More than 30 suspect brothels could be raided by police soon as Gov. Don Carcieri signed legislation Tuesday banning prostitution and making it a misdemeanor.

Rhode Island was, until now, the only state except Nevada where prostitution was not a crime. This began in the Ocean State as a loophole in 1980 when legislators passed legislation aimed at cracking down on people who sold sex in “public,” which was a major problem in Providence’s West End. Judges would later rule that the law actually made prostitution legal in private, and the brothels sprung up all over. The effect was that a law aimed at cracking down on the sex trade actually made it proliferate.

But the part’s over now.

Boston is the second best city for singles, according to Forbes. That means, even if you’re not in a long term relationship, odds are you’re getting it on at a pretty regular rate. Yeah you!

Now that we’ve established that, let’s get things clear. Men: You’re no experts. You, hair-gelled, condom-always-in-the-wallet, love-to-flash-the-business-card guys are no experts. And you women: You “only-cleave-shirts-in-the-closet, lube-by-the-bed, Cosmo-devotee girls are certainly no experts, yourselves. And since we here at Blast are either one or the other, we’re not experts either. But a second opinion always helps, right?

So, Blast is here for you. Introducing “Sex Rx.” Ask us anything about sex, relationships, dating, etc. Comment with your questions below, or email sexrx@blastmagazine.com. We promise not to use your real name.

Don’t be embarrassed! Stay tuned for the raunchy, racy and romantic (hey, we have a soft side, too). Your Sex Rx is on the way!

By the way — The column is totally anonymous both for you and for us. We promise that both girls and guys will answer questions, and we’ll make it clear which gender is saying what.

This time, researchers collaborating between Germany, England, and Florida have found out that men are interested in casual sex no matter the attractiveness of the female asking them out. No more surprisingly, women are much more apt to judge the attractiveness of the person approaching them and are less willing to accept a sexual invitation should their suitor be unattractive.

The experiment was conducted via a questionnaire at three different colleges where the subjects were told to “vividly imagine” a slightly unattractive, slightly attractive, or very attractive person approaching them and asking them to “go out on a date,” “come back to my place,” and “to sleep with me.” The full results are below, but essentially men were willing to accept any of the three requests no matter the attractiveness of the person approaching them. Sixty-five percent of the men were willing to sleep with even the slightly unattractive female.

Women, on the other hand, were not as forgiving. Only half the women accepted the invitation to even “go out” with the slightly unattractive guy. Heaven forbid he ask to her to come back to his apartment or to go to bed with him—women accepted these invitations only 13 and 5 percent respectively.

Perhaps most tellingly, yet least surprisingly are the differences in responses between the males and females. Men wanted to get laid. Depending on the attractiveness of the female approaching them, men agreed to sleep with them between 65 and 83 percent of the time. Women, however, were only willing to sleep with the men who asked them out between 5 and 24 percent of the time.

Scientifically, this supports other observations that men tend to be much more sexual and really want to get laid while females tend to look for “good genes” in their potential sexual partners. But what does this mean for your every day life?

For the guys, look at yourself in the mirror because you’re probably not as attractive as you think you are, and the girls probably won’t even want to date you if you’re moderately attractive. Harsh, I know, but I didn’t make the rules. Girls — and I realize I’m running a fine line giving you advice as a male — do you think you could cut us a small break from time to time? Sometimes all we need is a bit of sex. Do you have to judge us so harshly?

Even if we knew what the results of this experiment would have been before it was ever conducted, it’s always interesting to be able to put numbers on every day life, even if it means that all men are skanks and all women are out to make us feel like crap.

Walsh, (D-Boston) who covers a district that includes Boston College, is sponsoring legislation that would ban any alcohol-related advertising on state-owned property. The crazies in the anti-alcohol (and even the anti-advertising) lobby have joined, and they are calling on the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (The T) to join in and ban alcohol ads on buses, trains and stations.

No other state in the US has such an advertising ban, which would eliminate things like billboards and limit advertisements for locally-owned wine and spirits shops, which is simply a bad idea in this economy.

“It is unfathomable that in the midst of an epidemic of underage drinking in Massachusetts, a government agency would allow alcohol advertising on public property,” said Amy Helburn of the collaborative, “Supporting an Alcohol Advertisement Free Environment,” in a statement supporting Walsh’s legislation.

The bill also has the support of a group called “Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood.”

Because that’s possible.

Ok. You’ve heard the facts and seen what’s proposed.

This is never going to happen.

It’s a perennial bad idea like many that come up each year from a relatively new and a creepy alliance of teetotalers and helicopter parents.

Blast is the only media outlet that’s entirely run by Generation Y, so let me be as frank with you as possible: The ads aren’t screwing up your kids. Teens don’t start drinking because a whimsical frog says so.

Young people don’t start drinking because of commercials or billboards. Young people start drinking for two reasons. First, they start drinking because it’s (perhaps only in the US) considered a rebellious taboo. And second, the vast and overwhelming majority of American adults drink.

But that alone is a pretty poor argument against liquor legislation. The fact is alcohol is dangerous. It kills people and can lead people to do things that can hurt them or others. Like all vices, it’s users, especially young people, are not taught moderation. In fact, the only people telling us to “drink responsibly” are the liquor companies in their commercials!

I’ve seen lives ruined by alcohol, but I’ve also seen lives ruined by overbearing colleges that take away scholarships, throw students out of residence halls, charge fines and publicly embarrass students for a first time alcohol offense. I’ve seen college newspapers report the names of students that got caught with a beer in their hands. I’ve seen them come into my office when I was in the Northeastern University student government in tears when they got turned away from internships and jobs because of it. I’d need a drink, too, if my school just ruined my life.

HEY, OLD PEOPLE: Listen up.

Your precious little honor student is going to drink when he or she gets to college. (They’re also going to have sex, a lot, and they might even try pot!) More than 90 percent of college students drink. You wanna help them? Teach them responsibility. Teach them to know their own limits. Give them cash for a cab. Teach them the warning signs of alcohol poisoning so they don’t leave some kid in a bathroom to die.

Commercials aren’t the problem. There is a much deeper issue here. Alcohol, sex, smoking, marijuana, etc. etc. etc. The more you tell someone “no” without an explanation, the more curious they become. If Massachusetts is such a liberal bastion, they should do something really radical: teach kids safe sex and drinking in moderation.

Let’s start small: Colleges could give students the phone number of a cab service instead of a pamphlet of vague threats.

Just don’t waste my time trying to convince me that it’s all the commercials’ fault.

OnlineBootyCall, a “casual dating site,” has compiled its list of the worst colleges in the US to hook up at plus a ranking of the top 10 schools to get laid with some of their own wording thrown in.

None of those top 10 “best” schools are here in Boston.

Worst 5 Colleges to Have a Booty Call

5. MIT – Massachusetts Institute of Technology

MIT is famous for its engineering and math programs, as well as their many brilliant pranks. We applaud their deft use of irony, when they named their two official school mascots: the “engineers” and the “beaver.” Sadly for students, the two never meet.

4. Oral Roberts University

Don’t let the name fool you, Oral Roberts is a Christian college located in Tulsa Oklahoma, where up until 2003, a strict dress code forced men to wear button-down shirts and women to wear long skirts. Its most notable alumnus is Ned Flanders. No booty for you here.

3. Princeton University

A common saying in the Ivy League is: “Harvard sucks, and Princeton doesn’t matter.” For good reason, this forgettable campus is bridled with stuffy Ivy leaguers too caught up in their tight J. Crew vests and Burberry scarves. With names like Archibald, Chance, or Skyler, you know these Harry Potter types are not getting any action.

2. BYU – Brigham Young University

This would have made our top ten best schools for Booty Calls back in the 1800’s, when having multiple partners was the rage in Utah. Nowadays, the Princeton Review ranks BYU as the #1 “Stone Cold Sober School.” Sadly, you’ll find no parties and no booty calls on this campus.

1. United States Military Academy at West Point

Just as they were ranked the #1 Best College in America by Forbes, West Point also came first on our list. With a male to female ratio of 85 percent, your chances of hooking up are looking quite slim. West Point’s free tuition is great for the budget, but terrible for booty.

Top 10 Colleges For Hookups

10. New York University
9. Maryland University
8. DePaul University
7. University of Georgia
6. Ohio State University
5. San Diego State University
4. University of Texas at Austin
3. University of Southern California
2. Florida State University
1. Arizona State University

HEY MIT KIDS! Does this piss you off? Is this patently false? Share your MIT hook up story in the comments section for a chance to win Heroes Season 3 on DVD

Why? Because we’ve been programmed to, thanks to–wait for it–school. “We were raised in the rhythm of a school calendar for…the first 20 years of our lives,” said Kirschner, who has appeared on top TV shows including “Oprah” and “Today.” “Summertime meant party time — which means we are conditioned to relax, let loose, and have more fun in the summer, (including) sex.”

The mindset induced by this calendar doesn’t evaporate after high school or college graduation; it translates into the adult world, too. Instead of spending most of the year fretting over lame stuff like class and homework, adults get suited up and head to the office. For us, summer means sipping cold margaritas, parties on the weekends, and taking much-needed vacations to the Cape.

“As summer approaches,” said Kirschner. “people begin to relax and (go to the) beach and pool parties. People are…more open. The sexy summer clothes come on. More flesh is exposed, and this is…seductive.”

For adults who are overworked and stressed out, summer vacations not only provide a much-needed escape, but more time for sex. And for parents who haven’t had time alone together since 1995, shipping the kids off to summer camp gives them the prime opportunity to do the wild thing and make up for lost time. (Ignore the fact that you spent six summers at camp; we’re sure your parents were outside gardening most of the time.)

And just as skimpy clothes and cocktails by the pool bring a smile to your face, warm weather and sunny skies can cheer you up. Longer days pump up the amount of serotonin and dopamine in your brain, leaving you glowing with happiness and desire. What’s more, seeing the sunshine is a godsend to those afflicted with winter Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD) who spend the colder, darker months depressed, anxious, lethargic, withdrawn, and, predictably, with little to zero interest in sex. Symptoms of the less-common summer SAD include poor appetite, anxiety, insomnia, and — surprise! — an increased sex drive.

But don’t get too, um, excited. We’ve got some bad news. There’s something else that rises in the summer: the rate of infidelity. So should you be worried when you catch your guy staring at that skanky girl’s cleavage or when you notice your girl eying that jerk’s rock-hard abs? Maybe. Sometimes a glance is just a glance, but it’s easy for your “other brain” to do the thinking when the world becomes a tempting candy shop and everywhere you look you see girls dressed like cheap hookers who’ll do anything you ask for a hit of crack. But we digress.

Guys, listen up. According to infidelity expert Ruth Houston, author of “Is He Cheating on You? 829 Telltale Signs,” you are the ones doing the summer cheating. After all, it’s men who are known to cheat more often than women (or at least more men than women admit to cheating when taking part in research studies). Houston explains that the different reasons why men and women cheat have a lot to do with why men are the ones committing the summer affairs. Men tend to cheat for sexual satisfaction–and hello, summertime equals horniness-inducing visual stimulation overload. Women, on the other hand, tend to cheat for emotional satisfaction, and short-term hot and sweaty summer flings just don’t cut it. But there’s one exception: Women in their early 20s and below seem to stray for the sex, too, and they’re cheating nearly as often as men, according to researchers.

But eye candy isn’t just to blame, says Houston, who explains that this hot season provides numerous prime opportunities for taken men to cheat — and get away with it. Accordingly, there are three types of men who cheat in the summer:

1. The Recreational Cheater, who sees infidelity as a summer sport.
2. The Seasonal Cheater, who is faithful throughout the year but has a fling when his wife or girlfriend is away.
3. The Opportunistic Cheater, who will cheat if the opportunity presents itself and he doesn’t fear getting caught. For example he and the guys went on a camping and OMG, he couldn’t have predicted that a group of hot twenty-somethings would camp out next to him and enjoy skinnydipping in the lake! Jackpot!

Now we at Blast are well aware that there are exceptions to every rule; we know that many of you are genuinely good guys. But some of you — and you know who you are — are sneaky bastards jumping at the chance to “go fishing with the guys.” You know what we’re getting at here. Summertime makes it easy for cheaters to lie and leave their other halves completely clueless.

“Some men plan for their summer cheating, and it’s easy for them to do because it’s difficult to be detected, and the opportunities are there,” Houston elaborates. “If he has a business trip, he’ll say, ‘You don’t want to come; there will be lots of meetings and it’ll be boring for you,’ when really there often is a lot she could do while he’s in a meeting.”

And you should be wary of business trips. Very wary, said Houston. “Lots of workplace affairs start as emotional affairs and are consummated on business trips. Everything’s on the company’s expense: the hotel, the fancy meals, the drinks. Everything falls into place.”

Is your guy insisting on sending you on the trip of a lifetime (without him, of course)? If so, it could be a red alert. There may be a reason he doesn’t want to go with you: another woman.

“A man might send his wife on her dream vacation and say, ‘Oh honey, I’ll treat you to a spa trip this summer’ or ‘I know you’ve always wanted to go to Paris.’ What wife is going to say no?” Conversely, when young women have summer flings, Houston explained, they are usually spontaneous and are often when she’s on a trip with the girls. There isn’t the planning.

Houston shared a couple of stories from distressed clients who learned the hard way that their men were having summer affairs. Take “Slimeball,” who told his girlfriend he was going on a rafting trip with the guys. While he was away, his girlfriend bumped into one of his best buds, who knew nothing about the “trip.” Turns out her boyfriend was the only one of the guys who left town.

Or how about “Scumbag,” who said he was going fishing with his friends. But what happened when a neighbor asked to borrow something from the shed? The embarrassed wife discovered all of his fishing gear. The kicker? The loser had the nerve to bring back some fish when he returned.

In the fall, Houston is bombarded with clients who found out about their guys’ summer affairs. And the worst part? Some men get attached to the mistress and don’t want to let the affair go when summer is over. This, Houston said, is why you shouldn’t ignore that gut feeling. “You’re taking a chance when you look the other way.”

And Houston, who is no stranger to receiving angry comments from men who read her articles, would know. Before becoming an author and infidelity expert, she was cheated on by her first husband. Now happily remarried for nearly a decade to a man who went through the same thing, she hopes that her research will help mend marriages and relationships that have been scarred by infidelity.

So what should you do if you suspect or find out that your guy is cheating in the summer? “Never confront him unless you have proof,” warned Houston. “If all of a sudden he talks about going on separate vacations and he never has before, that’s a red flag. There are resorts and cruises where the husband can fish and the wife can go to the spa, and there are activities for the kids. You can all get away and do whatever you want. If he says, ‘I need to get away.’ Well you can all get away together. If he says he’s going to your vacation house and you suspect something, pop in and see how he reacts.

“If something is odd, just be alert,” she said. “Don’t go around peeking and sneaking, but be aware. You know your man’s behavior, and if he’s doing something out of character, then be alert, don’t just look the other way. Not every summer affair ends after summer. And if he gets away with it, he’ll try next year, or continue the affair throughout the year, and that’s a situation you don’t want to get yourself into.”

So the moral of the story? Make sure you shave your legs and buy your condoms because it’s summertime, which means it’s sex time. And please, don’t be a statistic: if you’re attached, keep it in your pants — unless you’re with your sweetie, then you can whip it out!

Trojan’s States of Pleasure Survey found that when it comes to getting it on, Boston ranks ahead of Chicago, Dallas, Philadelphia and San Francisco.

So what’s the problem? It seems we prefer quantity over quality. Trojan is attempting to raise the pleasure factor with Trojan Ecstasy,  a new condom that will up the  “sexual pleasure and satisfaction quotient” in America.

The survey also found that  over half of all men and women wish they were having MORE sex and a whopping 71 percent of Americans are looking to increase their satisfaction.

To end on a not-so-happy note, one in three Americans are dissatisfied with their sex lives. So next time your significant other praises your – ahem – talents, blow him or her away with that stat and cross your fingers…or get a FREE Trojan Ecstasy condom here.

Zarin Machanda, a Harvard biological anthropology graduate student and resident primate “sexpert” shared her thoughts on sexual evolution at the Harvard Museum of Natural History on June 18. Her lecture, “Everything You’ve Always Wanted to Know about Primate Sex but Never Wanted to Ask,” covered some lessons to be learned from the sex lives of our closest links.

1. Be a lover, not a fighter

Our DNA may be 98.6 percent identical to chimpanzees, but their relative bonobos take a more human approach when it comes to the value of sex. According to Machanda, if two bonobos become anxious about sharing a resource like food, they will engage in sexual activity to relieve anxiety and then share the goods. “Let’s reduce tension with some sexual behavior, and then we’ll share some fruit,” Machanda explained. Bonobos will use this tactic for conflict resolution and stress reduction. So the next time the stock market crashes or rent is due, take a note from the bonobos.

2. Size matters

The need to compete and exert their sexual dominance has made male primates much larger than their female counterparts. For a male primate to survive and pass on his genes, bigger is always better — in more ways than one. “What would be your reaction,” Machanda asked, “if I told you a chimpanzee brain is the same size as a chimpanzee testicle?” The ability for chimps to reproduce frequently is just as important as their ability to think. According to Machanda, human males compete less, which changed these proportions. (Although some females who attended the lecture strongly suggested this was up for debate.)

3. Sometimes quantity is just as important as quality.

Quality can never be overrated, but when it comes to chimps, the good, old-fashioned quickie is key. Not that it doesn’t take a certain amount of patience. According to Machanda, who videotaped chimpanzee interaction in Uganda, male chimpanzees are experts in persistence. “He’s been shaking that tree for half an hour waiting for her to come down,” she said, showing a video of a male chimp coaxing a female from a tree. Eventually, his patience paid off. But when all is said and done, chimpanzee sex lasts a whopping eight seconds—less time than it takes to read this paragraph. This time frame allows females to have sex up to 50-60 times per day.

4. Don’t rule out the cougars.

According to Machanda, both human and chimpanzee males discriminate by age. “Human males are really interesting,” said Machanda. “It is almost always the younger, the better.” Chimps on the other hand, prefer to put age before beauty. “If you are a male chimp,” she said, “the oldest, sagging breasts female—that is your Venus.” Why? According to Machanda, the oldest females have proven their fertility, which makes them more desirable mates.

5. Attraction makes us civilized.

The defining factor between primate and human sexual interactions rests in the hands of the females. “One of the biggest differences with humans is that human females are permanently attracted to the males,” said Machanda. Instead of only desiring companionship during ovulation, human females are attracted to their mates at any point in the month. According to Machanda, “That has a lot of implications for our social system.” And our sex lives. It is this difference that allows humans to bond in pairs for life, and what makes our sexual practices distinct from our primate kin. “The human condition is very interesting in terms of sexual behavior,” Machanda said. “That is really, strikingly different.”

Machanda’s lecture was the first of three on evolution, as part of the Harvard Museum of Natural History’s, “Summer Nights at the Museum.” The next event, “Life’s a Niche,” will be held July 16. For more information, click here.

The film is set to be released on June 22, but if you’re under 18, “No porn for you!”

Hillary Scott, the million-dollar porn girl, is signed on for the cast of “Flight Attendants,” slated to hit stores in the fall. It’s got a plot and some dialogue, but it’s a pure, vintage porn scenario that the title kinda gives away.

“I am extremely excited to have some variety in my career again,” Scott said. “I look forward to working with old friends and new directors. I do not feel like I’ve done my hardest sex scenes or best acting performances yet and I’m very eager to have the opportunity to do those this year. I haven’t worked much lately, and I have lots of repressed desires and creativity that I can’t wait to release on camera for all of my fans!”

Scott started as Marcia in the original Brady Bunch porn flick that we reviewed in 2007.

You can bet we’ll tell you more about “Flight Attendants” later this summer.

Director David Stanley and SexZ Pictures are putting together the dialogue-heavy “Fleshed Out,” set for release later this year.

The film’s synopsis reads like a really trashy paperback:

Lena (Kimberly Kane) is a cynical nymphomaniac whose idea of a good time is to hang out at the local sex club with her fuck-buddy Dan (Evan Stone). Lena’s worst nightmare is to be locked down into a serious relationship. As far as Lena is concerned, relationships ruin everything. To prove her point, she decides to take out her disgust on Maggie and Gerry (Hillary Scott and Voodoo), a seemingly sweet couple whom Lena catches cuddling at a local cafe. Lena seduces Gerry in the cafe bathroom and makes no bones in letting Maggie know it was her. What Lena doesn’t realize, however, is that Maggie is not the innocent girl she appears to be, but rather a psychotic police detective with a taste for sadism and a highly-evolved sense of propriety. That night, Maggie exacts her revenge on Lena, kidnapping her and paralyzing her with anesthetic to turn her into a sex slave for the pleasure of her and her fiancé. But, as the night goes on, and it becomes clear that Maggie wants to not only use Lena’s body but to destroy it completely, Gerry begins to lose his nerve about going through with his fiancé’s increasingly diabolical plan.

“Hillary Scott blew me away,” Stanley said recently. “She is everything you could want in a star: beautiful, confident, voraciously sexual and a great, great actress. She definitely rose to the level of a champion. I couldn’t have been more impressed and I can hardly wait for people to see what she did with the role. It’s a nasty, nasty performance. Truly terrifying.”

Scott previously started in high-budget porn films “Corruption” and “Upload,” which won numerous adult film awards last year. She was also Marcia in the Brady Bunch porn.

“It was great shooting Fleshed Out with David Stanley because I haven’t made a lot of movies over the past year so I really want each one to stand out and be special,” Scott said. “David crafted a great story and some awesome sex and I think fans will love this movie when it comes out.”

See the trailer here. We can’t show it to you on Blast, sadly.

Fleshed Out stars Hillary Scott, Kimberly Kane, Mika Tan, Nikki Rhodes, Mr. Pete, Justin Long, Mikey Budters, Voodoo, Evan Stone, Jax and Tommy Gunn.

It was mid-day. Northeastern University student Sarah Alverston was sitting in the library staring blankly into a textbook that she couldn’t seem to focus on. She just had a fight with her boyfriend, and she knew she wouldn’t get anything done until she talked to him. So she sent him a text message.

“Sorry about earlier,” it said. “I’ve just been stressed out about other things. Want to meet me at the library? I want to see you.”

About 15 minutes later her boyfriend, Josh, walked up to her table on the second floor. He sat down and apologized as well for being stubborn. Then he gave her a look.

That look.

She knew what that look was for, and she whispered to him, “I can’t leave the library right now I have too much to do.”

But he told her it didn’t matter and winked. He motioned to one of the group study rooms. At first she thought he was crazy. There were people sitting right outside the room. Half of the door to the room was made of glass. There was no way. But then she got a rush of excitement and thought why not? It would be a great story to tell.

Alverston is certainly not the only college student who has performed sexual acts in public. One sophomore at Northeastern, who spoke under the condition of anonymity, said that part of her job when she worked at the library was to make sure no one was doing things “they weren’t supposed to be doing.”

Last year during Northeastern’s annual sex week, a magazine was put together full of articles about sex. The magazine was called “Stripped” and contained a list of “Top Ten Places to Have Sex on Campus.” The list included places like the college’s underground tunnel network and the saunas at the gym. Number one was the library.

“I know tons of people who have had sex in public places,” said Alverston, in a recent interview. “I thought it sounded fun but I never planned on actually doing it.”

Other students have admitted to similar sexual experiences, the scenes ranging from dorm showers to parking lots. Jordana Kerr, a sophomore psychology major at Northeastern admitted to doing the deed in one of the school’s indoor gymnasiums.

“I worked there life guarding,” said Kerr. “(My boyfriend and I) didn’t get a lot of alone time because we both had roommates. One night he came to visit me and we ended up having sex in the racquetball courts. It was thrilling and it was a fun experience.”

However, if someone were to get caught, the student conduct handbook mentions these types of incidents would be handled as “sexual misconduct.”

Despite prohibitions and threat of punishment, many popular television shows portray sex in public as a natural and desirable activity. An episode of Sex and the City deals with a man who can only have sex if he thinks he might get caught. An episode of Friends includes a discussion about the craziest place the characters had ever “done it.” Even Homer and Marge Simpson rekindle their sex life by doing the deed at a miniature golf course.

This generation did not invent the idea of having sex in a place besides a bed. The openness and in-your-face style however, is something new.

John D’Emilio, author of the book “Intimate Matters: A History of Sexuality in America,” thinks that every generation feels the need to be riskier than the one before it.

“It’s almost as if young people are pushing the boundaries one step further,” said D’Emilio. “Fifty years ago co-ed dorms didn’t exist, and now they do. And there’s no longer a curfew either. If you want to break the boundaries, you have to find a new way to do that.”

How Sex Has Changed

Public displays of affection are a pretty common sight around the streets of Barcelona. Media credit/mmoorr via Flickr

Alverston’s reason for having sex in the library was different from Kerr’s reason for having sex in the racquetball courts. Both of their parents however, probably didn’t think of performing a sexual act anywhere public, for any reason.

According to experts, each generation has had a different attitude about sex and adopted different ways of expressing themselves sexually as a reflection of the beliefs at the time. Sex in public did not used to be a normal practice. D’Emilio relates this trend back to the end of the 1800’s, when it was looked at with disgust.

“At the end of the nineteenth century there was public sex emerging,” said D’Emilio. “But it took place in neighborhoods that were deemed to be sex neighborhoods like red light districts where there was prostitution. This behavior was outrageous at the time.”

Those who were not labeled as outcasts of society kept sexual acts very private. It wasn’t until the emergence of automobiles and their growing popularity did that change. At a time when mobilization was much more plausible, couples began courting in their cars. Whether taking one another on dates to the movies or a remote place for privacy, sex began to move out of the bedroom for young people.

Sex was still relatively private though, and society built structure around this principle. Gina Ogden, a sexual therapist from Cambridge said sex was purposefully very repressed in the minds and practices of people in the past.

“Before and after the explosion of sex in the 60s and 70s, people were very constrained in their thinking of sex,” said Ogden. “There were male and female dorms. There was much less ability to be overtly sexual. During the Reagan years, I was a school psychologist at a boarding school. There was a big movement against ‘public display of affection,’ and people were getting expelled for holding hands. It was awful.”

The shift in how society views sex and also how people express themselves sexually has been a drastic one since then. D’Emilio thinks that societal acceptance plays a big role.

“What has really changed since then is that the assumption has become that young people will have sex before marriage. That’s just normal,” D’Emilio said. “It doesn’t push the boundaries.”

James “Jim” Burke, 41, of Chelsea, was released on $10,000 bond and will be back in court March 26 for a hearing.

“It’s a perversion of the legal system and a gross abuse of power,” Assistant US Attorney Brian T. Kelly, head of the US attorney’s public corruption unit, told Globe reporter Shelley Murphy.

According to the charges, the accused prostitute was in court in December trying to get her prostitution charges dismissed when she saw Burke and told her lawyer that Burke approached her when she was in court in similar charges in 2005. She said she gave Burke oral sex in the courtroom in exchange for his help getting the case thrown out.

She, and her lawyer, went to the FBI.

The result is scary: the more you want it the more likely you may be to get prostate cancer.

The study found that those subjects who were most sexually active at younger ages had more of a chance of developing cancer later in life. The researchers concluded that higher levels of sex hormones could lead to both the sex drive and the cancer.

So, it’s probably not the sex causing the cancer, but the hormones might give you both the drive and the disease.

“Hormones appear to play a key role in prostate cancer,” Dr Polyxeni Dimitropoulou, the study leader, told the BBC.

Prostate cancer is one of the leading health concerns among men. It’s the most common cancer in men in the UK, with over 30,000 new cases each year.

Do you want it to show off in your dorm room or apartment?

Write a movie, music or video game review for Blast, and if we choose yours, you get the poster.

We’ll also throw some DVD’s, games and music at anyone whose article we use!

Email newsroom@blastmagazine.com for your shot at free stuff!

Minx started her podcast, Polyamory Weekly, in March 2005. She said it has been about “a cautionary tale; [a] tell-the-next-guy-what-killed-you kind of thing,” where she can be less preachy and more verbal exhibitionist, providing explanatory and narrative content on her show using previous experiences she has had as a basis to answer her listeners’ questions.

One of Minx’s main rules about hosting the show is that she doesn’t “want to give anyone advice.” She clearly states that over and over again, show after show. What she does instead, is provide a personal experience about how she dealt with a particular issue.

Polyamory is a term used to describe nonmonogamy, or having more than one life partner. Polyamory Weekly, now with over 170 episodes, has come up for new and different definitions for “polyamory” almost every week – whether it represents the standing of a relationship at a time or describes a lifestyle.

Minx had to learn the basics of syndicated podcasting as quickly as she was putting out episodes. With things like show notes, provided on the “Polyamory Weekly: LiveJournal” and on-air apologies for late episodes or technical errors, Minx tries to make the production of her podcast as open to the public as she can.

While she has managed to weed out these types of problems now, Minx said there were more than a few times she wanted to call it quits.

“About every other week [I was ready to quit],” she said. “Or every time I look at my email inbox in despair. I suppose it’s more that I wish I could do PolyWeekly full-time and really give it the time and energy it deserves. I never feel like the show is good enough.”

Armed with, “Many voices are more powerful than one,” a quote from the authors of the Cluetrain Manifesto, Polyamory Weekly has become less about Cunning Minx and more about the Poly community that listens to her show. Some listeners aren’t even Poly themselves, or even pan/bisexual either.

One of the appeals of the show is its all-inclusive factor: love, which is honored in the PW tagline, “It’s not all about the sex.” With such a blatant exclusion on its own genre, Polyamory Weekly survives, not on the smut, but on the truth.

“A good percentage of my life and relationships, both mono and poly, have been about sex. About wonderful, kinky, sweaty, mind-blowing sex. And the other 80 percent of the time, they were about communication, laundry, text messages, lunch plans and Google calendar,” Minx said.

Already on episode 170, Polyamory Weekly is gaining momentum with the honest, brutal truth about loving more than one person at the same time.

Getting the word out about the show is the community of listeners themselves. In fact, Polyamory Weekly listeners are keeping the show running as much as Minx herself.

“Without [them] the show simply couldn’t have gone on this long,” Minx said,

With not one life-threatening email to date, Cunning Minx continues to interview notable Poly people like, Dossie Easton and Janet Hardy, the authors of the polyamory bible, “The Ethical Slut,” as well as, the always well-spoken Michelle Bellanger, and high profile Tristan Taormino, author of “Opening Up”, all the while maintaining grounded in everyday poly relationships by adding a new segment dedicated just to her listeners to provide feedback on the previous week’s episodes.

While emails are always welcome, audio-mail is much preferred, and encouraged, Minx is always giving a voice to her listeners. Without focusing on sex, Polyamory Weekly is more than a public airing of dirty laundry and tasty tidbits of self-help polyamory.

Minx has expressed that the show is less a flashy audio one-night-stand, and more “a personal instrument of public change.”

The answer is a loud orgasmic scream of YES, and you can bet your $525 unworn-Manolo’s that there’s a story to be told.
 
Darren Star directs again, and the original cast is intact. The chemistry between the characters could spark a fire using the dampest logs making audiences feel like they have just come home to their family.

Reprising her role as Carrie Bradshaw, Sarah Jessica Parker beams light and energy, and is flawless. Chris Noth’s “Big” is the character you can’t help but love and feel for, despite his many faltering moments on the TV show. The “girls” — Miranda (Cynthia Nixon), Charlotte (Kristin Davis) and the hyper and sex-obsessed-at-any-age Samantha (Kim Cattrall)– come together seamlessly, as if the series ended yesterday.

Jennifer Hudson shines as Louise, the new single gal from St. Louis. She is endearing and another Charlotte-esque eternal optimist. She helps Carrie in more ways than imaginable as her personal assistant and lends her talented and soulful voice to the soundtrack.
 
Thanks to spoilers and the detailed and eye-opening Vogue article, many people think they know the storyline: Carrie and Big, (whose name — John James Preston — we finally learned at the end of the series), get engaged, get a fabulous apartment and finally, finally, get married. But if the “Sex” series has taught us anything it is that love is never uncomplicated.
 
Hopefully, without giving anything away, the movie picks up in present day — four years after the beloved and boundary-breaking, sex-filled series sadly ended. Carrie has published three books and is still very much in love with the no longer elusive Big. Samantha has uprooted to Hollywood to manage boyfriend/movie star project Smith Jerrod’s career and has changed immensely which is difficult to discern in her character at the outset of the film. Samantha is “lost” grasping to remember her true self.
 
Charlotte, “the eternal optimist” has it all: the man of her dreams in the lovable and doting Harry and a beautiful daughter in the adorable and adopted Lily.
 
The most suprising plot twist, however, belongs to the Miranda-Steve duo, which throws a curve ball at the audience that the most skilled prophecy-maker could not have foreseen.
 
The movie tears at the heart. It literally had the audience laughing and sobbing, sometimes within the same minute span. The depth and pain and passion that comes with the happy burden of love spills from the screen, reconnecting the audience with beloved characters who have retained their quirks, loyalty and strength.
 
The stories are believable and all of the characters seem to be real, as if you could go to New York City and see Carrie and Big strolling hand-in-hand down 5th Avenue to buy some shoes. They are all so sharply written, so dynamic, so passionate and after all this time so finely tuned, it is as if they must and should be real.
 
Hardcore “Sex” fans and movie-goers who haven’t even watched a single episode of the series will all appreciate the film for its pure entertainment value. It is hysterically funny with enough new jokes and puns to fill the NYC public library. “Sex” is brimming with raw emotion that makes you think — makes you question what you really want and if you are strong enough to let yourself go after it. 
 
The movie touches on all subjects that made the series what it is: loving, cheating, unwavering friendship and of course, mind-blowing sex. 
 
Sex-starved fans won’t be soon after the movie opens. And for this reason, it is unwise for younger audiences to watch. The sex is just as big a raunchy presence as it was in the series, as audiences wouldn’t have it any other way.
 
Good friend and fellow reviewer Bobby Hankinson of the Houston Chronicle urged to “run, don’t walk, run” to see “Sex.” And now I truly, truly implore all of you to do the same. Because if someone asked “is this movie worth seeing” the answer would undoubtly be “asbo(insert expletive here)lutely”!

Ellyson, January 2007’s Pet of the Month, was picked by the magazine’s readers out of 12 finalists.

“It took me a while to believe I was the Pet of the Year,” Ellyson said. “When I found out I said, ‘Really? Are you sure?’ about five times. It was the best feeling ever, once I finally got it through my head!”

The sexy brunette is 5′7″, 23-years-old with hazel eyes. She is an architecture student at the Newschool of Architecture and Design in San Diego.

“Erica is smart, sexy, and a true Southern belle. As soon as she appeared in Penthouse as our Pet of the Month, she captured the hearts of our readers, as well as our staff, and she’s been extremely popular with Penthouse fans ever since,” said Penthouse managing editor Barbara Rice Thompson. “We’re delighted to have her as our Pet of the Year, and we’re sure she’ll continue to charm everyone she meets with her enticing looks and captivating personality, not to mention her irresistible sex appeal.”

“I’m so grateful to my fans and friends for their support, and I can’t wait to make new ones,” Ellyson said. “I’m excited to get out there as the 2008 Pet of the Year and be a representative of the Penthouse brand and family.”

Erica’s Pet of the Year pictorial is featured in the March issue of Penthouse. The magazine went for sale Feb. 19.

Not just about the experience of surviving sexual assault; that’s really just skimming the surface. Milne has also penned an unflinching portrait of molestation by her father, an honest look at dealing with herpes, homelessness and alcoholism all before turning 18, and the comedy that ensued from working as a sex toy tester.

In her first book, “Sexography: One woman’s journey from ignorance to bliss,” Milne has recorded both the hilarious and harrowing visions of her sexual self, with a frank tone and unpitying wit. No excuses.

“I didn’t really go into it going, ‘Oh boy, I wonder what everybody’s going to think,’” Mline said. Though by the end, a surprising turn of events with her dad admittedly gave her pause. “There was a small part of me towards the end (wondering), ‘Well, are people going to think I’m a fraud because I reconciled with my father?’” she said. “I have my reasons for choosing that path.”

Working to salvage that relationship meant explaining some parts of her book that was about to hit the shelves.

“I wanted to make it clear to him: I didn’t write anything to hurt him,” she said. “I didn’t write anything to hurt anybody.”

Several characters in Sexography are faithfully depicted down to using the real names, she said. But for anyone she’d fallen out of contact with, Milne opted for pseudonyms. “Unless they jumped up and down and said, ‘Hey, that’s me!’ no one would know,” she said.

Besides, the journey was hers to tell. Writing the book was draining and cathartic, as Milne dove into memories starting with the childhood comfort in her own naked form, and the long years spent trying to reclaim that feeling.

“I didn’t really entirely know what was going to come out of me until I sat down to write this,” Milne said. “I spoke to my therapist a lot when I was writing.”

Recording the scene of the first time Milne was raped, after taking a ride home with a stranger during her early teen years, was easily the hardest part of penning Sexography. “I had never written so vividly about that experience, ever,” she said, fighting back tears. “Not in journals not in articles. I mean, I’d reference it…but I never really detailed in quite that way.”

But she credits that intricate record for helping to put some demons to rest, and ending more than a decade of nightmares brought on by that night. “It was almost like I had to get everything out of me and onto paper in order to be able to release it,” she said.

The scene is a disturbing portrait of the assault, made all the more horrifying by Milne’s internal dialogue. It’s hard to remain distant from the rape while reading the victim’s thoughts. And that’s just as it should be.

“I think the only thing that was a comfort to me was, you know, I made it through once, so I can make it through,” she said. “You know, I felt so alone when I went through this, maybe telling people what I went through will make them feel less alone. Having that drive was what made it easier to work through, which I realize sounds utterly cliché.”

Although it may leave readers with a taste of the nauseated feeling of being violated, or at the very least squirming in their seats, the rawness of even the most painful memories is what makes the book work, from those heavy moments, to the lighter side.

Early explorations, including discovering the difference between boys and Ken dolls and practice make-out sessions with Milne acting as a stand-in for Rick Schroder, are written in a playful tone. And a scene where Milne tries to Create A Mate, casting her then-husband’s penis in “buddy batter” goop for a personalized dildo, is laugh-out-loud funny.

“That was a lot of fun,” Milne said. “I loved writing about some of my mishaps that happened with testing out sex toys. Or when my friend and I happened upon my step-mom’s vibrator. People often overlook those kinds of experiences as not necessarily what ends up being a part of what helps them shape their sexuality. Oftentime, it’s those little moments that really make the big difference.”

Next up is a study of the spiritual kind. “In a way, it’s kind of the sequel to Sexography,” Milne said, a look at the spirituality that helped her to transcend “all that other junk.”

Sexography: One woman’s journey from ignorance to bliss by Carly Milne, is available for $24.95, by Phoenix Books.

Every day millions of people upload videos to YouTube in the hopes of sharing something meaningful with the world, but few find the success that Leah Kauffman did. About one year ago, the 21-year-old Temple University student, released a spoof of a spoof titled “My Box in Box,” with the help of Barely Political production. The video parodies the now famous Saturday Night Live sketch, “Dick in a Box,” starring Justin Timberlake and Andy Samburg.

“I created a parody of a parody,” Kauffman said, “because I thought it would be interesting to explore ‘Dick in a Box’ from a female perspective.”

Her idea was wildly popular and “My Box in a Box” was quickly named one of the most viral videos on the internet. One of the most intriguing things about the video was the secret identity of its star, known only as Bunny. It was eventually revealed that Bunny was in fact two women. Kauffman provided the voice and 20-year-old University of Pennsylvania student, Melissa Lamb provided the body.

“Ben Relles, a co creator of ‘Bunny’ posted an ad on Craigslist for a model [and] Melissa answered the call,” Kauffman said.

The video features Lamb dancing around wearing a gift-wrapped box in front of her “bunny” and lip-syncing to Kauffman’s singing. The lyrics have similarities to “Dick in a Box” lyrics, such as step-by-step instructions to make a box in a box and a list of holidays in which the special gift could be given. These varied from the original holidays used in Timberlake’s version, like Flag Day, and “mi caja en una caja” for Cinco de Mayo.

“My Box in a Box” has gotten wide media acclaim. Rolling Stone magazine called the video “clever” and Inside Music Media said “Leah Kaufman can sing!” Kauffman and Lamb were even featured as the “Most Viralest Video” on MSNBC with Keith Olbermann. “Bunny” has more than 1,500 friends on MySpace and there are more than 1,100 members of the “My Box in a Box” Facebook group. The video has even earned its own article on Wikipedia.

Since “My Box in a Box”, Kauffman and Barely Political have released two more videos: “Crush on Obama” and “I like a Boy.” Their success is evident with these videos; they have bigger casts and better production values. “I like a Boy” even features Mims, the rapper best known for his hit “This is Why I’m Hot.”

Kauffman has also had great personal success in the music industry. “My Box in a Box” was released on itunes and she has signed a record deal with Rock Ridge Music. To top it all she recorded an album, Modern Monster, which is available for listening on MySpace. Certainly more YouTube users will try to get their 15 minutes, like the two female students, but they will have to be as creative and talented as this pair has been.

“We’ve gotten a lot of attention through our music videos,” she said, “and it’s exciting to be on the forefront of new media.”

When Kyla Ebbert, 23, tried to board a Southwest Airlines flight this summer wearing a miniskirt and revealing top, she was told to change. When Playboy approached her recently, she was told to take it all off.

Her story made a media splash in July, and Ebbert took her skirt and sweater on Ellen, Dr. Phil, and the Today Show attracting more and more attention, including the ear of billionaire Richard Branson, who invited her to ride sexily on Virgin Airlines anytime.

“I definitely have a new airline of choice,” Ebbert told Playboy.

Ebbert quickly attracted Playboy’s attention.

“There are two questions Kyla Ebbert is asked constantly after nearly being kicked off a Southwest Airlines flight because the airline staff thought her outfit was too revealing. The first: Were you wearing panties under your skirt? The second: Has Playboy contacted you?”

Her photos appear on Playboy.com starting today. The clothed ones are free, but you have to pay up to see it all.

July wasn’t the only sexy-in-the-air experience for Ebbert. She claims to be a member of the “mile-high club” — and no, it wasn’t on a Southwest flight.

A story hit the wire a few weeks ago about a lesbian sex shocker between Marsha and Jan Brady, and all of a sudden there’s a ton of attention to a Hustler Video production that just came out called Not The Bradys XXX, which has jumped to #1 on the adult video rankings.

“We knew it would be a big hit, but we never knew it would catch on the way it did,” said Jeff Mullen, the film’s producer, in an interview October 31.

Even some of the original cast are sounding off.

“It’s the sincerest form of flattery,” said Christopher Knight, who plays the original Peter Brady. “I’m just surprised it wasn’t done earlier.”

Not the Bradys is a porn spoof of the original television show, with a perfectly designed set to match. Even the plot is a perfect Brady story.

When Mike’s business at the architectural firm gets slow, the family goes on a budget, and the kids take odd jobs to help save their house from foreclosure. Marcia unwittingly applies for a job as a “figure model” at a perfectly stereotyped porno establishment. Then it starts to get a little blurry…

“We’re trying to give a little fun in porn — everyone’s so serious” Mullen said. “The Brady movie is appealing to people who would never go out and buy another hardcore movie. Guys can watch this with their girlfriends.”

This is a hardcore porn film. Let’s get that out of the way right now. This isn’t (just) a funny spoof or a Cinemax PG-13 special. This is a movie you’ll find in the back room of your local video store if it’s still in business.

Directed by Will Ryder, Not The Bradys XXX features Hillary Scott and Aurora Snow as Marcia and Jan Brady, 10-year porn veteran Alana Evans as the hilarious maternal Carol Brady and Lynn Lemay as maid Alice.

Now stop for a second. Why am I elaborating here? Why not say “This porno stars a bunch of hot blonds and four anonymous enough looking guys.”

Hillary Scott, 24, is the porn equivalent to Brittney Spears circa 2000. (In fact, she plays Brittney in a spoof called Brittney Rears but that’s not relevant here). She announced in April that she had just signed the largest contract in adult movie history — a four-year, $1 million deal. She is the 2007 AVN Female Performer of the Year. That’s the equivalent to her being an Oscar-winning actress in the adult world.

“Hilary Scott is the new superstar of the industry,” Mullen said.

Aurora Snow, (pseudonym) 25, majors in theater at the University of California Irvine and appeared in a cameo role in the movie Superbad recently. She is the 2003 AVN Female Performer of the Year.

Lynn Lemay, 45, does not have sex in the movie, but she aptly portrays Alice the maid. In fact, the acting in this movie is pretty damn good all around, if you stop and pay attention to it.

Lemay is the Glenn Close of starlets. She is a 2006 inductee to the AVN Hall-of-Fame, having appeared in over 200 films — Scott is already over 300 by the way.

The film also stars the legendary Ron Jeremy in the non-sexual role of Sam the butcher, though sexual jokes about him “slipping meat” to Alice are ever-present and provide some comic relief. (IMDB sys Jeremy and Lemay have appeared in over a dozen porn movies together)

“You have three hall-of-famers in Mike Horner, Ron Jeremy, and Lynn Lemay,” Mullen said. “It’s a real interesting cast.”

Mullen said a sequel is in the works as well as several other celebrity spoofs, including a hilarious Beyonce movie and a Jennifer Lopez parody called J-Ho, where a terrorism leader said he will renounce terror if the superstar performs a live concert in Iraq. The dialog scenes were shot in front of the White House.

Another interesting note is that the Not The Bradys XXX DVD contains more special features than most Hollywood films. There are six behind the scenes segments, interviews, trailers, crew commentary and more content to keep you occupied.

So there you have it. I humbly submit this piece of my resume to The New York Times.

Producer: Jeff Mullen
Distributer: LFP Video
Format: DVD
Runtime: 4:00
Website: http://www.bradysxxx.com

Editor’s note: As we look towards our second year in publication, you’ve seen us hit on adult issues and kinky topics. That will expand as you see articles like our coverage of Hustler’s “Not the Brady’s XXX” Brady Bunch porn spoof. Our coverage is tasteful at all times, and we offer this article to show out objectivity on the subject of pornography.

This article originally appeared in PLoS Medicine, the peer-reviewed medical journal of the Public Library of Science. It has been edited by the Blast Magazine staff for our readers. The full-text article is available here with all citations and references.

By Corita R. Grudzen and Peter R. Kerndt
Edited by Elizabeth Raftery/Blast Magazine staff

The United States adult film industry produces 4,000–11,000 films and earns an estimated $9–$13 billion in gross revenues annually. An estimated 200 production companies employ 1,200–1,500 performers. Performers typically earn $400–$1,000 per shoot and are not compensated based on distribution or sales.

But the industry is a breeding ground for HIV and sexually transmitted diseases, and some legislators are demanding safer sex practices in adult films to prevent the spread of such infections.

Los Angeles County is the largest center for adult film production worldwide. In 1988 the California Supreme Court found adult film production to be protected as free speech under the First Amendment, since such films were not considered obscene based on prevailing community standards. Unlike other legal but highly regulated activities such as gambling and commercial sex work in Nevada, the adult film industry was legalized in California through case law, not by statute, and has for the most part escaped governmental oversight.

Regulation of the industry has been limited to prevention of child pornography, meaning performers can not be under the age of 18. Adult film production companies are required to have a Custodian of Records to document and retain records of the age of all performers, to enforce the age entry restriction.

Adult film performers engage in prolonged and repeated sexual acts with multiple sexual partners over short periods of time, creating ideal conditions for transmission of HIV and other sexually transmitted diseases (STDs). These practices include sex acts that involve simultaneous double penetration (double-anal and vaginal–anal intercourse) and repeated facial ejaculations. Such high-risk practices are on the rise, according to an article published in the Los Angeles Times. At the same time, condom use is reportedly low in heterosexual adult films—approximately 17% for adult performers, according to a recent New York Times article. In 2004, reports show, only two of the 200 adult film companies required the use of condoms for all penile–anal and penile–vaginal penetration. Performers report that they are required to work without condoms to maintain employment.

These practices lead to high transmission rates of STDs and occasionally HIV among performers. After four performers contracted HIV in 1998, Sharon Mitchell, a former adult film performer, founded Adult Industry Medical (http://www.aim-med.org), a clinic to counsel and screen performers monthly for HIV. It was expanded later to include other STD testing. The testing program began as an effort to reduce transmission of infections through early diagnosis, treatment, and “quarantine” should a performer test positive for HIV. Performers are required in most cases to pay for all screening tests, and to sign a consent form that permits disclosure of their test results to other performers and producers before filming. Both of these practices are explicitly prohibited under California Occupational Safety and Health Administration (Cal/OSHA) regulations. HIV-positive female performers are permanently excluded from participating in adult films.

Performers may also be exposed to HIV and other STDs outside the workplace, such as in commercial sex work through escort services or through the use of intravenous drugs.

But while the current practice of periodic HIV and STD testing may detect some disease early, it often fails to prevent transmission. The most recent HIV outbreak occurred when three performers who had been compliant with monthly screening contracted HIV in April of 2004. At that time, a male performer who had tested HIV negative only three days earlier infected three of 14 female performers.

Vivid Entertainment Group, one of the largest producers of adult film in the US, temporarily implemented a condom-only policy after the HIV outbreak in 2004 but has since reversed this company policy. Although some companies may voluntarily decide to be condom-only, it is unlikely that this industry will establish safer working conditions for employees without external regulation.

Other STDs are also highly prevalent in the industry. Among 825 performers screened in 2000–2001 study, 7.7% of females and 5.5% of males had chlamydia, and 2% overall had gonorrhea. Some might argue that this program of STD testing keeps rates of HIV and other STDs lower than in other sex-related industries, and in fact, a recent study of prostitutes in San Francisco found 6.8% and 12.4% positivity rates for chlamydia and gonorrhea, higher than rates in the adult film industry.

Between January 2003 and March 2005, studies show, approximately 976 performers reported 1,153 positive STD test results. Of those, 722 (62.6 %) were chlamydia, 355 (30.8%) were gonorrhea, and 126 (10.9%) were coinfections with chlamydia and gonorrhea. Less is known about the prevalence and risk of transmission of other STDs such as syphilis, herpes simplex virus, human papillomavirus, hepatitis B or C, trichomonal infection, or diseases transmitted through the fecal–oral route.

Even with the PCR testing currently used within the industry, a recently infected performer can test negative during the window in which they are highly infectious and go on to transmit the virus to others. A meta-analysis suggests that condoms are 90%–95% effective in preventing HIV transmission. When looking at HIV exposure risks by site, receptive anal sex has the highest risk at 80 instances of transmission per 10,000 exposures, higher than needle stick injuries (10–50 per 10,000) [13] or receptive vaginal penetration (10 per 10,000). Pre-existing infection with other STDs also increases the risk of HIV transmission.

Some critics have voiced concerns that the somewhat idealized portrayal of unsafe and unprotected sex in adult films may influence viewer behavior, in the same way that detractors say smoking in mainstream films romanticizes tobacco use. Health officials have suggested that portraying condom use onscreen could increase condom use among viewers, thereby promoting public health.

In contrast to heterosexual adult films, homosexual-targeted productions more consistently require condoms. Due to the large number of HIV-positive performers, there is no requirement for HIV testing and condom use is the norm. Despite the ubiquitous use of condoms, homosexual adult movies are popular and profitable for production companies. In fact, there is some evidence that homosexual male audiences would not tolerate movies with unsafe sex, likely due to their proximity to many with HIV in the homosexual community. Some homosexual audiences regard watching sex without condoms as “watching death on the screen,” according to a report in the Los Angeles Times Magazine.

Regulation of Sex-Related Industries Legislators can look to Nevada for a model for the successful regulation of a legal sex-related industry. Since the institution of mandatory condoms in Nevada’s brothels in 1988, not a single sex worker has contracted HIV. Workers must be repeatedly tested for HIV, syphilis, gonorrhea, and chlamydia to maintain a state health and work card. Other countries such as Mexico and Brazil also enforced condom regulations in the sex industry.

Occupational Health and Safety

In California, every employer is required to ensure that employees have a safe working environment. Employers must protect employees from blood-borne pathogens and not discriminate against employees that complain about safety and health conditions. Companies are required to prevent workers from coming into contact with blood or other potentially infectious material, including semen and vaginal fluid, and to provide post-exposure prophylaxis. Universal precautions, which assume all material is potentially infectious, are part of the blood-borne pathogens standard.

In the health care setting, it is hard to imagine a clinic or hospital not providing and requiring its employees to wear gloves or other personal protective equipment. If a health care worker has a needle stick or other potentially infectious fluid exposure on the job, systems are in place to rapidly and effectively treat the employee to prevent transmission of HIV and other infectious diseases. Although a legal industry, adult film has allowed consistent exposure of its employees to HIV, hepatitis, human papillomavirus, herpes simplex virus, chlamydia, gonorrhea, and other diseases without liability or worker recourse.

Cal/OSHA has recently made recommendations specific to adult film to protect performers from acquiring sexually transmitted infections. This includes the use of personal protective equipment (condoms and dental dams) as barriers, simulation of sex acts post-production, and ejaculation outside the partner’s body. Cal/OSHA also requires a procedure for exposure incidents when an employee has contact with potentially infectious material. The employer must provide a medical evaluation and follow-up at no cost to the employee.

Attempts at External Regulation

Mandatory reporting in California is required for chlamydia, gonorrhea, HIV, syphilis, chancroid, non-chlamydial non-gonorrheal urethritis, and pelvic inflammatory disease. The Los Angeles County Department of Public Health has monitored the industry to assure that performers receive adequate treatment and follow-up for STDs and has endorsed external regulation of the industry that would require condom use, STD screening, and education to prevent STD transmission.

Response from California legislators has been limited. In 2004, Assemblyman Paul Koretz, Chair of the Assembly Committee on Labor and Employment, sent a letter to 185 adult film production companies urging them to adopt condoms or face legislative action.

Two years later, this letter has had little to no effect and the adult film industry continues to produce the great majority of films without condoms. In October of this year, a multi-stakeholder meeting was convened at the University of California to readdress the issue of worker safety. A group of 65 participants including performers, industry executives, state and local health officials, and legal representatives spent the day debating the controversies and difficulties of mandated STD screening and condom regulation. Concerns were raised about the industry going underground or moving out of state should there be a state but no national requirement. Many present felt it would be difficult to regulate small production companies that distribute their films primarily via the Internet. There was an emphasis on the need for a multi-faceted solution that involves the extension of existing worker protection to this industry with better enforcement, the organization and potential unionization of performers, increased public awareness, and thoughtful legislation.

While some argue that adult film will go underground if condoms become mandatory, it is hard to imagine that a legal multi-billion dollar industry would disappear. Distributors and production companies have become so entrenched in Southern California that it seems unlikely that they would move to another location or go clandestine. Adult film is now so accepted and widespread that it cannot easily escape regulation, especially now that is so readily accessible on the Internet, cable networks, and in most major hotels. Unfortunately, the growing popularity of adult film has not translated into safer working conditions for performers. It is unethical for industry executives, legislators, and consumers to continue to enjoy the profits, tax revenues, and gratification of adult film without ensuring the safety of performers.

Corita Grudzen is a Robert Wood Johnson Clinical Scholar at the University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, California, United States of America. Peter Kerndt is the Director of the Sexually Transmitted Disease Program in the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health, Los Angeles, California, United States of America.

We have launched a beta version of our new website design.

It’s VERY important that you all look at it, leave tons of comments and find anything that looks bad, is broken or inconsistent — we’re counting on you!

In other news — I’m very proud to announce two staff moves:

Bessie King, one our ace reporters has been elevated to Entertainment Editor where she will deploy her writing, editing and recruiting skills to develop a section that has a ton of promise and needs some TLC.

Samantha Lavine, an original Blast Magazine reporter will edit the Kinky Stuff side of our Culture Section and “put out” cutting edge writing and reporting on some edgy topics.

Keep up the good work!

John

In its 28th year, the Exotic Erotic Ball is a masquerade fetish ball which takes place from Oct. 26-27 at the Cow Palace in southern San Francisco. It’s two days of erotic art, adult products, panel discussion on first amendment rights relating to adult performers, games, adult cinema and body painting, complete with a human petting zoo.

Among the musical guests are Snoop Dogg, along with Bubba Sparxxx, Charlie Brechtel Band, Peaches, The Spyderz, DJ Donald Glaude, Mini-Kiss and SonicBids.

The expo is a kinky showcase of adult websites, exotic fashion and novelty. The non-stop, titillating entertainment includes erotic performers, dancers, theme rooms, fantasy halls, demos, fetish fashion shows and live music.

Guests can spin the Wheel of Depravity, and win prizes including Spank the Porn Star, Lesbian First Kiss or Get a Public Flogging. Dancers from Chippendale’s and the ladies from Mustang Ranch will also be there, and event-goers can attend erotic poetry and wine tasting as well.

For the man who has everything, you can take home a replica of your girlfriend’s vagina that doubles as a pipe.

Attempting to top that will be Dutch Playmate and fetish model, Ancilla Tilia, who will perform her Erotic Shaving Show, and Spike & Mike’s Slick & Twisted Animation Festival will also surely entertain.

Afternoon tickets are $20 per person, and Friday night’s expo is $35, which includes the Snoop Dogg performance.

Naughty American History is not an actual tutoring service, but a website that poses American history questions, and when the participant answers a question correctly, the video tutor (male or female, your choice) takes off an article of clothing. The game includes eight stages which increase in difficulty. If the gorgeous tutor doesn’t pressure you enough to get the multiple choice question right, you are also working against the 10 second clock.

When you get to the website, it asks you to enter your birthday to make sure you’re at least 18. This is clearly a fool-proof method. If the participant is not 18 years of age, you’re out of luck. The questions vary between games played, but they all come out of the same pool of questions, therefore picking one tutor over another makes no difference other than personal preference.

As you answer each question correctly, the tutor takes off a specific article of clothing. But get one wrong, and you’re done. You have to restart and try again to reach the ultimate goal of seeing the Naughty American History tutor naked. After you lose, the site gives the option to click on “play again” or to enter two related porn sites, that focus on good looking females dressed as teachers.

To that effect, the game is really more or less an advertisement for a porn site, but hey, it’s fun.

Throughout the game, the song “Auld Lang Syne” blasts to remind you of New Years–for what reason it is not known.

Loading the questions can take forever when you first log onto the site. Also, there are frequent pauses in the games which may be frustrating if you are waiting to see if you got an answer correctly or not (and if you’re waiting for some clothes to come off).

Americans are always being accused of not knowing enough history. This way of teaching may get Americans to think about history more, because after answering the eight questions, there is a great reward at the end.

An example of an easy first level question is “What color is not on the American flag? Red, white, blue, or orange?”

If you get that wrong, you don’t deserve to see anyone naked in the first place.