Posted: Feb 12th to Desire, Fetish by David Khalili
Who doesn’t love balloons?! They’re round, squishy, cause static fun happy times, and make a horrible squeaking sound when you rub your fingers against them all slow-like. Balloon fetishists, also known as “looners,” get turned on from watching others blowing up balloons and popping them either with using a sharp object, sitting on them, or blowing them up until they burst. Most explain that they are turned on from the popping because of the tension built up before the explosion and the release from the burst. Others express interest in the feel of the latex. Loonists aren’t specific to sexual identity, there are looners who are straight and gay.
Enjoy these videos made for looners!
Check out these videos and books on ballon fetishes:
The first Thursday of every month, The Exploratorium holds a special night called “After Dark.” Each After Dark event showcases the scientific aspects behind “adult interests,” whether it be alcohol, sex or fashion. On February 4th, After Dark presented their program on all things sexual entitled “Sexplorations.” In between visiting the bar, patrons can check out live dissections of testicles, learn about the sex life of orchids and insects, and see the inner workings of vibrators. Want to know what testicles taste like? They offered that. Pined away trying to figure out which animal has the biggest sperm? It’s the fruit fly, that little bastards’ sperm is bigger than itself. Frankly, Sexplorations was a Valhalla for sex bio geeks, but a frustrating experience for those who are more interested in the cultural history of sex and sexuality. I was somewhere in between.
To begin, Roach discussed how being a sex researcher can be a bit awkward, how even just telling people what kind of work you do can get a bit embarrassing depending on the other persons reaction. As an example of the awkward aspects of being asexuality researcher Roach discussed a one Dr. Brimley who discovered a type of substance that when injected right into the penis can cause an impressive erection. Completely excited about this he showed up to his next black and white affair wearing a flimsy track suit. As the men and women wore expensive suits and glamorous gowns, Dr. Brimley walked around pulling the fabric to his track pants back to show the outline of his hard on. The guests looked appalled and the Doctor couldn’t understand why they weren’t impressed by his tumescence.
At points Mary Roach reiterated her TED Talks lecture, even showing the notorious romancing the pig video, but overall it was great to see her discuss her research and experience with sex researchers live. One unfortunate aspect that came up through her lecture was the lack of diversity in much of the sex research she encountered. Most of the researchers she interviewed were studying strictly heterosexual forms of sex for the purpose of reproduction. The more exciting aspects of her lecture were times when she met with a woman who could orgasm just through thought. The problem is that little biological and physiological research is being done when discussing non-heterosexual sex, other than when researchers want to find difference in brain size or finger length. However, I did appreciate that much of Roach’s book is dedicated to research on pleasure and orgasm, and seemingly not for the purpose of making desire abnormal.
Towards the end of her lecture, Mary Roach discussed coming across fascinating articles like “Observations of In Utero Fetal Masturbation,” where sonograms of little fetuses tugging it were the feature exhibit of the research study. Mary Roach then ended with a list she received from an article on foreign bodies found in the rectums of ER patients: frozen pig tails, hairspray can “incarcerated in a 37 year-old lawyer,” spatula, jewelers saw, and four hundred and two stones. Things that make you go “ow!”
Below is Mary Roach’s TED Talks lecture, “10 Things You Didn’t Know About Orgasm,” if you’d like to view the video with one of fifteen translated subtitles or view the transcript, click here to view the video on the TED website.
To read more or purchase her books, follow the links below:
Posted: Feb 5th to Desire, Fetish by David Khalili
Sploshing is a fetish involving (mostly) women covered & messy from food or mud. Popularized in England, these women are filthed up with a variety of food including, but not limited to, baked beans, cream, macaroni and cheese, chocolate and custard. The reason behind the turn on from this, like many other fetishes, could be one of numerous reasons. One might enjoy the imagery of a woman getting dirty, deviating from her prim and properness and in an essence losing her innocence. Others might enjoy the tactile feel of the food on skin, and some may just enjoy including a sense of humor in their sex life. How else can you make you and your partner share some giggles other than by shoving a Boston Cream Pie in their face? But let’s also mention the obvious here, shall we? Some might argue that Sploshing largely involves degrading and humiliating women by covering them in food, something women are socially made responsible for preparing in the household. However, this brings in the argument of what happens between two consenting adults as long as it isn’t physically and emotionally harmful should be completely allowed. Thoughts on this, people?
For a little giggle, let’s watch British comedian Graham Norton graciously interview a few Sploshers to gain a better understanding behind this fetish:
Enjoy the following youtube videos. Note: you most likely have to be signed in to YouTube to watch these videos since food not going in the mouth is purely adult in nature.
Can I have your attention, please? Can all women stand up? Now, 60 percent of you please step forward. Thank you. For the 60 percent of women out there, here is a French flag, now can you kindly stake this flag onto your g-spot? Perfect. That’s right, the French have “re-discovered” the g-spot! After last months scare by the British, women can take a sigh of relief. The g-spot that they knew existed but were told was all a figment of their imagination is no longer a symptom of hypersexual psychosis.
First Dr. Grafenberg openly discussed the g-spot as a cluster of nerves in his article “The Role of Urethra in Female Orgasm” in 1944. With the eroticism of a VCR manual, Dr. G states, “the anterior wall of the vagina along the urethra is the seat of a distinct erotogenic zone and has to be taken into account more in the treatment of female sexual deficiency.” 60 years later the debate continues, and the French are gaining attention as of late as the Christopher Columbus of G-Spot. “Look! We found it!” they exclaim, but some women come out and say “wait no…it’s been here. Uh, we’ve always known it’s here.” In a recent conference, a group of French gynecologists gathered to slam the Brits stating that they knew all along that the g-spot exists.
Once again we have the academic and medical community declaring when and how women gain sexual pleasure. While I agree with the researcher from the recent British study who stated that she did not want women who did not experience g-spot pleasure to feel inadequate or lesser-than, she is taking away womens’ right to declaring what gets them off.
While the ivory tower continues to be filled with sloppy seconds for “research purposes,” lets go over how one may find the G-spot. The G-spot can be stimulated by inserting a finger (or five, go for five. Do it. Five. Yes, the thumb is a finger) into the vagina about an inch and positioning the finger towards the front of the body, then make a come hither motion. As comedian Dave Attell stated, pretend like you’re “backing up the worlds smallest truck.” Or, if you want to follow this eHow.com article, the G-spot “is supposed to be particularly sensitive to stimulation by a man’s pen is (sic).” Sorry, that cracks me up every time.
People of earth: how does it feel when the academic and medical community band together to decide your own sexual pleasure? You feel warm and fuzzy, don’t you?
The following links are some helpful books and delicious toys!
On Sunday Morning, May 31, 2009, Dr. George Tiller was attending service as an usher at the Reformation Lutheran Church in Wichita, KS. Scott Roeder walked into the church then shot and murdered Dr. Tiller at point blank range. Three hours and 170 miles later, Roeder was found and arrested. As you may know from the headlines, Roeder believed he was saving children from imminent danger because Tiller was an abortion provider.
Today after a two and a half week trial, the jury took 37 minutes to deliberate and found Scott Roeder guilty of first degree murder. Now Roeder faces life in prison for murdering Dr. Tiller, or how I’m sure many see it, for saving the lives of “helpless children.” While I am of course happy that Roeder was found guilty, I also fear that this will make Roeder a martyr for what he has done. In fact, the Rev. Donald Spitz from Army of God has touted Roeder as a hero for saving the “lives of innocent babies scheduled to be murdered by George Tiller.” Obviously, the creator of this Cafe Press “design” agrees. Other organizations like Missionaries to the Pre-Born also commend Roeder as a hero. While these organizations may be small, there has been a growing number of people who discuss such murderers as Roeder as a martyr. Many pull on emotions related to the holocaust and compare abortion providers like Tiller to Adolf Hitler, stating that abortion providers are partaking in the “genocide” of unborn children. Not surprisingly, Roeder himself glorified Paul Hill, who was executed for the killing of an abortion provider and a clinic escort in 1994.
So where does this leave Roeder now? Will this recent conviction and upcoming sentencing make him even more of a hero? Will there be others who attempt to follow in Roeder’s footsteps to end the “genocide” and make themselves “soldiers of God”? Unfortunately, the answer is most likely yes. However, we can use Tiller’s death, Roeder’s killing, and this trial as a way of creating a conversation to agree on a cultural understanding of what life is. What makes someone or something alive? When does life begin? When does it end? To be completely honest, I doubt there will ever be an understanding of what life is, primarily because such a conversation never happens. In the interim, we can continue to work towards comprehensive sex education where we fully understand what is involved in an abortion procedure, and push towards a more peaceful understanding of religion where acts of violence are not tolerated, then we can continue to see a reduction in the murders of health care providers.
To read more on the trial and the verdict, click here.
Well, at least the debate on whether or not the g-spot exists got a little thicker.
Thinking the G-spot exists is SO 2009. Welcome to 2010, where researchers at King’s College London claim to have to put an end to the G-spot debate stating that the collection of delightful nerves inside the vagina is non-existent. I’m sorry, but your entire g-spot toy collection will have to be given to the goodwill. You’ve been wasting your time and all those earth-shattering orgasms you’ve had — well, those weren’t real. Consider yourself Punk’d, or Grafenberg’d, if you will.
This of course would all be the case if that study actually made a lick of sense. One would assume that if they were going to finally decide if the G-spot existed that they would simply hire Rick Moranis, shrink his nebbish self, slap him inside a vagina and have him search away with his cute little glasses and a headlamp. But no, these scientists were too cheap and lazy to hire Rick Moranis! In fact, these researchers used no tools whatsoever to measure physiological response in women, instead they stuck to the survey method. By interviewing 1,804 British women between the ages of 23 and 83, all either identical or non-identical twins, they found that the results showed that identical twins (who share the same genes) often did not match in reporting g-spot sensation, and only 56% of women overall reported any such sensation.
Where the researchers truly screwed the pooch (poor dog) is by claiming that the G-spot doesn’t exist and this sensation is a matter of subjectivity. Simply because almost half of the women they surveyed claimed no sensation does not mean that the other half, let alone all women who have enjoyed g-spot stimulation, are full of shit. Don’t attempt to further put down women’s right for sexual pleasure by claiming that what gives some of them damn fine orgasms is simply a figment of their imagination. The main researcher of the study claimed that she did not want women who don’t yet have g-spot sensation to feel inadequate. This I completely agree with, there are plenty of other ways to seek and gain sexual pleasure, but don’t knock down the right to get off for others during this pursuit! How about we spend the time and resources towards educating young women about sex for pleasure, for bonding and for release. Take the time to push for healthy and safe sexual exploration so that people can find what turns them on, what gets them going and what gets them off. Surely this is a far better use of time and money than further pathologizing sexual pleasure for women. But of course this is just the ravings of a mad man.
This should be called “Fetish of the Weak” because these men are so puny and helpless (on their own accord and in the interest of satiating their desires) and must be lifted and carried by strong women.
That’s right folks, this weeks’ fetish is “Lift and Carry,” where very strong (usually) women lift up and carry around (usually) men. Some may think that this is a subset of infantilism (adult babies), however I’d venture to simply put this is in the submissive set of kink being that this generally revolves around giving up control and perhaps even being taken care of. However, I wouldn’t go forth and say this is the only reason, as I imagine that there are an incredibly diverse amount of reasons why individuals become erotically charged by Lift and Carry. Hell, looks fun to me!
Let’s watch some youtube videos on this, shall we?
The song in this one is an interesting choice.
Ok, this also has a pretty interesting song choice. Evanescence? really? Ok, I get the “Wake Me Up Inside,” nice touch.
Before you jump to the conclusion that this is “weird,” just think about how for some, giving up control is an amazingly erotic and powerful experience. Just as it can be incredibly pleasurable to take control. And I don’t know about you, but I could really go for someone lifting me up and having me do the helicopter on their legs. Just saying is all.
Thanks to Justin C. for letting me know about lift and carry.
In a worldwide poll conducted by www.onepoll.com, 15,000 women who have sex with men from 20 countries were asked to rank nations based on best male lovers. If you’re German, British, or Swedish you may want to skip this post. Out of 20 nations German men were considered to be the smelliest, British men were too damn lazy and Swedish considered too quick. Sorry Sweden, I guess eugenics doesn’t account for everything.
Where did America fall? American men were ranked the fifth worst nation, citing that they are too rough. Maybe this is from all the football they watch, thinking that reenacting an offensive play in the bedroom would delight their sex partner. It’s a pity that they don’t follow through and perform a little touch down victory dance after making their partner orgasm.
As far as the worlds best lovers goes, the top four aren’t very surprising considering the beliefs surrounding Latin lovers and romantic languages. Topping the list for best lovers is Spain, followed by Brazil, Italy and France.
So what can we learn from this? Men, shower regularly, try something kinky like doing it on your tippy-toes, and hold back that orgasm of yours. In the meantime, pick up some romantic Spanish sayings like “donde esta mis pantelones?”, learn how to serenade and specifically if you want to be more French, grab a paint brush and sex up your immediate family.
In a disgusting effort to perpetuate the long-standing insecurities some women have towards the beauty of their genitalia, many plastic surgeons are offering reconstructive surgery to make ones vulva more “aesthetically pleasing.” Eve Ensler, creator of “The Vagina Monologues,” would be spinning in her grave right now if she was dead, but she’s not. Perhaps this is why she’s been tossing and turning so much at night. To be honest, I’m getting tired of yelling “Eve, for the love of god just take an Ambien!”
In an article by the BBC, it is reported that labioplasty procedures performed under UK’s NHS increased by 70% from last year. Keep in mind that this does not include procedures carried out by private practitioners. Furthermore, there has been very little research done to find out the long-term side effects, along with the possibility (rather, likelihood) of nerve damage and lose of sexual sensation. While I often try to follow Ricardo Montalban’s edict “I’d rather look good than feel good,” you have to draw the line somewhere, people.
What’s obviously bothersome about all of this is the amount of time, energy and money spent towards “beautifying” the vulva, read: homogenizing vulvas. Rather, these resources would be better put towards understanding the sources of this insecurity, and advocacy towards acceptance of the natural
beauty of the vuvla. Man, I’ve been spending too much time with Miss Eve, but this is true regardless.
They’re like snowflakes, people. Beautiful snowflakes. You’re fucking snowflakes. Or keys, since now you can make a silicone clone of your vulva. Ok, it really doesn’t matter if your sexing snowflakes or keys, either way there needs to be more work done towards the acceptance of vulvas rather than making them seem like some big ol mess that can only be attractive through the scalpel of a doctor.
European PSA’s have consistently, in my not-so-humble opinion, been leading in creative ways of informing the public on important health and humanitarian issues. Whether it’s through creepy, surrealist images of people doing the nasty with insects, dream-like animated ads promoting HIV awareness or satirical print ads encouraging the use of condoms in order to prevent breeding the next Hitler. And then there are some PSA’s where I can’t help but sarcastically think to myself (I like being sarcastic…to myself), “maaaaaaaybe that’s just a liiiiiiiiittle too far.”
Below is the video of a recent PSA where they have gone too far, too decadent, too scare tactic-ty and overall just making me sit there and think “really?” In the below ad, famed burlesque star Ancilla Tilla begins her sultry burlesque performance in front a dimly lit audience and just when she strips down to nothing but pasties…a fisherman pops up, clubs and begins to skin her alive. According non-profit org in Holland, this is the perfect message for informing the public that fish are skinned and gutted alive every day. WARNING: pretty damn graphic, this video is.
What? Really? We’re going to make that analogy again? Maybe I’m biased because that halibut I had last week in Bodega Bay was amazingly delicious, but that seems like a dramatic leap to me. More so, the use of sexuality, and specifically, female sexuality to grab the viewers attention is below the belt (sorry). Then add in the use of violence against women to bring up your point that it’s just like violence against that delicious halibut I thoroughly enjoyed makes it even more ludicrous to me. I’m all for humane treatment of animals, but I’m not in support of cheapening the cause against violence towards women.
What say you? Is this a valid and effective method of promoting humane treatment towards women…I mean fish…I mean, what was that ad about again?
. Along with Bonk, Roach has written 
and 
. More recently, Roach gained popularity from her featured lecture at 
