Japanese women love to get naked… some people say

Without studies, control groups, or surveys to back them up, some are claiming that Japanese women love to strip for cameras. It seems that Japan’s production of 10,000 adult videos a year and the piles of amateur photos sent to men’s magazines indicate things are a little more awesome over there.

The argument goes that the ladies of Japan find nudity liberating. Examples include a 22-year old student who enjoys stripping for the attention. Another woman, 40+, poses for magazines as revenge against her cheating husband.

Hmm, I think a more formal study needs to be conducted before anything more definite can be claimed. I’ll ask around.

Sources: Japanator, Japan Today
Image: Adapted from feel your love! hug me! by Jesslee Cuizon under a CC-BY license.

Since When Is “Sex” A Bad Word?

When it’s on the radio, apparently. As a Canadian citizen, I have the ability to enjoy music on the radio. 91.7 The Bounce pipes in the American Top 40 on weekends, hosted by the ever-irritating Ryan Seacrest. One of the recent hits that’s been on the AT40, as well as frequently played on The Bounce during the week, is Jerimih’s Birthday Sex. It’s a catchy tune, and the phrase “birthday sex” is repeated many times in the song. It is not edited during regular play on The Bounce, but on the AT40, “sex” is replaced by a “shhh”.

I wasn’t aware that sex was a word to be equated with the worst of the worst. It is now one of those words that nobody dares to play during daytime television and anywhere on the radio. It’s among the ranks of fuck, shit, cunt, cock and the like. At least on Canadian stations, they still play hell, damn and sometimes even an ass slips through. And since so many songs give rather graphic descriptions of sexual acts that don’t get censored, and different words for the act are allowed, why is the kibosh being put on “sex”? Especially from a nation that is drenched in sexual imagery, anyway?
Listening to 102.3 Now! Radio, in one of Hedley’s big hits, Cha-Ching, the word “lesbians” is censored. This really boggles my mind. To me, that seems like blatant discrimination.

Maybe it’s just my Canadian liberalism clouding my judgment. After all, Jay-Z’s new song, I Just Wanna Love U, contains the lyrics “gimme that funk, that sweet, that nasty, that gushy stuff”. And it doesn’t take a lot of effort to think of what that is most likely referring to. Yet that line is never censored. For all the sex, drugs and violence that are depicted on TV, condom and male enhancement supplements advertised on the radio, you’d think they’d ease up at least on regular, everyday English words.

.xxx top-level domain approved, set to do nothing

Let’s see you try to find a safe-for-work image relevant to this topic.

ICANN has voted to allow the .xxx top-level domain. Following further approval, the new internet suffix would promptly befriend .tv in the much-hyped, but totally useless when you think about it, domains club.

ICM Registry is pushing hard for porn sites to band together and self label using the new suffix, and has already taken 110 000 pre-reservations.

Crazy people on all sides fear the domain, and not even for the lazy word plays it allows (goatse.xxx, anyone?). Some in the internet porn business are worried it would be too easy to block the whole domain, leading to censorship, I guess. Religious nutters claim .xxx would “lend more legitimacy” to porn, because, you know, labeling things and giving them names makes it harder to pretend they don’t exist.

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Viagra to offer stiff competition for Champagne

There is no doubt that many industries have taken a firm hit over the last couple of years, and the Champagne industry is no exception, says Pierre-Emmanuel Taittinger, CEO of Taittinger Champagnes.

He reports that he has seen a 10% drop in orders, which is a deep penetration into his sales. This resulted in an abnormally flaccid financial year for them and others in the industry. This honestly doesn’t usually happen, really.

But Taittinger is hopeful of the coming year, expecting the members in the champagne community to experience a rise of 10-20% this year.

Taittinger understands the limp condition of the economy around the world right now but goes on to say: ‘But we will always have the time to make love and drink Champagne, and we will do it even more.’ he says, expanding to state that their only real competitor is Viagra. Consumers of both products should be warned to avoid getting hit in the eye.

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Australia wants to hear about your wank material

Visitors to Australia have something new to answer on their Incoming Passenger Cards. It seems travelers must now reveal whether or not they’re bringing any pornography into the country. Customs and immigration officials now also have the right to search the laptops and other electronic devices of holiday-ers for porn.

This latest crackdown on personal freedoms follows Australia’s ongoing wars against female sexuality and video games.

The new laws are supposedly in place to help prevent all of that icky porn Australia already prohibits from entering the country. A list which includes such shocking depictions as female ejaculation and small breasts. Needless to say, the Australian Sex Party, a member of which is pictured above, is upset about the new law. The party’s President, Fiona Patten, has noted that even private videos made by couples would have to be declared.

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