#ThrowbackThursday: Sheik Condoms by Rudolph Valentino

Sheik Condoms (Bag The Web)

I found this image of an interesting condom tin, and decided to do some sleuthing to find out more. Sheik condoms were part of the Durex brand, and were popular for decades before being phased out.

Some interesting history: Silver screen idol Rudolph Valentino appears on this condom tin. He played a sheik in 1921’s silent movie “The Sheik,” and it became one of his most well-known roles. When his picture appeared on Sheik condoms, prophylactic sales then skyrocketed as average men wanted to get what he had for themselves.

I’m trying to imagine any actors who’d be up for lending their faces to sell condoms, but sadly I think those days are past.

How Many People Fantasize About Having Sex With Identical Twins?

Twins Jordan and Zac Stenmark (Lyra Mag)

I read an NPR article on twins recently, calling millennials “Generation Twin.” This name applied due to the fact that one million more twins were born between 1980 and 2012. (This checks out with my personal anecdotal evidence: I graduated high school in 2004, and my class of 106 students boasted three sets of twins.)

“The Atlantic” goes a bit deeper into why this is: The rise in twins is due to the rise in fertility drugs, most notably IVF. Older women are the ones mostly using fertility drugs, and producing most of the babies. Also, older women are statistically more likely to have twins than younger women.

Here’s a handy table to visualize the rise in twins over the past decades:

Twins’ birth rate, 1980-2012 (The Atlantic)

That got me wondering if sexual fantasies about twins (both identical and fraternal) have also increased.

After doing some digging, I really couldn’t find anything. I didn’t find any studies about sexual fantasies, or fantasies coming true, involving twins.

The closest I got was the recent study on sexual fantasies by researchers at Canada’s University of Quebec at Trois-Rivieres, published in the “Journal of Sexual Medicine.” “Business Insider” helpfully took all the data for male fantasies and put it together. The closest question the researchers asked the 717 men used about twins was about having sex with two women. Over 84% of men reported this fantasy, but we cannot extrapolate that this necessarily means twins.

The identical-twin fantasy didn’t show up for the women either, but that’s perhaps more understandable: Women aren’t generally depicted as having that particular fantasy (though I’m sure there are some outliers).

I find it strange that a fantasy that looms so large in popular culture (for men, at least) has basically no data to back it up.

The UK Bans Certain Sex Acts in Porn

Handcuffs, a.k.a. “physical restraint” (Fleshlight)

Earlier this month, the United Kingdom enacted a ban on certain sex acts in porn. The ban amends the 2003 Communications Act, which previously sketched in “unacceptable” acts as ones associated with violence and abuse.

Now, the British Board of Film Censors (BBFC) has narrowed down their lists of “good” and “bad” sexual acts to very specific, fetish-focused ones. Per “The Independent:”

The Audiovisual Media Services Regulations 2014 requires that video-on-demand (VoD) online porn now adhere to the same guidelines laid out for DVD sex shop-type porn by the British Board of Film Censors (BBFC).

The acts listed under “content that is not acceptable” includes a variety of BDSM-related activities, age-play, and female ejaculation. Almost all of the sex acts listed are included under the BBFC’s “Restricted 18” rating, which means that the films can only be shown at licensed adult cinemas and sex shops.

Now this only applies to porn made within the UK, and porn made outside its bounds is totally fair game to have any of these “unacceptable” acts. I have to wonder if this will lead to a rise in Brits importing their porn to see these now-illicit acts. Now foreign porn production houses can get themselves piece of that hardcore caning action:

Pornhub’s UK Banned Porn Content Table (The Independent)

(Side note: I’d love to know how these nine acts were agreed upon. And how female ejaculation made its way in. It doesn’t seem to fit with the overall theme of violence and pain the rest of the entries have. Seriously, what’s up with that?!)

The UK has had a long, uncomfortable history attempting to regulate porn. (Robert Rosen’s “Independent” article provides some enlightening historical context.) The country only legalized hardcore porn in 2000, about 30 years after the rest of the Western world. And you’d be considered a criminal for possessing “non-realistic sexual images of a minor,” or, in popular parlance, cartoon porn.

This ruling certainly changes the game for British porn producers and consumers, so it’ll be interesting to watch how its landscape changes over time. Who knows, Britain could, at some point, enact a law dictating that only a certain amount of porn can be imported at any given time. After all, Pelchat’s amendment worked for French radio.

How Many Male Newborns Get Circumcised?

Baby boy (CuteNewBaby.com)

A recent NPR article reveals that the Centers for Disease Prevention and Control (CDC) is considering educating men on the health benefits of circumcision. This wouldn’t be limited to newborn babies, but open to men of all ages.

But how many men are circumcised at birth?

Last year, the CDC released a report analyzing male newborn circumcision long-term trends from 1979 to 2010. The numbers were found using the National Hospital Discharge Survey (NHDS), and examined national and regional circumcision rates. The study didn’t count any circumcisions performed outside the hospital or on older males.

The study found some interesting things: During the time of the long-range study, circumcision rates declined around 10% to land at 58%+ in 2010. Circumcision rates declined in the 1980s, rose until 1998, and then began declining again.

National long-term circumcision rates (Via CDC.gov)

The report also tracked how circumcision rates broke down by region. Circumcision in the Midwest mirrored the national trend, while the South saw increasing rates until 1998 (contrary to the national pattern), and then declining rates. The West had a steady decreasing rate throughout the study’s duration.

US Regional Circumcision Rates (via CDC.gov)

It’s interesting that rates have declined within the past decade-and-a-half.

What Are The Most Common Sexual Fantasies?

Sexual fantasy (E-News 365)

Happy Friday! Earlier this fall, researchers at the University of Montreal undertook a study of sexual fantasies to determine what constituted “common” and “unusual”sexual fantasies for men and women, later published in “The Journal of Sexual Medicine.” Over 1.5K adults participated in the survey, splitting nearly evenly along gender lines. Participants filled out an Internet survey and responded to given statements about sexual fantasies, and also submitted their own.

Once the data was amassed, fantasies were categorized as rare, unusual, common or typical, depending on volume of responses. Responses characterized as typical comprised 84%+ of the sample.

For women, the three most typical sexual fantasies are feeling romantic emotions during sex (92%+), having an appealing atmosphere and location (86%+), and having sex in a romantic location (84%+).

For men, the three most typical sexual fantasies are feeling romantic emotions during sex (88%+), participating in fellatio/cunnilingus (87%+), and having sex in an unusual place (82%+).

It’s interesting that men and women are primarily fantasizing about the same thing, but then women are more fantasizing about romance during the act, while men are fantasizing more about different and adventurous sex acts. Or at least that’s what the respondents admit to.

So for anyone concerned that their tastes might be out of the box (or maybe too much within it), “Business Insider” has the whole breakdown. Enjoy!

Rap Singles’ Analingus References: By The Numbers

Nicki Minaj ‘Anaconda’ Still (YouTube)

Analingus seems to all over right now, and has lodged itself into our continuing conversation on “acceptable” sexual mores. It seemingly all started earlier this year when a stripper alleged that she tossed Drake’s salad, and then we were off to the races on the topic. (Drake has neither confirmed nor publicly denied these allegations.)

Since we’re talking about it, I wanted to see if popular music reflected the trend. I looked at certain rap artists’ lyrics to see if analingus infiltrated any rap singles released this year, looking for such tell-tale phrases as “anal,” “booty,” “salad tossing,” etc.

Drake:

Drake released two singles this year, “Worst Behavior” (from 2013’s “Nothing Was The Same”) and “0 to 100/The Catch Up” (from next year’s “Views From The 6”).

Neither song directly references analingus.

Lil’ Wayne:

Lil’ Wayne dropped five singles this year: “Rich As Fuck,” “Krazy,” “Gotti,” “Start A Fire,” “Believe Me” and “Grindin’.” (Drake features on the last two songs). All singles were off “Tha Carter V.”

None of the songs reference eating booty.

Wiz Khalifa:

Aside from his contributions to the “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles” and WWE 2K15 soundtracks (we’re not counting gun-for-hire works), Khalifa released six singles from “Blacc Hollywood:” “We Dem Boyz,” “KK,” “You and Your Friends,” “Stayin Out All Night,” “Promises” and “So High.”

In “We Dem Boyz,” Khalifa doesn’t mention his booty-eating preferences, but seemingly calls out Nicki Minaj on hers: “Do it just like Nicki gon’ and bend it over.”

Overall, Khalifa’s much more interested in smoking weed that eating out anyone’s ass.

Trey Songz:

Songz also released six singles this year: “NaNa,” “Smart Phones,” “Foreign,” “Change Your Mind,” “What’s Best For You,” and “Touchin’, Lovin'” (featuring Nicki Minaj).

In “Foreign,” Songz throws in a few references to a woman’s ass (that it’s large and she’s tweaking), but he stops short of implying analingus.

Though Minaj guests on “Touchin’, Lovin'” and raps abut her sexual prowess, she only talks about her penetrative sexual prowess and doesn’t mention giving or receiving analingus.

Nicki Minaj:

It’s been a banner year for Nicki Minaj, and her ass. The rapper has brought her signature aggressive, take-no-prisoners style into the analingus arena, and we’re all eating it up (ha). We’ve heard about her booty getting love in two separate singles this year.

In “Anaconda,” from “this dude named Michael:” “he toss my salad like his name Romaine”

In “Only,” subverting the traditional passive female tone and telling us what she’d have Drake and Lil Wayne do: “menage with ’em and let ’em eat my ass like a cupcake.”

I find it very interesting that a woman is the only one opening putting it out there that she enjoys analingus. Since women have traditionally and culturally been seen as docile and passive sexual beings (when they’re even afforded that agency), I love that Nicki Minaj is subverting the expectation and going on the offensive and owning it.

Though analingus awareness is growing, it isn’t yet resonating within rap lyrics, with the exception of Minaj. That might change as the act goes more mainstream.

#ThrowbackThursday: Margaret Sanger’s “The Woman Rebel”

‘The Woman Rebel’ Volume I, Page 1

One hundred years ago, Margaret Sanger launched “The Woman Rebel,” a monthly newsletter that promoted contraception. (Tagline: “No Gods, No Masters.”) The newsletter popularized the now-common term “birth control” (the popular euphemism of the day was “family limitation”), and proclaimed that “each woman should be the absolute mistress of her own body.” Obviously, Sanger was way ahead of her time.

Seven issues were published before Sanger was indicted on violating postal obscenity laws in August 1914 (at the time, it was illegal to send obscene materials by mail). But this was part of her plan: Sanger wanted to provoke a legal challenge to spreading information about birth control by mail. Once indicted, she fled to England, while prepping “Family Limitation,” a more radical approach to birth control. The birth control cause stole the spotlight the next year when her estranged husband was thrown in jail for giving a copy of “Family Limitation” to a representative of anti-vice crusader Anthony Comstock.

Though Sanger’s ideas were inflammatory at the time, they laid the groundwork for modern feminism. And thank God for that.

Google Trends: “Feminism” and “Feminist” (and Beyoncé)

‘***Flawless’ Still, 2013 (Huffington Post)

On Dec. 13, 2013, Beyoncé’s self-titled studio album unexpectedly dropped, leading to rave critical reviews (and setting an iTunes record in the process). It quickly became apparent that Beyoncé was launching new sexual and feminist identities (particularly in “***Flawless”), and the world eagerly embraced her and feminism.

We have the anecdotal and cultural evidence. But do Google searches show this?

Leading up to its first anniversary, we look at how interest in feminism has changed over the past year, and how Beyoncé might have impacted that. All trends are for the United States.

First, some long-run patterns:

Google Trends: ‘Feminism’ and ‘Feminist,’ 2004-Present

The above shows search term “feminism” (blue line) and “feminist” (red line) tracking from January 2004 to present. Throughout the decade, both terms parallel each other in terms of popularity, and hit the same peaks and lows: Each term’s most popular month occurred in April 2004, and the least popular month was August 2010.

It’s interesting to see how each term started out strong and then dipped down, and is now climbing back up.

Let’s look at how each term performed within the last 12 months (“Feminism” is the blue line, and “feminist” is the red line):

Google Trends: ‘Feminism’ and ‘Feminist,’ Last 12 Months (Dec. 2013-Dec. 2014)

Searches for each term grew the week from Dec. 22-28, 2013. There are some spikes, the first of which occurs the week of Aug. 24-30, 2014. Beyoncé performed a medley of songs from her self-titled album at the MTV Video Music Awards (VMAs), which aired on Aug. 25. More notably, she performed “***Flawless” in front of a giant lit marquee claiming her as a “FEMINIST.”

The last baby spike in traffic for the terms occurred during Nov. 16-22, 2014, which was the week before Beyoncé released the Platinum Edition.

But how many people were searching for “feminism” and “feminist” in conjunction with Beyoncé? Let’s take a look:

Google Trends: ‘Beyoncé Feminism’ and ‘Beyoncé Feminist,’ Last 12 Months (Dec. 2013-Dec. 2014)

This trend shows searches for “beyoncé feminism” (blue line) and “beyoncé feminist” (red line) over the past 12 months. She released her album on Dec. 13, which accounts for the notable spike occurred the week of Dec. 15-21, 2013. After that, both terms go relatively quiet during spring 2014 (and completely dormant during summer 2014), before “beyoncé feminist” makes an astronomical comeback the week of her VMAs performance.

Clearly, Beyoncé and her self-titled blockbuster album had an effect on basic terms “feminism” and “feminist.” We’ll have to see if this is a one-time thing, or will endure over time.

First Person Convicted Under California’s Revenge Porn Law

Facebook (Huffington Post)

Last week, Los Angeles man Noe Iniguez became the first person to be convicted under California’s Revenge Porn law. The law, enacted in October 2013, forbids “unauthorized posting of nude or sexual images of an individual with the purpose of causing emotional distress.”

In December 2013, Iniguez posted degrading comments and a topless photo of his ex-girlfriend on her company’s Facebook page in a bid to get her fired. He will serve one year in jail and three years’ probation.

As of now, California is one of 13 states that have enacted laws against revenge porn since 2013. (No word on if any of the other states have convicted anyone yet.) Let’s hope other states will follow suit.

UVA Sexual Assault: Rape Punishments on College Campuses

UVA Rotunda (Hoo Stories)

On Nov. 19, “Rolling Stone” published a harrowing article on a UVA student’s 2012 gang rape, and its eventual social and political fallout and complications around the campus. The article goes into depth in detailing UVA’s culture of avoiding the topic of sexual assault, and terming any assaults mere “bad experiences.”

The article cites UVA’s honor code culture that also functions to keep sexual assault quiet. It points out that 183 students have been expelled for violating the honor code since 1998, but there have been no expulsions resulting from reporting sexual assault (which is arguably more prevalent, from anecdotal data).

This isn’t just a UVA issue. Last year, Yale allowed five students guilty of “nonconsensual sex” to continue their education at the Ivy institution without suspension or expulsion. (The sixth one was suspended and future probation.) Instead, they were given punishments ranging from sensitivity training to a reprimand.

The “Rolling Stone” article notes that one in five women will be sexually assaulted during their time in college, but only 12% will report an assault to the police. So it’s clear that the actual numbers are much higher than those being reported. Hopefully, this UVA case will spur on more open discussions on sexual assault, particularly on college campuses, and urge universities to hand out heavier punishments for assailants.

Sex & Stats: Where Numbers Come to Bang

Statistics. Economics. Sex.