Sex Aware

"A sex toy convention".

I knew as soon as the words came out of my mouth that I was in for a hassle. I was just trying to be honest. After all, isn't that the best policy when you're crossing the border into the U.S.?

Well, maybe not if you're en route to speak at a sex toy party convention.

Right ma'am, pull your car over there, please.

The four custom guys stifled giggles as they spent the next half hour pulling my car apart looking for... for what, semi-automatic weapons disguised as Rabbit Pearl vibrators? Cocaine-injected dildos?

When they were satisfied I didn't in fact have a trunk full of illegal French ticklers or whatever it was they were looking for, they sent me on my way.

...Read the full article

Canadian Air Transport Security Authority Policy

Josey Vogols also provides a bit of practical information:

The Canadian Air Transport Security Authority has no official policy when it comes to traveling with sex toys, and while their website lists hundreds of items that are and aren't allowed in your carry on -- Yaqua blowguns: illegal; snow globes: legal -- there is no mention of anything even remotely sex-toy related.

I called the 1-800 number to inquire if I could bring vibrators and lube in my carry-on for an upcoming lecture in another city. The lube would be fine as long as it was 100ml or less. The vibrators? Also fine as long as I didn't pack spare batteries in my checked luggage. Handcuffs and whips? One second ma'am, I'll have to check. When he came back on the line, he told me that only cops and security people can bring handcuffs on board. The cuffs and whips would have to go in my checked bag. Good to know. Thank you sir. No problem ma'am. Have a nice day.

US Transportation Security Administration

See article from sfgate.com

The Transportation Safety Administration has decreed that vibrators are OK. The TSA says whips, chains, leashes, restraints and manacles are OK, too. Any law-abiding citizen has the right to carry any such device onto an airplane.

TSA spokesman Nico Melendez said passengers could save time with a little common sense. Inspectors are doing their job. They are trained professionals and they know a vibrator when they see one. They will not confiscate a vibrator. But they are trained to pay attention to electronic devices. Inspectors inspect, he said. If you don't want us to see it, don't bring it.

Passengers carrying certain X-rated objects that are defined as club-like should place them in checked luggage. This applies to anatomically correct cylinders of roughly a foot or so in length. Melendez said such cylinders or shafts would fall within the broad category that includes billy clubs, black jacks, brass knuckles, nunchakus and martial arts weapons. All of those items are OK in checked luggage but not in carry-on luggage.

Shorter cylindrical items could very well be legal, however. They would fall into the tool category. The TSA says screwdrivers, wrenches and other hand tools may be brought aboard in carry-on luggage if they are less than 7 inches in length. In other words, according to the TSA, size matters.

Sex toys never get tired and are always conveniently to hand. So it is little surprise that many women are convinced their partners are threatened by sex toys.

But the belief is a myth, according to new research, which has found that the idea is mostly held by women, not their boyfriends or husbands.

A study of over 3,000 people in the U.S. by Indiana University revealed that 70% of men actually have no problem with women using vibrators. In contrast, nearly 40% of women said they believed use of sex toys would upset their boyfriend or husband.

Nearly half of the total respondents were strongly in favour of the positive statements about sex toys. Less than 10% felt the same way about negative statements, such as, [using vibrators] makes women too dependent on them for pleasure , with the remaining percentage issuing indifferent responses.

Participants, who were aged 18-60, either agreed or strongly agreed with statements put to them by researchers, such as, [vibrators] make it easier for a woman to have an orgasm , and [vibrators are] a healthy part of many women's sex lives. Men and women were given the same questions.

Debra Herbenick, lead researcher and associate director at Indiana University's Center for Sexual Health Promotion says her findings demonstrate how important it is for couples to share sexual interests with their partners.

She told LiveScience:

This builds on a lot of previous research that has shown that feeling like you can be intimate with your partner - that you can share things with them about your sexual desires and interests - is very important to a couple's sexual life and a woman's sexual satisfaction.

It's not just the vibrator use but being able to share those parts of your sexuality with your partner that matters.

There's one Hitachi product you won't see at the company's trade shows and conventions - its Magic Wand massager. The Hitachi Magic Wand was originally designed in the 70s as a two-speed muscle massager, but it soon became clear this mains-powered electric vibrator was incredible for intimate, as well as deep-tissue, massage. Renowned as one of the most powerful vibrators ever invented, it quickly made its way into bedrooms the world over. However, Hitachi shy away from promoting or featuring the product.

In a further blow, the product has now been banned by miserable EU bureaucrats on the grounds that it has now CE kiitemark. Trading SubStandards have been searching sex toy warehouses and stopping the sale of the appliance within the entire EU.

LoveHoney have taken advantage of the ban and produced their own UK-friendly version.

The Lovehoney Mains Powered Magic Wand Vibrator is now available to soothe and stimulate. What's great about this wand is that it has a UK plug, meaning it's perfectly designed for totally safe use in the UK with no loss of power. Stylishly designed with a quality build, this toy is a brilliant way to experience the iconic magic wand sex toy for yourself.

The Lovehoney Mains Powered Magic Wand Vibrator delivers intense stimulation to your intimate spots with its range of delectable vibration speeds. Designed to access those hard-to-reach areas with a flexible head, this new legend delivers pleasure on demand.

The Lovehoney Magic Wand Vibrator is part of the new Lovehoney own-brand range of sex toys.

UK doctors are being told the antibiotic normally used to treat gonorrhoea is no longer effective because the sexually transmitted disease is now largely resistant to it.

The Health Protection Agency (HPA) says we may be heading to a point when the disease is incurable unless new treatments can be found.

For now, doctors must stop using the usual treatment cefixime and instead use two more powerful antibiotics. One is a pill and the other is injected.

The HPA say the change is necessary because of increasing resistance. Tests on samples taken from patients and grown in the laboratory showed reduced susceptibility to the usual antibiotic cefixime in nearly 20% of cases in 2010, compared with just 10% of cases in 2009. In 2005, no gonorrhoea bacteria with reduced susceptibility to cefixime could be found in the UK.

The bacterium that causes the infection has an unusual ability to adapt itself and has gained resistance, or reduced susceptibility, to a growing list of antibiotics, first penicillin itself, then tetracyclines, ciprofloxacin and now cefixime.

According to research carried out in Sweden and Japan, a new strain of gonorrhea, labeled H041, has reached what some scientists are calling superbug status, since it cannot be killed by any of the currently recommended treatments for the disease.

Since antibiotics became the standard treatment for gonorrhea in the 1940s, this bacterium has shown a remarkable capacity to develop resistance mechanisms to all drugs introduced to control it, said Magnus Unemo of the Swedish Reference Laboratory for Pathogenic Neisseria.

Meanwhile, in the U.S., researchers have found that even less virulent forms of gonorrhea appear to be becoming more resistant to cephalosporins, the primary class of antibiotics currently used to treat the disease.

Japan has historically been the place for the first emergence and subsequent global spread of different types of resistance in gonorrhea, Unemo said. Based on the historical data ... resistance has emerged and spread internationally within 10 to 20 years.

If left untreated, gonorrhea can lead to pelvic inflammatory disease, infertility, and ectopic pregnancy in women.

Recommended safe limits for drinking alcohol by older people should be drastically cut, according to a report.

The Royal College of Psychiatrists [what do they know about the body?] claims people over 65 should drink a maximum of only 1.5 units of alcohol a day. That is the equivalent of just over about half a pint of beer or a small glass of wine.

The report claims older drinkers are less able to process alcohol and the drink might also interact with medication they may be taking for other ailments.

It warns current advice - 14 units of alcohol for women and 21 for men each week - is based on work with young adults. The report is calling for the government to issue separate advice on safe drinking limits for older people, with an upper safe limit of 1.5 units of alcohol a day, or 11 units per week.

A group of 'experts' from the Royal College of Psychiatrists says there is a growing problem with substance abuse among older people, who they describe as society's invisible addicts .

The report says a third those who experience problems with alcohol abuse do so later on in life, often as a result of big changes like retirement, bereavement or feelings of boredom, loneliness and depression.