Cory Silverberg's Blog, page 28
July 14, 2011
How Sex Becomes Passé
I've had an opinion piece by Erica Jong published last Sunday in the New York Times sitting as a tab in my browser all week. Often when an Important Media Outlet publishes something about sex I read it, find it either boring or angering, feel unsatisfied, left out, talked down to, or all of the above. If it's particularly narrow minded or mean I consciously choose not to share it, and I put it aside and move on.
This piece though felt sad more than anything else, so I wanted to hold on to i...
July 12, 2011
More Evidence of a Link Between BPA, Phthalates, and Thyroid Hormone Levels
Researchers at the University of Michigan examined urine samples from 1,346 adults and 329 adolescents who were part of a larger national health survey and found that people with higher levels of BPA and phthalates had lower levels of lower levels of specific thyroid hormones. Their study is the first of a nationally representative sample of Americans study examining phthalates and BPA in relation to thyroid function in humans. Both BPA and phthalates are used in the manufacturing of many...
July 10, 2011
Identity Based Sex Toy Shopping
When I worked in sex shops I rarely had customers come in and say something like "I"m a lesbian, so which toys would be good for me" or "what do you have for gay men?" It was much more common in fact for straight customers to come in and tell me they were straight (this was almost always spoken in a tone meant to assure me that by being heterosexual they weren't going to be "weird" or cause problems...both of which were almost universally untrue once the customer began to feel comfortable i...
July 8, 2011
Sex Toy Review: Double Decker Ring
All sex toys are imposition. Sex toys are something you add to sex. They may become a regular part of your sex play, they may come to feel as if they are part of your body. But if you define sex toys as I do, something that isn't part of your body, that you use for sexual pleasure, when you first use a toy it can mean making a little room in your sex life for something new.
This isn't how sex toy companies, or most retailers, sell their products. Their pitch is that sex toys magically ...
July 3, 2011
German Greens Warn of Dangerous Dildos
A piece published in Spiegel Online last Friday reports on an effort by Germany's Green Party to push the government to do something about the use of phthalates and other chemicals in the manufacturing of sex toys. The position paper is apparently titled "Sexual Health as a Consumer Protection Issue." Their argument (which we should keep in mind is made, no doubt, for any number of self-serving political reasons) is that if the government regulates other consumer products to protect the...
June 30, 2011
Sex Toy Review: Trojan Tri-Phoria
To most sex toy industry watchers I think it was always clear that one day large multi-national corporations would get into the sex toy business. The question wasn't "will they?" but "when will they?"
And I used to think that one of the benefits of having large corporations get into the sex toy business is that their own self-interest (in terms of legal liability and keeping customers happy) would translate into safer sex toys and at least the veil of more responsive customer service....
June 28, 2011
A Long Answer to a Short Question About Nipple Piercing
Last week I got an email from a reader who had a nipple piercing saga that had no end. They were trying to figure out what to do next, and looking for a "straight answer." When I get a question via email I first decide whether or not I have something useful to contribute. If not I refer on. If I do feel like I have something to offer that may be helpful I usually just start writing.
I don't always know where I'm heading when I start to answer a question. This is true whether it's in...
June 26, 2011
British Psychological Society Critique of the New DSM
The opportunity to comment on the proposed changes to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5), has been extended to July 15.
Some of the proposals are for change, others are to a keep things the same. Either way, the DSM has a huge impact on how people with a great deal of power over us choose to talk about our experience of sexuality and gender. So if you're willing to engage with people in power, you may want to consider commenting.
The British Psychological...
June 23, 2011
Friday Sex Toy Review: Zini Ran
Each year hundreds of new sex toys appear in manufacturer catalogs, on websites, and on the shelves of sex shops around the world. Some toys hardly deserve the qualifier "new" since they are the same product offered last year, only in a different color, or now with less salt.
As a sex toy buyer, one gets very good at knowing who is making what well, and who is doing little more than putting a few rhinestones on an already tired dildo design. But since I've become a sex toy civilian...
June 21, 2011
TSA Makes the Friendly Skies Friendlier
How often does the Transportation Safety Administration (TSA), the folks responsible for millions of pat-downs, confiscated bottles of water, and non-random searchers, issue statements about sexual pleasure? Maybe never. Until now.
At least so says a piece in the San Francisco Chronicle which cites a TSA spokesperson clarifying that sex toys (including apparently vibrators, whips, chains, leashes, and manacles) are perfectly fine to travel with, just so long as you are comfortable having...
