A brief overview of what’s happened over the last week #InSearchOfPleasure.
Love wins in India, where homosexuality is no longer a crime
Starting 6 September, homosexuality is no longer a crime in India after the Supreme Court ruled to decriminalise gay sex that was categorised as “unnatural offence” under section 377 of the Indian Penal Code.
“Denial of self-expression is like death. Social morality cannot violate the rights of even one single individual. Sexual orientation is natural and people have no control on it,” Justice Misra stated.
First Pornhub Awards: virtual reality and Kanye West one-man show
Pornhub awards set in the year 6918 pic.twitter.com/en4tE5VSBv
— KANYE WEST (@kanyewest) September 7, 2018
Kanye West served as creative director for the first-ever PornHub Awards, hosted on Thursday night at the Belasco Theater in downtown Los Angeles.
Consistent with the futurist theme, the stage was lined with bright video screens on the ceiling and the walls to turn the show into a fashion shoot supposedly set in the year 6918 led by the erotic photographer Richard Kern.
According to RollingStone, the show began more than an hour after its scheduled start time and the show went on with organizational and tech problems. Kanye turned the event in his one-man show to show off his new Yeezy designs, to perform with label mate Teyana Taylor and debut his new music video for “I Love It,” a collaboration with Lil Pump. The winners were rewarded with neon dildo-shaped statuettes individually styled by Kanye to represent “imagined alien sex toys”.
It was the first award show to broadcast live over the Internet in virtual reality, using a website called Oasis.game.
BBC aired female orgasm for the first time ever
BBC’s ‘most X-rated drama ever’ Wanderlust features the channel’s first female orgasm as raunchy sex scenes leave viewers blushing https://t.co/WBhXAzHgTb pic.twitter.com/RmJuw1zM7k
— TODAY NEWS (@TODAY_NEWS_24) September 5, 2018
The new BBC-Netflix coproduction Wanderlust aired on September 4 with the first of the six episodes featuring BBC One’s first on-screen female orgasm. The drama’s about a therapist trying to reignite the spark in her relationship with her husband after a traumatic cycling accident.
The series is described as an “exploration of the relationships of a multi-generational family” that “asks if lifelong monogamy is possible – or even desirable”.
World Sexual Health Day
View this post on Instagram
September 4th was World Sexual Health Day, a celebration managed by the World Association for Sexual Health – global advocacy organization committed to promoting best practices in sexual health.
Nerve stimulation in the service of pleasure
The results of a pilot study carried out by two University of Michigan researchers indicate that Electrical Nerve Stimulation may improve sexual response in women with Female Sexual Dysfunction (FSD), a condition that ranges from a lack of libido to an inability to achieve orgasm.
The idea for the study came after the researchers learned that neuromodulation treatments for bladder dysfunction occasionally led to improvements in sexual function.
They involved nine women with FSD (and without bladder problems): each of them received 12 half-hour sessions of transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation with electrodes placed either in the genital region or on the ankle.
After the sessions, 8 of out the 9 women reported some improvement in arousal, lubrication and orgasm.
The team is currently seeking funding to carry out a larger study.
Films about sexuality and nudity at the 75th Venice International Film Festival
View this post on Instagram
Diversi film presentati al Felstival del Cinema di Venezia hanno toccato tematiche inerenti la sessualità e la nudità.
Zen in the Ice Rift
By the Italian Margherita Ferri. A film about gender identity, bullying, sexuality. It follows the life of a 16-year-old constantly bullied by her teammates and schoolmates – who’s the only woman in the local ice hockey team – and the search of her sexual identity outside the gender‐role stereotypes and the heteronormative models.
José
By Li Cheng. First film from Guatemala and winner of the Queer Lion Award for showing “the complexity of a same-sex relationship against the background of the harsh life in contemporary Guatemala”, a country that’s fighting a “Life and Family Protection” bill undermining the rights of women and LGBT people in the country.
Capri-Revolution
By Italian director Mario Martone. The film is set in 1914 and tells the story of an inquisitive young woman living in Capri, who stumbles upon a bohemian commune of naturists from northern Europe, embarking on a journey of sexual discovery and naturist dancing. The movie draws inspiration from the life of the German painter and social reformer Karl Wilhelm Diefenbach – pioneer of the naturist and the peace movements – who founded a commune based in Vienna and then moved to Capri, where he stayed until his death.
The Favourite
By Greek director Yorgo Lanthimos. The film won the Grand Jury Prize, the festival’s second-most prestigious. It’s a tale of female rivalry in Queen Anne’s court in 18th century England.
“The film portrays as lesbian affairs the close friendships the queen had with two confidants who were rivals for her affections and influence.” [The New York Times]
Kucumbu tubuh indahku (Memories of My Body)
By Garin Nugroho. The film tells the story of a dancer forced to move from village to village, mixing “elements of drama and socio-political commentary with a fluid exploration of dance, movement and sexual identity”. [ioncinema.com]
Italy’s First Sex Doll Brothel ‘Booked Out for Weeks’
Italy’s first sex doll brothel opened in Turin on Monday 3 September and is already fully booked for weeks. It’s the third Lumidolls brothel, following the first set up in Barcelona and the second opened in Moscow.
View this post on Instagram
Image source: independent.co.uk | AFP/Getty Images
