Sad People in Silly Pants

Fashion designer Ronaldo Fraga centered his recent catwalk show on underwear with line drawings of genitals on them.  Which I think is hilarious, but I do have one question.

Our rude panties make us sad

Why do models these days always look so goddam miserable?  It is like high fashion still lives back in the time when it was considered very gauche to smile for a photograph.

We are sad that rude pants have not been invented yet

The next high fashion designer who wants to do something really shocking in his or her show (which seems to be most of them) should try having the models look happy.

It's time for Americans to Stop Saying "Coed"

francisco_osorio / Foter / CC BY

Upon moving to America I started noticing that both formally and informally women were being referred to as "coeds".  I did not have a faintest idea why. 

I looked it up and it is defined as "A female student at a coeducational institution" and dates from before 1878.  Which makes some kind of sense because in the Victorian era this would have been a new-fangled thing worthy of (probably derogatory) comment.

But do you know what we now call females that go to tertiary institutions that do not discriminate against their gender?  Students.  We call them students. 

Their presence at an institution of higher learning that men also attend does not require explanation, justification, or comment. It is quite literally unremarkable.  Or at least it should be.

Sexy Beasts Show = Mixed Message

I struggle with the concept of the new dating show "Sexy Beasts". They essentially take attractive young adults, given them monster make-up and send them on dates. The idea being that they have to fall back (shock horror) on their "personalities" to make a positive impression.

But all of the contestants are clearly conventionally attractive, so there is no actual risk that any of these people will end up with an average or below average looking person. Thus ultimately no real challenge to the assumption that looks are all that really matter and cute people should only every be with other cute people.

By the way, if you do a picture search for "sexy beasts" with the adult filter turned off, don't blame me for what you see. Let's just say it involves great danes and ponies and it ain't a petting zoo.

My Vote for the Star of the Next Bizarro Kinde Erotica Story

Those of you who hang around the Amazon Kindle pages may have noticed that a certain type of erotica writer thrives on writing about the most unlikely characters. Dinosaurs, Donald Trump, Clippy the Microsoft Assistant, Tetris Blocks, President Lincoln. You name it and there is explicit erotic fiction of it for sale. To those authors, here is a challenge: "Workie" the huge furry avatar of the UK Government Pension fund. Do your worst....

Canon Gandalf is Totally Sexy

Laura Vitto writes: "....the words "sexy" and "Gandalf" are generally considered mutually exclusive."  To which I reply, on what planet? 

No Gandalf is not typically teen-girl-style sexy like Tjitske Van Vark's adorable costume, but is that seriously the only kind of sexuality to be acknowledged?

Anyone who assumes that a negligible number of people think the version below is sexy....  Well,  maybe they need to spend less time making throw-away remarks about "Tumblr geeks" and more time on Tumblr expanding their concept of normal human sexuality.

The advantages of making sex work legal

Hey Paul Studios / Foter / CC BY

In New Zealand sex work (prostitution) is legal, but failing to use a condom is illegal.I guess some people might find it unfair that the (male) clients was outed for this actions, despite being discharged without conviction. But boo hoo for his claim "...it's not about myself, it's about my family, and my girlfriend, and my girlfriend's family."  It's about them knowing the truth.  That fact that the truth distresses them is entire on him.

One of the huge talking points about whether sex work should be legal is that we should avoid negative consequences for the sex workers themselves.  But I think this case helps illustrate how legalization in fact takes the weight of responsibility off the sex worker and puts it all on the client where it belongs.  It is his choice to use the service, his legal requirement to use a condom whether requested to or not, whether he knows that is the law or not, and if he breaks that law it is a matter of public record.

So, yes.  I am Team Legalize Prostitution.