1. An All-Out Assault On Sexual Content
2. Penis poses problem for Castro store
3. CineKink: S/M at the Movies and The Best of CineKink
4. MSU professors link hunting with sexual violence
5. Enforcement of new web regulations stalls again
1. An All-Out Assault On Sexual Content
2. Penis poses problem for Castro store
3. CineKink: S/M at the Movies and The Best of CineKink
4. MSU professors link hunting with sexual violence
5. Enforcement of new web regulations stalls again
An All-Out Assault On Sexual Content
by Lorraine Woellert, with Catherine Yand and Eamon Javers
BusinessWeek
Novermber 21, 2005 (posted on web in advance of newsstand sales)
The nation's self-proclaimed largest distributor of pornography became
the latest target in the Bush Administration's escalating war on indecency
on Nov. 4. Edward J. Wedelstedt, known in the trade as Mr. Big, copped a
plea to serve 13 months in jail for fraud and distributing X-rated movies
across state lines. "This guilty plea is a warning to others," said
Assistant Attorney General Alice S. Fisher.
Pornographer perp walks are nothing new, but the smut smackdown is
starting to spread beyond red-light districts. The Administration has
launched a broad assault on sexual content that targets the entertainment
industry from Hollywood producers to hotels. The offensive includes
creation of a Justice Dept. Obscenity Prosecution Task Force and an
anti-porn squad at the FBI, a crackdown on indecent programming by the new
Federal Communications Commission chairman, and a wave of indecency
legislation.
[continued]
To read this entire article, go to:
http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/05_47/b3960105.htm
To respond, comment at bottom of article
Penis poses problem for Castro store
by Matthew S. Bajko
The Bay Area Reporter (San Francisco)
November 9, 2005
The muscled, kneeling man chiseled out of teakwood meant as a tabletop
holder sat unnoticed in the window of Phantom*SF on 18th Street in the
Castro for weeks. The piece, from Bali, retails for $3,800 and as an added
visual component features an eight-inch penis jutting out between the
thighs.
Storeowner Robert Hedric originally covered the statue's genitals with a
shimmering blue loincloth when he first placed the item in his shop window
four months ago. Then on Castro Street Fair weekend, he decided to remove
the fabric to show off the statuary in its full glory.
No one seemed to mind and the piece went uncovered for three weeks until a
gentleman lodged an anonymous complaint.
Periodically, the issue of store displays in the Castro comes up, with
parents voicing concerns mainly about the wares shown in the windows of
sex shops. A recent S&M scene in a clothing store's window around the time
of the Folsom Street Fair also raised a complaint.
"This morning, as I walked to the Muni on my way to work, I saw the new
S&M display in In-genuous (sp?) of a mannequin tied and bound to a toilet.
As an adult, I find this disgusting. As a parent, I find it
unconscionable," wrote Lisa Bennett in an e-mail to Supervisor Bevan
Dufty. "And I am far from alone. As you know, there are two schools in the
immediate neighborhood, a new rec center bound to attract more children,
and a growing number of parents (gay and straight) who love all other
aspects about this area. But especially as our children get older, our
patience with the impossible arts of trying to avoid pornography in
storefronts is growing very thin."
[continued]
To read this entire article, go to:
http://www.ebar.com/news/article.php\?sec=news&article=336
To respond, write to: the author at m.bajko@ebat.com or the editors
at BARpaper@aol.com
CineKink: S/M at the Movies and The Best of CineKink
by Matt Baume
SFist.com (San Francisco)
November 7, 2005
We've said it before and we'll say it again: You are all a bunch of
weirdos. There was probably no greater message than that to be gleaned
from Saturday night's CineKink screenings; that all humans are strange and
kinky creatures, and the ones who don't admit it are the weirdoiest of
them all. The NYC-based fest flogs itself as a celebration of "alternative
sexuality," a term almost as ambiguous and vague as "progressive" and
"straight-acting;" Saturday's screenings included a clip show,
highlighting the bizarre fashion in which Hollywood misunderstands S/M
culture, and a collection of award-winning kink-positive shorts.
The crowd at S/M at the Movies: The Good, the Bad and the Ridiculous was
about 90% men, and of them, well more than half were in leather. Presenter
Thor Stockman, himself a practicing sadist, described how Hollywood's
attitude towards perverts has always been weirdly shameful and dirty, as
though everyone has sex in the missionary position, coiffed like white
mannequins on the cover of a romance novel. Pop culture's idea of kink
runs the gamut from the embarassing Gimp in Pulp Fiction to a
kink-positive blip in 1995's Jeffrey to the HOTTT leather-clad Rosie
O'Donnell in Exit to Eden, as well as Al Pacino's excruciating
Elene-Benes-style dancing in Cruising, with barely an accurate or
sex-positive portrayal to be found.
[continued]
To read this entire article, go to:
http://www.sfist.com/archives/2005/11/07/cinekink_sm_at_the_movies_and_the_best_of_cinekink.php
To respond, write to: comment at bottom of page (requires registration) or
contact the editors at editorATsfist.com
MSU professors link hunting with sexual violence
by Page W. H. Brousseau IV
The Michigan Times (University of Michigan-Flint)
November 7, 2005
Three female Michigan State University professors studied the magazine
"Traditional Bowhunter," and concluded that hunting is a form of sexual
violence with animals substituted for women. They describe hunting as,
"erotic heterosexual predation, sadomasochism, restraint for aggressive
sexual energy, and allied with the abuse of women." I think I need to take
up bowhunting.
The article entitled, "Animals, Women and Weapons: Blurred Sexual
Boundaries in the Discourse of Sport Hunting" was published by the Society
& Animals Forum. The genesis of the article was the 2003 video "Hunting
for Bambi," which reached national attention that year when many
news-outlets reported a group in Nevada was selling "hunts" which men paid
thousands of dollars to shoot naked women with paintball guns. The
producers of the DVD later admitted the hunters and women involved were
actors. Like in high-budget porn, the star is only an "actor" and really
cannot fix the cable.
Concluding that men turn bows and firearms into phallic symbols, the
researchers point to terms and jargon found in the magazine in order to
reaffirm their belief of displaced sexual drive. "Climax," "big'uns," and
"homely cow" are but a few of the many terms with which they took issue.
Two things, first, using terms out of context allows anyone to make them
sexual. Second, we are talking about hunting, not sex.
The study fails to see the subject matter as merely hunting. The
outrageous links between sexual violence and hunting would cause sensible
readers to scoff, but remember, the authors are members of MSU faculty,
which makes this paper all the more scary.
[continued]
To read this entire article, go to:
http://www.themichigantimes.com/media/paper620/news/2005/11/07/Campus/Msu-Professors.Link.Hunting.With.Sexual.Violence-1051224.shtml
To respond, go to:
http://www.themichigantimes.com/main.cfm\?include=submit
Enforcement of new web regulations stalls again:
Rules that could threaten photos on personals sites subject of court
battle
by Dyana Bagby
Washington Blade
November 4, 2005
Another extension was made this week delaying enforcement of expanded
federal regulations that some gay male cruising Web sites say threaten the
use of nude photos, a staple of their popularity.
The temporary reprieve of enforcement of newly revised 18 U.S. Code 2257
was extended to members of the Free Speech Coalition, an adult industry
trade group, until Nov. 30. A similar month-long agreement expired Oct.
31.
Attorneys with the Free Speech Coalition filed a motion for the extension
in the U.S. District Court of Colorado on Oct. 31. The Free Speech
Coalition announced Nov. 2 it hired the Raben Group to lobby in Washington
on behalf of the adult industry. The Raben Group was founded by Robert
Raben, who worked in the office of legislative affairs as an assistant
attorney general during President Bill Clintons administration.
The FSC, on behalf of its members, filed suit against U.S. Attorney
General Alberto Gonzales this summer and is seeking a preliminary
injunction to prevent the Department of Justice from enforcing the newly
revised "2257." The law mandates that producers of sexually explicit
materials verify the ages of actors, models and others in the content
through the use of detailed records, including their addresses, a photo
identification card and their legal names. The case was argued Aug. 2 in
the U.S. District Court of Colorado before Judge Walker D. Miller.
The government defines "sexually explicit conduct" as actual or simulated
"sexual intercourse, including genital-genital, oral-genital,
anal-genital, or oral-anal, whether between persons of the same or
opposite sex; bestiality; masturbation; sadistic or masochistic abuse; or
lascivious exhibition of the genitals or pubic area of any person."
[continued]
To read this entire article, go to:
http://www.washblade.com/thelatest/thelatest.cfm\?blog_id=3351
To respond, write to: forum@washblade.com
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