Need to catch up on what’s happening around the blogosphere? Here you go!

Jiz Lee is blogging again!! First up, a fantastic post singing the praises of the Randy dildo – especially when it is brought to a porn shoot. Then, some absolutely hot photos and thoughts from the set of Jiz’s new film from Belladonna, Strapped Dykes. That’s right – Belladonna is shooting queer porn. I love that woman.

Urban Gypsy got her morning started right with the Nea vibrator and was nearly interrupted!

There’s a new book out about why women have sex. Turns out, there are lots of reasons (duh!). Em & Lo made a list of their own and would like you to contribute to it here.

There’s a new monthly event in New York City – Sex Worker Literati – from the amazing Audacia Ray. I missed the first one but I’m not going to let another one go by!

Want to read a roundup of blogs that promote the sexual rights and freedom of women? Me too! Luckily, Always Aroused Girl has them all.

Thank you, Cory Silverberg at About.com, for letting me know about a new documentary on sex and disability. This is one to check out – it’s free!

The Best Sex Writing of 2010 edited by Rachel Kramer Bussel is almost here!!

Imagine that you have worked and trained for years to get really good at something and, just when you’ve met one of your highest goals, something fundamental about you is called into question. People demand that this thing be tested and then, they leak the test results and talk about your body in the national media!

This is what has happened to Caster Semenya, the South African runner who was forced to take a sex identity test after some people felt she was too masculine to be a female runner. As Rachel pointed out in an earlier post, this in and of itself is insulting and wrong for so many reasons. Apparently, however, the powers that be weren’t done with Caster yet. They leaked the results of her testing so that instead of getting to have a private conversation with a physician, she probably found out about her results through the media.

What were those results? Basically, I don’t care. Caster identifies as female and that’s good enough for me. It’s not surprising, however, that Caster’s sense of her gender isn’t good enough for everyone else and so the reporting of her diagnosis as intersex will be sure to cling to the gender binary and present Caster’s gender as some kind of exotic condition as much as possible.

(more…)

I’m a little behind on getting the latest toy reviews up but there have been some fantastic ones recently!

We have a brand new toy called Better Than Chocolate – True Pleasures seems to feel that it really is better than chocolate! They also link to a great video of the toy.

Summary: 5/5 for Better Than Chocolate. Very nice experience for my first luxury vibe. I really love the touch sensor. It just feels so much more natural than having to twist a dial or push a button. Plus, the nice little gift box it comes in and the white velvet pouch really make it feel like you’re being pampered. And the endless vibe possibilities ain’t bad either.

Our friends at Fleshbot rocked out with the new Freestyle

Anyway: when it comes to iPod-synced vibes, the Freestyle is easily the pinnacle of achievement (for now, at least). And I, for one, look forward to enjoying many, many wireless orgasms for years to come—or at least until they come out with the next, even better model of this toy.

Janes Guide (and Always Aroused Girl) review the Earth Angel Vibrator

I’m so happy to report that Earth Angel performed remarkably well.  My partner and I took it to bed fresh out of the box.  The toy needs to be cranked for only four minutes to produce a 30-minute buzz, or eight minutes for a full hour’s worth of pleasure.  He cranked while I waited impatiently.  Too impatiently.  Finally I asked him to put the toy in me while cranking it, and with only a few minor setbacks we finished charging the toy in this delightful manner.

(more…)