“Feces is dripping out of your fag mouth,” the nice middle-aged lady said to me.
Yes folks, the Fred Phelps freak show had come to town. Members of the gay-bashing, Jew-hating Westboro Baptist Church—you know, the delightful folks who picket funerals with signs that say things like "God Hates Fags" and "You Will Eat Your Babies"—were on a whirlwind two-day visit to Sodom-by-the-Bay. Since I can be kind of lax about going to counter-demonstrations, I had already missed what was apparently the stellar moment of the Godly Grand Tour—a confrontation outside, improbably enough, the headquarters of Twitter. That one had brought out pro-queer neo-Dadaists with signs like "I Was Promised Donuts," "This Is a Sign," and "God Loves the Delicious Taste of Kraft Macaroni and Cheese." But hell, I don't even tweet. And the fun-loving Phelps Family were themselves a no-show at the previous night's performance of Fiddler on the Roof, perhaps worried they'd be outbellowed by the show's star, noted Christ-killing, baby-eating Jew fag Harvey Fierstein. [Read more]
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Courtney Trouble is the self-described “Maven of Queer Porn.” directing for, Reel Queer Productions, one of three lines in Good Vibration's video production and distribution company, Good Releasing, which also features Pleasure Ed and Heart Core.
Trouble blazed an early internet trail when she created her own XXX cottage industry by founding NoFauxxx.com in 2002 in order to present “alt, gay, lesbian, straight, trans, kink, and BBW content. It’s sexy, artsy, entertaining, all-inclusive, and totally DIY,” says Trouble on the site, named Best of the Bay 2009 by The San Francisco Guardian. And it enjoys the distinction of being the oldest running queer porn site on the Internet. [Read more]
…I gotta say I’m kinda confused. OK, I’m peeved.
When I think of what you people put me through after the 2004 Superbowl, I shiver—and not in a good way. [Read more]
A deep crimson-colored soundproof room with a bed large enough for six, every imaginable bondage furniture and more than enough space to swing a cat... How's that for a lunch break get-away in the middle of your workday?
If you're a sexual adventurer, no trip to Japan is complete without a visit to a love hotel. The love hotel is a quintessentially Japanese innovation, the bastard child of fantasy, and a necessity of urban congestion and the compartmentalized Japanese libido. Each time I return home to Japan, I pick a love hotel to visit, all under the convenient excuse of furthering my research into Japanese sexual subcultures. [Read more]
Nina is the most punk rock person I know, but I didn’t think so when I first met her. I thought she was musically and culturally naïve, with her Hot Topic skinny jeans and devotion to Green Day. She gravitated towards me in my heavy leather jacket like a moth to a match. Mild mannered, soft-spoken and kind of geeky, the most punk thing about her that I could see was her androgyny. I wasn’t overly impressed, but she seemed like she needed a friend.
So I talked to her more and found out just how shallow and judgmental I’d been. [Read more]
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Exotic hardwoods are the raw materials behind Nob Essence, an “intimate sculpture” company formed in 2005 by the husband and wife team of Alicia and Jason Yoder. The couple's individual backgrounds make for an interesting combination: Alicia is a doula, child-birthing expert, and mother of six; Jason is an engineer and classical violinist who crafts his own instruments. Oh, and also a father of six! [Read more]
Hello my darlings! Suzanne Forbes, fetish artist and San Francisco alternative-event habitué here!
I'm very excited to be writing a fashion column for CarnalNation, one of my favorite sex-positive homesteads on the web. Editor-in-Chief Theresa Ikard has listened to me gleefully ramble about my obsession with corsets, my fascination with latex design, and my disturbing mania for handmade tiny top hats, and now she's turned me loose on you all!
Let's start off with this year's Edwardian Ball, which was held on January 22nd and 23rd, shall we?
Suzanne Forbes with Justin Katz, founder and producer of the Ball in 2009.
Photo (c) nightshade, theblight.netThis year marked the 10th anniversary of San Francisco's unique Edward Gorey tribute party weekend, the Edwardian Ball. The "Edwardian" in the name of the event refers not so much to the Edwardian era of history as to the late Edward Gorey, the eccentric and charmingly morbid author and illustrator whose works are extremely popular in the Goth subculture. Gorey's characters are shown in his stylized black-and-white illustrations wearing fashions from the Victorian era on into the '30s, and attire at the Ball runs that gamut. In addition, there are regular ball-goers who create costumes as tributes to specific Gorey works, which include such characters as the disturbing "Insect God." [Read more]
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By now, if you've been reading this column, you may have noticed that just because a name of European origin has “Saint” in front of it doesn't mean that person was real. Or holy. And if the name is also associated with sex, however tenuously, the association probably has Pagan origins. These generalities hold true with our dear St. Valentine. [Read more]
The "five nectars” are among the “inner offerings” presented during ancient Tantric feasts: semen, brains, blood, urine, and feces. Through the ages, semen has been an element in many rituals and an ingredient in many magic potions.
So are we surprised that a modern gourmet, Paul “Fotie” Photenhauer, has published Natural Harvest - A Collection of Semen-Based Recipes? No, we are not. Though the Encyclopedia of Unusual Sex Practices
(by Brenda Love) cautions that “consumption of a partner’s secretion is not considered a safe-sex practice,” I suppose we can be relieved that the cookbook’s author is reportedly a nurse from San Francisco.
Natural Harvest sounds like a “must have” for my sexological library—yes, I’ll get a copy ASAP, and yes, I’ll review it in depth in a future column. (And boy, can I see a sequel to Julie & Julia now!) Natural Harvest is available through Lulu.com, has been nominated for a Gourmand World Cookbook Award, and is apparently going into its third edition. Though I do not have the book in hand, I did scan some book reviews and found a few alleged “tips” (no pun intended), such as “semen cooks like egg whites, not mayonnaise.” Ginger tea was apparently also recommended as a semen taste enhancer. Go to www.cookingwithcum.com for a direct link to the Natural Harvest purchase page. [Read more]
Mistress Eve Minax recently welcomed friend and colleague Miss Jaeleen to her parlor to discuss a specific style of kinky massage called Bondassage, which she created. Miss Jaeleen shares her approach to this unique blend of bondage, massage, sensory deprivation, and sensation play. This video highlights the vibrant and creative energy Miss Jaeleen applies to both her bodywork and teaching.
Strolling down a San Francisco street one day, photographer David Steinberg noticed two gorgeous women up ahead of him. Abruptly, they turned and disappeared into a bar he had never seen before. Deciding to take a look, he found himself inside the Black Rose—San Francisco's transgender bar at the time, a forerunner of what is now Divas Nightclub and Bar. Blown away by the color, lights and glamor, he had to learn more. Thus began what has become a 20-year exploration of gender, identity, photography and the women who make Divas the amazing place it is.David, also a veteran writer and activist, began photographing the transsexual women who frequent and work at Divas in 1997. As he got to know them better, he increasingly began taking pictures that not only captured the women's glamor and beauty, but also showed the complexity of their personalities, even when they were without all of the makeup and fancy clothes. [Read more]
You’ve heard about the recent Supreme Court decision in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission. Overturning the heart of the McCain-Feingold Act, the Court said that corporate donations to elections cannot be limited because it would violate the First Amendment.
How bad is this? Said the New York Times, “The Supreme Court has handed lobbyists a new weapon. A lobbyist can now tell any elected official: if you vote wrong, my company, labor union or interest group will spend unlimited sums explicitly advertising against your re-election.”
Former Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor added she is concerned that “the problem of campaign contributions in judicial elections might get considerably worse, and quite soon.” [Read more]
Listen, some of my best friends are married.
And yes, I celebrate their happiness. I think it's a valid lifestyle choice. Honest I do. And sure, same-sex marriage should be legal. Obviously. Way obviously.
But marriage is not, sorry, the end-all and be-all for me. It's not that I don't believe in love with a capital "L." And it's not that I think that the state should stay out of what is, ultimately, a private matter. In fact, my honey and I, who've been together for many, many happy years, are registered domestic partners. Sure, that sounds a lot more like legalese than romance, but hey, it got me health insurance.
Still, when we had the chance to get legally hitched—during that brief, joyous interregnum between the California Supreme Court decision that legalized same-sex marriage and the axe-fall of Proposition 8 that undid it—we chose not to head down to San Francisco City Hall and tie the knot. [Read more]
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Vanilla Sex
Michael Rosen
Shaynew Press
$40.00 or available as a free PDF download, 65 pp.The extent to which Michael Rosen's photography has shaped my sexual imagination can be demonstrated by Plate 7 in his newly-released collection, Vanilla Sex. It's an image of a heterosexual couple in a 69 position, shot from directly above the bed. The man is on top, his back curved up toward the camera, his face hidden between her thighs. She's staring up between his ass cheeks straight into the camera with a strangely placid expression on her face. The language of their bodies is passionate and tense, but her face is oddly still and unreadable, although in its way as intense as the muscles in her partner's curved back.
I remember very clearly the first time I saw that picture: it was sometime in the mid-90s, when the dot-com boom was in full boom. I was looking for a job, and somehow got an interview with Blowfish, one of the first sex-poz companies to sell toys online. To their eternal shame, they didn't hire me, but I did leave the offices with a copy of their most recent catalog, with Plate 7 on the cover. The image was so striking that I kept the catalog for years after the listings of merchandise inside became irrelevant. It wandered over my desk, in and out of drawers, and through various spots on my bookshelves until 2002, when I packed up the Richmond District apartment that I'd lived in for the past nine years to go live in New York City to live with a woman I had met. [Read more]
The verdict is in: the guy who murdered physician George Tiller will spend the rest of his life in jail, feeling good about what he did. [Read more]
This column includes specific help for some of the commoner problems that come up (or don’t) during sex. But we can’t possibly list every single sexual dysfunction (pain during sex, lack of sexual desire, inability to orgasm, orgasming before you want to, insufficient lubrication, avoidance of sex…), its symptoms, and suggested strategies for fixing it, all in one little column. [Read more]
A pair of transportation giants revealed last week that as parts of Western society become more comfortable acknowledging sexuality, discomfort and fear of sexuality are still as powerful as ever.
For starters, Carnival Cruises of Miami will not book another “cougar-cub cruise” (younger men and middle-aged women meeting for erotic connection, either temporary or long-term), even though the first sold out and demand for a second is high.
It’s not clear what Carnival objects to—middle-aged women having sex, middle-aged women having sex with people other than the crew, or simply all that legendary 24-hour-a-day food going uneaten.
On a more ominous note, British Airways has revealed its policy preventing men from sitting next to children to whom they are not related. [Read more]
First they make us put on clothes, then they take theirs off!”
I’m talking story with one local guy and I’ve never heard a better summation of the first and most enduring insult inflicted on the Hawaiian people. From the dour Congregationalist missionaries of New England to the sun-kissed tourists whose “parts” are too well known, the foreigner's knack of inflicting shame is a gift that keeps on giving.
In modern Hawai’i, public references to sex are avoided, while commercial appeals to sensuality abound, particularly the sensuality of well-manicured resort lawns, spa treatments, tropical print beachwear and hotel lu’aus. You can tuck a flower behind your ear, slow dance to the Hawaiian Wedding Song, and feel you’ve finally lived. You’re sold, right? You feel goooood! So now, maybe you’re in the mood for some island-style nookie...
Pretend the internet doesn’t exist. (Da coconut wireless? It’s out of whack too!)
Let’s say you’re an adult visitor and you’re looking for goodies not served at a lu’au. How easily can you rent an X-rated DVD, buy a vibrator, or find the local gay bar?
Let’s say you’re local. How easily can you find accurate sexual health information, birth control and condoms, HIV screening and information, or a place to hang out with other queer folk? (Plus, the movies and toys...)
Clearly, not through the Hawai’i island phone book. Not easily, or not at all. The phone book’s lack of readily accessible information pertaining to sex—pleasure, prevention or problems—is a legacy of that “missionary residue” that still hangs over the islands, a pall more corrosive than "vog" (volcanic smog). [Read more]
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