Sex TOYS

High End Sex Toys

Sex toys have come a long way since the days when doctors treated “hysteria” by manipulating a woman’s genitals until she achieved release. Early vibrators were sold as portable muscle massagers, with the notion they might be applied with great success to the genitals left to the consumer’s imagination. The sexual revolution changed this, of course, with low-rent sex shops openly selling jelly dildos and made-in-China battery-powered wands.

About 10 years ago, something fascinating and perhaps inevitable occurred: Small manufacturers hired designers and engineers and sometimes even consulted actual women to create “designer” gizmos that cost $100 or more, justifying the expense with promises of superior quality, innovative design and “modern tech” innards.

More recently, luxury boutiques have pushed prices higher by presenting toys as objets d'art. Unlike most sex toys which are mass manufactured and designed with little thought for usability or longevity, high end sex toys are designed as much for their beauty as for their function, and are manufactured from high quality materials that are chosen for their practicality and aesthetic.Practical, yes, but they also look so natural on your coffee table your friends will never know it’s been in their host’s pussy or butt. Sneaky - Sculptural - Sexy

It is worth noting that most of the people who are making high end sex toys are not from inside the adult sex toy industry. Instead they tend to come with backgrounds in industrial, graphic, or conceptual design, and marketing. The obvious (and possibly only) drawback to the high end sex toys currently available is price. With retail prices ranging from $150.00 to over $1000.00, high end sex toys are out of the reach and remain within a niche market.

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World's Most Expensive Sex Toy

Saturday, March 20, 2010, The Age - Odd Spot

A Paris jeweller is selling a 40,000 euro ($A59,154) 18-carat diamond ring mounted in a sex toy that it claims is the world's most expensive erotic novelty.

'This sex toy was designed for rich people who want to declare their love in a special way,' said Jean-Francois Tokars, a manager at Maison Victor on Paris' posh place Vendome.

The luxury sex toy is a white gold dildo that comes in various sizes and comes apart to release the ring studded with 117 diamonds.

Maison Victor has already sold several sex toys that Tokars described as a 'very high end product'.

PARIS

High-End Erotic Design

Anti-Sex Feminism

Anti-Sex Feminism

"A woman reading Playboy feels a little like a Jew reading a Nazi manual." - Gloria Steinem

"When pornography is… normal, a whole population of men is primed to dehumanise women and to enjoy inflicting assault sexually… Pornography is the perfect preparation - motivator and instruction manual in one - for… sexual atrocities." - Catharine MacKinnon

Pornography + Pop Culture =

My Pro-Sex Defense

Pro-Sex Defense

As a "pro-sex" feminist, I believe: Pornography benefits women, both personally and politically. It provides sexual information (dare I say education) on at least three levels:

• It gives a panoramic view of the world's sexual possibilities. This is true even of basic sexual information such as masturbation. It is not uncommon for women to reach adulthood without knowing how to give themselves pleasure.
• It allows women to "safely" experience sexual alternatives and satisfy a healthy sexual curiosity. The world is a dangerous place. By contrast, pornography can be a source of solitary enlightenment.
• It offers the emotional information that comes only from experiencing something either directly or vicariously. It provides us with a sense how it would "feel" to do something.

Pornography allows women to enjoy scenes and situations that would be unattainable to them in real life. Take, for example, one of the most common fantasies reported by women - the fantasy of "being taken." The first thing to understand is that a rape fantasy does not represent a desire for the real thing. Why would a healthy woman daydream about being raped? Perhaps by losing control, she also sheds all sense of responsibility for and guilt over sex. Perhaps it is the exact opposite of the polite, gentle sex she has now. Perhaps it is flattering to imagine a particular man being so overwhelmed by her that he must have her. Perhaps she is curious. Perhaps she has some masochistic feelings that are vented through the fantasy. Is it better to bottle them up?

Pornography breaks cultural and political stereotypes, so that each woman can interpret sex for herself. Anti-feminists tell women to be ashamed of their appetites and urges. Pornography tells them to accept and enjoy them.

Pornography benefits women politically in many ways. Historically, pornography and feminism have been fellow revolutionaries. Although it is not possible to draw a cause-and-effect relationship between the rise of pornography and that of feminism, they both demand the same social conditions - namely, sexual freedom.

Pornography is free speech applied to the sexual realm. Freedom of speech is the ally of those who seek change: it is the enemy of those who seek to maintain control. Pornography, along with all other forms of sexual heresy, such as homosexuality, should have the same legal protection as political heresy. This protection is especially important to women, whose sexuality has been controlled by censorship through the centuries.

"Scratch most feminists and underneath there is a woman who longs to be a sex object. The difference is that is not all she wants to be." - Betty Rollin.

PORNOGRAPHY = DEGRADING

Pornography is degrading to women.

Degrading is a subjective term. I find commercials in which women become orgasmic over soapsuds to be tremendously degrading. The bottom line is that every woman has the right to define what is degrading and liberating for herself.

Degradation is often linked to the "objectification" of women: that is, porn converts them into sexual objects. What does this mean? If taken literally, it means nothing because objects don't have sexuality; only beings do. But to say that porn portrays women as "sexual beings" is less logical. Usually, the term sex objects means showing women as body parts, reducing them to physical objects. What is wrong with this? Women are as much their bodies as they are their minds or souls. No one gets upset if you present women as "brains" or as spiritual beings. If I concentrated on a woman's sense of humor to the exclusion of her other characteristics, is this degrading? Why is it degrading to focus on her sexuality?

Feminist Positions

Liberal Feminism

Liberal feminism is a continuation of 1960s feminism that called for equality with men, who were not oppressors so much as partners to be enlightened. Equality did not mean destroying the current system, but reforming it through such measures as affirmative action. The liberal principle "a woman's body, a woman's right" underlay arguments ranging from abortion rights to lifestyle freedoms like lesbianism. The stress was upon the act of choosing, rather than upon the content of any choice.

Liberal feminists share the general liberal bias toward free speech, but they are in flux on pornography. Some liberal organizations like Feminists for Free Expression (FFE) have consistently opposed censorship in any form. Some liberal feminists like Sallie Tisdale (Talk Dirty to Me) have defended sexual freedom. But many liberal feminists commonly reason as follows: "As a woman I am appalled by Playboy ... but as a writer I understand the need for free expression."

Such arguments are not pro-pornography. They are anticensorship ones based on grounds that a creative culture requires freedom of speech.

Pro-Sex Feminism

Over the past decade, a growing number of feminists - labeled "pro sex" - have defended a woman's choice to participate in and to consume pornography. Some of these women are current or ex-sex-workers who know firsthand that posing for pornography is an uncoerced choice that can be enriching. Pro-sex feminists retain a consistent interpretation of the principle "a woman's body, a woman's right" and insist that every peaceful choice a woman makes with her own body must be accorded full legal protection, if not respect.

Pro-sex arguments sometimes seem to overlap with liberal feminist ones. For example, both express concern over who will act as censor because subjective words, such as "degrading," will be interpreted to mean whatever the censor wishes.

Anti-Porn Feminism

Page Mellish of Feminists Fighting Pornography has declared, "There's no feminist issue that isn't rooted in the porn problem."

She considers pornography - in and of itself - to be an act of sexual violence. Why is pornography viewed as both the core issue of modern feminism and an inherent act of violence? The answer lies in radical feminist ideology, which is referred to as "gender feminism."

Gender feminism looks at history and sees an uninterrupted oppression of women by men across cultures. To them, men construct women's sexuality through the words and images of society. After such construction, men commercialize women's sexuality and market it back in the form of pornography. In other words, through porn man defines woman sexually - a definition that determines every aspect of her role in society.

Feminism-Sex War 2010

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The Sex Wars

During the 1970s, much of the discourse in the feminist movement was dominated by discussions of lesbian feminism.

Toward the end of the decade, however, the conversations within feminism began to focus on a new topic: sexuality. This included sexuality of all types, not just lesbian sexuality. Included in the discussions and debates were heterosexuality, pornography, sadomasochism, butch/femme roles, and prostitution.

One of the issues, pornography, was quickly taken up by some in the feminist movement as a central issue, and so the anti-pornography feminist movement was born. Very soon afterward, there was a reaction against this movement, a reaction which is termed “pro-sex” feminism.

The two sides of this debate quickly became heated and passionate, thus became the Sex Wars.

Key Issues of the Sex Wars:

What is the fundamental nature of sex and sexuality?

Is pornography an issue of violence against women or an issue of free speech?

Which kinds of sex are appropriate and politically correct and which are not?

Who gets to decide?

How did each side of the debate characterize themselves and how were they characterized by their opponents?

In what ways did the debates around sexuality affect lesbian women?

How are people still being affected today?

Sarah Lucas: Au Naturel Amna Malik

Does art have a sex? And if so, what does it look like?' With these questions Amna Malik opens her study of Sarah Lucas's Au Naturel (1994), an assemblage of objects that suggest male and female body parts.

In Au Naturel, 'sex' appears with no apparent morality attached - no implication of guilt, shame or embarrassment. The sardonic and irreverent nature of Lucas's observations challenges assumptions about what kind of art women artists make. This, Malik proposes, is the significance of Lucas's work for a later generation of female artists who no longer feel obliged to insist on questions of gender and sexual politics in their work.

Interesting mentality directly in response to feminist movement..?

Rebelle: Feminism and the Haunting of History

The recent exhibition 'rebelle: Art and Feminism 1969-2009' (2009), at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Arnhem.

Shadi Ghadirian, 'Like Everyday (Domestic Life) 08'

Underwear Options..

A pocket for your mobile phone, just to take advantage of the vibration alert. Practical? Who wants to reach into their underpants beneath layers of fabric in public?

Hairy print underwear from Helsinki. Fairly humorous. Obviously not for pleasure, function or particular sex appeal. Just for laughs.

Camel Toe Insert, is this ever a positive enhancing look? Surely no one would consider this in a way other then a joke..

Spanish Leggings

How promiscuous do you feel today? A hop-skip-jump away from forehead tattoos reading 'no chance' or 'lets go'..? OR does it empower women by the terminology 'warrior' and 'fatal'?

From Bottom Up:

Demure
Discreet
Subtle
Flirtatious
Sensual
Moody
Seductive
Provocative
Bold
Shameless
Warrior
Fatal

Reiki Healing

Reiki healing is the usage of spiritual energy to heal a person's aura or physical situation. Reiki actually translates to "Universal Life Force Energy." Reiki and massage are two separate things; massage is the process of rubbing or kneading different parts of the body for therapeutic reasons or purposes. Reiki in itself does not involve any physical contact. Therapists who are trained in Reiki will combine the two practices for optimal results in therapy. Licensed therapists often take Reiki classes in order to learn how to use the energy to promote spiritual well-being as well as physical well-being in their treatments.

The usual treatment of Reiki massage begins at the head and works its way through the seven different chakras. The hand placements coincide with the seven major chakras or energy centers of the physical body.

Reiki Healing is used to help patients manage pain (similar to regular massage) however, differs because the practitioner does not knead or manipulate the tissues or muscles of the patient. Instead, the hands of the practitioner remain still, and the energy of healing is sent through the channels of the practitioner into the patient. It is not necessary for there to be skin-to-skin contact.

Reiki is used to treat conditions such as muscle pain, tension, stress, injury healing, pain management and over 60 other medical ailments. There are seven different areas or chakras of the body used to treat different ailments and illnesses in the body.

Reiki treatments are said to be one hundred percent safe; they do not incur any side effects or injuries. There are sensations that are felt, but they are different for different people. Some people experience a sensation of warmth or tingling. Others experience a spirit of relaxation and balance. Depending on the patient, Reiki treatments have been known to show results immediately or over a period of extended time.

Tantric Massage

The majority of people have heard of Tantric Massage or Tantric Sex; intimate touching, rubbing and caressing with a possibly orgasm. Basically, my knowledge solely comes from the brief scenes in a Sex In The City episode with 'Charlotte' convinces her three friends to join her in Tantric Massage classes.

Many people may be under the impression that tantric massage is all about penetrative sex, but they are incorrect with this assumption. Tantric massage is an actual massage technique that is created from believing that sexual happiness and relaxation will contribute to better health and provide other benefits. “Tantra” is the Hindu word meaning “personal growth in a pleasurable existence.”

Tantric massage can result in orgasm, but that is not the main objective of this form of massage. It does involve touching of the intimate organs but does not include penetrative sex. The exception is when this type of massage is provided in massage parlors in major cities across the world that tend to offer a “full range” of services and sex is the primary focus. Nudity is optional, although many find the experience to be enhanced when clothing is removed.

Tantric massage is best performed in a quiet room with accompanying soft music. The partner should lie on his back with legs spread apart, and a cushion should be placed beneath the hips. The head should also be raised enough to view the genitals. During the massage every part of the body to be touched with the private areas getting much of the attention. The object of massaging the other is to prepare him for the intimate touch and fondling that will follow. When these techniques are properly administered, tantric massage will teach the partners techniques for relaxation and arousal of the senses that will bring the partners closer together.

Using this method of massage, a person can easily learn which parts of his partner’s body are receptive to the touch and these areas can include the neck, scalp, inside of elbows, solar plexus, hands and feet and of course, the genital areas. One can often experience near orgasm from parts that are not obvious erogenous zones.

The advantage of tantric massage is that it allows the partner to touch areas of the body that a massage therapist would never venture to, and this will offer benefits to parts of the body that have been greatly stressed from activities such as sitting behind an office desk all day. For a change in routine, partners can experiment with different massage accessories and massage oils that can promote the release of endorphins while making the massage process itself smoother and more relaxing.