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Dr. George Tiller believed that no woman should ever be forced to continue a pregnancy. Today, on the fourth anniversary of his death, his Kansas clinic has reopened, but it would be folly to consider this a triumph. Since Tiller’s murder, all manner of restrictions on reproductive rights have been leveled against our progress. Unable to intimidate abortion-providers, anti-abortion activists have focused on legislation, creating requirements nearly impossible for clinics to meet. What are we doing to honor the memory of the man who once said, “Trust women”?

Mixed martial artist Michael Waylon Lowe is suing the sex aids company Kama Sutra after a night of pleasure went horribly wrong. The complaint involves Kama Sutra’s Prolonging Gel Pleasure Balm, the use of which has — according to the lawsuit — resulted in penile scarring, loss of sensation and function, and nerve and tissue damage.

Camille Paglia has a compelling essay in the Chronicle of Higher Education about the dogma that seems to dominate academic discussions of kink. The short of it: the dependence of gender studies on postmodernist thinkers is making it impossible for us to observe, understand and comment on sexual trends.

The internet went into an uproar last week over reports of a man who’d been stung to death after attempting to “have sex with a hornets nest.” The story, which claimed that a man from the town of Ystad, Sweden, had died after receiving 146 hornet stings, including 54 to his genitals, turned out to be a hoax. But the use of insects for sexual purposes is no hoax. This post explores everything from penis enlargement to insect-related paraphiliae.

Paul Schrader has the classic Hollywood thing going, porn star James Deen dishes. “‘I’m gonna put you in a movie!’ It’s like, who cares? … I have more IMDb credits than you do, Schrader! I’ve been in more movies than fucking Al Pacino! Just because they’re not the movies that you categorize as big Hollywood movies!” This is how porn’s favorite basically told Hollywood to go fuck itself.

A few weeks ago, the line of sex toys inspired by the runaway erotic best-selling Fifty Shades trilogy finally landed in the U.S., and they’ve taken up at almost every imaginable retailer online and off. The toys, called the Pleasure Collection, are, of course, named with the books in mind — oh yeah, just what you always wanted! Inner Goddess Silver Balls and Twitchy Palm Spanking Paddle!

According to the report, a woman put poison in her vagina and begged her husband for a round of oral. Fortunately, the plan was foiled when her husband noted that there was something amiss with her gender bits and rushed them both to the hospital. What a plan. But just how stupid an idea was this? To find out, I hit up Deborah Blum, author of The Poisoner’s Handbook.

Making the social media rounds once again is Monica Bonvicini’s 2003 art installation, “Don’t Miss A Sec,” a public toilet created of one-way mirrors that enables the user to continue to watch people on the street while they relieve themselves. The concept behind the piece is driven by the fear of missing out, an idea which, though always relevant, is even more applicable ten years later given our fast-paced, perma-connected existences. It’s all very interesting, of course, though to be honest our main interest is a little more low-brow.

In California, a woman cuts off her husband’s penis in what prosecutors are describing as a jealous rage. Meanwhile, across the country in a suburb of Pittsburgh, a fearless police officer makes a date with a Backpage escort, gets some head and then arrests her. Never mind that his corner of the world has much bigger problems — and why shouldn’t a person take pleasure in their work, right?

Bill Gates just isn’t satisfied with the progress that’s been made in the condom department, so he’s offering $100,000 to anyone that can come up with a more satisfying way to glove the love. The primary drawback, he agrees, is that condoms are less pleasurable than bareback sex, which makes their use inconsistent. Do you have what it takes to design the next generation of condoms, save lives and improve sex for all? Click.