Web Log Archives: December 15, 2002 - December 21, 2002
Saturday, December 21, 2002
CBC News: "The Supreme Court of Canada ruled Friday that a British Columbia school board should not have banned books at the kindergarten and Grade 1 level that depicted same-sex parents. In a 7-2 ruling, the top court said the school board in Surrey went against provincial legislation that says the public school system is secular and non-sectarian."
Michael Woolf offers an intriguing explanation for AOL's business problems. "Here's the real rub: AOL's fundamental business -- which has always been a level or two down from the family-oriented opening screen -- is dirty talk. But now there are better places to talk dirty." Currently being discussed on Slashdot.
Friday, December 20, 2002
Pitchfork has more about the upcoming electronic sex sounds CD by Venetian Snares, a collaboration with girlfriend Hecate. "It's weird to deconstruct the sounds of sex. It makes you conscious of a lot of stuff you'd normally ignore. I remember thinking shit like, 'Oh, that slap will make a good snare drum.'"
Playboy is developing a simulation video game which allows the player "to don Hef's silk pajamas and rule his hedonistic media empire."
Great new addition to the sex blog universe: Pornblography. The author works as a publicist for a Los Angeles-area porn studio, and her blog is an opinionated, witty personal journal with lots of insight into the porn industry. From the FAQ: "No, I was never talent. No, I'll never be talent. In my opinion, my ass is best left clothed." Hey, just like Daze!
Remember the story last winter about pornstar Bianca Trump's bizarre feud with her new Florida neighbors? The Palm Beach Post has a depressing followup.
Gillette, Wyoming, police have caught the guy who was breaking into homes and using computers to surf Internet porn. Turned out to be a 17-year-old boy. "Police said one victim discovered nearly $671 worth of unauthorized charges to her checking account, all of which were for companies handling transactions for pornography Web sites. . . . Another victim wound up with $164 worth of long-distance charges because an autodialing program had apparently been downloaded, telling the computer to regularly call phone numbers in Africa and Germany."
Thursday, December 19, 2002
The Globe and Mail reports on another allegedly imminent human clone birth.
A Quebec-based cult that believes space aliens created Earthlings in a lab 25,000 years ago says it has produced the world's first human clone to be born within two weeks, possibly on Christmas Day.
The Raelians, a free-love fringe sect that runs the theme park UFOland in Quebec's Eastern Townships, have offered no way to verify the claim or validate that this highly controversial experiment is under way.
But an official with Clonaid, the cloning company the Raelians founded in 1997, told CTV News that the clone is a girl and a genetic replica of a U.S. woman in her 30s who is unable to have children with her husband naturally.
So the Quebecois cult is on track to beat the Italian mad scientist by a few weeks.
Marty Klein criticizes Oprah and Dr. Phil for spreading "conservative, misguided, or just plain inaccurate ideas about sex."
Wednesday, December 18, 2002
More Amazonbombing of Pat Robertson's book. The Amazon.com page for Six Steps to Spiritual Renewal now includes a "customers who shopped for this item also shopped for these items" link to Going Down: The Instinct Guide to Oral Sex. Amazon hasn't responded as urgently this time. Someone posted the Spiritual Renewal/Going Down link to Fark on Tuesday morning, but Amazon hadn't removed it as of Wednesday afternoon.
Emma Taylor of Nerve writes a sensible, personal critique of abstinence-only sex education.
To be fair, many programs and schools do promote abstinence as merely one option (albeit the preferred one). But the message needs to be even more mixed. Abstinence isn't a sprint to marriage. It's an option that you can employ at any time, and for any period of time. You can leave it behind and return to it later. (Just don't call yourself a "secondary virgin.") You can be abstinent during high school. You can try it during your sophomore year of college if freshman fucking wasn't all you'd hoped it would be. You can take a year off sex to "find yourself" (as long as you don't call it that).
Abstinence isn't a before or after, and it's not all-or-nothing. The holier-than-thou, souvenir-necklace-wearing virgins should be forced to pay attention to the safer-sex lectures along with all the slutty kids. Someone needs to tell the virgins they might not make it to the finish line. And yes, do tell all of the kids – even the sluts – what teen abstinence will save them from: the post-prom disappointment, the pathetic fumblings of inexperienced boys with no staying power, the nasty case of chlamydia going around, the blowjobs from girls in braces. But you've also got to admit to them that it's actually kind of fun when you get around to it, braces and all.
Great column, worth reading in full.
Viagra has caused a decline in sales of traditional sex tonics such as seal's penises and ground reindeer antlers in Hong Kong.
The Vancouver Sun has more on the raid and arrests at Sweet Entertainment Group. The police investigation has been going on for more than a year, starting with "a tip from a web browser from England named Vinnie" that Sweet's BDSM websites depicted acts of non-consensual torture. Charges were filed last week against four Sweet employees for making, distributing and circulating an obscene video. It doesn't sound like police found any evidence to support the non-consensual allegations.
Italian fertility clinic director/mad scientist Severino Antinori now says world's first cloned baby will be born in Belgrade in January.
New York Times: "A United Nations regional conference on population issues closed contentiously today, with Asian nations overwhelmingly rejecting efforts by the Bush administration to insert anti-abortion provisions into an international agreement on family planning. The head of the United States delegation also stirred controversy at the conference, held in Bangkok, by declaring on Monday, 'The United States supports the sanctity of life from conception to natural death.' Abortion rights groups said the statement overstepped rulings by the Supreme Court that uphold the right to abortion. The seven-day Asian and Pacific Population Conference was almost completely consumed by an often acrimonious debate pitting the American delegation against Asian countries over abortion, sex education and methods of birth control, participants said." Bastards. More.
A California middle school banned a 14-year-old lesbian from the girls locker room because other girls would be uncomfortable getting undressed in front of her. The girl was also banned from attending gym class and was instead sent to the principal's office during class. She filed a federal civil rights lawsuit against the school Tuesday.
You can't beat the classics: Cassandra Claire's very secret diaries of Lord of the Rings characters.
Tuesday, December 17, 2002
A California tech firm called Acacia claims to own patents covering the transmission of video over the Internet. Over the last few months, Acacia has sent letters to dozens of web porn companies asking for yearly royalty payments. When that didn't work, Acacia filed patent infringement lawsuits against 27 adult firms in federal court. "To Acacia, an IP licensing firm that has seen revenue steadily shrink over the past few quarters, the lawsuits represent a bet-the-company proposition. Acacia executives say they've already drawn up battle plans to go after other industries, including streaming music firms, and have targeted non-Internet businesses such as the on-demand movie services that populate hotel rooms." Long, fascinating article.
Radio National in Australia recently ran a program on sex education in Islamic countries, particularly Pakistan and Iran. This page has a lengthy, readable transcript of the interviews.
AOL has been awarded $7 million in its lawsuit against a company sending porn spam.
Good Salt Lake Tribune article about legal battles over sex-oriented businesses in various Utah cities.
Electronic musician Aaron Funk, aka Venetian Snares, is working on a CD entitled Nymphomatriarch, using sampled sounds recorded during sex with his girlfriend. More info here and here about Venetian Snares, who works in a genre called drill'n'base.
British sex counseling service Relate says the number of couples seeking sex therapy has more than doubled over the last five years. This article speculates that Viagra has promoted a greater sexual openness in society.
Monday, December 16, 2002
Matthew Gilbert reviews a new wave of suburban family sitcoms with lots of sexual humor. "These new family sitcoms aren't your parents' family sitcoms, whether your parents are old enough to have watched Father Knows Best or young enough to have watched Home Improvement. Simply put, the shows are surprisingly sexed-up and not necessarily built for the whole family. These TV moms and dads may be concerned with their children and who has to take out the garbage, but they're also quipping about their postmarital lovemaking and lusting after the well-built next-door neighbor. . . . This new style of comedy represents the networks having it both ways. They want to follow a perceived zeitgeist of family entertainment in a Republican era, but they also want to maintain the sexiness and hipness of the singles comedies."
The Cincinnati Enquirer looks at the crusade against hotel pay-per-view porn being waged by the Ohio-based Citizens for Community Values. The Enquirer also has a profile of CCV head Phil Burress, who says a 25-year pornography addiction nearly ruined his life. This is the best part:
Mrs. Burress says she understands pornography's destructive power and why her husband must abstain from any exposure to such materials. For that reason, she will watch the adult videos and read the adult magazines, then write summaries for her husband so he can speak to groups, lobby legislators or persuade prosecutors.
Finally, the article has a sidebar selection of quotes from CCV supporters and critics.
A Daze reader writes:
William Jewell is a decent liberal arts college near Kansas City MO
affiliated with both the moderate American Baptists and increasingly
reactionary Southern Baptist Convention. Heck, when I was there we
couldn't officially dance - I mean we could have dances with dancing but
only as long as we didn't use the _word_ "dance".
Anyway, seems the Student Senate is posed to pass a NONBINDING non
discrimination statement with regard to gay/lesbian folks and that has
the fundies up in a roar. Moreover, the theater dept. is slated to do
"The Vagina Monologues" in the spring and that's adding fuel to the
fire.
There are three stories at yesterday's Baptist Press page. The
Baptist Press is the Pravda of the So Baptist Convention ... biased and
ugly, but you can see for yourself.
Anyway, my alma mater did provide a decent education and is now under
attack by the nuts for not being conservative ENOUGH. I WISH Shane's
World would show up there to film (and as a frat there we did get our
phreak on!) Mostly, if it fits the blog I'd love to see Jewell to get
some attention from folks who are less reactionary than the readers of
the Baptists Pravda, I mean "Press".
Some stories about the matter, including the three mentioned above:
Kudos to the courageous students pushing the nondiscrimination statement.
