It seems wherever we look in our increasingly media-consuming society, body shaming abounds. From songs that shame one bodily extreme to the other – ‘skinny’ or ‘fat’– and the eternal homage to anaconda-like penises (which, coincidentally, profess to not perform where a big booty is lacking), there’s an endless string of having to fit in…
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After revealing that I’m bisexual, I’m often asked three questions: “Do you think it’s a phase?”; “But… who do you prefer?”; and, “Have you and/or will you have a threesome?” (To be fair, this question is usually served with a drink, spilled on my dress.) Regardless of whether they’re asked by drunk strangers or a…
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There, he said it: Sting admits he doesn’t last seven hours in bed. Since 1990, The Police singer has been captivating the imagination of sexual beings throughout the West with his revelation of taking wife Trudie Styler to pleasure town for an extended period with tantric sex. It’s not quite like that, Sting says…
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Have you ever had a sexual fantasy that you wanted to see portrayed on film? With all the adult entertainment out there, it can be difficult to find something that takes your fancy while still being female-friendly. Erika Lust, founder of XConfessions, sees a growing need for adult entertainment for people outside porn’s usual target…
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Consent culture and rape culture: from the Interweb to smart phones, these two foes so often war on the battleground of information communication technologies. Every battle won within the name of consent is a small victory. So when affirmative consent app, Good2Go, was pulled from the market just nine days after its release, it begged…
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Scarlett Johansson recently appeared as a sexy space thang in the Jonathan Glazer-helmed Under The Skin (2013), a film that my housemate denounced as a ‘goddamn rip-off of Species (1995).’ Feminist critics have been similarly quick to deride it as male fantasy fulfilment posing as art, where one can imagine being boinked to death by a…
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Sci-fi as a genre undeniably has something of a shaky history when it comes to feminism. All too often sci-fi’s female characters fall into one of two categories: the ‘slutty nemesis’ or the ‘damsel in distress.’ This is why BBC America’s science fiction series Orphan Black is a great addition to our screens. Here’s what…
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If you are sexually active, one would hope you have heard of the infections that can set upon your bits if you have a lax attitude to safe sex. Perhaps they are not as embedded in your brain as one Geordie Shore cast member, whose sweet nothings during love making consisted of ‘chlamydiaaaaa!’ Beyond chlamydia,…
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Touch yourself. * ‘Men standing around in a room, praying for forgiveness from their deity for jacking off and not impregnating their wives with more sheep for the flock: this is the sight that confronted me during the Channel 4 documentary Sex Death and the Meaning of Life. As a sex positive person, it was…
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Ask a number of holidaymakers in any given airport departure lounge what they are after and you are bound to hear preferences for the following: sun, surf, sex. If media and academia are anything to go by, sex is a particular favourite. But why? There is constant research into the sexual behaviours of people going…
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Sex, sex, sex. As a sex positive person, I endeavour to learn about the who, what, when, where, why and how of many sexualities. Living as this sort of person in regional Australia, I have never expected my town to be a haven for alternative lifestyles and ideas. Hoped – yes; expected – no. So…
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Over the past few weeks, I feel like I’ve been writing about penises and phallocentrism a lot for you here at Lip. The irony is, of course, that my writing has become phallocentric. Badum, tish! Nonetheless, if you are a woman who has sex with men, this may be the case throughout your life. Unlike…
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Upon the genesis of this column, I expressed my hesitance about writing a column of this sort. I was afraid my metaphorical pen would reveal too much about me or disclose secrets too dangerous to give away. Disclose too much indeed. I am afraid we have long since crossed that line and are now…
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Not everyone wants a ‘bulbous veined dick’ inside them. With this in mind, Newcastle-based artist Emilie Jeine Amaryllis has replaced the phallus with fists and other gestures in an installation resembling strap-ons. ‘Patriarchy and penises are everywhere and as a feminist lesbian, I want to challenge these things,’ Emilie says of the exhibition, which aims…
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