Culture

“A person who gives themselves permission to enter this state of erotic rebellion is an anathema to the fabric of social order, since none of the rewards that society can offer them have any value in that moment,” writes erotica author Remittance Girl in her critical essay distinguishing between Erotica and Erotic Romance. “They are in a state of revolution against the stable, against categorization, against limitation, against even language itself. And this is what lies at the heart of all the best erotica. This essentially transgressive, anarchic, unconstrained state of being.”

“CNN will continue to refer to him as Bradley Manning since he has not yet legally changed his name,” said Jake Taper on The Lead. In a later piece CNN added, “CNN’s policy is to reference Manning with masculine pronouns since he has not yet taken any steps toward gender transition through surgery or hormone replacement therapy.” The media is setting a terrible example. Here are some resources for those who understand that educating ourselves about transgender issues is a vital step in making ours a just and equal society.

We live in a world where more and more people are communicating desire through visual imagery. Just as we see problems in the street of people who don’t understand that they’re not entitled to a person’s space or attention simply because they find that person attractive, we’re seeing a similar sense of entitlement happening over text. It’s harassing. It’s wrong. But we’re slowly making some headway in combating it. That’s progress for consent. Revenge porn, meanwhile, is an attack on consent.

In June, Russia passed into law a ban on “propaganda of nontraditional sexual relations among minors.” Supporters defend it, saying it doesn’t outlaw homosexuality, simply restricts the discussion of nontraditional relationships among people who are below 18 years of age, but recent brutal clashes between lesbian, gay, bisexual and trans activists and allies have already shown how desperate the situation is for anyone who identifies as LGBT. How can anyone see this position as anything other than a government sanction of homophobia? And how will it affect the 2014 Olympics?

Until spring semester of this year, Pasadena City College was one of the few campuses around the nation that offered a class about pornography. The class, called Navigating Pornography, was created by gender studies professor and author Hugo Schwyzer to help students think critically about our porn-saturated culture. Due to conflicts with the college, criticism and personal issues, Schwyzer will not be offering the class this fall.

Last week, prime minister of the United Kingdom David Cameron announced that the government would be cracking down on porn by instituting opt-in filters with service providers. Basically, if you live in the U.K., you will be forced to give voice to whether you want access to the “corroding influence” of adult content.

The controversial “Blurred Lines” by Robin Thicke is the hit of the summer, leading the charts in 14 countries from Australia to Iceland. The song, which features vocals by T.I. and Pharrell, has been widely criticized for trivializing sexual consent. The lyric “I know you want it,” the parade of half-naked women in the music video and the name of the song itself have led critics to decry the summer’s anthem as a blatant promotion of rape culture. In response, the web has thrown itself into parodying the song. This is a list of the best parodies we’ve seen to date.

The hit HBO series Game of Thrones, based on George R. R. Martin’s Song of Ice and Fire book series continues to possess the imaginations of people around the world. Los Angeles’ Porn Valley is already cashing in with Game of Bones: A XXX Parody and now Australia is following suit!

In 1957, Virginia E. Johnson was a twice-divorced mother in her 30s, looking for a way to support her children. She responded for an add posted by William H. Masters looking for a research assistant at Washington University in St. Louis. Johnson was hired by Masters, then at the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology. Neither of them had any way of knowing at the time that they would go down in history for helping postwar America to discuss sex frankly.

This fear of losing everything because, on their way up the ladder, a person used the sex industry as a rung is very, very real. When you’re living day to day on a visa of peace that could expire at any time because some asshole walked into your club with a pair of Glass and put your set on YouTube, you’re not going to sit around worrying about how much this country is starting to resemble the Soviet Union. This isn’t because you’re petty. This is because when you’re this afraid, this vulnerable, when you have so little recourse, you pretty much already live in the Soviet Union.