Posts tagged as:

lesbian

  • Sexual Obituaries 2011 (Cory Silverberg) – People who choose to work around sexuality and gender often don’t get the acknowledgment from the mainstream media or from society as a whole that they would if their work was in another field. Every year, I feel this absence when I read the lists of famous people who died. Since 2006, I’ve tried to change that by sharing some of the sex and gender activists, educators, artists, and outlaws we lost in the year that is ending. Here is a list of sexual losses in 2011.
  • Director Dee Rees And Star Adepero Oduye Talk Coming Out & Coming Of Age In ‘Pariah’ | indieWIRE – Pariah is the story of Alike (Oduye), a black lesbian teenager living in Fort Greene and navigating between the aggressive gay nightclub scene preferred by her butch best friend Laura (Pernell Walker) and a closeted life at home, where her tightly wound mother Audrey (Kim Wayans) tries to dress her in pink cardigans and quizzes her about who she’s taking to the school dance.
  • Bondage Sex And The Liberation Of Culture – ErosBlog: The Sex Blog – For anybody with an interest in cultural history — and especially, aspects of cultural history that have ever been covert or officially suppressed, like porn — it’s this “everything floats up to the surface and becomes visible, in time” aspect of the Internet that is most miraculous. It’s far from complete, mind you — we have many centuries of recorded culture that have yet to be digitized and brought up from their buried layers of stone and canvas and paper and cellulose and vinyl and magnetic tape.
  • 2011 Top Ten Sex Questions (Cory Silverberg) – I don’t dig into my statistics all that often, but once a year I like to see which questions and answers were the most popular…These ten questions are from the 105 Sex Questions that I’ve answered on the About.com site.
  • Navigating Love and Autism – NYTimes.com- Only since the mid-1990s have a group of socially impaired young people with otherwise normal intelligence and language development been recognized as the neurological cousins of nonverbal autistic children. Because they have a hard time grasping what another is feeling — a trait sometimes described as “mindblindness” — many assumed that those with such autism spectrum disorders were incapable of, or indifferent to, intimate relationships. Parents and teachers have focused instead on helping them with school, friendship and, more recently, the workplace.Yet as they reach adulthood, the overarching quest of many in this first generation to be identified with Asperger syndrome is the same as many of their nonautistic peers: to find someone to love who will love them back. [via Violet Blue]
  • When Will a Gay Pro Athlete Finally Come Out? — New York Magazine – “Something has happened in the last year,” says Jim Buzinski, co-founder of OutSports, an advocate for and chronicler of gay sports issues for more than a decade. “It’s almost like homophobia is no longer considered cool in sports.”
  • Australian Passport Gender Options: ‘Transgender’ Will Be Included | HuffPo – Australian passports will now have three gender options – male, female and indeterminate – under new guidelines to remove discrimination against transgender people, the government said Thursday.

{ Comments on this entry are closed }

Sapphica Erotica

by Viviane on 08/15/2011

in galleries

serotica Sapphica Erotica

Full gallery

{ Comments on this entry are closed }

Bookmarks

by Viviane on 06/26/2011

in del.icio.us,sex

  • New York Allows Same-Sex Marriage, Becoming Largest State to Pass Law – NYTimes.com – “Lawmakers voted late Friday to legalize same-sex marriage, making New York the largest state where gay and lesbian couples will be able to wed and giving the national gay-rights movement new momentum from the state where it was born. “
  • Thousands Cheer Same-Sex Marriage Law in Euphoric Pride Parade – NYTimes.com – “They came to shout, dance, cheer, strut, hug and shed tears of joy, knowing that on July 24, when the law takes effect, the season for tears will begin in earnest…The focus of much of the cheering was Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo, a Democrat, who made legalization of same-sex marriage part of his election campaign and visibly led the fight for its approval in the Republican-led State Senate. Mr. Cuomo marched with several local politicians, including Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg and the New York City Council speaker, Christine C. Quinn, who is openly gay. But there was little question that the governor was the parade’s rock star, eliciting shrieks as he made his way down Fifth Avenue. “
  • Gail Dines, SlutWalk, Saudi Arabia and The Place of Porn in a “Just Society” | violet blue ® :: open source sex – A professor of sociology and women’s studies, Dines shows a shocking disregard for women’s experience. She infantilizes “sluts” and women who consume porn (about whom I’ve never seen her make more than a passing reference) as women making not their own choices, but choices dictated exclusively by the pressures of men. Meanwhile, men make choices based exclusively on the pressures of porn. Which are driven by the desires of men. It’s a classic circular argument that places the responsibility for men who behave reprehensibly on the shoulders of women who self-identify as sluts, and of men who don’t always feel like making eye contact with their girlfriends during sex…But Dines is far more dangerous than that, because after decades teaching women’s studies, she doesn’t seem to have learned the explosive danger of the term “normal.”
  • Sexual Orientation and the Law: A Research Bibliography – A research bibliography of legal literature discussing gay, lesbian, transgender and bisexual persons, their rights and their families. Edited by law librarians from the American Association of Law Libraries Standing Committee on Lesbian and Gay Issues.
  • Thanks, but no thanks! | Fearless Press – Keep in mind that you do not need to have a reason to say no – you are entitled to say no for any reason (or even no reason) at all. It’s YOUR decision whether to play or engage in sex. You also do not need to give them a “rain check” or tell them maybe another time unless you want to – in fact, in my experience it’s been worse for me to tell them “maybe” instead of just saying no and leaving it alone.

{ Comments on this entry are closed }

To be published by Cleis Press in fall 2011

Editor Sinclair Sexsmith is looking for hot, sexy, well-written stories about kinky sex between queer women, from bondage scenarios to power play to role play to sadism and masochism to sensation play for a new anthology of lesbian BDSM erotica. Looking for characters with a range of age, race, sexual experience, gender identity and gender expression: butch, femme, genderqueer, gender-non-conforming, dapper, and others will all be considered. Cis women, trans women, and genderqueer characters who identify with the lesbian community are welcome. Stories should have strong literary voice, characters, tension, and rising action. All characters must be over 18. Prose only will be considered, no comics, graphic stories, or poetry. For examples of what I am looking for, see Tristan Taormino’s collection Best Lesbian Bondage Erotica.

Deadline: January 1, 2011

How to submit: Send your story in a Times New Roman 12 point black font Word document (.doc) with pages numbered of 1,500 to 5,000 words to lesbianbdsmerotica@gmail.com. Double space the document and indent the first line of each paragraph. US grammar required. If you are using a pseudonym, provide your real name and be clear under which you would like to be published. Include your mailing address and a 50 words or less bio in the third person. Publisher has final approval over the manuscript.

About the editor: Sinclair Sexsmith runs the award-winning personal online writing project Sugarbutch Chronicles: The Gender, and Relationship Adventures of a Kinky Queer Butch Top at www.sugarbutch.net. With work published in various anthologies, including the Best Lesbian Erotica series, Sometimes She Lets Me: Butch/Femme Erotica, and Visible: A Femmethology volume 2, Mr. Sexsmith also writes columns for online publications and facilitates workshops on sex, gender, and relationships. Find her full portfolio and schedule at www.mrsexsmith.com.

{ Comments on this entry are closed }

Bookmarks

by Viviane on 08/06/2010

in del.icio.us,sex

  • Vaughn Walker, Prop 8 Judge, Has Personal Life Debated After Gay Marriage Ruling | Huffington Post – William G. Ross, an expert on judicial ethics and law professor at Samford University in Alabama, said that a judge's sexual orientation has no more relevance to his or her ability to rule fairly on a case involving gay marriage than it would for a deeply religious judge or a judge who had been divorced multiple times…"Under the logic of the people challenging the judge's fitness to rule on a case involving gay rights because he or she was gay, one would have to find a eunuch to serve on the case, because one could just as easily argue that a heterosexual judge couldn't rule on it either," Ross said.
  • Prop 8 Trial Tracker | A Project of the Courage Campaign Institute – The Prop 8 Trial Tracker is a project of the Courage Campaign Institute, which is a part of the Courage Campaign’s online organizing network of more than 700,000 supporters in California and across the country… The primary contributors are Rick Jacobs, Chair of the Courage Campaign Institute, and Robert Cruickshank, Public Policy Director of the Courage Campaign Institute. California-based bloggers Paul Hogarth and Brian Leubitz also contribute legal analysis and other content to the Prop 8 Trial Tracker. Eden James, the Courage Campaign Institute’s Managing Director, is providing strategic and promotional support as well as adding occasional content.
  • N.Y. Appeals Court Affirms Lesbian’s Duty to Pay Child Support | NY Law Journal – "This Court has previously employed the 'implied promise-equitable estoppel approach' … to preclude a man with no biological or adoptive connection to a child from disavowing a relied-upon, implied promise to support the child, thus preventing the man from leaving the child without the support of two parents, as originally contemplated," the 2nd Department observed in an unsigned, unanimous ruling.

{ Comments on this entry are closed }

Bookmarks

by Viviane on 07/22/2010

in del.icio.us,sex

  • N.Y.U. Doesn’t Want Film of Larry Rivers’s Naked Daughters – NYTimes.com – After it came to light last week that films and videotapes made by the artist Larry Rivers included footage of his two daughters naked, New York University informed his foundation that it did not want those materials included as part of the archive it was purchasing, said John Beckman, a spokesman for N.Y.U.<br />
    <br />
    That leaves the question of what to do with the films and tapes, which are now in the hands of the Larry Rivers Foundation and which Mr. Rivers’s younger daughter, Emma Tamburlini, wants turned over to her and her sister, Gwynne Rivers. Mr. Rivers died in 2002.
  • Buttman v. The Man: D.C.’s First Big Obscenity Trial in Decades Fails to Determine the Obscenity of Milk Enemas – The Sexist – Washington City Paper – But after the trial, jurors were more concerned with what wasn’t in Milk Nymphos: Violence. Rape. Bestiality. Kids. “These people were adults and they were willing. No one put a gun to their head,” Crawford said. “Had they brought a child out in pampers, then we would have been like, hell no,” Mordecai added. In opening arguments, the defense emphasized that the only entity forcing anyone to watch porn is the government. “The movies are not—and are not meant to be—distributed to these 14 strangers sitting in a federal courthouse,” defense attorney Paul Cambria said. The films feature “adults putting on a performance…for another adult, who would make that choice [to watch it] if that were his or her cup of tea.”
  • Stagliano Case: A Pyrrhic Victory? « Blogging Censorship – Not prepared to alienate anybody, Holder told a panel of congressmen that he will pursue, with limited resources, obscenity cases that have the “greatest potential for harm” while being aware of First Amendment considerations.
  • District To Pay Lesbian Teen $35K Over Prom Dispute : NPR – A school district in rural Mississippi that canceled its prom rather than allow a lesbian student to attend with her girlfriend has agreed to pay $35,000 to settle a discrimination lawsuit the ACLU filed on her behalf.

{ Comments on this entry are closed }

Bookmarks

by Viviane on 06/25/2010

in del.icio.us,sex

  • Vibrator Use Among Gay and Bi Identified Men – About.com Guide to Sexuality Cory Silverberg highlights findings by scientist Michael Reece, who recently published data about vibrating sex toy use among gay and bisexual men. "Along with Debby Herbenick and colleagues at Indiana University's Center for Sexual Health Promotion, Reece has managed to find the funding and time to conduct basic research on sex toy use that has long been needed," Cory writes.
  • Gay Workers Will Get Time to Care for Partner’s Sick Child – NYTimes.com – The new ruling indicates that an employee in a same-sex relationship can qualify for leave to care for the child of his or her partner, even if the worker has not legally adopted the child.<br />
    <br />
    The ruling, in a formal opinion letter, tackles a question not explicitly addressed in the 1993 law. It is one of many actions taken by the Obama administration to respond to the concerns of gay men and lesbians within the constraints of the Defense of Marriage Act, which defines marriage as a union between a man and a woman as husband and wife.
  • The Myth of Lesbian Bed Death (Village Voice) – But where did this idea of “lesbian bed death” come from? Thank sociologist Pepper Schwartz, who, in her 1983 book American Couples, asserted that lesbians have less sex and intimacy than other couples. Although her methodology and results were later challenged, the idea of lesbian bed death has taken on a life of its own, with damaging results.
  • Talking Sex, With Kink Educators and Anti-Porn Activists | Amanda Hess (Washinton City Paper) – If KinkForAll and “Porn Harms” have one thing in common, it’s an obsession with airing taboos.

{ Comments on this entry are closed }

Bookmarks

by Viviane on 06/07/2010

in del.icio.us,sex

  • Kids With Lesbian Parents Do Just Fine – US News and World Report – When compared to teens of the same age, adolescents raised by lesbian parents are doing just fine socially, psychologically and academically, new research finds.<br />
    <br />
    Not only that, they have fewer social problems, and less aggressive and rule-breaking behaviors than other teens.
  • Americans’ Acceptance of Gay Relations Crosses 50% Threshold (Gallup) – There is a gradual cultural shift under way in Americans' views toward gay individuals and gay rights. While public attitudes haven't moved consistently in gays' and lesbians' favor every year, the general trend is clearly in that direction. This year, the shift is apparent in a record-high level of the public seeing gay and lesbian relations as morally acceptable. Meanwhile, support for legalizing gay marriage, and for the legality of gay and lesbian relations more generally, is near record highs.
  • Just How Bad Is Porn, Anyway? : The Thoughtful Animal (Jason Goldman) – This is meant to review some of the research that's been conducted on whether or not there is a reliable causal relationship between pornography and various Bad Things.

{ Comments on this entry are closed }

Bookmarks

by Viviane on 05/03/2010

in del.icio.us,sex

  • Facebook Users Like Sex | Mashable – As the chart below depicts, Facebook users are extremely fascinated with sex, as sex links are 90% more likely to be shared than other types of content. Links that are positive in nature and/or related to learning rank second and third in terms of shares, respectively.
  • Amy Jo Goddard | CarnalNation – Abby Ehmann's profile of Amy Jo Goddard and her Women's Sexuality Empowerment Apprenticeship workshop.
  • ya ya | Youth Activists – Youth Allies – The Ya-Ya Network is a citywide anti-racist, anti-sexist organization and allies with the LGBTQ community. Ya-Ya is staffed by young activists ages 15-19. We work with other youth, adult allies, youth programs & activist organizations. We help groups & individuals connect. We share information & resources & we support the work that other groups are doing. All to build a stronger voice for young people in the movement for social & economic justice.
  • Mississippi school purges top student from yearbook for being lesbian – Boing Boing – Ceara Sturgis, a top student at Wesson Attendance Center in Mississipi, has been purged from the yearbook. She attended the school for 12 years, but she's also a lesbian, and so they made her an un-person.
  • Transgender Controversy at Tribeca Film Fest – WNYC Culture – The Tribeca Film Festival lists the film Ticked Off Trannies With Knives as a "revenge fantasy flick that brews up a concoction of camp, slasher horror, and power-chick flick to create a radical new genre: Transploitation!"<br />
    <br />
    The film's director Israel Luna stated he intended the film to be empowering, members of New York's transgender community, along with GLAAD, certainly don't think so. They asked the film festival to pull the film from its lineup.
  • Illinois’ teen sexting bill aims to educate, not criminalize | Ars Technica – Illinois is moving forward with legislation that would educate (and punish) teenagers who forward around nude images of their peers, but not treat them as sex offenders. The bill, which has moved to Governor Pat Quinn's desk for signature, aims to take a more modern and realistic approach to teens making stupid decisions, though the door is still open for harsher punishments if needed.

{ Comments on this entry are closed }

ashleyandkisha Ashley and Kisha

Like Comstock’s other films, “Ashley and Kisha” showcases an intimate relationship between two lovers, whose story is tender and unique.  Ashley and Kisha are two young women who met in college and became lovers.  Ashley is an out-and-proud lesbian, while Kisha considered herself “straight” and not interested in women, until she met Ashley.  During their interview, the women talk about how Kisha initially rebuffed Ashley’s “animal instinct” advances until she tried more “subtler” methods, “easing her way in” to Kisha’s consciousness until Kisha could no longer resist.

The two are a study in contrasts:  Kisha is very conservative, soft and voluptuous; Ashley out-spoken, confident and rebellious with a lean, athletic body.   Ashley takes control in the bedroom, awakening Kisha’s body to a rediscovery of pleasure, a pleasure that only another woman can know.  Both women admit that sex together is the best they ever had.

ashleyandkisha2 Ashley and Kisha

Their story is sweet and amorous, their lovemaking playful, sensual and erotic.  “Ashley and Kisha” is delightful film about the rhapsody of young love between two women and their journey of new sexual discovery.

Ashley and Kisha: Finding The Right Fit (Real People, Real Life, Real Sex series) Ashley and Kisha

{ Comments on this entry are closed }

Video: Sapphic Erotica

by Viviane on 05/13/2009

in video

01 tn Video: Sapphic Erotica
Video

{ Comments on this entry are closed }

. . .Which isn’t to say there haven’t been noticeable changes, beginning in the late ’80s, when k.d. lang became an icon of lesbian chic. Nor is it to minimize the impact of ‘‘The L Word,’’ a tribute to the high testosterone level of gay babes, or to ignore hip same-sex Hollywood couples, like Lindsay Lohan and Samantha Ronson. It is to say rather that Sapphic archetypes tend to raise questions more than answer them, since both categories (butch and femme) borrow from gender-influenced dichotomies of beauty. There have, that is, always been women known for a sort of arrant handsomeness — like Gertrude Stein, who always struck me as resembling no one so much as Hadrian VII— or for their arresting exoticism, like the painter Romaine Brooks. And then there are the gay women, known as ‘‘lipstick lesbians,’’ who look like any other pretty young thing. Indeed, the power of lipstick lesbians relies precisely on the fact that theirs is an exclusively inner ‘‘outing’’; outside they are all mascara, blush and, yes, lipstick. Their allure is in their ability to mimic the normative language of sexual discourse while at the same time poking it in the eye.

Well, look again. Lesbianism has finally come into a glamour of its own, an appeal that goes beyond butch and femme archetypes into a more universal seduction. Her name is Rachel Maddow, the polished-looking, self-declared gay newscaster who stares out from the MSNBC studio every weekday night and makes love to her audience.

.

{ Comments on this entry are closed }

Do you identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, bi-curious, queer, questioning, or otherwise same-sex attracted? Are you of African American or Latina descent? Are you age 18 and older? Even if you prefer not to label yourself, we are interested in your experience!

I am a doctoral student at Emory University conducting research on attitudes about sexual identity and community held by same-sex attracted women of African American or Latina descent

Participation involves the completion of an online questionnaire and will take approximately 30 minutes of your time.

Your participation is voluntary and anonymous.

If you are interested in participating in this study please follow the link provided below or cut and paste the link into your web browser:

http://emory.qualtrics.com/SE?SID=SV_bskzTz0WmmBpzA8&SVID=Prod

You may also assist with this project by forwarding this e-mail request to LGBT-themed organizations and listservs, and/or to same-sex attracted individuals.

To request additional information or questions about this study, or to request a hard copy of the questionnaire in English or Spanish please contact Monique Carry at ccarry@emory.edu.

Thank you,

Monique Carry
Doctoral Candidate, Department of Sociology
Emory University, Atlanta GA
ccarry AT emory DOT edu

{ Comments on this entry are closed }

crashpadseries CrashPadSeries.com

Lucky me!  I purchased a 2009 Sexblogger Calendar to support Audacia Ray’s Sex Work Awareness Project, an organization that trains sex workers in media skills and educates the public about issues that affect people who work in the sex industry.  I was happy to get the calendar alone and support sex workers!  As a bonus, however, I received a free 1 month subscription to the Crashpadseries.com.  I am already a huge fan of Pink and White Productions and Shine Louise Houston’s films.  So it was wonderful to get a behind-the-scenes look on the website with all the amazing content they have on their site.  This is the place to hang-out (or crash) if you want to see all the sexy footage of what Shine is working on with the hot stars in her films, for they post them all here first before they ever go to DVD.  And, there is lots of footage that is specifically just for the site, so stuff you’ll never see in the films themselves is here as well.

I got to watch Cyd & Red:  It was cool seeing them talk about their sexual likes and dislikes before the actual shoot as a form of negotiation.  You can also hear Shine’s directorial commentary to the performers, so it really lets you in behind-the-scenes, like you are there as one of the crew members.  Sweet!  You also have the option of downloading the clips to watch in Windows Media Player or QuickTime formats.  I prefer Media Player, so that was great for me.

They have six episodes to date up on the website and each episode has numerous scenes.  So there is a lot of to watch. It would take you weeks and weeks to go through all the content and watch all the videos, and at the rate they update, this would be a never-ending battle.  The site is stock full of hot photos of all episodes and the stars including Carson, Dallas, Donna, Dylan Ryan, Javier, Jake, Jiz Lee, Michele Aston, Lorelei Lee, Rozen Debowe, Shawn, Trouble, Trucker Cash, Vai, Wilder and many more.  You’ll see plenty of heartthrob bois, girls and gender-bending crushes on the site, many of which have yet to be seen on DVD.  The site also has a free forum where you can talk about various topics and even correspond with the stars and director themselves.

Crashpadseries.com is super hot and if you haven’t checked it out already, then you must be caught in some strange time warp in a very lame-ass parallel universe.  But, there is one way to break free and get the coveted key to the Crash Pad cosmos.  Cyber-surf your way over to Crashpadseries.com now so you don’t miss out on all the great content.  Just because they are so cool!  And, hey.  It’s hip to be cool.

pwavatar banner1 CrashPadSeries.com

{ Comments on this entry are closed }

Ever heard of something called Dada?”

Rachel Maddow is trying to make an analogy. It’s mid-October, two weeks before the election, and the MSNBC host is comparing the McCain campaign’s recent fixation on “Joe the Plumber” to the anti-bourgeois cultural movement of the early-twentieth century. But this is prime time, and Maddow first has to define Dadaism in as colloquial a way as possible. This is something of a challenge considering she only has about twelve seconds.

“Deliberately being irrational, rejecting standard assumptions about beauty or organization or logic,” she begins. “It’s an anti-aesthetic statement about the lameness of the status quo … kind of?” She twists her face into a cartoon grimace that morphs into a wide smile. “Why am I trying to explain Dadaism on a cable news show thirteen days from this big, giant, historic, crazy, important election that we’re about to have?” she asks with a self-deprecating laugh, as she recognizes the Dadaishness of her own quest. “Because that’s what I found myself Googling today, in search of a way to make sense of the latest McCain-Palin campaign ad!”

It’s hard to imagine many other cable news hosts going down that particular rabbit hole. (Can you picture Glenn Beck referring to the existentialists to make a point?) But then again, Rachel Maddow is not like other cable news hosts. A self-described butch lesbian with short hair and black-rimmed glasses, off-camera she resembles a young Ira Glass more than the helmet-headed anchoresses and Fox fembots who populate television news. Doing the press rounds when MSNBC first announced her show in August, she’d show up to interviews looking like, she says, “a 14-year-old boy” in puffy Samantha Ronson sneakers with iPod headphones dangling from her ears—but then she’d easily segue into an informed foreign- policy or economic discussion that ended with a Daily Show–worthy punch line. Her résumé is similarly unexpected: A Rhodes scholar and an Oxford Ph.D., she’s done stints as an AIDS activist, barista, landscaper, Air America host, and mascot in an inflatable calculator suit. She’s a civics geek who reads comic books, goes to monster-truck rallies, likes to fish, calls herself an “amateur mixologist” of classic cocktails, and even Twitters.

More. . .

{ Comments on this entry are closed }