“I went into this party wondering what kind of guys I’d be attracted to just on the basis of pheromone smell. Could I clear away all the flotsam in my heart – the fetishes for big noses and curly hair that I’ve had since high school, or my habit of falling for cocky artists and writers?”

At Salon, Rumpus contributor Lauren Eggert-Crowe writes about her experience participating in a pheromone party, a phenomenon at the intersection of science and speed dating.

Randy Packs are “hand drawn improbable sex-act trading cards.” Each card is the work of a different artist, who, after being assigned an improbable sex-act, drew a non-explicit representation of the chosen act.

Series #1 contains 20 collectible cards that come in random packs of five with a cover/checklist card listing all the acts. The first five readers to inquire will receive a free complete set of Randy Packs Series #1! Use this form for your email, and remember to include “Rumpus” in the subject line.

Dita von Teese, burlesque superstar, author, actress, costume and lingerie designer, and formidable businesswoman, is idolized by many who might not otherwise fancy themselves enthusiasts of burlesque, let alone openly admire a star of “adult entertainment.” Read the rest of this entry »

“Who will protect us in this town, I think. There are skinheads and KKK people and bullies. There are dogs that run snarling to the edge of their yards when you walk home and stare too long at them. There are jocks and racists and homophobes and Christian crazies and angry teachers and this school, this whole school is crazy and I’m burning like a bright moving speck of fire every single day.”

Rumpus contributor Conner Habib has a new series on his blog called “Guys I Wanted To Fuck in High School,” which details his “frustrated” adolescence in small-town Pennsylvania.

Bondage star and filmmaker Madison Young had the best job title in the world: “sexual revolutionary.” She earns it as a director, porn star, artist, sex educator, and all-around fierce lady whose life work happens to center on being tied up and dominated, usually on camera. Read the rest of this entry »

“Many men who turn to submissive fantasies do so for precisely the sort of vacation from responsibility that Roiphe suggests women are seeking.”

At Salon, Tracy Clark-Flory gathers the input of professional dominatrixes to shed light on male desire for submission, which was glaringly absent in Kaite Roiphe’s Fifty Shades of Grey.

We can’t wait to see this movie. Read the rest of this entry »

There’s an enormous subculture of men who trade tips, tricks, and tactics for seducing women. Within the last half-decade or so, these underground “pickup artists” have burst into the popular consciousness, Read the rest of this entry »

Rumpus contributor Anna Pulley (who Sugar named as one of her favorite advice columnists) helps Dan Savage answer a query on his latest Savage Love episode. Pulley doles out wisdom on lesbian-identified bisexual women and discusses her Salon piece “San Francisco Turned Me Straight.”

A school in Minnesota is barring a teen with special needs from bringing porn performer Megan Piper to the prom. The teen’s mom said, “I support him and I don’t understand what her profession has to do with anything.”

The last few months have been like a post-apocalyptic dystopian young adult novel re: women’s health.

First there was Nancy Pelosi’s GOP Oversight hearing photo showing five men testifying on women’s health. ”What qualifies me to be an expert on women’s reproductive health? I’m a 59-year-old man.”

Then Sandra Fluke testified, arguing in favor of requiring private insurance plans to cover contraception coverage. For this, Rush Limbaugh called Fluke a “slut” and a “prostitute” who is “having so much sex she can’t afford contraception” and is someone who “wants you and me and the taxpayers to pay her to have sex” and then “post the videos online so we can all watch.” Hey, Rush, watch this. Read the rest of this entry »

Lately, I read the news and have to make sure I am not, in fact, reading The Onion. We are having a national debate about abortion, birth control and reproductive freedom, and men are directing that debate. That is the stuff of satire. Read the rest of this entry »

Last weekend I rode the subway towards two indulgent firsts: I spent half of my latest paycheck in a swanky, mirror-lined restaurant with a coat check, and then I walked across the street and spent the other half on a vibrator. Both felt good. One feels better.  Read the rest of this entry »

The following interview may not be safe for some workplaces. Read the rest of this entry »

Fourteen years ago, after working as a victim’s advocate for underage girls held as adults at Riker’s Island prison, Rachel Lloyd started the Girls Education and Mentoring Service (GEMS) in New York City—a shelter and resource center for American girls recovering from commercial sexual exploitation. Read the rest of this entry »

Back in 2002, when I was still in college, I lived in DC for a quarter in a quad dorm room that felt like the set of a queerish Adam Sandler movie. I—a semi-closeted bisexual drunk—lived with a gay guy from Beverly Hills Read the rest of this entry »

Mother Jones has created a handy contraception cost calculator for the pregnancy-preventing fertile folks. It’s also highly suitable for any curious cats or interactive-feature enthusiasts.

Mother Jones converses with Dan Savage about his long-term vision for the “It Gets Better” campaign and his new MTV series. Savage also dishes on whether reading about “freaky stuff” makes someone freaky, and shares anxieties about Santorum’s recent surge.

“The goal is to build and maintain these videos and all the support in them for LGBT kids who are growing up right now: 13-, 14-, and 15-year-olds; people who are nine years old right now but who will see these videos in five to six years. We want to make sure that videos are still being made and that LGBT kids know how to find these videos, how to find us.”

Jennifer Lyon Bell makes porn with a humanistic approach, designed to get viewers to identify with the characters, not just watch them. She combines the visual quality of art films with erotica. Her ethos is that the former could be sexier and the latter just plain better. Also, she doesn’t think porn should be for men or women (or that we differ much in how we respond to it). Read the rest of this entry »

I first heard of Lisa Carver in the late 1980s, when we were both about 19 or 20. Performing under the name Lisa Suckdog in shows that involved screeching, screaming, pissing, and violence, she was often spoken of in the same breath with notorious scum-rocker G.G. Allin, Read the rest of this entry »

Our best shot at understanding the foundation of obscenity law is through watching Sam Raimi’s 1981 horror film, The Evil Dead. In it, a group of (who else?) students stay (where else?) at a cabin in the woods. Amidst the jokes and sexual tension, they uncover a book of demonic spells and rites. Read the rest of this entry »

Vice interviews author Edmund White. The conversation covers porn, the perfect man, “gay-lit,” and a lot more.

“No one tries to figure out how someone ended up straight, though it takes just as much explaining as being gay. All etiological arguments are reactionary from the start.”

I was waiting for her.

I’d found the only room I could afford near the Prado in a pension that was being run as a transvestite brothel. Read the rest of this entry »

Artist Jason Novak brings us his tale “Depressing Sex: An essay in pictures.”

Enjoy: Read the rest of this entry »

This past Saturday, December 17th marked the 9^th year of the annual International Day to End Violence Against Sex Workers. SF Bay Guardian looks back at the history of the San Francisco born tradition.

“It’s become a high holy day of whores. The one day that we all remember the real victims, not these made up situations. A lot of them are not victims, but people like to think we are.”

“We don’t know why porn stars should not teach children, why it’s OK to watch porn but not be in it, why we should have to hide our involvement in pornography, or why we should be ashamed of it. These arguments apply, in differing degrees, to sex itself.”

At The Advocate, Conner Habib reflects on the “outing” of teacher Kevin Hogan as a former gay porn performer, articulates the cloudy nature of public conversations about porn in our society, and argues that Hogan’s potential firing should be a “shared responsibility.”

The New York Times recently ran an article about an Egyptian blogger named Aliaa Magda Elmahdy who posted a naked photo of herself on her blog, to the distress and disgust of her fellow Egyptians (liberals and conservatives alike). Read the rest of this entry »

“In its breadth, depth and frank embrace of sexuality as, what Vernacchio calls, a ‘force for good’ — even for teenagers — this sex-ed class may well be the only one of its kind in the United States.”

A NY Times Magazine article on the state of sex education highlights a Philadelphia Quaker Friends high school teacher’s comprehensive approach to teaching sex ed. With Mr. Vernacchio’s emphasis on pleasure as well as emotional complexities, acknowledgment of gender biases, and lessons on female ejaculation, this looks like possibly the best course ever.

(Via Feministing)

In 2010, in New Orleans, thousands of Saints fans danced wildly in the streets in black and gold jerseys and ribbons, blowing horns and smacking tambourines. I commuted from LA to New Orleans to dance at Penthouse Club during the playoffs and arrived to work early to watch the game at the bar with the other dancers. Read the rest of this entry »

Yes Means Yes has a conversation with Jaclyn Friedman about What You Really Really Want: A Smart Girl’s Shame-Free Guide To Sex And Safety. Topics include the book’s writing exercises, flexisexuality, fetishization and communication, and parenting.

“…You can’t become free of influences. You can only become aware of them, and choose which you want to give more energy and attention to. Similarly, as parents, I don’t suppose you can ever not influence your kids. You can only be thoughtful about what kind of influence you’re being. And even that, imperfectly. Because you’re a collection of influences yourself.”

(Via Feministing)