February is the shortest month, but it’s also the longest month. Especially this winter, when isolation, health problems, and seemingly endless grey have benumbed us, February stretched into an infinity of snowy ennui. This year, my February was further burdened by a tax-preparation nightmare that only bears a passing mention, since said nightmare kept me away from my blog, and readers, for much of the month. My birthday and Valentine’s Day (hence the title above) notwithstanding, it’s been a hell of a month. Now, it’s time to get our grooves back! Shall we collectively lick our wounds, stroke our keyboards, and enjoy some much-needed links bathing? It’s like regular bathing, except we’re cleansing our minds with words and thoughts and images about sexuality and more from around the internet!
My p*rn life: what my years as a sex writer taught me about my desires
by Tracy Clark-Flory
“Sex could be creative, fun and theatrical, it turned out. It was more than just nerve endings, blood flow and muscle contractions; it was more than angles, friction and rhythm. The physical and psychological experiences of sex were inseparable. Every act was embedded with social and political meaning, and porn let me examine that meaning from a safe and comfortable distance, while alone in my bedroom.”
Read the full excerpt here, and order your copy of Clark-Flory’s book, Want Me: A Sex Writer’s Journey into the Heart of Desire, here.
Why Is Someone Always Out to Destroy the P//rn Industry?
by Lynsey G
Why is there always someone out to get porn? What is it about the ancient practice of exchanging sexually exciting material for profit that so distresses, offends, even consumes those who fight against it? Is there some fundamental problem with porn that makes them unable to turn away and find something else to worry about? Is it simply that porn is an easy scapegoat, a dog that lies under the table just waiting for easily offended people to kick it?
Read the rest here.
Watch P0rnhub Execs Being Grilled for Abuse on Their Platform
by Samantha Cole
“Members of [Canada’s] Parliament (MP) on the House of Commons committee asked Mindgeek chief operating officer David Marmorstein Tassillo and CEO of Mindgeek Canadian operations Feras Antoon for details on Pornhub’s moderation team, how the company is addressing reports of unlawful material on the site, and why change didn’t happen sooner.”
Read the rest, and watch video, here.
HourGasm Has a Slick New Website!
Listen to every episode of my podcast, where I decolonize sexuality and gender along with Lenny Peppers! In our first eleven episodes, we’ve covered:
- Horror Film and Gender
- Political Sex Scandals
- Gender in Disney Films
- Queers in Comics (with Charley Macorn)
- Mawwiage
- Femininity
- Polyamory
- Beauty Standards
- Gender Roles in Ancient Rome (with Jenny Williamson)
And there’s more on the way! Check out the website here!
How to Pay for P*rn: A Guide for Newbies
by Lynsey G
It’s an unfortunate truth that many consumers raised in the age of free streaming porn on the internet seem to be clueless that paying for their entertainment is even an option. And it goes without saying that this mentality is hurting the bottom line of many in the adult industry.…Gabrielle Kassel, offers readers a plethora of ideas about how readers can—gasp!—pay for their porn.
Read the rest here!
53 Wild and Completely Iconic Vintage P()rn Film Posters
by Mehera Bonner
“Maybe it’s the hair, maybe it’s the grainy film, maybe it’s the good acting, or maybe it’s the fact that the plots are often completely and totally deranged. Whatever the x factor (or, should we say, “xxx factor”) is, vintage p0rn is a sometimes wonderful and often weird world.”
See all the posters here!
Twitter Deleting Many Sex Work–Related Accounts, Won’t Say Why
by Lynsey G
The once-safe platform is suddenly becoming much less secure. Adult-oriented accounts, from sex workers to clip stores to adult-themed conventions, have been deplatformed at alarmingly high rates since late last year.…In light of the pandemic pushing more and more people toward Clips4Sale, OnlyFans, and other online-only sex work platforms, and given that Twitter is the only major social media platform that still welcomes them, there is good reason to worry.
Read the rest here.
Stop Listening to The New York Times and Start Listening to P//rn Stars
by Cherie DeVille
“Porn is a highly-regulated profession a world away from sex trafficking, but I understand the public’s confusion. Most people consume porn on Pornhub, a distribution platform, so it’s easy to mistake the distributor for the producer. It’s the same thing as when someone sees Netflix “created” Schitt’s Creek when the show first premiered on the CBC. Except, in this case, the public is falsely aligning legal consenting workers with sex traffickers.”
Read the article here!
Hosts Lenny Peppers, Lynsey G Announce Season 2 of ‘HourGasm’ Podcast
by XBIZ
“In this season, the hosts will continue to ‘deconstruct the systems and structures that hold up colonialism, patriarchy, racism, and more — one episode at a time,’ a rep shared. ‘From the Doctrine of Discovery and what it means for sexuality, to corsetry, cougars and ancient Roman religious cults, this season is already decolonizing the minds of listeners all over the world with frank discussions of the systems and structures that make up our modern world — and how we can look past them.'”
Read the rest here!
We Too: Essays on Sex Work and Survival
edited by Natalie West, with Tina Horn
“This collection of narrative essays by sex workers presents a crystal-clear rejoinder: there’s never been a better time to fight for justice. Responding to the resurgence of the #MeToo movement in 2017, sex workers from across the industry—hookers and prostitutes, strippers and dancers, porn stars, cam models, Dommes and subs alike—complicate narratives of sexual harassment and violence, and expand conversations often limited to normative workplaces.”
Get your copy here.
“Pleasure” Unsettles Sundance with Realistic View of Porn Industry
by Lynsey G
This year’s Sundance Film Festival looked a little different this year. Rather than gathering the film industry’s elite in Utah, the festival has gone online, allowing more people than ever to get in on the hottest new cinema of the year. That gave Pleasure, a film about a young woman’s rise to prominence in the porn industry directed by Ninja Thyberg, a larger-than-usual audience to shock.
Read the rest here!
The New Nostalgia of Touch: The Best Adult Erotic Filmmakers to Watch in 2021
by Jennifer Lyon Bell
As someone who deeply enjoys the wide variety of sexy cinema that’s available with only a little digging, I offer a few of my recent movie picks by filmmakers who have been creating amazing work just prior to the pandemic, who have managed to still create during lockdown, and whom I definitely believe are filmmakers to watch in 2021.
Read the list here!
Get 4 Free Comics!
If you love immersive worlds and indie comics, this sampler will take you where you want to go! Get these 4 gorgeous, thought-provoking 8-page comic books from my publishing company, Oneshi Press—totally free! That includes 8 pages each from my graphic novel, Tracy Queen, and my ongoing comic book, PACK!
Get your comics here!
Don’t forget to sign up to my newsletter for the latest in smexy, smutty, and word-nerdy links and news!
Be sure to check out my podcast, my memoir, my comics, my interactive story about a zombie sanctuary, and my editorial services (or somebody else’s) on Reedsy!