Strappado & strap-on

Here’s my final entry in what became a trio of anal themed artwork posts. I’m afraid I’ve no idea who the artist is for this one. The combination of strappado bondage and a strap-on is unusual. I can’t say it appeals to me as a way to play, but for those who like to mix pain and penetration it could be interesting to try. Although unless your partner is very tall, I suspect you’d need some kind of pulley system to get the right tension on the arms.

Strappado and Strap-On

Completing the costume

Here’s another sexy artwork featuring a lady with anal play on her mind. Unlike yesterday’s shot, this looks less like a reward, and more like the start of some intense roleplaying.

Before writing this post I spent many minutes pondering the image and trying to decide why I found it so erotic. I think it’s down to the contrasts it displays. The bondage set-up and outfit is pretty extreme, yet they seem such a sweet couple. I love his blushing expression and her caring but determined look. That’s just how I like to play – heavy yet tender.

Pony Outfit by Tilly Monster

This was created by the artist Tilly Monster. You’ll need a (free) deviant art login to see her most ‘interesting’ work! She takes commissions if you’re interested in some custom artwork.

The million eyes of Sumuru

Based on its imdb page, the million eyes of Sumuru was a pretty terrible movie. Despite that, I have a soft spot for these kind of cheesy 60’s exploitation flicks. They’re impossible to defend on an artistic, cultural or political level, yet hard for me to resist when I stumble across them late at night with a drink in my hand. I love the over-the-top poster below, and I’m guessing that a lot of my readers might enjoy this clip from the movie.

SumuruYou can see the trailer for the movie here. In typically culturally sensitive fashion, the ‘asian’ Sumuru was played by the wonderful but very non-asian Shirley Eaton (famous for her role in Goldfinger)

Dirty talk

While I’m on the subject of watersports (see last post), let me take the opportunity to talk about the comedian Jim Norton. This less than obvious segue will become clear if you take a look at this video of him being interviewed by Amy Schumer. As far as comedians go, she’s not afraid to work a little blue, but even she seems nonplussed by Jim’s version of dirty talk.

Jim made headlines recently when he wrote about his personal experiences as a sex worker client and defended the idea of sex work. The usual crowd provided their standard knee jerk response to this, which automatically equates any kind of sex+money with trafficking and abuse, while simultaneously denigrating the people who do choose to work this way. Fortunately, scattered amongst the idiotic and ill conceived articles, there was some better ones that tackled the issue with some thought.

Given his comments in Amy’s interview, this seems a very appropriate image to feature. It’s by the always brilliant Sardax and was a commission for the lovely Mistress Darcy. She’s a New York and London based domme, and is someone I’d love to play with should our paths every intersect.

Toilet by Sardax for Mistress Darcy

The insidious shades

Ragging on 50 Shades of Grey is nothing new. I’ve done it often enough in the past, the mainstream press has done it, and over at Pervocracy Cliff has turned mocking it into something of an art form. Yet it wasn’t till I read this article by Jennifer Hanks that I realized how insidious its influence was.

She worked as a editor on erotic romance novels when 50 Shades first took off, and the article describes how it set a new template for that genre. Suddenly every hero was an abusive asshole with no idea of consensual play and every heroine an insecure virgin with no experience of BDSM. My job has its fair share of less than fun moments, but having to spend 8 hours a day reading endless 50 shades knocks offs that are actually worse than the original, well that must be hell. Particularly when the publisher doesn’t allow any variation on the theme…

By the time I leave my job — I’ve gotten into graduate school — we explicitly don’t accept books with female Dommes for any of our regular imprints. I imagine making a t-shirt that says DOMME on it in all caps and wearing it to work every single fucking day I have left.

I never realized how much that one book had influenced erotic fiction. Eventual its effect must wane, but until then we’re left with not just a horribly written trilogy, but a distorted marketplace for all kinky writing.

For an accompanying image I thought I’d go with something fun, sexy and clearly consensual. i.e. The opposite of 50 shades. This beautiful artwork by Yumine Guo is a perfect fit.

Artwork by Yumine Guo

Oh Joy Sex Toy

Fans of comics, sex and humor should enjoy the Oh Joy Sex Toy site. As its new reader page states, it’s a weekly comic that reviews all sorts of things related to sex, sexuality and the sex industry. Example comics include guides to cunnilingus and bondage, interviews with amazing porn stars like Stoya and Jizz Lee, a guide to strap-on harnesses and the artist’s experiences with pegging. It’s sadly low on kinky toys, with little for the S&M crowd, but it’s an informative and entertaining read all the same.

The image below is the first part of the aforementioned comic on pegging, featuring Erika (the artist) and her husband Matthew. The original is far longer and more descriptive. So consider this a small taster and click through to read the rest.

OhJoy

Vanity’s Price

Continuing the vintage theme, here’s a movie poster from a 1924 Italian feature entitled Vanity’s Price. I couldn’t track down a detailed background for it, but I was amused to discover this original review in the New York Times. It was written by Mordaunt Hall, who was the first ever movie critic for that paper. Given he performed that role from October 1924 to September 1934, and that the review is dated to October 8th 1924, I have to assume this was one of the very first movies he and the NY Times ever reviewed. The review features mention of scoundrels, thrashing, startling gowns and charming of the opposite sex. So clearly nothing much has changed in films over the last 90 or so years.

Vanity's Price

 

The Institute of Sexology

My British readers may be interested to know there’s a major exhibition on sex due to launch in November from the Wellcome Collection. The exhibition title – The Institute of Sexology – is an excellent one. I’d love a laminated FBI style badge with that on it. There actually was an institute of sexology in Germany from 1919 to 1933. That end date should give you a pretty good hint which particular group of assholes put an end to it.

The postcard below is part of the new exhibition. It was originally sent from Paris to the Austrian psychiatrist Richard von Krafft-Ebing. He’s famous for his studies of sexual behavior, published in his book Psychopathia Sexualis. He didn’t coin the terms sadism and masochism, but it was his book which popularized them. Unfortunately he’s hardly a poster child for kink, as he considered any form of recreational sex to be a perversion. That’s kind of amusing to look back on, given that 99% of sex these days is recreational.

Presumably he didn’t approve of the behavior shown in the postcard. It’s hard to get pregnant while riding a man like a horse and beating him with a rod. At least I hope that’s the case, as I wasn’t wearing a condom the last time I tried it.

Woman seated upon a man like a horse