• Tarra and Angelo – Hot Massage (a tasty gallery from this video is after the jump below)
• Shyla and Jennifer – Soft Playground
• Holly M. – Solitude (with glass toy)
• Lily B. – Lonely Passion
• Abigail, Denisa and Matt – Loving It
• Dani D. – Wet Connection

I’m more a fan of tattoos than body painting, but that may be the result of growing up as a Goth punk girl in the birthplace of the hippie movement: body painting was what my mom and her stoner Silicon Valley engineer pals would be into. And then Burning Man happened! Ugh! Distaste! However, the paintings of Gesine Marwedel have such lovely canvases – the soft, warm and sometimes shyly smiling bodies of pretty naked girls. These human art cars get a pass. This fun find is via one of my favorite Buzzfeed staff contribs the fabulous Donna D.

The “Bare Breasted Countess” has died. It has been confirmed that actress Lina Romay, x-rated horror actress from Europe’s heady heyday of blood-spattered lesbian vampire films of the 1970s, died on February 15.

If you’re not familiar with Romay’s work, and you like cheesy horror films that take themselves seriously as art films, I highly recommend that you investigate the truly strange and sexy, cinematographically rich films she starred in. Her more notorious appearances were in films made by Spain’s legendary Giallo and horror director Jess Franco, and she was seen as his muse.

In Video Watchdog’s beautiful obituary for Lina Romay they write (snipped):

[Lina Romay] came to Franco’s attention as the movie-loving girlfriend of his stills photographer Ramon Ardid. Their attraction ended Franco’s marriage. For Franco’s part, having found it difficult to reassemble himself following the 1970 accidental death of his most promising actress Soledad Miranda, he claimed to sense a reincarnation of Soledad in Lina, and she – who never met her predecessor – claimed to sense her presence watching over them at times, as if from within.

Her first starring role for Franco was 1973′s FEMALE VAMPIRE, which exists in no fewer than three distinct variants: mainstream, erotic and hardcore.

A self-proclaimed exhibitionist, Lina had no problem with performing hardcore straight or lesbian acts onscreen, and she was adamant offscreen that these were things she did in character, not as herself.

(…) As Franco’s muse, she inspired and facilitated as many as 200 or more films, and in many of them she withheld nothing of herself from his voracious camera, body or soul.

Theirs was an ideal meeting of exhibitionist and voyeur, both giving generously to one another in one of cinema’s most provocative love stories. (…read more, videowatchdog.blogspot.com)

I’m a big fan of the genre Romay embodied, and she was a central part of the Euro-sex-horror films that shaped me as a young Violet. In 1999 I wrote my first work-for-hire article about these films, published on Gothic.net, discussing the forbidden sexuality they explored and suggested, and the art of depicting the erotic, murderous female sadist on film.

I republished my 1999 article The Cult of the Fallen Woman on Mubi, but here is an excerpt of I wrote about my favorite Lina Romay film, The Bare Breasted Countess:

Jess Franco, a man with a reputation for many excesses himself, came from Spain to direct literally hundreds of films. The manner of production and perhaps also the sheer volume of projects have branded him as Europe’s Ed Wood, with campy hit and miss movies that are mostly miss and whose weaknesses lie sadly in production values.

But when Franco is on, you are captive to nothing short of brilliant filmmaking and feel as though someone is passionately trying to tell you something. Such is the case with The Bare Breasted Countess, made in 1973 and starring Franco’s fetish-actress Lina Romay.

This X-rated confection centers on the delectable Romay as the mute and mysterious Countess Irena Karnstein taking a bloody little (then present-day) holiday in Portugal. Apparently for our vamp, her sustenance is only satisfying when orally extracted from trouser snakes and sweaty little crevasses, a display of nature at its best.

Romay’s portrayal of unconscious animal eroticism is flawless, the story ends rather nicely, and the entire film is a pleasure to consume.

Lina Romay was in a wide variety of films (below is Doriana Grey), and was also a director. She will not be forgotten.

• Courtney Foxxx (above)
• Tess Lyndon
• Ines

• Gallery of Stacey solo here (from above video)

• Silvie
• Tabitha
• Georgia and Faye

• Livia and Nailah
• Nikka and Luka
• Quinn (interesting comment about her at Occupy Melbourne)

• Yulianna
• Kami
• Lilya

• Altporn: Ariel and Arden
• Altporn: Roggie
• Altporn: Powpow (picture at right)

• Gallery of Lorena and Belinda (in above video)

This is one of those instances where it really pays to track down the story source. And these photos taken inside a Chinese condom factory require explanation – as well as the interesting story behind Reuters’ visit inside the Safedom condom factory in China on February 6. Buzzfeed has a big post up today with most of the photos and no explanation or timestamp, and it took me some tracking to find out what’s going on here and why. I hate it when people post sex items and just leave us guessing…

To see all of the compelling photos from inside a Chinese condom factory taken this month – with captions explaining what is is each photo and all of the photos, visit How Are Condoms Made? Manufacture of Chinese ‘Safedom Condoms’ (International Business Times).

To read the full story as to what happened when Reuters visited the factory just before Valentine’s Day, read The long and the short of it by David Grey (Photographers Blog, Reuters).

Snip:

(…) Safedom turned its back on the low-margin, guaranteed-business sales to the Chinese government’s family planning program 11 months ago, and decided to shift to where the money is: the higher end of the general public market.

Claiming to be the fourth-largest condom maker in China by revenue, after three foreign brands [VB note: Safedom sold over 200 million condoms in 2011], they are hoping to sell one billion condoms this year with the launch of its “Take Me” condom, aimed at women consumers, and partnerships with French, Italian, German and UK condom makers. (…read more, blogs.reuters.com)

• Yes, that’s Kink.com, San Francisco (and Lorelei Lee) in the above trailer for Cherry. The two competing Linda Lovelace biopics aren’t the only movies about the porn industry that will be arriving in theaters soon. There is also Cherry, the new film from writer/director Stephen Elliott that includes James Franco, Dev Patel, Lili Taylor, and Heather Graham.
  First Trailer For Porn Drama Cherry, Starring James Franco And Heather Graham (CinemaBlend)

• The Spermcheck Fertility Home Sperm Test (spermcheck.com) is over-the-counter, fast, FDA-approved and claims to be 98% accurate.
  The First FDA-Approved Home Sperm Count Test Is Now Available (Gizmodo)

• A British couple raised their child as “gender neutral” to avoid stereotypes. Why are people so upset about it?
  Parents Who Hid Child’s Gender for Five Years Now Face Backlash (TIME)

• Former head of the International Monetary Fund Dominique Strauss-Kahn is to be formally questioned about his alleged links to an illegal prostitution ring and the misuse of company funds. In just nine months he has been publicly embroiled in three sex scandals; in May 2011 he was charged with sexually assaulting a New York hotel maid.
  Dominique Strauss-Kahn quizzed about sex and fraud allegations (Guardian UK)

• Despite the myriad serious issues the U.S. faces, the top item on Rick Santorum’s “Issues” page is “Enforcing Laws Against Illegal Pornography.”
  Rick Santorum’s Top Issue: Stopping Porn (Think Progress)

• Superb sex journalist Chris Hall writes, “​One of the things that sets my teeth on edge about what an old friend calls San Francisco’s ‘Kinky Konfederacy’ – the loose affiliation of queers, kinksters, fetishists, swingers, pornographers, sex workers, and perverts who band together under the ethic of sex positivity – is the idea that sex should somehow be “spiritual.’”
  Why Sex Is Not Spiritual (The Exhibitionist, SF Weekly)

• Vulture chatted with Portlandia’s cerebral stars who speak in the earnest, enunciated tones of NPR commentators — but are totally game to also elaborate on the finer points of sex scenes and the creative crush on Werner Herzog.
  Portlandia’s Fred Armisen and Carrie Brownstein on Awkward Sex Scenes and Pining for Werner Herzog (Vulture)

• Adult film producers in Los Angeles, the home of America’s multi-million dollar pornography industry, have threatened to boycott the city in response to new rules forcing its actors to use condoms while performing in erotic films.
  Porn industry threatens to boycott Los Angeles over new condom law (Telegraph)

• Kimberly Kane writes at VICE Mag, “The gay porn industry is largely condom-only but doesn’t require testing. If the straight industry adopted these same standards, performers would be less safe because condoms break.”
  This Porn Star Doesn’t Think Much of the LA Condom Law (VICE)

• Jon Hamm, best known for playing Don Draper in 1960s advertising drama Mad Men, took on several different jobs as he struggled to land acting work, with his stint as a set designer on adult movies among the most memorable.
  Jon Hamm had porn job (NZCity)

• Connie and Aaron (above)
• Eufrat and Silvie
• Carmen – poolside

Maybe don’t put your nuts there. Video: Вот для чего нужно ходить в спортзал женщинам (via)

Above is the video for freshly updated BAMBI Magazine (its brand-new issue #9), and this delicious video is the first thing you see when you enter the website (sound alert on all bambimagazine.com links).

Holy melting cupcake frosting – seriously, if you watch any dirty videos this week, please do make sure to click play on the one above. It is rubber and oil foreplay of the finest kind.

BAMBI Magazine features scores of erotic fashion photographers and a good variety of models – mostly nude, of course (otherwise I wouldn’t bother sending you there) with a heavy framework of refined eroticism. And let me just say that fans of Ellen Von Unwerth’s style will love this new issue.

Oh, you naughty avant garde 1960s sex kittens… how I love you! And how I love Helen Mirren. This lesser-known video of Mirren is a scene from the movie Herostratus (1967), directed by experimental filmmaker Don Levy. This is beautiful-at-any-age Dame Helen Mirren in one of her first movie appearances.

Just found this sexy tease of a video, Jizz by Jason Last (also: here is Jason Last’s website). It features model Carmen Solomons in jewelry by Bliss Lau (OMG WANT) and music by Isaiah Toothtaker.

This is a big Sex News post, with a lot of links worth looking at. We had to do a little server maintenance this week, and I apologize for the backlog (but now we’re sleeker than ever on the, er, back end).

• In case you were wondering, the photos from a Chinese sex doll factory Reuters released as a slideshow for Valentine’s Day are different than the Reuters photos from a Chinese sex doll factory in 2007.
  Sex doll factory (Reuters, above image via)

• Facebook censorship policies leaked, Reddit is backed into a corner over sexualized images of children; an Iranian developer is about to be executed over suspected porn website work, Pinterest gets porn clones, Sears goes NSFW, YouPorn goes Redis, we see data from a year in adult apps and more.
  Sex Tech: Facebook Guidelines Leaked, YouPorn Redis, Sears, Reddit, Pinterest Porn (ZDNet)

• Fleshbot has been “sold” to its current editor. FWIW, I was its second employee and ran the site off and on with the original editor until we both left in 2008. Needless to say, it was the opposite of what Reuters calls an “industry mouthpiece” when we ran it. In my opinion, interpreting the site’s fate as indicative of the profitability of porn blogs is genuinely misinformed.
  Gawker Media jettisons its porn blog (Felix Salmon, Reuters)

• Rick Santorum thinks that your sex life should be a matter of public policy. His version of what he thinks is right for your sex life, that is.
  Rick Santorum Wants Your Sex Life to Be ‘Special’ (The Atlantic)

• Public abduction role-playing fantasies gone terribly wrong: A couple in Portland, Ore., was arrested on Tuesday and charged with disorderly conduct after police responded to a report of a car with a naked woman bound in the back and duct tape covering her mouth.
  Valentine’s Sex Role-playing In Subaru Ends In Arrests (Fox News)

• Newsweek made several versions of their cover for “The Politics of Sex” issue; the rejected ones are entertaining, though somewhat uncomfortably caucasian. However, here’s hoping Newsweek learns to title their Tumblr posts better in the future.
  Rejected Newsweek Contraception Covers (Newsweek Tumblr, image via)

• Claire Sinclair says she won’t press charges against 21-year-old son of Playboy legend Hugh Hefner, who was arrested for domestic abuse Sunday night, as long as he tells everyone he’s sorry.
  Hugh Hefner’s son slapped with restraining order from Playmate of the Year girlfriend he allegedly attacked (NY Daily News)

• An entrepreneur in South East England is fighting New Forest District Council’s bid to shut down his swingers club after the authority said the hotspot was attracting too much traffic and blighting rural Hampshire. The JCT2 club in a private house has two well stocked dungeons, which can be rented, with items including a grope box and spanking benches.
  Sex club ban for the king of the swingers (Get Reading: Reading Post)

• A research team has found that HIV-resistant sex workers in Africa have a weak inflammatory response in their vaginas – a surprise for the researchers, who were expecting the contrary considering the women’s high exposure to the virus.
  Some African Sex Workers Are Naturally HIV Resistant (Newswise)

• To help people avoid fucking up on Valentine’s Day, San Francisco-based magazine The Bold Italic made this graphic comic.
  Love Is(n’t) (Buzzfeed)

• Internet dating sites claim to have brought science to the age-old question of how to pair off successfully. But have they?
  Sex and love: The modern matchmakers (The Economist)

• Welcoming Eros Blog into the sex blog decade club this year is a joyful thing. (Tinynibbles is now 11 years old!) Herewith: Anil Dash, the Spice Girl who enjoyed a good sex spanking, carrots and candy where it doesn’t belong…
  10 Years Of Sex Blogging: Best Of ErosBlog 2002 (Eros Blog)

What Makes A Baby is Not Just Another Kickstarter – by a longshot. First of all, I rarely see Kickstarter projects that take off with such an overwhelming buy-in of support. To say that it’s popular is an understatement! The project hit $14,000 in the first day and the financial support is not dying down: it has more than doubled in just a few days. For $10 you’ll get a free digital version of the book and for $25 you’ll get a real-life paper version of the book when it comes out.

What Makes A Baby is a planned book project by sex educator, colleague and friend Cory Silverberg. It’s to be a modern children’s picture book about, well, where babies come from. Cory explained in an email,

For years I’ve dreamed about crafting a series of books for kids and parents that would be equal parts friendly, inclusive sex education and beautiful book. Then, my friend’s four-year-old son needed a book that would include his family’s story. Nothing did. So I seized the moment and wrote something that works for every kind of family and every kind of kid, regardless of embodied identities, gender, orientation, family make up, or how kids were brought into the world and into their families.

It’s not easy, but I believe that it’s possible to acknowledge our differences while also reminding ourselves that as humans, there are experiences we all share.

Check out the love on the What Makes A Baby Kickstarter page – and donate if you want to see it turn into a series of books, which is what we’re hoping for.

Friend and uber-talented photographer/videographer Dave Naz messaged me a day ago with one of his new videos – and I’m excited to see he’s been really prolific lately! Above is Caroline Aquino in rope bondage. The rope rigging was done by Damon Pierce, music is by Thee Oh Sees on In The Red Records. Special star-turn appearance by Mochi the super pug! Dave’s Vimeo channel is well worth following.

You may remember that last weekend I did an Eye Candy post called Pretty Porn Saturday – and remarked that I’d like to do a matching post with pretty porn that is a little more… intense.

These new galleries and videos are dirty, though they’re from professional studios and not gritty/amateur. This stuff is still hardcore. (Everything selected here is consensual, safe and desired.) The intensity begins in France… And gets extreme in San Francisco toward the bottom of this post.

• Hennesy
• Gina Summers (casting session)
• Nikita Bellucci (pictured above)
• Liza Del Sierra, Angell summers and Tifof
• Liza Del Sierra, Angell Summers – fisting, more
• Explicite’s new ‘best of blowjobs’
• Explicite’s new ‘best of ass’
• Coco Charnelle, BSDM with Rico
• Tattooed Kenza Sucke, anal with Mike Angelo
• Miss Lilith, DP

American porn

• Round and Brown (above)
• Racel Luv: in the dungeon
• Sophis Jade: in glasses and bondage
• Chrissy Daniels: redhead and sex machine
• In the VIP: One
• In the VIP: Two
• In the VIP: Three
• Mike’s Apartment
• Boys First Time (male-male)
• We Live Together (at right)
• Monster Curves
• Big Naturals
• Jules Jordan

Newest San Francisco Kink galleries and videos (as of today)

• Divine Bitches (Lorelei Lee tops a lucky male submissive) (pictured above)
• TS Seduction (also: Tiffany Star and my TS crush Danni Daniels in feature film Cabaret)
• Whipped Ass (BDSM girl-girl)
• Ultimate Surrender (girl-girl hardcore wrestling)
• Upper Floor (four female slaves, elite setting)
• Sex and Submission (female submissive, male dominant)
• Public Disgrace (consensual public sex and female submission)
• Men In Pain (two girls, one boy, strap-ons and male submission)

Talk about an aptly-named website… Pretty Fucking Hot is a porn paysite that just soft-launched – and I think it is drop-dead hot. If they keep this up, they’ll be in regular rotation around here. Pretty Fucking Hot is a video-focused girl-girl site that combines Andre Blake aesthetics with non-standard G-G orgasm seeking scenes, and tech-forward delivery methods; HTML5 with Flash fallback.

There is a good amount of free deliciousness on the main site; go to their Tumblr Pretty Hot [dot] Me if you want to get happy and turned on in about two seconds (they’re also at Fuck Me Pretty on Twitter).

They’re cool people, too – they’re all smiley and dirty sunshine in my inbox this week. That’s how I know they’re awesome and open source fanatics (the site is Ubuntu + Drupal and other goodies). YAY!

The CEO tells me,

I feel too many studios become complacent with their methods of production and continue to do the same thing over and over.

We prefer to be more disruptive and keep asking ourselves & our members, “What can we do better?”

He created and runs PFH with his “better half.”

Love. Them.

Screenshot from inside the paywall:

When Apple shut out several thousands of app developers from the IOS market in 2010, then-fledgling adult app company MiKandi welcomed devs with open arms. Since then MiKandi has become the leading adult app maker and has energized the space with its own third-party app market. This had a number of interesting effects on the market, but notably, their continual success has shown that being a third party app market is viable.

Yesterday they posted this really fun infographic featuring data porn made from 2011. It’s too big to put on my front page (and too NSFW to put on CBSi), but it’s funny and clever and I think you’ll want to hop over to their blog to check it out. The accompanying post talks a bit about being an indie app market. I’m just pleased to see that Apple shutting out sex didn’t mean the death of apps for grown-ups, but instead showed what a tiny company could do with a fraction of the market, talent and money that Apple left on the table. Meanwhile, I hope certain Android marketplaces give this area a good look and consider not treating adult apps like a red-headed stepchild and instead adopt a successful model toward sensible inclusiveness within the business/community space (a perfect example of this inclusiveness and wider success is Tumblr).

It’s Princess Donna, Lorelei Lee, and Isis Love in the trailer for Public Sex, Private Lives – which looks to be amazing (update: website is now live).

Thank goodness that we live in the era that porn performers, dominatrixes and sex workers can now finally *actually* describe the work they do and what it means for them in their own words (as opposed to the past where others speak – often incorrectly – for these women). No more.

When the first generation of OhMiBod vibrators came out, I’ll admit that I wasn’t terribly impressed. I reviewed OhMiBod’s Naughtibod for MacLife in 2008, and found it to be a somewhat clunky (and loud) iPod vibe. Like other similar toys, the Naughtibod connected to an iPod and pulsed to the beat of whatever song you were playing.

Four years later, and now OhMiBod has a number of truly superb high-tech sex toys – and the quality of their products is excellent. OhMiBod also has their own app for remote controlling their toys with music (a sex app designed by a female developer).

I picked up an OhMiBod Freestyle W ($130) over the recent holidays, but never got a chance to crack the cellophane. When I was told that an unusual new vibrator app especially for OhMiBod products – Closer ToGetHer – was coming out in time for Valentine’s Day, I thought it was finally time to do an unboxing.

This toy is an exquisite gift. Solid in hand, its silky-smooth silicone makes it a just-right combination of hygienic (it’s sterilizable and non-porous) and sexytime inviting. The Freestyle W is designed much like the popular Rabbit style vibe: it is intended for simultaneous vaginal penetration and clitoral stimulation. It’s a seriously reliable pleasure combination, although it bears mention that this vibe-style can be safely and pleasurably enjoyed by those who may want a top-shelf toy for anal penetration. My only quibble is that there is a slight seam in the silicone from the molding process, but the silicone is so smooth and soft it’s not likely to be noticeable.

The Freestyle W is rechargeable, quiet and has seven pre-programmed vibration patterns; it can also be operated manually. The vibration can also be music-driven – wirelessly up to 25 feet away from the transmitter, which hooks up to your music source (phone, iPod, etc). With the OhMiBod app, it can be wirelessly controlled from an iPhone or iPad.

Just launched today, February 13, is the CloserToGether OhMiBod Android and Apple app ($9.99). It’s an interesting app that lets you control the vibration of your partner’s phone or OhMiBod vibrator remotely, even if you have an iPhone in San Francisco and your lover has an Android in New York. I haven’t tried it (I’m currently flying solo) but I really want to.

If you get to play with it, and you feel like sharing the technical details of your experience, please do let me know how it goes…

Photo of my Freestyle W unboxing taken with my Android Galaxy Nexus.

It’s no secret that I’m a huge Game of Thrones fan (and someone there is a fan of mine); these fantastic Game of Thrones Valentines are by artist Chris Bishop.

Bishop’s art is funny and sometimes dirty, and you should seriously investigate his work – do it for science, good people. He has a large printable version of the Thrones Valentines here, and art prints with the same characters for sale at House Stark and just about everyone.

As fate would have it, this morning I began reading Geoffrey Gray’s Skyjack: The Hunt for D.B. Cooper, about the only unsolved skyjacking in U.S. aviation history. An early portion of the book is devoted to the fascinating and horrifying conditions under which stewardesses were expected to work in 1971, at the time of the skyjacking. Marketed quite explicitly as sex objects, they were costumed to please (generally much older) businessmen, and expected not just to smile but to titillate. One airline, Braniff International, even instituted The Airstrip, with stewardesses peeling off breakaway uniforms in-flight.

And, perhaps most famously, stewardesses in 1971 could be fired for gaining weight. Gray relates the story of how the stewardess who would later receive Cooper’s skyjacking note was called into the airline’s office, ordered to get on a scale, and when she turned out to weigh 185 pounds, was placed on 30 days unpaid leave. She dropped her weight with diet pills and got her job back.

That kind of employment discrimination sounds like it should be ancient history in any business, right? Not entirely in the airline industry. (Also, see the fourth item down in this Nibbles.) And not in the casino trade, where a 7% weight gain can get you fired as one of Atlantic City’s Borgata Babes.

An article by Paul McGeough in Australia’s the Sydney Morning Herald relates complaints by female employees at Sydney’s Star casino, which recently got a makeover by Larry Mullen and Sid Vaikunta, the wunderkinder who opened Atlantic City’s Borgata Hotel & Casino. The scantily clad “Borgata Babes” form one of the casino’s main selling points in a town that’s seen its revenues crash in recent years. There was even a Babes of Borgata calendar back in 2009, from which the lead image of this post is taken, although it doesn’t appear to have become an annual tradition.

The Borgata is trying to sell Vegas glitz as Atlantic City tries to compete with the easier, sleazier casinos opening throughout the Northeast, closer to many population centers and cheaper to reach and stay at. This part won’t surprise anyone who’s been to any casino on the Vegas Strip:

Borgata took Atlantic City by storm when it opened in 2003. In a city that tries, maybe too hard, to live up to its motto – ”Always turned on” – the management decreed there would be no Bibles in the rooms and no fat or wrinkles on the sprawling gaming floor.

The first new casino in Atlantic City in more than a decade, the $1.1 billion Borgata effectively launched the campaign for the city to be more like Las Vegas than a ”dilapidated step-sister” of the Nevada city, as it was described at the time…The city’s dozen other casinos soon went the Borgata way.

…The Borgata Babes are subjected to random weigh-ins. Those who gain more than 7 per cent of their approved weight are suspended without pay for up to 90 days — and then fired unless they lose the extra kilograms.

In 2006, two former Borgata staff sued for $70 million, alleging a ”sexual and gender-hostile environment and sex discrimination”. The case was settled out of court.

The issue simmered until last year, with a raft of claims against the nearby Resorts Casino Hotel, where cocktail waitresses who were called in for a photo shoot were shocked to find that instead of checking to see if their skimpy new flapper-style uniforms fitted them, their employer in fact was checking to see if they fitted the new uniforms. Those who did not were sacked for ”violating uniform standards”.

…With more than 40 years in the business, Dennis Gomes, the owner of Resorts and a named defendant in the women’s legal action, firmly believes sex sells.

He predicted the casino would be found to have acted within the law, explaining: ”If a woman looks good in the uniform it doesn’t matter what age she is … but if you are walking through and you come across someone who looks atrocious, it breaks the flow.”

Joe Lupo, the senior vice-president of operations at Borgata, said: ”It’s not about objectifying women – they are our ambassadors and we’re very proud of them. It’s a very good place to work – we have 6000 staff and I’d like to think they all are happy.”

[Link.]

McGeough wouldn’t know if they’re happy, since the reporter is explicitly not allowed by Sydney Star management to ask the waitresses. The Borgata’s policy dates back to 2005, so this obviously isn’t some grandfathered-in standard. As it turns out, this kind of employment discrimination hasn’t been found illegal under New Jersey case law. Attorney Kevin Costello, who represented some of the Resorts plaintiffs, said Atlantic City casinos will keep doing it until there’s “a definitive ruling.” It also doesn’t appear to be illegal in Australia.

Amusingly, a 2007 New York Times article about the pesky bust of a $22 million illegal betting ring operated out of the Borgata’s poker room (including four alleged Mob affiliates) refered to the Borgata Babes’ iconic black dresses only as “economical.” The dresses were spawned by fashion designer Zac Posen and are unlikely to get fugged at Hotel Chatter’s Uncool Uniforms List anytime soon.

But are they sexist per se, or can being a Borgata Babe be considered something like being a stripper, where club management routinely enforces restrictive standards of weight, age, and “looks,” or one of the many other kind of sex workers where the informal economy of client preference (or perceived client preference) does it instead?

Er…personally, I’m not so sure. Porn performers, strippers, or other sex workers are hired to stimulate us visually or otherwise meet our sexual needs — that’s part of the bargain. It’s the reason society discriminates against them in every conceivable way, from banking to renting an apartment to having relationships. But unlike sex workers, aren’t cocktail servers and flight attendants supposed to be serving me fucking drinks, not making my dick hard? I see the attempt to coerce non-sex-worker female employees into what amounts to a sexual transaction as being part of the same sickness that says sex work isn’t real work. It’s also a symptom of the same cancer that creates a media explosion whenever a Hollywood actress takes her clothes off, in a world where seeing naked breasts is as easy as turning off SafeSearch. Female sex appeal is treated like it’s priceless…unless it’s offered freely, as part of an agreed-upon sexual exchange. Then it’s treated like it’s worthless.

In any event, judgments of beauty and sexiness are to some degree unavoidable in sex work, but do they belong in other fields? Porn and stripping may be far more looksist than many consumers and workers may like, but in sex work a customer’s sexual interests are part of the transaction. With waitressing, enforcing them at a management level adds up to coercion. When the manager at Resorts says things like “If you are walking through [the casino] and you come across someone who looks atrocious, it breaks the flow,” is he trying to add a few zeros to the end of the next out-of-court settlement?

Image from the Babes of Borgata 2009 Calendar, via NBC 10 Philadelphia.

Photographer Chi Lum’s website is really clunky to navigate, but I think the erotic photos are remarkable and worth having to click the little numbers at the top of each page. My friends will love all the alt girls looking sexy in edgy bondage (like this one). This is a great late night find via Sex in Art.

No, I’m not sure what Lovehoney UK is up to in this video – but it sure is fun to watch.

• This year NYC’s Museum of Sex will extends its hours and gives away sexy fortune cookies to all museum visitors as well as offering special ticket and erotic gift packages, aphrodisiacs at the OralFix Aphrodisiac Bar and naughty gifts. Celebrate Valentine’s Day at the NYC Museum of Sex with Extended Hours and Special Packages (press release)

• Babeland will hand deliver sex toys and more door-to-door in Seattle and New York: Babeland Locations Offer Free Bicycle Delivery On Valentine’s Day (TN)

• If life has gotten in the way of making plans for Valentine’s Day – don’t worry – Visit California has you covered, with nearly 90 getaways you can book now, whether your vision of romance is a candlelit dinner or a moonlit picnic (including the Joie de Vive Hotels Violet Blue sex and romance getaway). Get Romantic in California with Last-Minute Valentine’s Day Getaways (Sacramento Bee)

• I just went to this – it’s awesome. Sexual cannibalism, gender-bending moves … The animal kingdom can be one kinky place, as evidenced by Animal Attraction, a just-in-time-for-Valentine’s exhibit opening Feb. 11 at the California Academy of Sciences Aquarium. Sexual cannibalism, extreme mating on view at S.F. museum (USATODAY)

Explicit Valentine’s Erotica

Red roses make me sick, the only little deaths I want in my bedroom are the 6 second kind. I’d rather have you hand feed me your come than heart shaped chocolates, and I’d rather wear your bruises than my diamonds.

But I’ve decided that I will be taken advantage of. I will be swept off my feet and I will be laid waste to on Valentine’s Day.

So I’ve gift-wrapped myself for you, you bastard. (…read more from “Gift Wrapped” – Valentine’s Poll)

• Bestselling erotic author Alison Tyler has a selection of very short smutty stories just published on her blog for Valentine’s Day – and she wants you to read them and vote on your favorite – her Smut Bites are a highly recommended distraction… Inappropriate Gifts and More: Valentine’s Poll (Trollop with a Laptop)

• I bought this two nights ago; it’s really hot. New Ebook Edition of Francesca Lia Block’s Erotic Classic ‘Nymph’ on Sale Through Valentine’s Day

• More explicit erotica, free: Treat for Valentines: Explicit Erotica – “Sweets for the Sweet” by Isabelle Nathe

• Even more free erotica! [Audio MP3] Open Source Sex 81: Valentine’s Dance

• A woman with the world’s largest breast implants walked away from a car crash unscathed claiming her huge boobs saved her life. Sheyla Hershey’s massive 38KKK breasts had an airbag effect, protecting the rest of her body from injury in the smash. My giant boobs saved my life! Woman claims 38KKK implants protected her in horror smash (Mirror Online)

• Following in the footsteps of Ralph Finnes, Daniel Radcliffe read a dirty fanfic story written by an author who goes by the pseudonym “Hairy Potter.” Daniel Radcliffe Reads Aloud “Harry Potter” Fan Fiction (Buzzfeed)

• The EFF exposes and rates online dating site privacy issues, a Facebook sex predator scams underage girls, Pakistan goes postal with censorship, and a serious long-term study finds there’s no science in online matchmaking. Sex Tech: EFF Exposes Dating Site Security, Fileporn Shutdown, Facebook Sex Predator (ZDNet)

• Looks like Brazzers has been hacked. A hacker claims to have compromised the personal information of more than 350,000 users after breaking into a discussion forum maintained by pornography website Brazzers. Hacker Claims Porn Site Users Compromised (ABC News)

• The Australian Sex Party is considering legal action after the Queensland Electoral Commission denied the registered political party’s candidate a spot on the state’s March 24 parliamentary ballot. Oz Sex Party Ruled Out of Queensland Election (YNOT)

• Remember that old VH1 reality show The Pickup Artist with that lanky host called “Mystery” teaching people how to insult girls then hit on them when their self esteem is shattered? His top rival is giving advice to attendees at conservative mega-conference CPAC on how to get some. CPAC Wants To Help You Get A Hot Conservative Date (Talking Points Memo)

• Senator seeks to outlaw masturbation in anti-abortion legislation: “… any action in which a man ejaculates or otherwise deposits semen anywhere but in a woman’s vagina shall be interpreted and construed as an action against an unborn child.” Pro-Choice Oklahoma Senator Adds Amendment To Pro-Life Bill That Would Make Masturbation Illegal (Buzzfeed)

• Film critic watches the new Crazy Horse documentary and seems disappointed that it’s not a turn-on. Richard Schickel: ‘Crazy Horse’: A Study in Erotic Abstraction (Truthdig)

• I am so excited to see rising star, queer porn director Courtney Trouble on the cover of SF’s premiere local print weekly! Naked! San Francisco adult stars storm the red carpet at the AVN Awards, a.k.a. the ‘Oscars of porn’. Queer and Boning in Las Vegas (San Francisco Bay Guardian)

• Why does it seem like young Japanese men losing interest in sex? Surveys suggest that many young Japanese men just aren’t interested in sex. But why? Can apps boost the Japanese male libido? (ZDNet)

• Juliette Lewis‘ publicist says it’s not her. But it sure looks like her, having porno-style sex with Terry Richardson… Yes, This Is a Picture of Terry Richardson Fucking (Someone Who Looks Like Juliette Lewis) [Update] (Gawker)

• The Etsy butt cleavage dress (at right), it looks drafty… Butt Cleavage Dress (Laughing Squid)

• Some Toronto exotic dancers say they’re being pressured into taking part in sex acts with customers due to open sex, orgies and wife-swapping taking place at local swingers clubs, their association says. Strippers complain about sex act demands (Toronto Sun)

• Sasha Grey insists she had nothing to do with a “pathetic” porn company’s attempt to donate proceeds from its new film “Anal Artists” to Read Across America. Sasha Grey: ‘Anal Artists’ Porn Co. Exploited Me AND Read Across America (TMZ)

• It isn’t every day that video from inside a routine legislative session causes an uproar big enough to force three politicians to resign all at once but that is just what happened in South India. Mixing porn and politics? (CNN)

• A Paris court is to rule on whether sex toys are erotic or pornographic after religious groups complained the sale of the items 100 yards from a school breaks French law. Paris court to rule on whether sex toys are ‘erotic’ or ‘pornographic’ (Telegraph)

• Of the seven countries that impose the death penalty for homosexuality, all are Muslim. Even when gays do not face execution, persecution is endemic. Islam and homosexuality: Straight but narrow (The Economist)

• Sex myths, get your sex myths… Dr. Marc Goldstein of Cornell University states that hormones don’t decide when you hit your sexual apex. Your “sexual peak” has more to do with your attitude toward sex and level of experience. 5 Ridiculous Sex Myths Everyone Believes (Cracked)

• Jason Andrews recently plead guilty to first-degree murder in order to avoid the death penalty. The 28-year-old man was known in the gay adult film industry as one of the many smooth, defined models in the huge stable of porn magnate Sean Cody’s website. Sean Cody Porn Star Pleads Guilty to First-Degree Murder (EDGE Boston)

As a side note, I think the next Eye Candy will be the opposite of the pretty pr0ns: gritty and rough. And if you have a minute, before enjoying the free hotness below please give a click to this week’s sponsor (woman-run) PV Locker.

• Connie and Aaron – Lovers in Paradise
• Erica – Double Pleasure
• Anneli, Leila and Mr. X – Menage a Trois (pictured above)

• I just noticed the hot new updates at I Feel Myself – front page goodness.
• Check out the super gorgeous new work with European fetish models that has just been added to Andrew Blake’s front page.

• Kaci and Jessy – Sunset Lovers
• Celeste (gorgeous girl!) – Pure Passion
• Shyla – All About
• Brittany and Maria – Pleasure for Two

• Mirabell – Sado Cellar
• Engelie and Tigra – Bed Buddies
• Kiki – Sweet Pink