I absolutely love reading reviews of toys that I haven’t tried yet. This week on Janes Guide, Always Aroused Girl reviewed the Tie Your Own Cockring.

I have to say, I don’t think I’ve ever read a review where it was obvious that so much fun was had with this toy. AAG helped me see whole new ways to use this toy and was a great reminder of the giggling and explorations that can come along with using a new toy.

Here’s a bit of her review:

Finally I wrested the toy back from him and twirled an elaborate figure-8 around his cock and balls. Ooooo pretty! Even after all that wrapping, there was enough length left over that he (once again) tied up my wrists. And then I tied up his. And then I made him a sort of cock-ring-turned-belt, which I found to be highly amusing.

And yes, I was sucking his cock throughout. It was sexy and giggly and fun. The toy kept him more ragingly hard than he normally is, and it didn’t pinch him in the least.

I know I work at Babeland, but I have to say that based on AAG’s review, I just might have to buy this Cockring.

A friend of a friend is making a documentary on the obesity epidemic from the fat-positive community’s point of view. I’m very interested to hear what they put together as these voices are rarely heard in this discussion and people of size are so frequently villified.

Here’s her call for interview subjects:

Hi, I’m a radio producer and grad student creating a piece about the
so-called obesity epidemic. I’m looking for different personal
perspectives on fat politics. I would love to get voices from NOLOSE
and the fat activist/fat positive community. Would anybody be
interested? The target audience for this would be NPR and affiliates.

I’ve been very disturbed at the way NPR has unquestioningly accepted
the reality of the “obesity epidemic” and disregarded fat voices.
This piece would be an attempt, in part, to counter that perspective.

If you want to know more about the project and my particular
perspective on fat politics before you agree or think about
participating shoot me an email at sarahyahm@gmail.com or 831-332-4002

at this point I’m looking for people in the NY and San Francisco areas

A few days ago, science writers were having a field day with a study supposedly showing that girls like the color pink better. Here are some of the sample article titles: “It’s official, girls prefer pink!” “Women may be hardwired to prefer pink.” “Science confirms, girls like pink, boys like blue.” “Girls really do prefer pink” (that last one from the Washington Post).

Only one paper got it at least somewhat correct: “Girls prefer pink, or at least a redder shade of blue.” This, however, was from a science paper.

I will admit that my knee-jerk reaction to these headlines was that this study just had to be a load of crap - to put it bluntly. How do you truly measure color preference? Who did the research? How old were the participants? How do you separate out what our society tells us versus what we truly prefer? As a “girl” with a room full of blue, I was skeptical.

Fortunately, the good folks over at Science Blogs have done an analysis of this study which shows just how inaccurate it is. It’s worth a read in order to understand how easily bad science gets turned into bad journalism. Sadly, this just serves to illustrate how entrenched gender norms are in our society that a study which shows that some women have a slight preference for the “reddish” part of the spectrum gets turned into a confirmation of girls = pink, boys = blue.

The worst example of this reporting comes from Fox News. I’d like to give you a little sample so you can see the damage that this kind of bad reporting can do.

So why is this research done?

Well, in part because feminist scholars have gone to great lengths to dismiss any differences between genders — they prefer to call it a social construct, created by evil patriarchy.

I know this because I went to Berkeley where I didn’t just burn my bra, I burned my gym socks, three pairs of dolphin shorts, a tube top made out of coconuts and a jaunty fisherman’s cap. I stopped at the chaps.

I learned that feminists there believe if a baby girl had a choice, she’d pick blue. She’d also become an oil driller, one who wears flannel and digs K.D. Lang.

But that’s BS. Nearly all girls wear pigtails and boys want to eat earth worms.

Awesome.