Pole Dancing - Women, Men, Dancers, Opposers duke it out

The BBC magazine site's hosting an interesting debate on the benefits of poledancing as an exercise activity. You can read it here. Some interesting comments, some downright nonsense, some male pole dancers and a surprising amount of men speaking out against it.

Choice quote:
It's exercise, is it? So you'll all be wearing trainers then? Jill Arscott, Brighton

Interesting reading.

Brain washing continues almost completely unabated

Last night I was watching some rollerblading competition on the Extreme channel. The guys had a skate off, then it was time for the girls comp.

Before we got to see any skating, though, we were audience to the delights of one hott young skater chic (Fallon Heffernan) waxing lyrical on the fun she had doing porno promo shots. The hott pics (her words, not mine) were good for the sport (apparently, again her words not mine).

Won't nudey pics of blonde hotties undermine the credibility of women's skating, and draw attention away from their talent and to their tits? I can hear you cry. That's what I thought too. But no, Fallon thinks it will draw more men (doesn't she mean viewers?) to women's competitions.

Ah, I see. So you don't want these men to come to see you skate your ass off, you want them to come to see your ass, cos that's what you're advertising love.

To further confuse and astound - Fallon is no Anna Kornikova (ie, cute looking but not so great at tennis), she's actually one of the top female aggressive skaters in the world, coming in the top 3 in world ranking competitions.

Yeh, the photo is Fallon.

Guniea pigs - designed by Nature to counteract the bad.

Letter to the man who should know better.

The past few weeks have been hard. Starting a new job is not easy at the best of times, but starting a new job when you can’t keep your head together when the ride is at its smoothest is no lark in the park.

I am hell to bear. I am nerves. I am frustration. I am disappointment. I am difficult. I am unpredicatable. I am distraught. I’m not happy.

But when I stop sulking, stop crying, stop pining, stop dreaming, the outside would have you believe it had all gone away. That’s their perception anyway. It’s a surprise when ugly comes back again, when sadness blows in again, when I crawl away, taking refuge from the world outside.

I’ve succeeded though, to go to work despite the overwhelming desperation to avoid. I have done my duty every day. Every one is nice. They’re all perfect. I am wrong.

I have to ‘get over it, to ‘put it into perspective’. Have to ignore it all and push it away.

I am so scared of failure. I am scared to fall. I have nowhere left for my thoughts to go.

I am a pain. I am an inconvenience. I am a parasite. I am ungrateful. I’m not what you thought you were getting. You can’t listen to me anymore. You yell. You cringe. You wait for it to blow up in your face.

I hate you for it.
You hate me for it.

Is this what 'last legs' feels like?

Noodle doodle

New doodle on Doodle Blog - note to self, neglect blog less.
x

The Dark Side of Porn

Channel 4 are screening a series of documentaries collectively entitled The Dark Side of Porn that might be worth a gander.

If you're outside the UK but would like to see these let me know and I can post you a recording of them. The schedule is as follows:

Monday April 10th 23:05
Amateur Porn
The season opener, Amateur Porn, reveals what really happens on the first rung of the UK's sex industry career ladder, where the girl-next-door comes cheap but the stakes are high.

Tuesday April 11th 23:05
Me and My Slaves

Wednesday April 12th 23:05
Hunting Emmanuelle
Hunting Emmanuelle takes a look at the cultural impact of the 70s porn franchise.

Coming of age

I am 1 year old. Today is my blogday.

Lets celebrate with a bottle of organic ale and a day-glo slice of cake.

I'm a goin' ramblin'

Rambling's something I think I will be doing a lot of in the next week or so. My new job is not exactly the environment for leopard print shoes, more the environment for browns, greens and walking boots.

They are also totally and utterly disorganised. Induction to them means traipsing me around some footpaths and ‘explaining’ to quickly, in language peppered with jargon, what they do and what they expect me to do. Two days in now, and none the wiser.

Today my Richard Thompson cd came. It was eagerly awaited after hearing this song and this song (sorry lyrics only) on the radio 2 folk show. It doesn’t have quite the same effect as when listened to in a small cottage on the west coast of rural Scotland – but it’s still great. It’s winter evening music, definitely, and will propel me back to the highlands upon each listen, which I appreciate.

I have to be clever with money from now on though because I want a scooter (still, I’ve wanted one since last summer) and plan to actually buy one at some point. My literally nonexistent savings can’t fund a purchase at this time though, so penny pinching will be my new plan.

I am also thinking of dyeing my hair bright red, the kind of red sported by Clemantine in ‘Eternal sunshine…’ or Lola in ‘Run Lola Run’. I am too stuck in my blonde ways though. This is something I will have to ease myself into.

Humph

I've been putting it off, and filling my time with other distractions, but I have to read all the submissons for Subtext today, and edit those still in need of it. I must. We're mocking up the design tomorrow.

Instead I want to write about pornography and erotic literature. For me, erotic literature is a-ok. I read it and get off on it, I wouldn't mind if my bed mate did either (hell, he proboaly does, I leave it lying around). I feel differently toward imagery though, and more specifically mainstream pornography of the type you see in Nuts/Zoo/FHM etc. I would not get off to this, and I wouldn't be ok about my bed buddy getting off to this either.

Where then are the fundamental differences by which I can draw a distinction?

1) Erotic fiction does not require an subject to be visually broken into pieces and objectified.
2) Erotic fiction does not focus on the appearance of a woman or her parts - rather it focuses on textures, sensations and draws shapes and appearance in the mind.
3) Fiction as opposed to visual pornography teachers the reader to build their own ideas of sexuality, sex and physicality. To read one has to be more involved in the process, and choose to give their attention to it, rather than being a recipient of imagery regardless of the type and style.
4) The male dominated realm of pornography is underminned by fictional erotica. Anyone can write it. 'Stars' can range from mundane to eccentric or stunning. It is as easy to create as it is to write a letter.
5) Imagination is a powerful tool. Through it we can explore and control what we want to 'see' and experieince.

I think I'm a bit hypo. I am bored of writing this. I pretty much constantly think about sex when I get like this. Is this what it's like to be a man?

I want to write 'stuff' but my mind is elsewhere (if you get my meaning, subtle isn't it).

Hmm, when we were interviewed about Subtext a couple of months ago we were asked if we would discuss sex much in the magazine. Maybe I will write a post on creating your own erotic fiction. LOL! I am being a moron. I think I should go back to bed.