US Sex Sells News

Al Goldstein, a porn pioneers who brought his particular brand of hard-core porn to the masses died on Thursday in New York from renal failure.

Goldstein was best known for sharing his raunchy sensibilities and radical ideas via Screw magazine and his New York City public-access cable show Midnight Blue.

The New York Times wrote:

Mr. Goldstein did not invent the dirty magazine, but he was the first to present it to a wide audience without the slightest pretense of classiness or subtlety. Sex as depicted in Screw was seldom pretty, romantic or even particularly sexy. It was, primarily, a business, with consumers and suppliers like any other.

Baltimore's last porn cinema, the Apex Theatre in Upper Fells Point, has stopped showing X-rated films as of Dec. 1, and its new owner is seeking another use.

Sam Singh acquired the theater at auction and planned to keep running it as is. But, he said, the tenant that managed the pornographic films has ended its month-to-month lease.

Update: Canada's last

20th December 2013. See article from cbc.ca

The last remaining full-time pornographic cinema in Canada will no longer be screening adult films, or any films at all, according to a report from Daily Xtra.

A sign at the front of Metro Theatre, a historic cinema on Bloor Street West in Toronto, says the porn theatre has closed its doors for good. Though the 1930s-era theatre has been open and closed at various times during its lifespan, its phone has been disconnected and its doors and box office have not opened in days.

Sorry theatre is closed for good, reads a note on its front door.

The Association of Sites Advocating Child Protection (ASACP), a not-for-profit organisation funded by the US online adult industry, and the Free Speech Coalition, the US adult entertainment trade association, came together today (12 December) to discuss the topic For Adults Only -- Protecting Children From Online Porn at The Authority of Television On Demand (ATVOD) conference.

The two invited organisations reinforced their common purpose to protect children online; however, called for a public education campaign as the only viable alternative to blanket censorship, such as ISP blocking, based on the findings of their report Protecting Children in the Digital Age .

The report is based on independent research and over 17 years combating the spread of child pornography, as well as learning from failed initiatives in the US. It calls for the UK government to re-think how they approach issues around children and internet pornography.

Free Speech Coalition CEO, Diane Duke, presented that:

The function of government is to provide its citizens with considered evidence based Public Policy; not to cooperate with moral panics and narrow pressure groups.

Duke was highlighting current reliance on non-scientific research, such as the Psychologies magazine survey conducted on a small sample of London school children and avoidance of academic research such as EU Kids Online from the London School of Economics.

The ASACP, who have won awards for initiatives such as the Restricted to Adults (RTA) label, participated in the US Congressional Internet Caucus, and think tanks on internet safety at institutions like Harvard stated:

Forced ISP blocking will not identify online sex offenders or victims of abuse, and won't prevent online sex offenders from accessing images or attempting grooming.

Spokesperson Vince Charlton, Director of European Outreach for ASACP added:

After almost 20 years in the industry, and painstaking adherence to the best academic research, we have found the most significant impact on behaviour and safety is parental involvement in children's' digital lives. This would be achieved with an extensive public education campaign.

Creating hysteria and setting up blocks at the ISP level will not only do little to protect children online, but also may pose additional threats because it will give parents a false sense of security.

The report offers the following recommendations on child safety: 1)The launch of a public educational campaign to provide factual information to UK citizens on how to keep our young people safe online 2)Partnering with adult content providers and gaming sites to ensure all sites use a filtering system that facilitates age-appropriate parental controls 3)Providing practical, evidence based, educational classes to parents covering topics from installing parental controls, to how to communicate with their children about online interactions

The report also highlights the failings of filtering technologies as a silver bullet solution to child protection online and raised serious concerns that ISP blocking could even prevent young people's access to advice and resources on serious issues like cyber-bullying, child luring, cyber-stalking, and what to do if you are a victim of sexual or physical abuse.

The adult industry trade group, The Free Speech Coalition (FSC), has called for another production moratorium after one of the testing facilities in its PASS testing system reported a positive HIV test for an adult performer.

Further tests are set to be initiated.

The actress Peggy Sarno on life with her husband Joe, the Ingmar Bergman of porn Peggy Sarno has seen it all, having married the porn film director Joe Sarno, starred in many of his films and collaborated on his scripts. As a documentary about the couple's offbeat life is released she talks to Jessica Grose

...Read the full article

The Sarnos: A Life in Dirty Movies is a 2013 Sweden biography by Wiktor Ericsson.
With Joseph W Sarno, Peggy Steffans and Michael Bowen.

Summary Notes

THE SARNOS - A LIFE IN DIRTY MOVIES is a love story about legendary sexploitation director Joe Sarno, "The Ingmar Bergman of 42nd Street", and his loyal wife and collaborator Peggy - their place in sex film history, life between New York and Sweden, and their struggle to make one last erotic film. A funny and touching portrait of a unique couple who has followed their passion in life - no matter the cost!

A selection from the filmography of Joe Sarno

 1985 Little Oral Annie Takes Manhattan (as Curtis Hollingwood)
 1984 Dirty Blonde (as Eric Anderson)
 1984 Inside Little Oral Annie (as Kenneth Morse)
 1981 Inside Seka (uncredited)
 1981 Deep Inside Annie Sprinkle (uncredited)
 1978 Fäbodjäntan (as Lawrence Henning)
 1978 All About Gloria Leonard (uncredited)
  1977 Inside Jennifer Welles (uncredited)
  1974 Confessions of a Young American Housewife
 1974 Confessions of a Sex Kitten
 1974 Deep Throat Part II (as Joe Sarno)
 1973 The Devil's Plaything
 1971 The Seduction of Inga
 1970 Daddy, Darling
 1969 The Indelicate Balance
 1968 Inga

The New York Daily News reports that Chelsea's newly opened Splosh Sex Shop doesn't simply plan to sell supplies for getting your rocks off. No, it'll also include an American bistro and cafe.

It's straight, it's gay, it's everything, the store's manager told the Daily News . There's nothing like it in the country. It's one place to eat, drink, shop and do everything.

There are also plans to open a bar and lounge upstairs at the first of the year, DNA Info reports , though the store has yet to secure a liquor license. An employee also insisted it would be open 24 hours.

It's probably safe to assume the menu will be heavy on the supposed aphrodisiacs, lewdly decorated desserts and sex puns.

Update: De-Licensed

16th January 2013. See article from dnainfo.com

Splosh Sexy Boutique, a combination sex shop, cafe and bar that recently opened at 115 Eighth Ave., got its liquor license application shot down by Community Board this week.

A few angry neighbors attended a meeting of CB4's Business Licenses and Permits Committee to oppose the liquor license, claiming without evidence that they feared Splosh would host loud parties and become a magnet for prostitution .

The committee voted unanimously to ask the State Liquor Authority to deny a liquor license for the shop, which has alternated between the name Splash and Splosh.

Pornutopia
1st November 2013
Guild Cinema, Albuquerque, New Mexico

Pornotopia Film Festival won. The NM State Supreme Court decided in a 4-1 decision that The Guild Cinema & Self Serve Sexuality Resource Center have a right to host Pornotopia Film Festival. The court was clear: hosting one erotic film festival, on one weekend of the year does not make the Guild an adult amusement establishment, just like a club that plays jazz music once a year would not become a jazz club.

This ruling guarantees that Self Serve and The Guild Cinema can carry out their festival without fearing that free speech will be abridged.

Pornotopia is a film festival celebrating the beauty and diversity of sexuality. Imagine a world where erotic films don't offend, but arouse. Where orgasms are real and filmmakers are independent. Pornotopia showcases films that keep it real, raw, tender and beautiful. In Pornotopia sex is fun, everyone gets off and pleasure is paramount.

To be screened:

• FTM & BEYOND OMG - Beyond gender and infinitely sexy
• ROCK HARD GAY LOVE - More men than you can shake your stick at
• LUST FOR LIFE - Scintillating scenes of heterosexual desire
• VULVALICIOUS - From lesbian erotica to fists of furious lust
• QUEER MIX TAPE - A little something for everybody and all their holes
• TEACH ME, BEAT ME - Education, Lubrication, Domination, Stimulation

Philadelphia's Tax Review Board has voted against Mayor Michael Nutter's Revenue Department and issued a unanimous ruling in favor of a group of strip club owners fighting the so-called lap-dance tax.

Nutter had tried to stretch the rules and apply the city's amusement tax to individual lap dances. The city claimed that clubs owed back takes on past lap dances.

After six hearings, the board ruled that the clubs did not have to pay for any back taxes and penalties related to the amusement tax. Board Chairwoman Nancy Kammerdeiner said that the Revenue Department applied the tax inconsistently and that its interpretation of the admission tax was too vague.

Asked whether the administration will appeal the decision, Nutter spokesman Mark McDonald said:

We will look at the decision from the Tax Review Board and then we will evaluate our options.

Cal/OSHA (California's Department of Industrial Relations, Division of Occupational Safety and Health), recently issued multiple workplace safety citations and fines to San Francisco-based Factory Video, an adult film company that primarily produces gay bareback, or condom-less, adult films. Factory was fined close to $60,000 for numerous occupational safety and health complaints

Anti-porn campaigner,  Michael Weinstein of the AIDS Healthcare Foundation crowed:

I am very pleased to see that Cal/OSHA is really starting to step up its enforcement of existing California health and safety statues that have long required the use of condoms in adult films produced anywhere in California.

Update: AHF Snitches

12th October 2013. See  article from  latimes.com

The AIDS Healthcare Foundation reported that Factory Video was fined nearly $60,000 for the violations. The nonprofit said it had filed a series of complaints over the last two years.

Marc Sterling, office manager at Factory Video, responded to Michael Weinstein of the AIDS Healthcare Foundation:

All workers deserve a safe workplace

The truth is, he said, there have been no worker complaints from Factory Video, and it was AHF, not anyone working on a Factory Video set, that filed the Cal/OSHA complaint.

A US punk band have protested against the homophobes of Westboro Baptist 'Church' by filming a porn film on the organisation's front lawn.

As Spin reports, the group Get Shot – who also run the porn site Get Shot Girls – posted a message on their Facebook page saying they wanted to "cause controversy" with the video and explained that the church do nothing "except spread hate".

The video shows bassist Laura Lush masturbating on the organisation's yard. Lush said:

The Phelps family and Westboro Baptist Church are ridiculous and do nothing except spread hate and cause controversy. As a bisexual woman and the bass player of a ridiculous punk band, I wanted to spread my legs and cause controversy."

Porn director Axel Braun, maker of notable porn parodies of Hollywood movies plans to instate a new policy, effective immediately, that all performers appearing in sexually explicit roles in any of his movies must be a minimum age of 21. He expalined:

If the law says you are not old enough to handle alcohol responsibly, then you are probably not ready to make a career decision that will have such strong repercussions on the rest of your life. After 23 years in the business I have come to strongly believe that an 18-year-old fresh out of high school has a completely different perspective on life than he or she will have three years later, and I just want to allow them enough time to make a more informed, mature decision. This may not be a popular choice, but it is a personal one, and it is what my conscience tells me to do. I simply don't feel comfortable anymore shooting talent under 21.

The director explained that this is a conviction he's always held, but is only acting upon it now because I am finally in a position where I can afford to do so.

Spokane City Council members have rejected a proposal aimed at scantily clad baristas. The 4-2 vote against extending unlawful public exposure laws to cover bikini coffee sellers.

In public testimony that drew dozens of people, those in favor said the law was needed to protect children and keep the city a place to raise families. They called the stands with barely dressed baristas another form of adult entertainment.

We are a family city, whinged Debra Long, a resident of Spokane Valley and member of the Central Valley School District board. School buses on Sprague Avenue are being rerouted away from one espresso stand so kids won't see the baristas with little clothing, she claimed.

Those against the proposal said it was an example of outdated sexist thinking and a misguided attempt to impose Puritan censorship. Natalie Ward said, I don't take my children to nude coffee stands and proponents of the law could simply do the same.