Durex Ads That Made Me Smile

I just saw these ads from Durex that made me smile. You can click them to see larger versions. They depict the back of a fridge and the back of a television, and the writing at the bottom says, "Gel lubricant from Durex. Enjoy the other side."

Gel lube, of course, is designed to be used for anal sex. And, while Durex undoubtedly has a better ad campaign, if you're going to get some I recommend you buy Boy Butter.

This Bugs Me

Okay, I'm going to go really, really geeky here but I'm a writer and I get hung up about language so just let me rant.

I like good funny tee shirts. I like wearing them and they make good presents and since I'm poly and have a lot of friends who are poly, I thought a good, funny poly tee shirt would be a great thing to find. I've looked several times but the only one I seem to be able to find is this one.



This shirt bugs the heck out of me. Not because the joke is a little long-winded, possibly a bit awkwardly phrased. Not because it's an etymology joke. I'm the kind of person who would love a knee-slapper about hilarious suffices. And you've got to admit that this kind of humor is pretty appropriate to the subject, since polyamorists are generally a pretty smart, geeky group of people who could enjoy a dorky joke like this just as much as I would.

No, this shirt bugs me for a much simpler reason: Who the heck says it's wrong to mix Latin and Greek roots in the same word?!? That's perfectly normal. It's called a hybrid word and there are plenty of them. Automobile, dysfunctional, kilometer, electrocution, hyperactive, bilingual, sociology, sociopath, television. Even the most heteronormative etymologist wouldn't have a problem with polyamory on a grammatical level. If he did, he'd be a complete hypocrite because heteronormative is another Greek-Latin hybrid, with a French suffix to boot.

Besides polyamory, a lot of words to describe sexuality are also hybrids, like heterosexual, homosexual or bigamist. Polyamory is just the latest in a long tradition of English words that have smashed together bits and pieces of other languages. That's what makes the English language great!

So you heard it here first, kids. Polyamory is most definitely NOT wrong.

RE: What the Fuck Is Going On?!?

Actually, this seems like a pretty reasonable explanation for what appeared, at first glance, to be one hundred percent bullshit from the Obama Administration. Not that I'm happy about what is happening, but maybe there is an explanation other than some sort of desperate move to the right from a panicking party facing a midterm defeat.

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

WHAT THE FUCK IS GOING ON?!

Okay, kids. Let's review.

REPUBLICANS (the Log Cabin kind, but still) file a lawsuit asking a judge to file an injunction stopping Don't Ask, Don't Tell. Check.

The judge files said injunction. The military can't kick out gay people now. Check.

DEMOCRATS (our heroes, the Obama Administration) ask for a stay on the injunction so they can appeal it and try to make it okay to kick people out of the army for being gay again. Waitaminute, huh?

WHAT THE FUCK IS GOING ON ?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?

Dogging

I just came across this article in the New York Times about "dogging," which is English slang for having sex in public in places where people will see you and watch. In the town of Puttenham, in Surrey, so many people are coming from out of town (usual pun disclaimer) that it is becoming quite a nuisance.

Puttenham, about an hour’s drive from London, has fewer than 2,500 residents and is famous for its ancient church; its friendly pub, the Good Intent; and its proud inclusion in both the Domesday Book — an 11th-century survey of English lands — and “Brave New World.”

Unhappily for many people here, it is also famous for being featured on lists of good places to go “dogging” — that is, to have sex in public, sometimes with partners you have just met online, so that others can watch. So popular is the woodsy field below the ridge as a spot for gay sex (mostly during the day) and heterosexual sex (mostly at night) that the police have designated it a “public sex environment.”

Read the whole thing.

Okay, people. I do not object to having sex outside in public areas. I have had sex outside in public areas. I've actually done it kind of recently. However, when your outdoor sex has a voyeuristic aspect, you are including other people in your outdoor sex, and including people in sex with you without asking their permission first is WRONG. I would be all in favor of a world where people could take off their clothes and have sex wherever the mood struck and no one would have a problem with it. But we don't live in a world like that and people do have a problem with it. So let's do our best to respect everybody's bountries. Okay, mates?

Tim Gunn's It Gets Better Video

Over the past week I've been watching quite a few of the It Gets Better Project videos while reading Slog and I've really been blown away by what I've seen. That said, I have to say that I've liked the videos by ordinary people much more than the videos by celebrities -- for example, the video by Perez Hilton didn't do much for me.

However, for whatever reason, I just watched Tim Gunn's it gets better video and I was totally blown away. In it, Gunn admits that he was in so much despair about being gay that he attempted suicide by taking pills when he was seventeen years old. Now, I'm not a huge fan of Gunn's reality show (see how I avoided saying the name of the show as if I'm not totally sure if it's the one with the models or the designers) but it strikes me that admitting to a failed suicide attempt is a pretty big step for a celebrity to take. These people are very concerned with their public image and it says something about Tim Gunn that he's willing to take a risk in the way he's perceived in the media if he can help a gay kid. So I say bravo to Tim Gunn, just as I said bravo to Dan Savage for starting this whole thing. Well done, guys.