Naked City

Sex After Sixty: An Interview with Joan Price

2008-07-18 15:31:52

Joan Price is a fitness instructor who firmly believes that people of all ages can enjoy being physically active - and in recent years she's incorporated writing about sexuality into this philosophy. Her book Better Than I Ever Expected: Straight Talk About Sex After Sixty confronts issues of ageism and the challenges people face in their relationships and sexuality after they've passed the age of sixty. She also has a blog of the same name, and is working on a new book for both men and women that is more solution-oriented.

Naked City editor Audacia Ray had some questions for Joan about her concept of "sex" and how that's changed, as well as her thoughts on the rise in sexually transmitted infections in people in later adulthood.

Audacia Ray: As a fitness professional, how do you see the place of sexuality in a healthy lifestyle?
Joan Price: Sex and exercise are a great match for a healthy lifestyle. Like exercise, a lively sex life increases vigor and energy, improves circulation (giving you that rosy glow as well as the long-term benefits), lifts mood, and enhances self-image and feelings of well-being.

Three more questions and their answers after the jump.

Continue reading "Sex After Sixty: An Interview with Joan Price" >

Maribou Feather Lingerie Bag [Fashion]

2008-07-18 12:13:42

Good to Be You's Maribou Feather Lingerie Bag is almost too cute. Almost. It's cotton on the outside and satin on the inside, perfect for toting around your lingerie, especially if you're also packing high heels, which can shred delicate fabric like nobody's business. A ziploc bag does the job just as well, but in a much less sexy way.

--Audacia Ray

Living Large: Porn Star Janine Charged with Tax Evasion

2008-07-18 11:17:16

AVN reports that porn star Janine Lindemulder has been charged with tax evasion by the Internal Revenue Service. The arraignment shows that she earned $350,101 in taxable income in 2004, but failed to pay almost $80,000 that should've gone to the IRS. Gotta love that contract employment where you take all your cash home with you and then have a hard time giving it up again. Pay your taxes kids - the IRS doesn't care whether your work is legal, illegal, or highly stigmatized, they just want that cash.

--Audacia Ray

[above pic is of Janine on the front cover on Blink 182's 1999 album Enema of the State]

Gilles Berquet

2008-07-18 10:19:08

Gilles Berquet takes the kind of pictures I imagine that Man Ray would take if he was a fetish photographer. Berquet's images are so beautiful its stupify. You can see more of his work on his website, which is probably slightly easier to navigate if you know French.

--Audacia Ray

Interview with Porn Star Recluse Gauge [Porn-o-rama]

2008-07-17 15:56:55

Gauge is thoroughly retired from making porn in LA for DVD release, though she still runs her own website. She recently did an interview for Xcitement Magazine with her friend Cindi Loftus, which explains the gossipy, informal tone:

X: (Laughs) God do you have two different lives or what? A college student who works with old people slash strip dancer, porn star. Do a lot of people where you live know that you were a porn star? G: Sometimes people ask me if I am Gauge and I don’t really answer them. X: They have to know. They probably all talk about you when you aren’t there. G: Probably. There is a guy at my church who said to me, I know who you are I am a big fan. And I’m like, no! He said “You don’t tell anybody, I won’t tell anybody.” X: That’s great. You got lucky. Your professors probably go home every night and jerk off to your movies. G: Oh Lord. I don’t think any of my teachers know. They are too old. X: I think they probably have memberships to your website. G: Good Lord, no. X: So you been out shooting guns lately? G: Yeah. We always do that. X: How do you mix guns and sex together? G: Let me just say consensual, but forceful. It’s hot.

Read the full interview here.

--Audacia Ray

[Via Luke is Back"]

Beautiful Stranger: The Cybersex Matchmaking Site

2008-07-17 14:35:29

Sure, there are plenty of dating sites with complex algorithms, fancy profiles, and all that. But it's not really proven that your chances of meeting and mating (or at least making out with) someone via the complex sites are better. And anyway, what if you don't want to meet and mate, but instead want to have an online romp. Then what?

My fellow Village Voice blogger (see: Heroine Sheik) and columnist (see: Click Me) Bonnie Ruberg has come up with an answer to that. It's a Ning community called Beautiful Stranger and it's a place for people whose lust lives in cyberspace to meet one another.

--Audacia Ray

If Lara Croft Wore a Strap On... [Sex Toys]

2008-07-17 12:27:29

...her harness would probably look like this. This short set with removable O-ring, made by Grrl Toyz, looks pretty bad ass.

--Audacia Ray

Five Terrible Substitutes for Lube

2008-07-17 11:09:49

Lots of people feel like it's cheating to use lube - but I say, the wetter the better. There are a lot of great lubes on the market today, and a growing number of them are available in drug stores, so you never have to set foot in a sex shop if you don't want to. Despite that, people still use household materials as lube, and this is almost always a bad idea. You've got a little more leeway if you're a guy and you are going at it all by yourself, but if you're a woman, partnered with a woman, or using latex condoms, using slippery things that you can find around the house is a pretty terrible idea. Here are some don'ts and the reasons why they're bad:

1. Body wash/liquid soap/shampoo: There's definitely nothing wrong with giving your pubes a good scrub - this can get rid of loose hairs and make your pubic hair soft and silky. But while it's totally tempting to grab whatever you can for slippery fun in the shower, you'll probably regret using one of these as lube. Know how it stings when you get soap in your eyes? Well, your urethra is a mucous membrane too, and it'll probably feel like that when you get soap inside it. Excessive soap can also dry out your skin, especially the sensitive skin of your genitals, and if you're female, excessive use of soap on your genitals can encourage yeast infections. Try using a silicone lube instead - it's pretty water proof so you can use it while you're in the shower. And it won't sting.

2. Olive oil: Here's the thing - you might complain that "personal lubricants" that are intended for use during sex are expensive. But olive oil is definitely not cheaper than commercially available lubes. So, seriously, stop that. If you're a guy, using olive oil isn't the worst thing in the world, but if you're female, it will help to usher bacteria into your vagina. And don't even think of using it with condoms - anything oil-based will break down that latex and make it useless.

3. Crisco: Though it has a special place in many gay men's, um, hearts, there are a lot better materials than Crisco these days. Crisco was favored as an anal lube and lube for fisting because it stays put - but it breaks down latex, and there are other things available today. Lots of them come in tubs reminiscent of Crisco containers too: Boy Butter, Bottoms Up Butt Wax... et cetera.

4. Baby oil: Again, it's an oil, so you know what it does to condoms. Though not the worst of the worst, if you're a lady its a pretty lousy idea to get oil into your parts because of the potential for bacteria but also because it won't easily reabsorb into your body like a water-based lube will, so you'll be extra-slippery for probably longer than you'd like to be. The biggest risk for guys is probably just slopping the stuff all over - baby oil is really thin and you'll probably have a squirty, stainy mishap with the bottle.

5. Spit: Ok, technically this isn't a terrible idea at all, but spit is mostly good as an effect and to reactivate water-based lube once you've got it on there. On it's own, spit is better than nothing, but it won't really keep the fires stoked - it dries out quickly and you'll probably get tired of making it. If you're going to use spit with a partner, you might want to feel out their opinions on it before you hock a loogey on him or her. Some folks are into it, while others will kick your ass out of bed.

--Audacia Ray

Sensual skin from Lynn Kasztanovics [Daily Voyeur]

2008-07-17 09:29:14

Lynn Kasztanovics' work isn't hardcore by any means, but it's got a kind of peculiar sensuality to it that I just love. You can find color photos, black & white photos, and drawings on her Flickr stream.

--Audacia Ray

[Via Debauchette on Tumblr]

Naked City Contest: Write a Verse for the Wet Spots!

2008-07-16 18:07:10

The Wet Spots are a fantastic duo from Canada. From their website:

Picture a husband and wife team from the golden age of comedy. Now picture them singing sweetly about threesomes and taking it in the ass.

Internationally acclaimed cabaret duo The Wet Spots (Cass King and John Woods) write the most elegant songs about sex that you will ever hear.

The duo will be doing their first full-length public performance in NYC at the Zipper Factory on Sunday, July 27th at 8 pm and they've joined forces with Naked City for a contest!

Starting today, creative types are invited to write a new verse to a Wet Spots song called Public Service Announcement, which is about things that you should not put in your ass - a YouTube video is below so you can study up on the rhyme pattern.

The winning verse and entertaining runners-up, as judged by me and the Wet Spots, will be published here on Naked City on July 24th, and the winning verse will be used in the song at the Zipper Factory show, plus immortalized in a Naked City TV video of the performance.

The winner also receives two tickets to the July 27th Wet Spots show plus a bag of swag - a copy of my book Naked on the Internet, a dvd of my porno directorial debut The Bi Apple, and a Sex Nerds Know How to Do It tee shirt, plus some other sexy goodies.

The deadline for all entries is 11.59 pm on Tuesday, July 22nd.

You can leave your verse in the comments on this post, or email it to nakedcity@villagevoicemedia.com.

Have at it!

--Audacia Ray