In most “November” art on the internet, there’s all these leaves and warm colors. It looks like you could go out in a light jacket with a scarf on. Here in Montana, I’ve been wearing winter coats since early October. And there’s nary a leave left on any tree. The leaves on the ground have definitely turned brown as they decompose.
It’s gross. That’s what I’m saying. But just because it’s unpleasant outside doesn’t mean that I’m not thankful for all the sex-positive news and links November brings! Here’s a round-up of some of my favorites from the last month.
Rick and Morty on Pornhub Is a Perfect Pairing
So, look, Pornhub isn’t my favorite website in the world. You may have noticed this if you’ve ever, like, read anything on this blog. (Go ahead. Search for the word “Pornhub.” You’ll see.) But it definitely has its moments. Like when it drives awareness about plastics in the ocean. Or when it raises money to save the bees. Or when its lax screening policies are put to brilliant use by the masses. As it’s currently being used by Rick and Morty fans who want to watch their favorite show but don’t want to pay for a streaming service to get access to it.
Pornhub is wide open to lots of content that the rest of the internet eschews. And it’s never been particularly concerned with copyright violations. (Which is why I have such a problem with it.) So it’s a perfect low-key way to disseminate copyrighted content to the masses for free. Even content that’s not pornographic. And Rick and Morty, a show whose brilliance is overshadowed only by its incredibly toxic fandom, is truly the perfect test subject for circumventing paywalls on a “semi-lawless porn platform like Pornhub,” as Corey Plante phrased it over at Inverse.com, continuing:
If you’re shocked to learn that the most efficient (illegal) place to watch Rick and Morty then you probably haven’t been paying attention. After all, this is just the latest in a long, graphic legacy of Pornhub being the raunchiest place to pirate TV shows and movies.
Read the rest here.
November Is the Month of Weird Challenges
November is a month of weird challenges. The one I’m involved with is National Novel Writing Month, for which I’m trying (and failing) to write 50,000 words of a novel. There’s also Movember, during which folks stop shaving their facial hair. But one people are talking about this year is No Nut November. That’s where people try to go thirty days without masturbating. EJ Dickson at Rolling Stone wrote a piece to disambiguate these two goals, and to expose the super-gross toxic masculinity underpinning the movement (and its predecessors going back a long, long time):
Because the challenge is associated with abstaining from porn, some people associated with the movement have taken the extra step of harassing adult performers on social media, giving it an additional layer of troubling implications.…The idea that there are significant health benefits from abstaining from masturbation is partially based on the (primarily internet-propagated) theory that semen retention is linked to an increase in testosterone and male virility, an idea that has been widely debunked. For the most part, however, the idea that masturbation is somehow feminizing is “rooted in extremely antiquated ideas of masculinity,” many of which are also promoted by far-right groups, says Ley.
Read it all here!
November Is Also Native American History Month
So here are some links that can help you connect with Native folks today and in history.
- Simon Moya-Smith at Vice recommends 100 Ways to Support—Not Appropriate From—Native People.
- And Christine Nobiss wrote “Thanksgiving Promotes Whitewashed History, So I Organized Truthsgiving Instead” at Bustle (last year, but the point still stands):
Generations of American values are responsible for institutionalizing the Thanksgiving mythology, but ultimately, change can occur as individuals awaken to the reality that their Thanksgiving meals celebrate a violent, whitewashed history, and begin the process of truth-telling, healing, and reconciliation.
Read the rest here.
Now That We’re Talking About Activism…
I don’t often talk about non-sexuality-related causes here on the blog. I know that most of you come here for sex-related content. But some things are just too important not to mention. Like “Revealed: the 20 firms behind a third of all carbon emissions” from The Guardian.
New data from world-renowned researchers reveals how this cohort of state-owned and multinational firms are driving the climate emergency that threatens the future of humanity, and details how they have continued to expand their operations despite being aware of the industry’s devastating impact on the planet.
Look, you should absolutely NOT go out with pitchforks and torches. Don’t drag the people in charge of these groups out of their homes and into the streets. And whatever you do, do not eat the rich.
But, you know. Read the report here.
Speaking About Politics, How About Chinese Propaganda on Pornhub?
Yeah, that whole thing about Pornhub being a cover for non-pornographic content? Get a load of this. Pro-China groups are making propaganda videos portraying the Hong Kong protestors as violent criminals, fascists, and cockroaches. YouTube, Twitter, and Facebook banned them. So they’re now moving over to to Pornhub.
Read all about it in “China’s messaging against the Hong Kong protests has found a new outlet: Pornhub” from Jane Li at qz.com. I also wrote an article about the phenomenon at YNOT, with some history and some industry-specific thoughts.
Did You Hear About PayPal Breaking Up with Pornhub?
Wow, this is a Pornhub-heavy month of links, folks. I hate to talk so much about one website, but they’ve been at the center of a lot of weirdness this November. Of most concern to sex workers on the internet is that PayPal recently cut ties with the porn-streaming giant. In doing so, they left 100,000 models scrambling for payments. Real cool, folks. From my piece about the debacle at YNOT:
Sex workers have always been a marginalized group, but online payment processors and the banks they work with have made things particularly difficult in recent years. As Gizmodo’s Whitney Kimball wrote, “The cumulative effect of financial discrimination, by banks and payment processors, is that people conducting totally legal business have to resort to less lucrative platforms or, in some cases, potentially more dangerous offline encounters.”
Read the rest of my article over at YNOT.
Read My Interview with Mahx Capacity in MATH Magazine!
I’m so excited to say that an interview I did with the fan-fucking-tastic Mahx Capacity of AORTA films is going to grace the pages of MATH Magazine‘s eighth issue. Out now, the magazine features very dirty art, articles, and more from lots of brilliant contributors.
Here’s a bite of my interview with Mahx:
Something p0rn performers do so well [is] being extremely present in a way that makes them both really vulnerable and really powerful at the same time. It’s going to sound so cheesy to say this, but it feels kind of holy to me when a performer is able to be in their element and feel comfortable and feel supported. They’re able to be so vulnerable and so open in this way that has such immense strength and power and realness behind it.
And that’s just a tiny bit. Mahx is a brilliant, beautiful, articulate human, and they said SO much fascinating stuff! You can read the rest in Issue 8 of MATH Magazine!
Keep up with all my “titillating, winking bawdiness” (plus editing and writing advice & deals) by subscribing to my newsletter!