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Articles from around the world.

Sex Toy Designer Debuts “build-your-own Vibrator” Parties On Zoom

I was on a video chat with Ti Chang, vice president of design and founder of Crave, a San Francisco-based sex toy company, to literally build their newest product, the Duet Pro. It’s a customizable vibrator with vibrations you can program yourself through its associated app. That’s not the most intriguing part, though. The challenge, should you choose to accept it, is to order the vibe as a kit of parts and join a Zoom session—with strangers and a Crave technician—to build it together. Crave was conducting these Build-a-Vibe sessions in person at design conferences and events before the pandemic hit. Now, it’s taking them to Zoom. This tracks with recommendations about sex in a pandemic: Both the Mayo Clinic and the City of New York say the safest sex you can have is with yourself. (People seem to be heeding that advice—sex toy sales have increased since the pandemic hit.) “The whole reason we’ve decided to do this build [...]

By |2020-08-13T21:23:50+00:00August 13th, 2020|Articles|0 Comments
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Streetwalkers To Sweet Talkers: Chile’s Sex Workers Shift Online Amid Virus Lockdown

SANTIAGO (Reuters) - When the nightclub in which she touted for business in southern Chile was shut down by the authorities as the new coronavirus spread, sex worker Camila Hormazabal was left without access to her sole source of income. Camila Hormazabal, a 24-year-old sex worker, uses laptops to connect to the web and keep an online erotic meeting with a virtual customer in Concepcion, Chile April 7, 2020. Hormazabal reinvented herself offering sexual services online after the nightclub where she had worked was closed due to the outbreak of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19). Picture taken April 7, 2020. REUTERS/Juan Gonzalez The heavily-tattooed 24-year-old had been picking up clients in the downtown bar in Concepcion for four years, making around $715 a month. Overnight, her income disappeared. With no way to pay her bills, Camila switched to video calls conducted from her high-rise apartment bedroom, and asked her regulars to meet her online. “The calls bring in something, obviously it’s [...]

By |2020-05-11T17:47:06+00:00May 11th, 2020|Articles|0 Comments
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Coronavirus Fears Haven’t Stopped The Sex Trade On Los Angeles Streets

© Luis Sinco/Los Angeles Times/TNS LOS ANGELES, CALIF. - APR. 9, 2020. Dusk descends on the intersection of 51st and Figueroa streets in South Los Angeles where the highest number of prostitution-related arrests in the city are made. Armed with condoms and disposable thermometers, the outreach workers ventured out to streets in South Los Angeles notorious for sex trade activity. They expected that some women would still be working on this chilly Friday night in early April. But what they saw caught them off guard. Two weeks into the mandated state-at-home orders designed to curb the coronavirus pandemic, not only were sex workers out in pre-quarantine numbers — but so were the johns. "It was business as usual," said Stephany Powell, executive director of Journey Out, an L.A.-based nonprofit that helps victims of sex trafficking. The pandemic is devastating the global economy, and it has not spared sex workers. Strippers, escorts and porn performers are experiencing financial hardships, [...]

By |2020-04-18T05:31:45+00:00April 18th, 2020|Articles|0 Comments
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Cam Girls, Coronavirus And Sex Online Now

And as social distancing leaves her stuck inside, she has found herself working more than ever. Though she tends to work directly with individual customers through Discord, a chat app favored by video game players, she’s now using other platforms more, including Chaturbate, OnlyFans and Skype.  Many other cam girls are experiencing this. Though she’s working especially hard and acknowledges that sex work and the stigma attached to it can be difficult, she said she feels privileged that she’s able to work from home. “There has been a shift,” she said, “but it isn’t like I’ve suddenly had the rug pulled out from under me and I’m unemployed, you know?” The Economics of Camming Sex online, in general, seems through the roof. OnlyFans, a website where people subscribe to see the kind of pictures and videos that can’t be displayed on Instagram, reported a 75 percent increase in overall new sign-ups — 3.7 million new sign-ups [...]

By |2020-04-12T20:29:10+00:00April 12th, 2020|Articles|0 Comments
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Coronavirus Is Transforming Online Dating And Sex

Last week, as shutdowns and shelter-in-place orders became increasingly common, a mysterious Google Form circulated among students at the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School of Business: “Love Is Blind, Bschool Edition.” The name was inspired by the hit Netflix show where couples talk in isolated pods and subsequently get engaged without seeing each other. The rules are simple: Make a fake email address and tell the creators the business school you attend, your sexual orientation, and your gender identification. The creators randomize that information and set up a match, introducing a pair to each other for email correspondence via the fake address; after a week, texting or video is permitted. Welcome to dating and sex during the coronavirus pandemic. Dating apps have struggled; after all, the whole point of dating is to physically meet someone. Match—the company behind online dating giants Tinder and OkCupid—has seen stocks tumble 25%, and had to balance public health with mission statements. You can read [...]

By |2020-08-13T21:30:55+00:00April 4th, 2020|Articles|0 Comments
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Kylie Jenner Transforms Into Marilyn Monroe and Proves Diamonds Really Are a Girl’s Best Friend

Kylie Jenner is a material girl living in a material world. On the actual Halloween holiday on Thursday, the 22-year-old Keeping Up With the Kardashians star debuted a new Halloween costume, one of several seen in recent days. Kylie dressed up as late Hollywood sex icon and actress Marilyn Monroe from her performance of "Diamonds Are a Girl's Best Friend" from the 1953 film Gentlemen Prefer Blondes for a V magazine video cover shoot. Madonna famously paid tribute to it in her 1985 music video "Material Girl." For the shoot, the reality star wore a short blonde wig and magenta strapless dress, plus diamond jewelry. She was accompanied by a swarm of male models holding up red paper hearts. "In rocky times, there's a general notion that pop culture and its icons are gratuitous. 'How can you be talking about this while this is happening?' is the pervasive question," the magazine stated. "To a certain extent, that type of discourse [...]

By |2019-11-01T01:50:16+00:00October 31st, 2019|Articles|0 Comments
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D.C. leaders hear from public over proposal to decriminalize sex work

WASHINGTON - Five hours into a Thursday hearing on a controversial bill that would decriminalize the sex trade in the nation's capital, District of Columbia Councilmember Charles Allen, a Democrat, implored the crowd to settle down. He hammered his gavel. He called for a recess. But it was no use. Tensions and disagreements that had been simmering since the morning exploded on the floor before the council's Public Safety Committee. Sex workers and their supporters broke into chants of "decrim now!" as those opposed to the bill rose from their seats. Each side shook their heads at the other. The bill at the center of the hearing would amend existing city laws to eliminate criminal penalties for selling or buying sex in D.C. If passed, it would make the city the only U.S. jurisdiction to legalize prostitution, outside of some areas of Nevada where legal brothels exist. Prostitution involving minors and coercing others to engage in sex work against their [...]

By |2019-10-24T23:16:27+00:00October 24th, 2019|Articles|0 Comments
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Anna Wintour Officially Joins Megan Thee Stallion’s Hot Girl Movement During NYFW

Swan Gallet/WWD/Shutterstock Hot Girl Summer is still going strong, y'all! Megan Thee Stallion is making waves and turning heads during her New York Fashion Week debut. So much so that the legend herself, Anna Wintour, sat next to the rising star at the Coach 1941 Spring/Summer 2020 ready-to-wear collection on Tuesday afternoon. Naturally, the rapper enlisted Vogue's editor-in-chief into the "hot girl" movement. "HOT GIRL ANNA," the 24-year-old star shared on Instagram, alongside a photo of her posing with the Condé Nast artistic director, who sported large black sunglasses, an eye-catching emerald gown and her famous slick-straight bob. The two gazed upon Coach's latest and greatest pieces from the front row with Michael B. Jordan and Kyrie Irving seated next to them. And despite this being Megan's Fashion Week debut, she knocked it out of the park with her edgy ensemble. Showing her love for anime, the "Cash S--t" rapper donned a cropped Naruto t-shirt that she paired with a flirty mini leather skirt and thigh-high boots. Complementing her all-black outfit, she accessorized [...]

By |2019-09-14T17:00:31+00:00September 14th, 2019|Articles|0 Comments
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Megan Thee Stallion Host Star-Studded Pool Party in New ‘Hot Girl Summer’ Video

Megan Thee Stallion brings thee heat to a pumped-up pool party that goes nonstop day into night during her new “Hot Girl Summer” video. The track won an MTV Video Music Award (for Best Power Anthem) a week before the video even dropped. The rapper performed the song as well as “Cash Shit” during the MTV VMAs pre-show on August 26th In the new clip, social media star Jaimesha Thomas struggles to find the ideal Hot Girl Summer outfit and attitude to bring with her to the “hottest pool party of the summer.” She settles on a cowboy hat and long-sleeved paisley blouse before practicing her twerking skills and squats in the mirror. At the Stallion-hosted party, song collaborators Nicki Minaj and Ty Dolla $ign as well as track producer Juicy J dance and “drive the boat” (drink alcohol straight from the bottle). Thomas’ outfit transforms into a bright neon version, more appropriate for the festivities. Ari Lennox, Summer Walker [...]

By |2019-09-04T04:39:18+00:00September 4th, 2019|Articles|0 Comments
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7 Things You Need To Know Before Embarking On A Long-Distance Relationship

If you hear long-distance relationship and alarms go off in your head, warning you to run away, calm down for a sec. Whether you've tried it and failed at it already or never given an LDR a chance, Sussman says your ability to thrive in distant love might surprise you. "People should keep an open mind," she says, adding that if you meet your soul mate and they live elsewhere, it may be far more possible than you think to have a successful relationship across county lines. But there are ways to make LDRs suck less...and maybe even feel good. If the adage could be retroactively edited for accuracy, it would continue "...as long as you communicate properly and stick to a visiting schedule." Rachel Sussman, a relationship therapist in New York City, offers some expert-approved hacks to keep your long-distance relationship running as smooth as possible.1. Don't knock it till you try it. If you're in a long-distance relationship, [...]

By |2020-04-12T20:48:28+00:00March 4th, 2019|Articles|0 Comments
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