Tag: Mainstream

Nights of Horror

While I’m on the subject of 50’s erotic art (as I was), I recently stumbled across this fascinating article on Joe Shuster. If that name’s not familiar to you then you’re probably not a comic books fan. Along with Jerry Siegel he was the co-creator of Superman. The story of how DC comics paid them $130 for the character and made millions of dollars while leaving the creators destitute is a well known one. What I hadn’t realized was the Joe Shuster went on to do fetish illustrations for a series called Nights of Horror.

The article is a lengthy one but well worth reading if you’re interested in modern American pop culture. It touches on comics, censorship, pornography, murder and the moral culture panics that seem to regularly spasm across the US. There’s also a book which covers the topic in more depth. The illustration below is both Shuster’s work and the cover from this book.

Shuster

Times Square Smut

I have an odd fondness for the old 1950’s fetish artists and illustrators. The quality of their work is often pretty variable, the sexual politics archaic and the subjects tame by today’s standards. Compared to modern artists like Sardax and Shiniez the work doesn’t do much for more erotically and yet, despite that, I enjoy looking at it. There’s a sense of fun and quirkiness that’s missing in the more explicit work of today. I suspect that’s down to the legal constraints that they had to operate under and the limited fetish material available at the time. There weren’t well defined niches and ready made markets for them. They had to make it up as they went along.

If you share my interest in this period then I’d direct you to this article by Jim Linderman. It describes how he stumbled across artists like Gene Bilbrew and the colorful cast of characters that hung out around 42nd Street in NYC. There’s also a gallery of artwork and a book that he’s put together on the topic.

My absolute favorite drawing of those in the gallery is probably this one. It’s got sci-fi, bondage, fetishism and vintage fashion all mixed into a very bizarre scene. However, it’s not really femdom, so to illustrate the post I’ve gone with a different drawing from the gallery. I’m not really sure what’s going on, but that’s part of the appeal of these one off book covers.

RawDamesI was amused to spot in the comments to the Guardian article somebody complaining that the paper never featured modern artists like Sardax. I’m not going to hold my breath for that to happen but I do agree. Not sure if robbo100 is a reader of this blog but it made me smile to see another femdom artist aficionado pop-up in an unexpected place.

Blogocalypse cancelled (for the moment)

Google has thankfully reversed course on their plan to eliminate all blogs featuring sexually explicit material. Bacchus does some detailed parsing of the retraction in posts here and here. I’m happy to see that some of my favorite blogs will be sticking around, but the bottom line remains the same. If you’re an adult blog on Google’s blogger, you’re on borrowed time. Move now or resign yourself to living with a digital Sword of Damocles.

It’s tempting to assign malicious intent in these situations, but I suspect it’s just another example of the the dynamics that exist in big tech companies when it comes to sexual material. To make good decisions you need data and debate. You need people to argue both sides of the discussion and play out scenarios based on the data. It’s no doubt easy for engineers to figure the cost of hosting lots of images, to determine the fraction of adult blogs and to point at sites using blogger as free hosting for advertising commercial porn sites. What’s needed on the other side is for people to dig into adult sites and point out their social value. Unfortunately it’s tough for the average tech person to stand up in a conference room and defend porn and explicit sexual material in front of their coworkers. Who wants to be the person telling their boss that the change might save the company millions of dollars, but it’s really important that Servitor’s femdom captions are shared with the world? I can just imagine the scene – “Yes, I know they’re pretty twisted. I’m sorry that castration one made you uncomfortable. And yes, I know Julie mentioned something about contacting HR after the meeting. And OK, so all the photographs are unlicensed. But dammit, it’s our ethical duty to publish them. It’s what our shareholders would want us to do.”

I’m being deliberately facetious, but I think it highlights the dynamics at play. That said, I think if you choose to work on an open blogging platform, you should be able to engage in these kind of arguments (although probably not in that exact form). If you’re not happy supporting forms of expression about subjects you’re not comfortable with, working with bloggers is not for you. Unfortunately the hiring processes for teams within large companies don’t filter all that well for that kind of criteria. Legs
I had no idea what image I should feature with this post, so here’s something generally femdom-y and hot. It was featured on hmp’s blog, one of those that was in the firing line for closure.

I should add that I’ve absolute zero insider knowledge into Google’s decision making process on blogger. I’m just going by my knowledge of the dynamics of big tech companies. For all I know, they might decide everything by games of pin the tail on the intern. Or by having Sergey Brin throwing lawn darts into an organization chart after doing a dozen shots of Jägermeister. Either of those would at least account for Google+.

Big tech and adult content

The recent decision by Google to ban blogs featuring sexually explicit images/video or graphic nudity continues to reverberate around the blogsphere. While in theory text only explicit blogs are safe, but how long would you like to bet on that lasting? If they can change the rules once, they can do it again and probably will.

Over time Google has clearly got more conservative and less idealistic. Their image search is another good example of that. For example, assuming you have safe search off, compare a search for the lovely Mistress T on Google and Bing. Google barely features her in the results where Bing features a bare her from every angle imaginable. CBT on Google is a lot of powerpoint slides, where on Bing it’s wall to wall penises. My favorite is probably Men in Pain. On Google it’s a lot of stock photos of guys with headaches where on Bing it’s all sorts of good femdom stuff. This kind of conservatism is an expression of Google’s current culture.

They’re not alone in this. Apple has consistently run into bad press for censorship. Facebook recently got into trouble for it’s policy of blocking drag performers from their platform, and has many previous censorship problems. Amazon seems to run into censorship questions every few months.

What I find fascinating (outside my annoyance at the outcome) is how these kind of decisions are taken. The external perception of large tech companies is of corporate monoliths, but the reality is that very few people will be involved with these kind of decisions. I’ll also bet that they’re not taken at a particularly high level. A few product managers get into a room and make a bad call based on very limited information. They end up affected millions of people, but they’re not some grand expression of corporate will taken by cigar smoking board members. They’re a corporate culture filtered through a few people.

I had difficulty picking an image for this post until I stumbled on the shot below. It seemed apt.

GoFuckYourself

Home Street Home

If you live in the Bay Area and are a fan of punk, you might want to check out a new musical entitled Home Street Home. As described in this SFWeekly article, it has been written by Fat Mike (of NOFX fame), Soma Snakeoil (his partner / domme) and Jeff Marx (compose of Avenue Q). As you might expect from a punk musical it features some challenging themes, including drug use, self-harm, prostitution and BDSM. On the musical side it’s blessed with members from punk bands like the Descendents, Lagwagon, No Use for a Name, Alkaline Trio, Dropkick Murphys, etc.

I’ve posted on Fat Mike previously, and commented positively on the refreshing and frank way he discusses his kinks. This article and the musical continue that trend. The chain that you can see Soma gripping in the image below is his collar, locked around his neck with a key that she carries.

The show runs at Z space in San Francisco from now until March 7th. I really hope it get’s an extended run so I can make it down there to see it myself.

Soma Snakeoil with Fat MikeShould your tastes not run to punk musicals but you’d like to see more of Soma Snakeoil, her professional site is here.

Ask an expert

When it comes to talking to adolescents about kink I tend to steer a wide course. I don’t have any children – a state of affairs I’m quite content with – and assume that parenting skills are above my pay grade. Nobody wants to hear from the happily unattached single guy exactly how they’re screwing up their kids. However, I do think I can spot good and bad advice when I see it, and I happened to run across great examples of both in the last few days.

On the positive side we have this from the excellent Dan Savage. Personally I find it astonishing what the son in question shares with his mother. I’d rather do CBT with used rusty fishhooks that share a sexual fantasy with my parents, but I admire his mother for being smart enough to not freak out and to contact Dan for advice.

On the negative side we have a sequence of blog posts from Miriam Grossman MD – here, here, here and here. I would say her arguments are laughable, but she’s a qualified doctor who is making money from advising the parents and children that come to her. So not really a laughing matter. She automatically conflates BDSM with abuse and sets up ludicrous strawman arguments around the idea of consent. Apparently psychologically healthy women dream about wedding gowns rather than handcuffs. Does that mean I should be dreaming about tuxedos and cummerbunds?

Of course the really annoying thing is that she’s not wrong in describing Christian Grey as abusive. He absolutely is. Just not for any of the reasons she gives. So thanks E L James. You’ve got me agreeing with the crazy crowd.

I’ve no idea what image would be suitable for this post. So I’ll finish with a shot of a lady biting a man on the ass. Enjoy!

Ass Biter!

The publicity machine

The 50 Shades movie is hitting screens (to some less than flattering reviews), and that means the publicity machine is cranking into high gear. There’s articles on everything from the spin-off products, through the people protesting it to the douchebags trying to cash in.

Fortunately, amongst all the dross, there are a few reasonable articles that have emerged. This one has some good background on why someone might enjoyed BDSM. This one by Lady Velvet Steel covers why real kinky play is so different from what the movie portrays. Finally, this gives the view from the submissive perspective on the good and the bad in the movie.

Elegant

The alpha submissive

Is there any hard data to backup the oft cited theory that most submissive people are powerful and successful alpha types in their public lives? This recent article by Susan Wright is the latest to trot this idea out, and it often gets referenced in mainstream discussions of D/s. Personally I’m skeptical.

The only data I usually see is anecdotal from pro-dommes, and that doesn’t strike me as a great source. Firstly, their sample set is massively skewed towards middle aged guys with jobs that provide them with hundreds of dollars of discretionary income. Secondly, they have a vested interest to portray their clients in a positive light. No smart business person says bad things about their product or customers. Even outside the professional realm I think there’s a tendency to react to the perceived mainstream perception of submission. Kinksters assume people will think submissives are weak, weird or wimpy, so emphasize the opposite.

So I ask the question: Does anyone know of an actual study on this? Or is it just one of those sex myths (like supposed sex trafficking at the World Cup or Super Bowl) that gets endlessly repeated despite a lack of actual evidence?

Smartly Dressed Couple

Steamy

Celebrities offering bad medical advice seems to be an unavoidable modern phenomena. It’s a bit like athletes thanking God, male politicians on women’s health or Donald Trump on pretty much any topic. I really wish they’d keep their mouths shut and opinions to themselves, but sadly that seems to be too much to ask for.

In the medical field we’ve had Jenny McCarthy spewing nonsense on vaccination, Suzanne Somers making dubious claims on cancer and  Gwyneth Paltrow’s bizarre diet advice. The latest from the fair Gwyneth is particularly entertaining – vaginal steam cleaning. Apparently it’s a real thing.

You sit on what is essentially a mini-throne, and a combination of infrared and mugwort steam cleanses your uterus, et al. It is an energetic release—not just a steam douche—that balances female hormone levels
Gwyneth Paltrow

As you might expect the experts, those crackpots who waste time building expertise over years of study, are less than impressed. Apparently a good blast of steam to your nether regions will not balance your reproductive hormones. Crazy but true.

While the health benefits may not exist, I do wonder if the device might find a second home in kinky play spaces. It sounds like it might be a lot of fun, particularly if used on skin already warmed up by some corporal punishment. Just add some bondage straps to the throne and fire up the boiler. As an added bonus, everyone would finish up with sparkly steam cleaned bottoms. Just make sure it’s not too hot. Having a ‘blistered bottom’ should remain a figurative expression rather than literal.

A Warm Bottom
I’m afraid that despite my best efforts, I was unable to find a suitable femdom images featuring steam. So instead here’s a man getting his bottom warmed in a more conventional way. This is from the Women Spanking Men site.