a fear of dirt -- does that mean pervs who love raunch are mysophiliacs?
If you or someone you love (gazing meaningly at my kittypet) uses battery-operated toothbrushes NOT AS GOD INTENDED THEM TO BE USED, but rather to....urrm, brush up on orgasms and keep that clitoris looking squeaky clean, then you might want to shop around for this clever little bit of sex-foolery. It's a soft rubber sleeve to slip over a motorized toothbrush to change the bristly gummer to a soothing soft hummer.
Mmm. Now here's a trend I wouldn't mind seeing in the U.S.
Would You Adopt a “Pet Boy”?
If you’re a girl looking for a man who will keep you company anytime you want, go to movies you want to see, shop with you and even take you on a romantic dinner, then you will love the recently popular South Korean trend of adopting a “Pet Boy”....
(Thanks to Tim for sending this!)
Category: Sex and Culture
Posted on 6/12/2008 10:26:02 PM by Gloria Brame
Hypocrisy Ha-Ha
Thanks to Jen for spotting this one. Wheee!
Alex Kozinski, 9th Circuit chief judge, posted sexually explicit matter on his website
An obscenity trial in Los Angeles federal court was suspended today after The Times reported that the judge presiding over the case has maintained his own publicly accessible website featuring sexually explicit photos and videos.
Alex Kozinski, chief judge of the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, acknowledged in an interview with The Times that he had posted the materials, which included a photo of naked women on all fours painted to look like cows and a video of a half-dressed man cavorting with a sexually aroused farm animal. Some of the material was inappropriate, he conceded, although he defended other sexually explicit content as "funny."
Gee, I wonder if he would accept that defense from the people he's judging. I mean, humor is so subjective. What if the defendant said, "But judge, when I saw that woman peeing into the guy's mouth I about fell out of my chair laughing!" Would that work? How about "Bondage?? That just cracks me up! Seriously! All those ropes and people trussed up like turkeys? HAR HAR HAR, I am holding my sides right now just thinking about it, Judge!"
Yes, a fine complement to the "twinkie defense," the all-new "ha-ha" defense.
The story also goes on to list some of the stuff the judge found "inappropriate" and "funny" enough to save to disk and post on his site.
...The sexually explicit material on Kozinski's site earlier this week was extensive, including images of masturbation, public sex and contortionist sex. There was a slide show striptease featuring a transsexual, and a folder that contained a series of photos of women's crotches as seen through snug fitting clothing or underwear. There were also themes of defecation and urination, though they are not presented in a sexual context.....
Uhh...wha? Sez who? Is that the judge or the reporter making the assessment that images of people pooping and peeing is non-sexual? Ahahahaha.
Kozinki's claiming that he didn't realize he had saved these files (using the old "people send me stuff, I didn't even realize I had it, and, who me, post them on a site? did I do that? OHH, I had no idea!"), and also that he didn't realize anyone else could find it because he didn't offer visible links to the subdirectory. Which means only one of two things. Either (a) he has no concept of how the Internet or google work, and therefore is the last person to be judging Internet porn sites or (b) he's an arrogant, lying SOB who thinks the very laws he uses to prosecute others do not apply to him.
Category: Sex Laws and Crimes
Posted on 6/12/2008 10:25:03 PM by Gloria Brame
Infected sex in the city
Here's a scary statistic to contemplate the next time you indulge in a little sport sex in New York: 25% of adults have herpes, and, among African-Americans, the percentage rises to almost 50%.
The sexually transmitted herpes simplex virus Type 2 is more prevalent in New York City, at 26 percent, than nationally, where 19 percent of adults, roughly one in five, are infected.
The toughest part about herpes (aside from the discomforts and pain of being infected, of course) is that it is one of the trickiest STDs to avoid getting. Unlike HIV, where infection requires some exposure to blood, and a condom generally eliminates risk, herpes can be transmitted in a variety of subtle ways. The biggest risk is when someone "sheds" without showing other symptoms (like sores). For this reason, you have to be with someone who is HONEST about their condition -- if they don't tell you, you may never know until you show symptoms yourself. Nor are condoms guaranteed to protect against infection, particularly since the virus can be transmitted during oral sex and other types of intimate contact.
I don't know or recommend the product they're selling, but this site has excellent advice on preventing herpes infections.
Category: Sexual Health
Posted on 6/12/2008 10:24:05 PM by Gloria Brame
SELF-ful
I'm gonna be teaching/judging at this weekend's annual BDSM blow-out, Southeast LeatherFest, aka SELF.
It's been almost a year since I last went to a big BDSM weekend thing (or any big BDSM thing, for that matter) -- and if this turns out to be half as good as the party in Denver last summer, I'll be very happy. Since I tend not to be much of a public player anymore, and since I do live with some lively pervs, I generally don't take advantage of dungeon spaces or play much with strangers. But I'm feeling, oh, a tad...frisky! FRISKY I tell you -- a dangerous adjective when applied to a sadist. Those who know me know that it usually translates to Big Honking Depravity. My ever-loyal loving girl ketzl will be by my side as always, so if I don't find any cute sub men to play with, her ass is in trouble. Oh, who am I kidding: her ass will be in trouble any way.
Meanwhile, looking forward to catching up with a bunch of old friends I haven't seen in YEARS.
Gennifer Flowers and Paula Jones are offering Internet viewers the lurid details of encounters they claim they had with former President Bill Clinton - for $1.99 a pop.
Yeah. Encounters they claim they had. Not encounters they can prove they've had, just ones they claim to have had. Judging by the classiness these two have demonstrated, though, I'm sure we can all relax and count on them to tell the unvarnished truth. Uh-huh. And for a mere $1.99 you can purchase segments of their versions of the truth on-line. Now, why anyone should do that, rather than going down to the local karaoke bar to find a drunk pony-queen who will tell you similar stories for free, I'm not sure but evidently CNN, FOX and other national news departments were more than happy to give this gruesome twosome all the free PR anyone could ever want.
Laughably, none of them dared list the web address of the service they are pimping, but if a little googling around got me to http://genniferandpaula.com. WOW. It's *just* as classy as the women! Here are the photos they posted of themselves.
I kind of like that whole dominatrix-sex-in-the-city thing that Gennifer put together -- works for her. But Paula, sheesh, is she trying to jump-start a career as an Internet MILF?
Meanwhile, I checked out Michael Benedetti, the PR mastermind behind this site -- and checked out his site, http://executiveprandtalent.com, which tells me that "Executive PR and Talent is the leading talent agency." The leading agency in...the world? The country? Benedetti's imagination? Hm. Funny. He doesn't list any clients, any contact info, or anything else. Every page is "under construction."
A reverse look-up on his phone number led me to Benedetti's address in New Orleans (926 Bourbon Street), which as best I can tell is a tiny condo complex with a couple of vacant apartments. No businesses associated with that address so I'm guessing he works from home. He does, however, have a myspace page, with a picture of a very attractive, openly gay fellow, with lots and lots of pix of his fabulous vacations and fabulous friends.
So now I have to wonder how these two women got hooked up with the fabulous Benedetti. Did they meet him at a bar? A strip-club? A Log Cabin Republicans BBQ? WTF?
They say politics make strange bedfellows...but, seriously, it doesn't get much stranger than this.
Category: Sexual Politics
Posted on 6/11/2008 4:08:25 AM by Gloria Brame
I was idly surfing eBay on "bondage" and saw there were listings in the health and personal care category. Hmmm....are restraints now being touted as a natural remedy for whatever ails you, I wistfully wondered. No, darn it, it's manufacturers who co-opted the word (and concept) to spice up sales for otherwise normal drug-store beauty goop.
Guess it's not a big leap to use the name "bondage" on hair goop -- I'm assuming this stuff tames your mane
But, despite the cute corset that's clearly going to draw your eye to the product -- what made someone associate bondage with tanning goop? (Or, for that matter, with Pepto Bismal? Euwww.)
Maybe it's all some kind of sarcastic post-modern statement on being a slave to fashion...
Considering how many media outlets already give us fake news, running some fake ads doesn't seem so bad.
Phila. newspapers run ads about fake airline Derrie-Air
Readers of The Philadelphia Inquirer and Philadelphia Daily News opened their papers Friday to see ads for a new airline called Derrie-Air, which purportedly charges passengers by the pound.
But the new carrier will never get off the ground. It's a one-day advertising campaign about a fake airline by Philadelphia Media Holdings, the papers' owner, and Gyro ad agency.
In light blue banners throughout the papers — as well as on their Web site, Philly.com — Derrie-Air cheerily trumpets its policy: The more you weigh, the more you pay. The ads direct readers to the Web site http://www.flyderrie-air.com
Visitors to the airline site learn that Derrie-Air is the world's only carbon-neutral luxury airline, and it justifies its fare policy by saying that it takes more fuel to move heavier objects. The carrier pledges to plant trees to offset every pound of carbon its planes release into the atmosphere.
Derrie-Air's sample rates range from $1.40 per pound to fly from Philadelphia to Chicago to $2.25 per pound to fly from Philadelphia to Los Angeles.
Category: Sex and Culture
Posted on 6/6/2008 9:25:20 PM by Gloria Brame
We're so definitely not in Kansas anymore
for sale on eBay:
SUPER RARE LARGE 12 inch Sexy Goth "TWISTED LAND OF OZ: DOROTHY" action figure from McFarlane Toys 2007...loosely based on the L. Frank Baum novel "The Wonderful Wizard of Oz." The classic characters in the book receive a bit of a 'twist' in this series, an artistic interpretation of what could have been in an alternate Wizard of Oz universe.
Bound and blindfolded, this exotic DOROTHY is being branded by a group of evil little Munchkins - she may never find her way back to Kansas.
Wizard of Oz SEXY Goth DOROTHY Bondage Figure MINT Rare
Sign on Japanese public transportation urging you to give up your seat to people in the following situations:
And now...someone translates it so you don't give up your seat to men with erections....well, unless they've also injured an arm or leg....
Category: Sexual Humor
Posted on 6/6/2008 9:23:25 PM by Gloria Brame
Best reason to stay at Chicago's Hyatt Regency!
I know where I'll be staying the next time I'm in Chicago -- it's the one hotel where I can be absolutely sure I won't bump into toads like Peter LaBarbera!
Pro-family activist Peter LaBarbera [president of Americans for Truth About Homosexuality], says he will avoid a landmark Chicago hotel because of a recent conference held there....
"The Hyatt Regency Chicago chose to host the International Mr. Leather convention," he shares. "This is a huge, sadomasochistic celebration in which they sell and promote some of the most vile pornography ... ever concocted by mankind."
LINK
Holy crap, I can't believe I missed it. Does that sound like fun or what?
Meanwhile, Mr. LaBarbera's sputterings raise a few questions. First -- how does he know what they sell if he wasn't there himself to inspect the stuff? Second, how does he know it's the vilest porn ever concocted? Has he already done an in-depth survey of all the porn in the world and concluded that bondage is "viler" than bukkake? Or tentacle sex? Or even bukkake tentacle amputee sex with a Dirty Sanchez thrown in for good luck?
Oh, never mind. He's just making up lies, like this one:
According to LaBarbera, that included depictions of bestiality.
Yeah, right. I guess that was happening right next to the cage full of chained minors in service to Satan, right?
But he sure does seem to have an almost personal knowledge of the event (and please insert his breathless gasps in the following):
"And they were showing it on screens ... throughout the vendor area."
Goodness me. Did he personally infiltrate this event so he could wander through the vendor area, cataloguing perversions?
You know what I call someone who goes out to SM events to gather up details, investigate every corner of perversion, attempt to find the weirdest and most overwhelmingly depraved toys, videos, and books? A sadomasochist.
Let the truth set you free, Mr. LaBarbera. You'd probably look good with a gag. Hell, I already know you'd sound better with one.
Pretty amazing to think of this merrily chugging along the streets of a city in Finland -- what would happen if she rode it in Cleveland?
via Jezebel
A Finnish artist named Mimosa Pale has created a giant vulva-shaped (and incredibly detailed) pedicab in protest of a world she thinks is too 'man-parts-centric.' Vagina Power: The Town Bicycle
Category: Sex and Culture
Posted on 6/6/2008 1:13:00 AM by Gloria Brame