Saw this on Craigslist but I haven’t called to find out more about it. If you end up participating, let me know how it goes!

Virtual Sex Project
Hey Guys…
You’re invited. Sex research is being conducted at USC. If you are a male who has sex with men, you may be eligible to participate. To see if you are eligible, call (213) 821-1117 or take our online survey. Compensation is available. HSCIRB 031022.

I couldn’t get up to San Francisco for the Sex Hacks show or the Maker Faire this past week — nor am I there today for the Masturbate-a-Thon like I’d thought I could be — but here’s a little piece about the Sex Hacks event:

Dominatrix steals ‘Sex Hacks’ show with live demo | The Register
San Francisco - birthplace of the gangbuster “startup” culture - also breeds alternative sexual communities and practices. Where better to host a small symposium on Sex Hacks? (And where better to encounter loyal Register fans crawling out of the woodwork to introduce themselves?).

The Center for Sex and Culture, a modest library-like room furnished with pews, this week hosted four presentations, which were so disconnected from “normal” sex as to veer from comical to creepy. But most were entertaining, if only accidentally.

The author’s unfortunate use of “normal” just goes to show how it’s still difficult for people write about sex-tech in a matter-of-fact way. There is nothing abnormal about experimenting with different paths to sexual pleasure, or connection, or love, or all of that and more. What could be more normal than applying our most recent technologies to an ancient practice?

But if it means that formerly “abnormal” acts like oral, anal, same-sex, group, and other delights you can share that don’t involve anything inorganic are now “normal,” I think we’re making progress.

What’s funny is I almost pitched a book to O’Reilly called Sex Hacks, co-authored with a friend I’m not sure I have permission to name here. And yet, what is the next book if not a mainstream, women-oriented version of Sex Hacks? (You know, the book I’m supposed to be working on right now instead of catching up on my feeds? Ack!)

More than ever am I glad I didn’t accept an offer to blog for SuicideGirls back in the day, if this latest example of SG’s business decisions is true. I need to investigate further before I can write a good column on this, but here’s one piece of the story:

altporn.net: Apneatic: Apnea Explains Lithium Picnic Site Closure Due to SuicideGirls Lawsuit NSFW
SG is now making the preposterous claims that they taught [Philip Warner, aka Lithium Picnic] photography and web design and they are going after the profits of my site. His SG contract very specifically defined single girl sites like mine as an exception to the competition rules but now SG claims my single girl site is a competitor to their empire of over one thousand girls, books, DVDs, radio shows, merchandise, a magazine and television syndication. Entering into litigation over this is costly and takes a lot of time, thousands of dollars a month. SG knows they can outspend him 100 times over and this is likely more about breaking him and locking him into a permanent non-compete than any truth about their claims.

If they really want to lock him into non-compete, they need to pay him enough to be theirs exclusively. And if they don’t want to pay for that value, they should leverage Philip’s growing reputation and fame as a photographer, so they can market their sets using his name.

Here’s more information: AltPorn.net Interview with Apnea NSFW

Many thanks to reader Will for bringing this to my attention.

Clive Thompson’s story on Wired illustrates one of my recurring themes — without mentioning sex or relationships at all, so now you know it’s not just me:

The Visible Man: An FBI Target Puts His Whole Life Online
If being candid about his flights could clear his name, why not be open about everything? “I’ve discovered that the best way to protect your privacy is to give it away,” he says, grinning as he sips his venti Black Eye. Elahi relishes upending the received wisdom about surveillance. The government monitors your movements, but it gets things wrong. You can monitor yourself much more accurately. Plus, no ambitious agent is going to score a big intelligence triumph by snooping into your movements when there’s a Web page broadcasting the Big Mac you ate four minutes ago in Boise, Idaho. “It’s economics,” he says. “I flood the market.”

We Blog Cartoons » Technology

Cartoon by Dave Walker. Find more cartoons you can freely re-use on your blog at We Blog Cartoons.

Oh, if only I’d (a) known about this and (b) time and money for a quick trip to New York:

ITP Spring Show 2007
Description
My thesis work involves building game controllers into undergarments so that games are played through players physically touching one another. The goal of this project was to research and create objects that challenge the traditional notions and orientation of video game play.

Personal Statement

The project began as an exercise for networked objects. I made a pong controller that was made from a bra. The mapping for the controller was simple - touching the left breast made the pong paddle go left and the right breast made the paddle go right. I then found out about a phenomenon called gamer widowhood where men essentially abandoned their wives to play video games night and day. I wanted to create a type of video game play that would center around a couple’s intimacy and where two people would touch each other in order to play the game.

(Thanks, Dave!)

If sex toys weren’t the focus of Alabama’s infamous anti-vibrator bill, then why did the bill include a line banning the distribution of “any device designed or marketed as useful primarily for the stimulation of the human genital organs”? The senator says he was trying to shut down the strip clubs — and if that’s the case, there is no reason to mention devices at all.

Sex toys never ‘focus of bill’- al.com
Sen. Tom Butler, D-Madison, didn’t set out to ban the sale of sex toys throughout the state, launching Alabama on a nine-year legal battle that last week reached the U.S. Supreme Court.

“Sex toys were not even the focus of the bill,” said Tim Morgan, the district attorney in Madison County, who helped Butler compile the information for the 1998 anti-obscenity law.

Adult retailer Sherri Williams has fought this bill for nine years, and now that the case has gone to the Supreme Court, it’s the last chance for sanity to reign.

I wish I were more hopeful, but I sense such a strong current of anti-woman and anti-sex bias in this entire debacle that I am not optimistic. Pretty soon we’re going to have to set up a sister program, in which those of us in the more enlightened states partner with a person in Alabama and send them sex toys. (A gift from one person or another is not distribution, marketing, or sales, now, is it?)

For months now, I’ve had a pair of Wickedly Delicious sex toys that attach to the vacuum cleaner, waiting to be tested. I am not sure why I’ve put it off, although for the first two weeks my Oreck was in the shop and then I was out of town for almost a month. I know I should have jumped right on it and posted a review, you know, to be First! with a Scoop!

But when I’ve had time and privacy to try them, I haven’t been in the mood. Not just for the WD, but for anything. I’m anxious to try them, I want to know what it’s all about … and yet … there they sit on the kitchen counter, in sparkly pouches, beautiful colors peeking through.

Now Love Honey carries them or something just like them (here NSFW) so I’m no longer First (not that I care about that; this is not a newsroom, in case you haven’t noticed, and I refuse to stress about competing with the entire blogosphere for a “scoop” unless I’m being paid to do so, heh). But what’s gonna be fun is seeing all the puns on “suck” that the reviewers come up with.

Meanwhile, I’ll make a date with mine soon. Having recently tried the eroscillator I think my interest in such things is returning.

Since I’ve been asked to focus the Sex Drive column more on big picture sex-tech and less on personal sex-tech, it has really hit me just how much of the sex-tech news is about fear — and about the same old things. Mainly child molesters and pornography, neither of which count as “sex” as far as I’m concerned.

Wired is excited that Kevin Poulsen’s investigation into sex offenders on MySpace has spurred a closer look from several state attorneys general. But Kevin points out “it’s not yet illegal for a former sex offender to be on MySpace,” and notes that only one out of the 744 sex offenders he found on MySpace was actually trolling for youth.

Melissa Gira links us to the Just The Facts About Online Youth Victimization panel at last week’s Internet Caucus in which four experts share a dose of sanity about what’s really happening — and not happening — to youth online (video, PDF).

In other words, no need for hysteria. Common sense and attention, yes. But panic? No.

Hopefully I can keep adding a sensible perspective to the mix — and I won’t forget my towel.

I’ve always said there’s nothing worse than being forced to attend camp where the pseudo-adults playing counselor force you to make lanyards, but I was wrong.

Teachers stage fake gun attack on kids - Yahoo! News
MURFREESBORO, Tenn. - Staff members of an elementary school staged a fictitious gun attack on students during a class trip, telling them it was not a drill as the children cried and hid under tables.

The mock attack Thursday night was intended as a learning experience and lasted five minutes during the weeklong trip to a state park, said Scales Elementary School Assistant Principal Don Bartch, who led the trip.

Hey, at least they didn’t show them porn. That really would have traumatized the youngsters.

As the military tries to find its balance about soldiers’ internet use, I wonder what effect it’s having on romance, marriage, sex. I hope those lovers are still able to reach across distance and be together as much as it’s possible to do — email, IM, webcam, Skype, teledildonics — probably too much to hope for that the soldiers have the bandwidth for 3-D worlds …

I sense a future column on this topic … thanks W for the insight!

After 20 years of online activity, journalist Bill Thompson feels more comfortable revealing “personal life” stuff online. It’s interesting how we share our politics, opinions on products, religious views and our reactions to the news, and so on but try to keep our “personal life” separate — as if our political and religious choices aren’t personal.

“Personal” is a code word for “relationships,” though, and I do see why we draw that line. I do, too. I’ll reveal what I think, do, feel, experience; but I’m not going to reveal someone else’s thoughts/actions/feelings/experiences without their permission. Yet as our published content gets more and more entwined, are we going to be able to keep that veil up between our own stories and those of our friends, relatives and lovers?

Finding myself through online identities
Until now my online presence has been carefully managed and controlled, and although you can find out anything you care to ask about my views, politics, lack of religious belief and opinions on technology and the internet the persona that emerges from the last twenty years of online activity keep as much hidden as it reveals.

I rarely talk about my personal life, and reveal few details of my family or close relationships.

Now that is changing.

Facebook exposes my friendship networks to public view. 30Boxes encourages me to share my engagements, although here I do take care about what I advertise. And Twitter creates a constant temptation to reveal the minute details of daily life to the world.

With my calendar, my location, my friendships and my opinions all online to be read and remembered, there’s little of me left to expose.

What I find newsy about this press release is that “new media” — wireless, internet and VOD — only just now reached 50 percent of this company’s sales. It’s like being a web developer and forgetting just how many people in the world are on dial-up.

Private Reports New Media Now 50% of Sales NSFW
BARCELONA, Spain - In its first-quarter results issued on Friday, Private Media Group announced that wireless, internet and VOD accounted for 50% of the company’s total net sales for the period ending March 31.

Maybe if people would stop using the Second Life platform to break laws, Linden Labs could spend more time and money fixing technical issues and less dealing with legal problems a small handful of residents cause for everyone.

Benjamin Duranske has a nice summary and commentary of the latest — allegations of actual child porn in SL — here:

Child Pornography Allegations in Second Life Draw Worldwide Press Attention

Honestly. What is wrong with people?

(These links are probably NSFW.)

Freddy and Eddy kindly sent me an Eroscillator a couple of months ago, and I finally got around to testing it.

Here is a rendering of its guts:

Wow. I’ve only managed one attachment so far, although you can get it with about a dozen; I’m sure the others are lovely but honestly you can do without. The base model costs about $128 and the kits go up from there. It’s lightweight, feels sturdy overall, and soooo quiet you can hear yourself read. (Kathryn, this is one for Stone Deaf Pilots ). The slider control is easy to move with slippery hands but is the one component that feels a bit flimsy to me.

It’s been a nice change from the Hitachi Magic Wand — it provides about the same intensity of stimulation on its higher settings without making you feel like you’re in bed with a power tool.