Sex Aware

A sex guide advising care homes how to help patients watch porn and use sex toys has been handed out to nurses.

Extra-marital affairs, sex toys and masturbation are also discussed in the leaflet circulated by the Royal College of Nursing.

One example explored how an OAP requested help with masturbation but his request was turned down because staff felt ill-equipped to deal skilfully with the situation. Following expert advice a mechanical masturbation device was provided to pensioner.

Another case study looked at one incident where a resident wanted to bring a sex worker into the home, but the request was declined.

While another discussed how a resident had ask to watch porn in his bedroom and noted the patient should be supported in accessing the entertainment he desired. The patient was allowed to purchase a laptop and agreed sound or visual material would not be able to be heard or viewed by residents or staff.

Sainsbury's has just expanded their own-brand range to include a few affordable sex toys for women. The range is priced between £8-12. We don't know about you, but at that price we'd definitely toss them in our trolley.

The new line of sex toys includes three vibrators. There's a couple of bullets and a bigger silver vibrator that run at different speeds.

They're being sold at most stores at the moment, with an eye to have the bullets across all 486 UK stores by November 4.

And in the US, we've reached a point where mainstream retailers feel completely comfortable stocking quality vibrators, not just in their digital warehouses but on the shelves of their brick-and-mortar stores. Just this month, PlusOne, a new line of premium sex toys, debuted at Walmart stores around the country, marking the first time that the retailer has carried high quality, rechargeable vibrators on the shelves of its brick-and-mortar stores.

PlusOne offers customers an entirely different option. A dedicated pleasure brand, it makes no bones about the purpose of its products -- yet its design is far classier than, say, that suction cup dildo on Walmart's website. And with waterproof silicone exteriors and rechargeable batteries, it's a step up in quality from the Trojan products currently stocked in store, all while been sold at a significantly lower price point than either the Trojan products or the more luxe offerings available at a store like Babeland. PlusOne's rechargeable bullet offering retails for less than $10; in contrast, a battery-powered Trojan bullet vibrator for a little over $30, and the NYTC rechargeable bullet vibe is available at Babeland for just shy of $25.

 Sweden is looking into introducing safety standards for sex toys after a study revealed a growing number of Swedes were forced to seek medical help after the items got lodged in their rectums.

In one Stockholm hospital alone, 73 people over a seven-year period sought emergency medical care for foreign objects stuck in the rectum.

The most commonly lodged objects were dildos and butt plugs, which the study by a southern Stockholm hospital found were present in just over 40% of cases. In the remainder, a variety of other objects, including candles, bottles and vegetables were found, though the report noted that the incidents leading to the accidents were almost always linked to sexual pleasure.

What's more, the authors noted that the true figure of sex toy retention was likely even higher than the study suggests, given reluctance to seek care for a potentially embarrassing condition. They also suggested that a safety string or adequate-sized stopper could have prevented many of the affected patients from retaining the items.

The SIS' proposal for sex toy standards will be submitted to the International Organization for Standardization in the hope that it will be adopted by other countries.

Turin authorities closed a new sex doll brothel after just nine days citing hygiene concerns and other offences. All eight of the dolls have been seized for forensic examination by the authorities.

Until its sudden closure on Wednesday, LumiDolls in Torino, northwestern Italy charged clients Euro 80 ($90) for 30 minutes of alone time with the hyper realistic dolls which cost roughly 2,000 euro each..

Authorities are concerned over hygiene at the establishment and also insufficient information on the materials the dolls were made from and their country of manufacture. The brothel owners claim that they clean the dolls for two hours once a client has finished with them.

Police are also fishing around for other offences, whether the brothel breached Italian laws on renting out accommodation and alleged but unspecified illegal activity.

LumiDolls franchise began in Spain and boasts sex doll brothels in Barcelona and Moscow.

The City of Toronto has closed what claimed to be North America's first known sex doll brothel a week before it was set to open.

Aura Dolls planned to open September 8 with a choice of six silicone sex dolls for rent 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

But the plan was thwarted by the miserable councillor John Filion who dragged up an old bylaw he introduced two decades ago that restricts adult entertainment parlours in North York to industrial areas. City officials then deemed Aura Dolls to be illegal.

Abstract

By Eran Shor and Kimberly Seida of Montreal's McGill University

It is a common notion among many scholars and pundits that the pornography industry becomes harder and harder with every passing year. Some have suggested that porn viewers, who are mostly men, become desensitized to soft pornography, and producers are happy to generate videos that are more hard core, resulting in a growing demand for and supply of violent and degrading acts against women in mainstream pornographic videos.

We examined this accepted wisdom by utilizing a sample of 269 popular videos uploaded to PornHub over the past decade. More specifically, we tested two related claims, reflected in both the number of views and the rankings for videos containing aggression:

(1) aggressive content in videos is on the rise and

(2) viewers prefer such content,

Our results offer no support for these contentions. First, we did not find any consistent uptick in aggressive content over the past decade; in fact, the average video today contains shorter segments showing aggression. Second, videos containing aggressive acts are both less likely to receive views and less likely to be ranked favorably by viewers, who prefer videos where women clearly perform pleasure.

avn.com added a few further details:

Unlike many previous studies claiming to quantify aggressive behavior in porn, the McGill researchers defined several different categories of aggressive behavior in porn scenes. The researchers counted acts which simply appear intended to cause harm, pain or discomfort, and created a separate category for video which depicted those acts as clearly non-consensual, as determined by verbal or visual cues.

Conversely, anti-porn groups that claim excessive violence in porn usually count such acts as playful slaps on the ass, a hand on the throat, and the use of such terms as bitch or slut, no matter in what context, as violent acts.

While they found that depictions of visible aggression fluctuate but show no steady upward or downward trend, with between 30 and 50 percent all videos uploaded each year depicting some visible aggression, the duration of aggressive scenes has shown a sharp drop over the past decade.

In 2008, nearly 13% of the average video portrayed visible aggression, the researchers write. But in 2016, the average video contained aggressive content lasting only three percent of the total video running time.

Brits are being warned they could be breaking the law by bringing them to certain countries such as Thailand, Malaysia and the Maldives. The Sun look at the countries around the world where sex toys are banned

Pornography is a banned item in the Maldives -- and sex toys come under that bracket. The Daily Star reports that local man Musthafa Hussein was jailed for six months for possessing sex toys there.

Malaysia Don't pack your vibrator as it counts as an obscene object. The country's penal code states that the possession of any obscene objects whatsoever can be punished with imprisonment for a term which may extend to three years, or with fine, or with both.

Saudi Arabia is another country where sex toys aren't allowed. Sex toys come under the category of pornographic material, which is banned there. Even massagers which are present in an immoral way are banned by customs.

Dubai, one of the United Arab Emirates is a holiday favourite with Brits - but don't try taking any sex toys there.

Thailand is another country where you can get in trouble by trying to bring sex toys in. Sex toys count as obscene objects which are banned by the Thai authorities and are on the country's list of prohibited goods. But fear not there are plenty examples of the banned products on sale in Thailand's street markets.

Massagers aren't banned in India - unless they have a phallic shape.

You will have sex toys confiscated if you try to bring them into Vietnam . However according to the General Department of Vietnam Customs: The objects will be kept and returned to the passengers when they exit Vietnam.

Paris councillors are due to decide on the future of a business where clients are charged 89 euro to spend an hour with a silicon sex doll.

Communist councillors and feminist groups have been calling for the closure of Xdolls. Currently, Xdolls is registered as a games centre, but opponents argue it is effectively a brothel. (brothels are illegal in France)

Xdolls is located in an anonymous-looking flat in the French capital and opened last month near the Miromesnil Metro station.

Customers make their booking and payment online, and the exact address is kept secret. Not even the neighbours are aware of the nature of the business.

But its critics want to see it shut. Nicolas Bonnet Oulaldj, a communist councillor, is taking the matter before the Council of Paris. He claimed

Xdolls conveys a degrading image of the woman.

Lorraine Questiaux, lawyer and spokesperson for a Paris feminist association bizarrely claimed:

Xdolls is not a sex shop. It's a place that generates money and where you rape a woman.

Update: Brothel claim found to be unrealistic

22nd March 2018. See article from bbc.com

Paris councillors have rejected a motion targeting a business where clients pay to spend an hour with a realistic silicone sex doll.

Communist councillors and feminist groups had called on the Council of Paris - the body responsible for governing the city - to study the possibilities of closing Xdolls. They claimed it was demeaning to women - and effectively a brothel.

But police visited the establishment before the council meeting and declared no laws were being broken.

New York's Museum of Sex is offering free rides on its Cowgirl sex machine.

Like something out of the Barbarella universe, the Cowgirl is perhaps a distant cousin of the mechanical bull. Sizable yet sleek, the Cowgirl consists primarily of a vibrating saddle equipped with two possible silicone attachments. MoSex understandably opted for the Rawhide version, which has a small silicone nub. The dildo option is a little ndiscreet for public pleasures. And just to confirm, the sex machine trial is strictly 'over the clothes'. But just in case, the ride is regularly wiped down with string cleaners.

The woman riding the Cowgirl with abandon at 3:30 p.m. on a Friday was certainly making a strong case for the efficacy of the silicone nub. As she messed with the toy's remote control, I could hear the whirr of vibrations intensifying, an escalation mirrored by her moans. Just when I thought I was about to witness a stranger climaxing in a damn museum, she dismounted, muttered that was intense, and promptly shuffled to another room.

MoSex encourages visitors to not only feel objects like its current sex machine offering but to ride them, too. Smack dab in the middle of a gallery space, the Cowgirl enthusiasts break down the boundaries that separate art and toys, exhibitionists and voyeurs, engaging in public acts that they might never have otherwise.

Along with displaying two Cowgirl machines, the compact MoSex exhibit provides a cursory look at the history of sex toys, starting with the 18th century invention of vibrators as medical devices meant to combat female hysteria. Dildos, MoSex points out, date back to ancient Greece, where enlightened men, such as 2nd century astronomer Galen, believed that female semen built up in single women's blood over time, poisoning it.

Ladyboy sex dolls with boobs and functioning penises are proving a bit of a hit.

Sex dolls have been one of the most popular intimate crazes of the past year. In the race to create the best dolls on the market, manufacturers have come up with an even racier model.

This has seen the release to transgender dolls, which allow customers to enjoy both female and male body parts.

Daily Star Online spoke to Alex Phelps, a product specialist at Silcone Sex World , to find out more. He explained:

We are seeing a lot of our customers going for our transgender dolls. The dolls essentially have an insert which then allows the doll to function as a male, if you will.

Previously, we revealed that blokes are more likely to purchase the trans dolls. It's believed that male customers are snapping up the kinky items so they can be more experimental in the bedroom.

Aarhus has become the first city in Denmark to gain a sex doll brothel.

Doll House, which opened last week, offers services solely to male clients. The establishment is made up of five themed rooms that cater to a range of alternative tastes and preferences. These include a: classroom, living room and doctor's room.

Customers can choose from five different sex dolls, each with different names and aesthetic characteristics. The dolls are all made of thermoplastic rubber and stainless steel, weighing roughly 50 kilos. The venue's marketing tag line is:

The place where all gentleman are welcome and where girls don't say 'no'.

Sex doll brothels are becoming a bit of a trend, Aarhus is the fourth major city in Europe to open a sex doll brothel following Barcelona, Paris and Dortmund.

The UK's first sex doll 'brothel' has closed down before it had really started.

The 'brothel' was serviced by a single doll, Faith, which was rented out for £60 by Stephen Crawford. He ran the operation from his semi-detached home in a small village near Hamilton.

Steven Crawford hit the headlines when the Sunday Mail revealed he was offering romps with a lifelike latex model called Faith -- for £60 an hour. However it was early days for the business which had received just two customers.

Following publicity from media coverage, he removed the online ad for the rubber doll to avoid the risk of upsetting his neighbours.

South Lanarkshire Council said that it will be investigating to ensure public health is protected. Shirley Clelland, Head of Environmental Services at the council, said:

Environmental Services recognises that there are potential public health issues associated with this type of business and will be undertaking further investigation to determine what arrangements are in place to protect public health.

Crawford is now thought to be considering renting out the sex doll rather than let people pay for time with it in his home.

Lovedoll UK, a major retailer of life-like sex dolls, has launched a try before you buy service in a warehouse on an industrial park in Gateshead, Tyneside.

Customers can try out realistic sex dolls worth up to £2,000 at the company's warehouse, in sessions costing £100-an-hour.

Lovedoll UK owner Graham admitted that the try before you buy service is a precursor to a sex doll brothel akin to the Lumidolls venue in Barcelona, Spain.

We're offering the service to bring in more customers and convince those customers who are on the fence [about buying a sex doll], he said.

Lovedoll UK has already faced resistance from call girls working in Gateshead, in Tyne and Wear. Graham said sex workers are afraid his company will steal their jobs. He said:

I have spoken to escort services before about bringing sex dolls into brothels -- but they are scared. I don't know why they are, it may just require more of a vision than they have.

Graham allows clients to take his sex dolls into a room containing a double bed, lube and condoms for testing and inspection. Customers using the service must provide their contact details and pay in advance.

Update: Inevitably the miserable local council claims you can't play with a doll without a licence

24th January 2018. See  article from bbc.com

A business selling adult sex dolls is being investigated over rmiserable concerns it could be operating without council permission.

Gateshead Council said it was investigating whether a sex establishment licence is required.

Such a licence covers premises selling sex videos, or venues where explicit films are shown to members of the public, and those where sexual entertainment such as pole dancing and strip shows take place. Shops selling sex toys have not generally been required to get licences, though occasionally councils have tried to claim that licences were required.

Gateshead Council said:

We are currently trying to establish the facts so that all of the relevant services and agencies can be involved and an informed decision can be made about what action, if any, the council can take.

When it comes to figuring out the sexual habits and preferences of American adults, researcher Seth Stephens-Davidowitz has found, a deep dive into Google search data reveals some surprises -- showing that the type of porn Americans search out online often bears little resemblance to how they behave, or anything they would admit to, in public, even in anonymous sex surveys.

Stephens-Davidowitz, author of the 2017 book Everybody Lies: Big Data, New Data, and What the Internet Can Tell Us About Who We Really Are , discussed his discoveries about America's surprising sexual tastes in an interview with the online news site Vox;

Porn which portrays violence against women is surprisingly popular -- among women.

Huge numbers of men are more attracted to overweight women than skinny women.

Married women are obsessed with finding out if their husbands are gay.

Married men should be asking whether their wives are gay.

The one common theme running through all of the author's research is that, judging by Google searches for porn, people's sexual tastes and fantasies are far more unusual than they ever admit -- except to the Google search engine.

It is really amazing how much tastes can vary. There are women who just watch porn featuring short, fat men with small penises. There are men who just watch porn featuring women with enormous nipples, Stephens-Davidowitz said. The data from porn tells us that everybody is weird. Thus, nobody is weird.