Web Log Archives: June 08, 2003 - June 14, 2003
Thursday, June 12, 2003
Matthew Hunt presents a cultural history of the word "cunt". (Link snagged from Flutterby.)
Why do modern humans have so much less body hair than other primates? A new theory proposed by two British scientists "challenges the widespread view that humans lost most of their hair to promote body cooling when early hominids moved to open savannah regions," arguing instead that the change was due to parasites and sex. We'll skip past the stuff about parasites and jump right to the sex.
The scientists further propose that relative hairlessness would have become a desirable trait. Sexual selection, they believe, helped us to evolve this feature, with some body hair remaining to enhance pheromone signals, and for other purposes mostly related to mating.
A skeptical colleague points out a common sense flaw in this reasoning (not that common sense is always right in science).
Dunbar also doubts that hairlessness became desirable for mating. "You tend to like what you have to like," he said. "I'm sure that baboons find hairless baboons quite unattractive!"
Well, yeah. Didn't these scientists ever see the Twilight Zone episode with the beautiful woman shunned by the pigface doctors and nurses? It's hard to imagine early hominids thinking, "she'd be much hotter if she shaved her legs" or "cute, but his beard is so Australopithecus."
Wednesday, June 11, 2003
Found porn submitted by Maxim readers.
MetaFilterians debate whether a text ad for a site called CuntFilter should have been accepted for Metafilter's front page. (Link snagged from Sex Blogs.)
Tuesday, June 10, 2003
Canada.com ran two articles about last weekend's internet porn industry convention in Montreal, both with punning headlines: Stiff competition in online porn and Net porn merchants here to talk bare necessities.
Debra Hyde has written a three-part essay on erotica and literary fiction at Pursed Lips — part one, part two, part three — which began as a response to Dean Kuipers' column complaining about the dearth of good sex in modern literature.
Femail: "Men are queuing up for penis extensions according to a new survey. But instead of doing it to impress in the bedroom, they want to look good in the gym changing room instead. More than 60 per cent of males having plastic surgery told researchers they were doing it to feel more confident in front of other men." (Link snagged from Amorous Propensities.)
Esquire has a humorous sex column, called The Sex Column, with Q&As about food play, the sponge and pubic hair grooming.
Monday, June 9, 2003
Last month ITV reported, "Annie Lennox will appear nude on the cover of her new album Bare, to be released this summer. It will show the pale 48-year-old mother-of-two in minimal make-up. Annie said she wants to reveal the true face of what she calls 'a mature woman facing up to failed expectations of life'." Bare comes out today in most countries, tomorrow in the US. The nude CD cover is not as revealing as the teaser article suggested (not to mention, Lennox is actually wearing heavy makeup).
The fan site Eurythmistan has more pictures from the CD cover photo shoot (apparently scanned from an unidentified magazine).
Eurythmistan has larger images and various Bare wallpapers.
Spencer Tunick photographed 7000 nude people in Barcelona yesterday. More.
Annalee Newitz on sex in the matrix. "A lot people seem troubled by the amount of sex in The Matrix Reloaded. . . . Much to the confusion of audiences used to S.F. films full of burly but virginal astronauts, The Matrix Reloaded is also punctuated by two graphic, extended sex sequences." Which she finds innovative and pretty cool. "When was the last time you saw a special-effects blockbuster with hot, sweaty sex in it? Especially multiracial, multipartner, out-of-wedlock sex that didn't spell doom for its practitioners? The heroes in Reloaded are frankly sexual, with no apologies."
The Straits Times covers the opening of the Asia Eros Museum in Seoul, the first sex museum in South Korea. "Situated in an upmarket neighbourhood in Seoul, the museum cannot be missed: A giant stone phallic symbol outside proclaims the unique nature of the capital's latest cultural centre. Inside, the stylish, low-lit three-storey building contains around 300 items, some dating back several thousand years. All are collected by curator Kim Young Soo."
Clinton Fein at annoy.com presents a long account of the Tucker Max-Katy Johnson debacle. As you'll recall, self-proclaimed "whore for attention" Max published a sleazy account of hooking up with beauty queen and abstinence advocate Johnson on his website, and Johnson got a constitutionally questionable legal judgment forcing Max to remove all mention of Johnson from his website.
It’s quite possibly everyone’s worst nightmare at some point or another. You’ve perhaps had one too many drinks; you’ve gone home with someone you might not have otherwise, and then suddenly one morning you wake up and every single sordid detail you dreaded would ever be revealed anywhere ever, has been published on a web site alongside your image, exposing your weaknesses and flaws for the whole world to see. [...]
What makes the case so interesting is that both parties use their real names as brand extensions to sell themselves and related products, essentially presenting themselves as public figures, particularly relevant to the legal aspects pertaining to privacy. And to an extent muddying the waters as to whether the alleged transgressions pertain to commercial speech or not. Both parties attended law school, both have authored books and both rely on their looks to promote their image. Both have appeared on different programs on MTV, and both are lightning rods for controversy.
Annoy.com also reprints the Miss Vermont Story in full.
Sunday, June 8, 2003
Another round in the "no sex before the big game" debate. From The Age:
News that Bulgarian soccer coach Plamen Markov slapped a sex ban on his players ahead of the weekend's Euro 2004 qualifier against Belgium has reignited the old question of whether making love before a contest helps or hinders an athlete. Our favourite reaction came from Australian netball vice-captain Liz Ellis. She says she does not have a "hard and fast rule" about it, but believes women do not get hung up on it as men do. And this: "I'm just glad our coach is sensible. I don't know how long we'd last with the Bulgarian soccer coach as our coach." Onya, Liz.
Good New York Times article about the new old Las Vegas, with detailed accounts of sexy new floor shows, strip clubs and neo-burlesque theaters. "A drive is on to forget 1990's efforts to transform the high-desert town into a family destination, and to return it to its deliriously seamy roots."
So vice is the bait again, as sprawling lounges staffed by barely clad entertainers open weekly, strip clubs proliferate (their number has tripled in five years) and zipper signs above the Strip promote the message that "Sin City Has Found Its Soul."
"The new brand we're creating is one of freedom based on sensuality," said Oscar B. Goodman, the mayor of Las Vegas, who is the rare public official with his own liquor endorsement deal. Under Mayor Goodman, the city adopted a new ad campaign that turns on a kind of licentious koan: "What Happens Here, Stays Here."
"The bottom line is that people can come here, go to the brink of whatever's legal without having anyone look over their shoulder," the mayor said.
Oscar Goodman for President!
