Ms Naughty looks at porn for women, feminism and sex in general
Posts about sex, particularly women’s sexual experiences
The SMH is reporting a survey by soap company Dove which asked women what they found attractive in a man. The big winner is a good sense of humour: “Sixty five per cent of women surveyed said they are turned off by guys seeking physical perfection, with 86 per cent citing vanity as one of the biggest turn-offs in a man. “Although one in four men view a muscular tanned Read More …
Am I queer? It’s probably a ridiculous question to which the answer is, simply, no. And yet I’ve been wanting to write about this since the Erotics conference 2 weeks ago because I found myself sitting there wondering if I was queer. Simply asking the question raises more questions about the concept of “queer” and how it’s applied. At the conference I was surrounded by a lot of people who Read More …
Abortion is back in the headlines here in Australia because in Queensland a woman has today gone on trial for procuring an abortion. This is the first such prosecution in the state’s history, even though the law banning abortion was first introduced in 1899. There were several pro choice rallies held around the country in support of Teagan and her boyfriend, although I’m disappointed to say they weren’t well attended. Read More …
The Sydney Morning Herald today has an article discussing the Brazilian wax, declaring it to be “here to stay.” While the article doesn’t offer any new information, I found the 100+ comments to be rather fascinating. Specifically, the apparently overwhelming enthusiasm of male commenters towards waxing – and some serious negativity towards female body hair. Some examples: “Brazilians are literally the best thing that has ever happened to the world. Read More …
The Girl Effect is a new project that aims to break povery through the education of young girls. It says that if we can keep a 12 year old girl in school and regularly seeing a doctor, she’s less likely to end up poor or with HIV and that will help to break the poverty cycle. This is a great video, simple but compelling. I should add a link to Read More …
I was trawling about Youtube and found myself looking at male strip show videos. And while I’m quite partial to a good male strip show, they can also be a bit cliched and sometimes the attitude of the dancer can be a bit too agressive or cocky. And then I found this video. Lord Dashwood is a male burlesque dancer whose routine is a mix of drag and more masculine Read More …
Gorgeous cartoon from Stuff No One Told Me, via Erika Lust. I think we need to make this point a little more often. Romance novels are often derisively called “porn for women” and, while this is inaccurate in a lot of ways, it does make a point about unrealistic fantasies. Both porn and romance/fairytales offer a fantasy version of the opposite sex and depict sex and relationships in a very Read More …
It keeps popping up on TV talk shows and is used as a debate silencer by right-wing pundits. Religious groups use it to put pressure on politicians to create greater censorship. It’s the term “sexualisation of children” and I suspect that it’s bullshit. I’ve been meaning to write a blog post on this for a while but today I’ve found that Australian researcher Catherine Lumby has pretty much summed things Read More …
There’s a part of me that’s still rather stunned that in 2010, people are conducting research into whether “the vaginal orgasm” exists. Because for a while now, I’ve held the opinion that the concept of the vaginal orgasm is nonsense, and not just because of that lovely 1970 feminist essay The Myth of the Vaginal Orgasm. For me, the idea was put to bed in 1999 when Dr. Helen O’Connell Read More …
I remember when I stopped reading Cosmopolitan in my first year of university. It was one of the best things I ever did. The endless fashion, diets and super-skinny models always left me feeling bad about myself so I decided that it would be best if I just disengaged from that aspect of “women’s culture.” It’s 20 years on and Cosmo hasn’t changed. Still, it’s a hugely popular magazine that Read More …
I’ve long considered the idea of “porn addiction” to be bullshit. Now I’ve got another example of just how bullshit it is. Dirty Girls Ministries (I’m not going to link to them) is a new website created by evangelical Christian group the Westside Family Church. It aims to “help women struggling with pornography addiction” through “confession, prayer support, resources for accountability and many other tools.” Yes folks, the loony Christians Read More …
Monday, April 26 was the first official Boobquake This strangely viral event was first suggested by atheist feminist Jennifer McCreight on her blog Blag Hag. Jen’s suggestion was inspired by the nonsense spouted by an Islamic cleric suggesting that women’s immodesty caused earthquakes. Her original blog post reads: This little bit of supernatural thinking has been floating around the blogosphere today: “Many women who do not dress modestly … lead Read More …
I’m helping a friend out with his online bookshop today which means I’ve spent several hours cataloguing books and wishing I had time to read them all. I’m pleased to say I’ve encountered a number of great books about sex but the one I’m dying to get my hands on is Bonk: The Curious Coupling of Sex & Science by Mary Roach. This is a book that offers you a Read More …
Stanford Magazine reports on the extraordiary discovery of a sex survey conducted in the 1890s by Dr. Clelia Duel Mosher, a professor at that university. The good Dr. collected questionaires asking women to reveal their intimate thoughts on sex. It’s now the earliest known sex survey on record and reveals some surprising information about Victorian-era women. The Mosher Survey recorded not only women’s sexual habits and appetites, but also their Read More …
Women are watching more porn than ever. At least, that’s the conclusion if you read The Sun’s latest survey (and I will admit, The Sun must be taken far less seriously than other newspapers). Around 76 per cent of women now admit* to using porn – a ten per cent rise on the two-thirds of girls who admitted to watching porn with their partners in a survey last year. The Read More …