Sex Positive

Sex tech made the news again, this time it was MTV spouting off on the "evolution" of sex. I say "spouting off" because while columnist Tess Barker may be clever & know her tech, I'm not sure i...

"Whip me, beat me, make me write bad checks." It's a classic humorous line about BDSM (though the origins are murky), but that last bit would seem to hit at the heart of the plethora of financial g...

It’s that time of year again and we’re on the hunt for the Sex Blogging Superheroes of 2014. We’re looking for writers with charisma and courage, writers who are on a mission to promote sex positivity and save the world from bad sex. Because when you think about it, that job is pretty damned heroic. After all, the vast majority of people would choose rushing into a burning building over uttering words like "orgasm" or "clitoris" or "anal sex" in a public setting.

Rubbing our parts in robotic electronics, no matter how supple, no matter how able to respond in terms of coos and ooohs, no matter what level of "special order" creation status to match our individual personalities and needs, will not satiate our hunger for real companionship.

Humans appear to have a very pronounced attachment to companionship, so much so that we are most driven by desire and longing. We want, crave, unconditional love and acceptance.

As a sex worker who has both mental illness(es) and a history of abuse Mia Freedman’s post perpetuates stereotypes and stigmas that harm me. Should my mental illness prevent me from having any agency? Didn’t we do away with locking the mentally ill up and throwing away the key (although this still does happen) because we (as a society) started to recognise the mentally ill as humans with rights? Or do we only have some rights? Like the right to work in a low paying, menial job or the right to exist (not live because let’s face it, it isn’t a living wage) on the disability support pension and that is if you even qualify for it, if you don’t you can always try and get by on unemployment “benefits” while you are made to apply for jobs you will never get. Surely I still have the right to have sex don’t I? I can’t see Mia Freedman advocating for enforced chastity belts for the mentally ill. So, if I have the right to work and the right to have sex, what is wrong with me having sex as my work?

If television is a reflection of society, then a study of two programs on cable TV by a New Mexico State University researcher may help to expand how women's sexuality is viewed in the United States. Kassia Wosick, assistant professor of sociology in the College of Arts and Sciences, recently shared her findings at the Pacific Sociological Association annual conference in Reno, Nev.

At the heart of Wosick's research are two television series that depict women who pay for sex. Wosick, along with one graduate student and two undergraduates, are using content analysis and focus groups to study HBO's "Hung," a scripted production, and ShowTime's "Gigolos," a reality-based series.

..."People have a tendency to dismiss sex research," Wosick said. "They have a tendency to relegate it to biological or physiological, and the sociologist has so much to say about sexuality in general. And partly why my research is so timely and important is that it really brings together traditional discourses with more contemporary discourses in terms of sexuality, the body, pleasure and desire."

Wosick's research involves investigating women's sexual consumerism using the two TV shows. She is looking at how women consume sex-related materials and services in an industry that is traditionally targeted toward men. Wosick is gathering data about women as consumers of pornography, erotic materials, sexual experiences, and also male-focused services such as strip clubs.