While as a parent, on some level, I appreciate nearly anything that frightens young people into keeping their pants on, stupid analogies aren't going to ever work. Oh, sex is like a glass of water with nasty chewed up food in it? Then I'm sure hormone-fueled young people certainly won't be interested.

A Boulder mother says she's concerned that a Boulder Valley School District abstinence presenter is sending girls the wrong message, equating sexual activity with being dirty.

Laura Binegar said she became concerned after her daughter detailed a recent presentation on abstinence given in her health education class at Southern Hills Middle School. Her daughter described an activity where students spit food into water glasses, then were asked if they would rather drink from a clean glass or a dirty one....

The presenter, Brad Seng, said the student appears to have misconstrued the talk.

[...]

The water glass activity, he said, is a way to engage students. He said students drink the water while eating a snack and mixing some of their snack in the water. Then they exchange glasses. He asks them to drink the water, prompting students to say, "No, it looks nasty."

"It's a way to show them that, if they decide to be sexually active outside of a long-term committed relationship, they're putting themselves at risk," he said.

To be fair, Seng has responded to the controversy on his website. It's still a dumb idea, however.

Who knew that Walgreens has an entire section of their website dedicated to "sexual wellness" with remarkably detailed product descriptions, including this one for the "Tenga Flip Hole."

Tenga Flip Hole is designed to be the best male masturbator on the market. The Tenga Flip hole is deliberately not a simple artificial vagina - it is better. Filled with silicone ribs; nubs; gates; flaps; and pumps; the Tenga Flip Hole has an astonishing complex inside shape. Every centimeter of it has a particular function. Its flexible casing with buttons allows a total control of the stimuli. Flip Hole is the first masturbator that can open itself completely. For this reason it's really easy to clean and to always keep it hygienic. The Tenga Flip Hole Black provides a tighter interior sleeve for a noticibly different feel from the Flip Hole White.

$12 off, even. In the words of reviewer "Justin R" from Chicago, it's "cheaper than a real date," although I suppose what you (and the person you're taking) consider a "date". Also, it could be argued that with most people in the dating pool, "every centimeter" may not have "a particular function."

[Buzzfeed]

I thought the GOP's determination to make a campaign issue about contraception was pretty weird in itself, but it took a truly reprehensible turn when Rush Limbaugh suggested that a college student was a "slut" because she testified before Congress about the importance of covering contraception, especially for women who might need it for reasons that had nothing to do with birth control.

The woman, Sandra Fluke, issued a statement in response to Rush's declaration that she was a slut:

I thank the thousands of women and men, including members of Congress, Georgetown University students and faculty, and total strangers of all political stripes across the country who have offered kind words and support following recent egregious personal attacks.

We are fortunate to live in a democracy where everyone is entitled to their own opinions regarding legitimate policy differences. Unfortunately, numerous commentators have gone far beyond the acceptable bounds of civil discourse.

No woman deserves to be disrespected in this manner. This language is an attack on all women, and has been used throughout history to silence our voices.

The millions of American women who have and will continue to speak out in support of women's health care and access to contraception prove that we will not be silenced.

Rush responded with his demand that women tape themselves having sex and post the videos online so others could watch them.

In case you want to hear Rush's original comments on Fluke's testimony.

And we keep hearing that it's the Project White House 2012 candidates who aren't serious...

From Talking Points Memo:

This whole contraception debate is just so new-fangled, says billionaire investor and mega-funder to the super PAC supporting former Senator Rick Santorum (R-PA) for President, Foster Friess.

In a simpler time, there were other ways to deal with female sexual desire. “Back in my day, they used Bayer Aspirin for contraceptives. The gals put it between their knees and it wasn’t that costly,” he said Thursday on MSNBC’s Andrea Mitchell Reports, setting the host back for moment.

The general conversation was about Santorum’s past statements about contraception, who once said that it was “harmful to women.”

Local angle: Foster Friess, a part-time Scottsdale resident, was in a Phoenix TV studio. More AZ pride!

There's not really been much to look at when driving the lonely stretch of Interstate 10 between Tucson and Phoenix, unless you're like me and your eyes are always drawn to the LED screens that show the difference in price between paying cash and credit for diesel gas at truck stops.

But then came the M Passion Adult Boutique, the best reason to slide off I-10 at Picacho Peak since ... well, ever!

Housed in a renovated store front and tucked between the abandoned Nickerson Farms Restaurant and — I can't make this stuff up — the Arizona Nut House on the west side of the interchange, M Passion opened on Dec. 15, according to the store employee who anxiously greeted my wife and I when we visited on a recent drive home.

The store itself is similar to pretty much any standard adult boutique with its array of clothing, lubes, lotions, appendages, orifices and a video library for all manner of fetishes. Only its location makes it stand out, that and the bright pink exterior of the building, not to mention the billboard that first drew our attention a few miles to the north on I-10.

According to its Web site, M Passion is mostly an online retailer, though it boasts a "showroom" in a mall on Toledo, Ohio.

There's no mention of the Picacho store on its Web site, which includes the statement that it is "MPowering Romance and Sexual Well-Being."

Needless to say, for this store to survive it's going to have to hope it can somehow turn novelty drive-up traffic into repeat customers. After all, isn't a waterproof Vibrating Jackrabbit and some delay creme just as alluring a road trip purchase as a Blizzard or some scratch-off tickets?

Tomorrow in London, women will be marching on Harley Street to protest "designer vaginas", partially by attaching large furry things to their (clothed) crotches. While admittedly I'm not up on the latest in vaginal plastic surgery, I think men might owe women an apology for whatever we've done to their collective self-image that this is an actual industry:

At its most modest, the Muff March is against the pornography-influenced obsession with removing pubic hair. But it's also about protesting against the sort of surgery that makes you cross your legs. Typical procedures on offer include labiaplasty (trimming or removing the labia) and vaginal rejuvenation (tightening — usually referred to by "designer vagina").

In the US this industry is worth $6.8m (£4.4m). In the UK the latest figures come from a 2009 report in the British Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology. It revealed that in 2008 the number of operations increased by 70% compared with the previous year: 1,118 labiaplasty operations on the NHS. (There were 669 in 2007 and 404 in 2006.) And that's just the NHS. The Harley Medical Group reported over 5,000 inquiries about cosmetic gynaecology last year, 65% for labial reduction.

[...]

I recently heard of a woman GP very concerned by the number of girls in their mid-teens coming to her worried about what their genitals looked like: she thought it was becoming an issue largely because of the fashion for shaving off pubic hair, which made them more self-conscious. Of course, there are rare cases where there is an underlying medical reason for this surgery, but they are just that, extremely rare. A doctor who has treated women seeking labiaplasty told me: "When you examine them, they are completely normal."

Not of all that much interest to me, but since someone put so much time into creating this infographic, I thought it was worth sharing. One of the most prominent search terms bringing people to our site is "Big Dicks" (it's a long story), so maybe this will help some of our readers with their vacation plans.

[Blame It On The Voices]

Apparently, J&D's, the company behind Bacon Salt, Baconnaise and a number of other bacon flavored products, initially floated the idea of bacon flavored/scented "massage oil" as an April Fool's Joke, but apparently, they underestimated the unmet demand for water-based lubricants that remind people of pork, so they have a limited edition run of the product available now for your gift-giving needs. Probably not great as a Hanukkah present, however.

[Jezebel]

On the surface, the idea of riding a bus from Phoenix to Milwaukee to meet up with a woman you met on the internet for a threesome she organized seems like a great idea, but for one 18 year old it ended with two days tied to a bed and three hundred knife wounds:

A Milwaukee Police Department search warrant for the East Knapp Street apartment where the man was held details his ordeal. The warrant authorized cops to seize an assortment of items from the residence, including “knives or other cutting instruments,” blood and DNA evidence, duct tape, restraining devices, and “Books or literature relating to Satanism or the occult.”

The police investigation began Sunday night after cops responded to a report of a possible stabbing. Officers found the Arizona man “bleeding from the neck, arms and back.” He told cops that after arriving at the home of a woman he met online, he “was bound and was stabbed numerous times over a timeframe of what he described as ‘two days.’”

The man was transported to a local hospital, where medical personnel “estimated the number of wounds to be in excess of 300,” according to a search warrant affidavit sworn by Detective Michael Walisiciwicz. “He suffered multiple puncture wounds as well as lacerations and slash wounds to his back, face, arms, legs and neck,” noted Walisiciwicz.

[...]

While at the apartment building, police were approached by Rebecca Chandler, 22, who stated, “I think you are here looking for me.” Chandler told cops that she had engaged in sexual relations with the Arizona man “and that the cutting was consensual but that it got quickly out of hand.”

An annual study by Trojan—yes, the condom manufacturer (and not the terrible USC mascot)—and Sperling's BestPlaces says the University of Arizona is near the top when it comes to sexual health.

The Trojan Sexual Health Report Card study considers criteri such a as the availability of free or at-cost condoms and contraceptives, student opinions about the campus health center, sexual-health-awareness programs, and HIV testing availability, among other things.

This year, the UA came in at No. 15 out of 141 schools surveyed. That's up from No. 34 last year.

And Arizona State University? The Sun Devils came in at No. 83.

Columbia University earned the top spot for the second year in a row, while DePaul University came in dead-last—just ahead of Brigham Young University and the U.S. Air Force Academy.

Read more here. (Note the terrible joke in the headline.)