In which super sexy porn people answer questions - each week - from Bay Area locals. View the last installment here.
Mediated by Justin Juul

Fielding your questions this month is local writer/porn star, Stephen Boyer. Check out some of his movies/pics here and an excerpt from his upcoming novel here. Read our 2008 interview with Boyer here.

Gerry H: Do you ever get bored in the middle of a sex scene?

Boyer: I tried to do a scene with a trans-woman once and she couldn’t get it up. Then she started to complain that she was sick. After that, she started having all of these negative body issues and eventually broke into tears. A few minutes later, she was saying she wanted to leave the porn world once and for all. I wasn’t bored, but the experience was sad and disheartening. So no, I’ve never been bored but I’ve had negative experiences.

Another experience that comes to mind happened a few years ago on set in Los Angeles. The shoot lasted four days and was a porn version of the popular TV show “Survivor.” Every day a few of the boys would get kicked off. One of the boys had just turned 18 and had recently run away from home because his parents were really conservative. He was struggling to pay rent so he got into porn. The “Survivor” thing was his first shoot and the director wanted him to bottom, but not just for anyone; the director specifically made him bottom for a guy with a 12-inch dick that was also really thick. When the boy’s scene finally came up, everyone was watching because no one believed he could take it. But he did. The kid took the dick for like four minutes and then a huge pool of blood shot out of his ass. He was kicked off the show that weekend. He was paid but he didn’t make as much as the rest of us who had “survived” the whole thing.

Kink.com owner Peter Acworth

By Steven T. Jones

The San Francisco Chronicle today reports (way back on its Business page) on how the recession/depression and free Internet porn sites (which often steal content from paid sites) are hurting the porn industry, which will in turn hurt San Francisco's economy.

Among the revelations is that homegrown success story Kink.com last month laid off 13 employees and scuttled plans for some new sites after a major expansion at its San Francisco Armory headquarters just last year.

Just like the newspaper and music businesses, the porn industry will need to find ways to continue to monetize its content. Maybe the bankers aren't the only industry that could use a government fluffer these days.

Compiled by Breena Kerr

>> Sharpening Your Edge: Tips for “Sharing Your Stuff”

If you are a kink or sexpert, mentor, blogger or lecturer and want to learn about how to get yourself out there, then this lecture is for you. Sexual health professional Frank Strona will demonstrate effective techniques for giving engaging presentations, planning programs, developing handouts, and writing a bio.

Friday/ 6, 9pm-10pm, $5-10 (sliding scale)
The Center for Sex and Culture
1519 Mission, SF
(415) 255-1155
www.twistedheartsf.info

Embedded:

Melissa Gira Grant gets deep about the San Francisco sex scene every Thursday on SEX SF. Check out her last installment here.

Monika studies public health at San Francisco State University. She’s 28 going on 29 and lives in Noe Valley. “I’m not bougie,” she says, “I just got a good deal.” She uses FetLife.com and MySpace to meet potential lovers. “I don’t have a problem telling people on those sites that I do porn. It’s helpful. That way the one’s who are talking to me to get my pics can just buy them from me and wank off to a couple.”

Monika is the feature model on a site she runs herself, Monika’s Playhouse. It’s her take on tranny porn. “There’s basically two kinds of tranny porn out there: the ‘shemales’ with big tits and big dicks fucking everything in site, these eroticized women with penises. Then there’s men dressed like women being dominated. Crossdresser porn. I’m a blend of the two.”

Each week Justin Juul highlights a rad upcoming local sexy event

Who Don’t you hate it when you forget to close your browser after a hot and heavy self-petting session and then you suddenly find yourself watching porn with your brain instead of your naughty region? What is this shit, man?! Porn sucks. The plotlines are non-existent, the music sounds like it was made on a garage-sale Casio, and the production value is just total shit. But the worst part is the casting. Big beefy jocks with tribal tats and goatees, peroxide blondes with implants and tramp stamps -they may be good at fucking, but compelling character actors/artists, they are not. The problem with porn is that most of it is made in Los Angeles by brainless douchebags and clueless ex-cheerleaders looking for a quick buck. But this is San Francisco. This is the art capital of the entire world, the home of the free thinker, and the land of the awesome. Can’t we get some porn made for us? Yes, we can! Yes, we can! If you’re as sick of Barbie Doll smut as we are, then you should get to know local filmmaker/producer/writer/artist Courtney Trouble. Trouble is the founder of a "queer porn" ("queer" as in not just homo, but alternative as well) site called Nofauxxx.com and she’s the final word when it comes to smut with attitude and character. No Fauxxx is the oldest running queer porn site on the Internet and, to this date, the only spot that mixes alt, gay, lesbian, straight, trans, kink, and BBW genres into one common site. It’s sexy, artsy, entertaining, and totally DIY. In a word: ours.

Each week, Justin Juul combs the SF Craigslist Personals and Missed Connections for true gems that prove there's enough love for everyone. View his last installment here.

Long-term monogamous relationships are great for a lot of different reasons -- sex when you want it (Ed Note- ha!), no new STD’s, snuggling, etc—but anyone who’s been coupled for more than a year will tell you that the situation can also get a little boring. It’s not that the other person inexplicably starts to suck; if that were the case you’d just leave them. It’s just that, after a while, it’s easy to forget how great your other half is. And of course, it’s just as easy for him or her to forget how wonderful you are. Wouldn’t it be awesome if you could just trade each other out for new partners once in a while? Well, you can. It’s called swinging, or swapping, or polyamory-with-rules and it’s nothing but fun. Almost nothing but fun. It is true that one of you will probably get jealous and start shouting, and crying, and throwing things at some point, but that’s easy to deal with. A calm, logical discussion about the fairness of your sexcapades should be enough to quell any ill feelings. After all, love is the most rational emotion there is, right?

Still unsure? Well, most of the Craigslist Cruisers below have been married or coupled for five years or more. They must be doing something right.

Young stud and hot milf want to play - mw4mw - 38 (willow glen / Cambrian)
Reply to: [redacted]
Date: 2009-03-01, 11:51PM PST

Hey there. We are a couple seeking another couple in the South bay area. He's 24, Italian with a hot body and a well-hung cock with LOTS of stamina. She's 38 and Asian, cute and perky and gives awesome blowjobs. This is our first time playing with another couple and hope to meet up with another couple who also relatively new to this. Perhaps we can meet for drinks sometime soon (this weekend if possible) and if all goes well, we can take it from there.

By Andrea Nemerson. View more alt.sex here.

Dear Readers:

It's a dull, drippy week in California and when the weather gets like this a writer's fancy turns to tentacles.

Manifestly untrue, I know, but mine did. Recently while researching something else (the famous Sybian ride-on sex toy, the one whose dealer claims it will "cause a female to literally explode on it" — I hate it when that happens!) I came upon a repository of tentacle porn, and boy did that take me back. Once upon a time I had somehow managed never to hear of tentacle porn until one night when I was hanging out with my friend Annalee Newitz, the high tech high-weirdness expert and she was all, "Oh, blah blah blah this weird thing and that weird thing and tentacles" and I was all, "Wait, what was that last thing again?"

It's tentacle porn. It's Japanese. Extremely Japanese. Innocent schoolgirl types, drawn anime/hentai fashion with giant eyes and giant boobs and teensy little bodies clad in teensy little schoolgirl uniforms, until they're not, get non-consensually multipenetrated by ... tentacles. How did you think that sentence was going to end?

Anyway, I got the idea and I stored it away and brought it out occasionally to amuse or shock people and I totally forgot I'd still never seen any myself until I went looking for something else and somehow stumbled over the tentacles (another "I hate it when that happens" thing) and it all came back to me.

It's the dullest thing ever. I'd seen enough hentai (anime porn) to expect this (it tends to be weirdly slow and standardized and repetitive and badly dubbed). It's not the easiest sort of porn to project yourself into, even for a person who likes porn more than I do. And that's the stuff without tentacles. The odd thing about the tentacles, beyond the fact that they exist at all (they were invented to get around restrictions on depictions of non-tentacular intercourse), is that they are so ... uninspired. They never seem to be attached to an interesting monster with any motivations besides rape, and they have a very limited repertoire of sexual acts. They're very "bad teenage date" — stick it in, stick it in, stick it in, but unlike a bad teenage date, they can do all the sticking-in at the same time. Whoopty-do.

Here's what I do like about tentacle porn:

Compiled by Breena Kerr

Lusty Ladies and cheap tattoos at the "Friday the 13th" benefit party

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>> Bawdy Storytelling
Local literary smut-spillers – including Sherilyn Connelly, Isaac Rodriguez, Sister Mable Syrup, Melissa Hoobler, Ray Allen, and many more -- share their bawdiest tales with a ribald crowd. Bring your own beverage and sparkling personality (and a tale of your own, too – there may be room for one or two from the audience!). This installment’s theme is “But We Finished Anyway: Tales of frozen asses and gag reflexes.” Good times.

Thu/12, 7pm, $7 (snacks included)
1286 Folsom, SF.
Contact bawdystorytelling@gmail.com for more info

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>> Born Into Brothels screening
This amazing documentary by Zana Briski and Ross Kauffman is about children in Calcutta’s Red Light district. It won the Oscar for best documentary film in 2005. The screening is part of SF Camerawork’s film series about youth empowerment and will be followed by a discussion.

Thu/12, 7pm, free with suggested donation
SF Camerawork
657 Mission, second floor
415-512-2020
www.sfcamerawork.org

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>> ”Friday the 13th” fundraiser with Inkwell and the Lusty Lady
Join the lovely ladies of the Lusty Lady and the inkers at Inkwell tattoo studio for a lively show – and $40 tattoos all night! – benefiting the AIDS Healthcare Foundation. Free drinks all night, and who knows what you’ll wake with scrawled permanently on your backside. For charity, of course.

Fri/13, 9pm, donations encouraged, tattoos $40
Inkwell
1145 65th St., Emeryville
www.inkwellworld.com

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>> IXFF Exposure Party
“The erotic film networking event of the year.” Come one come all directors, editors, producers, talent and more for a special panel presentation on erotic cinema. And if the thought of enjoying a live DJ, complimentary cocktails, and the sheer pleasure of knowing everyone around you is in the pleasure business isn‘t enough to get you through the doors, maybe the Independent Erotic Film Festival’s grand prize of $1,500 will have you smoozing with the porn-sters, combing the party for your production crew.

Fri/13, 7pm-10pm, $5-10 (sliding scale)
The Center for Sex and Culture
1519 Mission, SF.
510-522-5460
www.goodvibes.com

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By Juliette Tang

Attention all you narcissists, fetishists, and exhibitionists, Bombshell Betty's crew of pin-up photographers are coming to San Francisco this Sunday, March 15, and they want to take naughty photos of you in your unmentionables. If you bring your bod to Hotel Frank in Union Square on Sunday between 3 to 9pm, along with your cutest skivvies and your sassiest 'tude, you'll get some star treatment that includes a pin-up posing workshop, a hair and make-up session, and a photoshoot that will make you feel like a burlesque goddess like Bombshell Betty herself. Afterward, you get to keep the disc of more than 200 of your own pin-up portraits, which will make a great present for a significant other, and an even better present for yourself. If you can't make it this Sunday to the group session, you can schedule a private one here.

Along with being the birthplace of Bombshell Betty, San Francisco is also home to other talented pin-up photographers who can help you channel the spirits of Betty Page and Gypsy Rose Lee. Check out some more great local pin-up photography services, after the jump.

In Which Super Sexy Porn People Answer Questions -- each week -- From Bay Area Locals
Mediated by Justin Juul

Fielding your questions this month is local writer/porn star, Stephen Boyer. Check out some of his movies/pics here and an excerpt from his upcoming novel here. Read our 2008 interview with Boyer here, and the last installment of Ask a Porn Star here.

James N: Do you enjoy the sex you have on camera or do you just sort of block it out and then count the money?

Boyer: I enjoy it for the most part. I got into the industry to pay rent. Then I started branching out more with my sexuality. Then I found Kink.com and a world full of toys I could explore and that is when sex got really fun and interesting. The great thing about porn, for me, was that it allowed me to try sexual positions and feel sensations that required toys that I couldn’t afford because I was poor. Doing it on video both paid my rent and gave me the opportunity to have sexual experiences with attractive contemporaries.

Elan F: What is the one thing you hate the most about sex?

By Juliette Tang

There's a big, hard, and urgent reason to use eco-friendly sex toys, and it's not just to get off. If you haven't ever thought about what's harboring in the industrial-grade plastic of that favorite vibrator, now is probably a good time to start doing some research.

The majority of vibrators, dildos, sex beads, and blow-up dolls contain plastic, and most of that plastic is treated with one or more phthalates, a family of chemical compounds that is added to plastics in order to make them more flexible. If you use a bendable dildo that feels soft of pliable to the touch, it most likely contains a giant load, if you will, of phthalates. Because the presence of phthalates have been known to induce birth defects, change hormone levels, and cause liver and testicular damage in people and animals, phthalates used in childrens' toys and animal toys are subjected to federal government regulations.

The government has no such regulations on the use of phthalates - or many other chemicals for that matter - in sex toys.

Each week Justin Juul highlights a rad upcoming local sexy event

Who Remember the girl who sat in front of you in freshman math class? She was super cute and she smelled amazing, but it really sucked to be that close to her everyday because you just couldn’t stop wondering about the color of her panties and whether she had baby-toe nipples or the big round kind. Oh my god, the round kind! The cool thing about your daydreams was that they made algebra tolerable, but they were also kind of dangerous because they made you hard and if anything strange were to happen –fire alarms, group exercises, etc—you knew you’d be forced to parade your boner around in front of both your crush and all the other assholes in your class. But, whatever. If you absolutely had to stand up, you could always just grab your jacket and pretend to look for something in the pocket until you could sit down again, right? Wrong! Remember the day the fire alarm actually did go off? Where was your trusty jacket then, smart guy? It sure as hell wasn’t on the back of your chair like it should have been and so your only option was to stand up quickly and try to run out the door before anyone noticed -a perfect plan that went haywire when your crush suddenly stooped over and swung around to grab her backpack. After plowing your fourteen year-old wiener directly into the poor girl’s face, you promptly tripped and landed on your back with the most ridiculous and shameful erection the world had ever seen poking out the side of your Umbros.

It was the most embarrassing moment of your life and that’s why, although you remember her well, you probably don’t want to see the hot girl from math class ever again. Or maybe you do. If you’re a glutton for self-depreciating humor, you should check out this show. Sexy algebra girl will certainly be in attendance (in spirit, if not physically), as will all the little fuckers who called you “J-Bone” back in high school.

What Mortified is a spoken word showcase starring all your friends and neighbors as pimply-faced teenagers going through the hell.

By Tim Redmond

Heads up: There's a move in Sacramento to put a new tax on "adult entertainment." (Scroll down and read the second part of the press release). A couple of thoughts:

1. I'm a tax-and-spend liberal, and I have no problems in general with taxes on services.

2. Still, this is kind of funky. It's not clear yet how the bill will define "adult entertainment." As demimonde and labor activist Princess Pandora puts it:

Do they charge Britney Spears concerts? She dances all sexy, including "pelvic undulations," which are considered a simulated sex act by ABC and can get a club fined/shut down. What about the ballet? Those tights don't leave much to the imagination. Do you think women love Barishnikov for his dancing? Girlfriend, please! If I do porn, but wear flowers in my hair, and maybe recite some crappy poetry, can I call it "performance art" and avoid the tax?

3. We don't charge sales tax on newspapers and magazines. When does a magazine become porn, and thus taxable? One nude on the cover (that would include much of the alternative press in America)? What about the Sports Illustrated swimsuit issue? (I know, it's pretty lame, but Playboy's pretty lame, too).

4. I don't love the connection this bill makes, if even implictly, between "adult entertainment" and domestic violence. Don't want to open a can of worms here, but I think there's a lot more DV that can be traced to the Super Bowl than to most innocent smut.

I've put in a call to Assembly member Torrico's office, and they promised to get back to me. I'll keep you posted.

UPDATE: Jeff Barbosa, a spokesperson for Torrico, just called me. He said the bill is a "work in progress" and that they still haven't defined what "adult entertainment" will be. But he said right now they're using Penal Code Section 313 as a working definition.

Here's the language:

"Harmful matter" means matter, taken as a whole, which to the average person, applying contemporary statewide standards, appeals to the prurient interest, and is matter which, taken as a whole, depicts or describes in a patently offensive way sexual conduct and which, taken as a whole, lacks serious literary, artistic, political, or scientific value for minors.

Ooh, I can see this creating a lot of problems.

I wonder: Perhaps the Assembly could take a page from Tom Ammiano's pot bill, and legalize prositution, then tax it. Make sense to me.

By Marke B.

OK, all this may be a little tired by now, but I'm still in full agreement with Kimberly Chun's expert take down of Katy "UR So Gay" Perry from January of last year. That was published before Perry's odiously catchy "I Kissed a Girl" became impossible to escape last summer -- the ditty managed to "have it both ways," heh, playing both anti-gay conservatives and LGBTs for maximum chart effect. That's clever, but the song's lame sentiment (kissing girls turns my boyfriend on -- lesbians are only here for my amusement!) still makes my stomach churn.

The parodies came swift and mercilessly, from "I Kissed a Squirrel" (available in many versions) to "I Kissed a Granny" (yeesh!) to "I Kissed a Dog." Oh, enough already, YouTube Nation.

And then, of course, teh gay. I should have known there would be an onslaught of over-the-top backlash when drag superstar Lady Bunny unleashed "I Licked a Girl" on the world last year (first minute below):

Lady Bunny, "I Licked a Girl" at Southern Decadence

Yay, overly familiar gynophobia! Still, it could all be called hilarious if it wasn't a trend. Now, the pendulum has swung back, with emo boys embracing the kissing hysteria, and a flood of "I Kissed a Boy" guyliner-bedecked parodies, headed up by primo "hip" parody purveyors Cobra Starship's version from a Fall Out Boy (!) mixtape. I knew I was gonna have to surrender my critical faculties and just go with the flow when one of my smartest gay friends told me he was completely Lady GaGa for the boy in the video, followed by my bf Hunky Beau's comment: "Oh goodie, he takes his shirt off." At least the dood-singer Gabe lipsyncher (a reader informs us in the that this is a fan vid, not Cobra Starship itself) plays with the whole baseball-bat-bashing theme a little, even if he can't quite bring himself to admit the "he liked it" more than just wanting to "start shit."

Cobra Starship, "I Kissed A Boy"

So much confliction! Smash! Twist! Contort! Feint! Poor thing. I guess my question is, is kissing really that big a deal? And also, with the super-prominence of porn availability in the Internet age, has kissing become the final frontier of sexual boundaries -- the last retainer of intimacy now that all other sex acts have been publicized/commodified? Janet Jackson's boob, Paris and Britney's flashed beavers, and then Katy's emo lesbo-liplock spawn. Well, I guess whatever automatically short circuits "fag" in the comments section these days is maybe a good thing?

After the jump, an explosion of "I Kissed a Boys," with various degrees of homophobic liberation. Thanks, Katy!

By Marke B.

Fine, yes, we're all wearing out our French tips awaiting Borat comic genius Sascha Baron Cohen's new Austrian thuper-gay fashion disaster epic flick, Bruno: Delicious Journeys Through America for the Purpose of Making Heterosexual Males Visibly Uncomfortable in the Presence of a Gay Foreigner in a Mesh T-Shirt -- and after a wee hits-reel preview at SXSW in Austin and a couple of test screenings deep in the bowels of Harvey Weinstein, the press is picking up on every juicy detail it can squeeze out of attendees.

Like this tantalizing and/or vomit inducing piece just posted by Christopher Beam to Slate, in which one of the test screeners describes a near miss of giant-hairy-backed-dude-nude-wrestling proportions. In the Bruno movie, Cohen wheedles Libertarian leader and noted gerbil Ron Paul into an potentially compromising situation:

Each week, Justin Juul combs the SF Craigslist Personals and Missed Connections for true gems that prove there's enough love for everyone. View his last installment here.

If there’s one thing that sucks about living in San Francisco it’s the fact that most of us have to hustle our asses off just to make rent every month. We have to work shitty side jobs to avoid homelessness through grad school or we have to hold down three careers simultaneously just so we can maintain one that makes us feel good. It wouldn’t be so bad if our bodies and minds were designed to handle such frantic schedules, but the fact of the matter is that they’re not. We have to sleep at least 20 hours a week and we have to eat at least once a day. And yes, we have to have sex sometimes too. The question is, “When?”

Well, if you’re life is anything like ours, the only time of day that’s almost always open is dawn. You don’t have to be anywhere, you don’t have to answer any emails, etc. With a small tweak to your sleep schedule, you can transform your early mornings from the nicotine-and-caffeine binges they are now into the hot and heavy love sessions you’ve been missing out on. The only problem is, where the hell are you going to find a compatible sex partner at 5am?

Craigslist, duh.

Early morning discreet fun - m4w - 28 (san Jose east)
Reply to: [redacted]
Date: 2009-03-05, 10:46PM PST

Hi, thanks for taking the time to check out my post. I am looking for a discreet encounter w/ a sexy woman who would like me to come over around 5 am and leave around 6:30 am. I am very oral and love to make a woman moan with pleasure as I lick you to ecstasy. I am not picky, just want clean, disease free, 420 friendly woman. fairly open minded pls feel free to email me if you have questions.

Early AM Oral - m4m - 44 (redwood city)
Reply to: [redacted]
Date: 2009-03-05, 9:39PM PST
I love the taste of cock in the morning - can I taste you Friday around 7am? I will be on my way to work in RWC, near oracle, and would love to have a hard one shoved down my throat until I gag but service that dick until it shoots cream that I swallow. Sound like a good time? Write me back and I will answer in the AM - or send me a location to meet you and I will take care of your stiff dick.

The best thing to do right when you wake up... - w4m - 24 (mountain view)
Reply to: [redacted]
Date: 2009-03-06, 9:32PM PST
It's extra early, and I'm extra horny! Looking for someone to hook up with this morning! 40 and over, pic w/ reply!

Early morning suck - m4t- 22 (Vallejo / Benicia) Reply to: [redacted]
Date: 2009-03-07, 2:21AM PST
Lets see i am visiting the bay area looking for a early morning fun. basically I want you to come suck me off and leave no more no less I want to use you and kick you out this is a huge fetish for me please help me I'm 5'9" one sixty five pounds I am straight but I have a weakness for you T girls. I am only visiting this month. Haven’t had me a Cali T-girl yet so prove to me you better then the girls back home.

your pik gets mine no pik no reply

Johny

By Andrea Nemerson. View more alt.sex columns here

› andrea@altsexcolumn.com

Dear Andrea:

I'm ready to go live in a cave. It's been two years since I've dated. Partly I backed off from the scene, and partly I'm not receiving much interest. I think I'm smart, approachable, creative, "together," nice, and passably cute. It's starting to affect my self-confidence.

I joined eHarmony ($120!) and nerve.com, solicited friends' input on my profiles, and followed up on every match. I got one eHarmony date (great but not local) and rarely heard back from anyone. I try to e-mail one guy a day. Either they don't answer or our communication peters out soon after I e-mail. The ones who really get me seem very interested, ask me out, then drop it when I accept.

Why? Is this a Mars/Venus thing? Maybe online just isn't my venue? I do several activities that attract single guys, but haven't led to much — except maybe embarrassment on my part when I show interest and get a brush-off. Maybe try going through friends again? That worked in the past.

I just turned 40 and would like a partner. Mostly I've been solo, and that really sucks.
Love,

Forty & Frustrated

Dear F&F:

Before you go live in a cave, you might consider something a little less drastic, like living in a smaller, less brutally competitive city far from the coasts. It's an idea.

Barring that, we have to subject your online interactions to the scrutiny of a girlfriend panel. Ideally these would be your girlfriends — they could make far more specific suggestions, like lose that mullet or stop telling everyone about your rectal fistula. But if you don't have a panel, you can borrow mine. I convened one for you.

Irina: The phenomenon of guys initiating and then vanishing as soon as you try to make a date is very familiar, and probably has nothing to do with her. I could theorize all day, but when it comes down to it, they're not ready to actually connect with people, so fuck 'em. Next!

By Johnny Ray Huston

Curt McDowell, from Buzzy's Adventures (Zip-A-Tone), ca. 1968-70. Courtesy estate of Curt McDowell

One of the things that I appreciate most about Curt McDowell's art is its shamelessness. It is shameless in a lively, funny, righteous, even virtuous manner that should embarrass prudish American moralists. "An uneven dozen broken hearts," a show of the late filmmaker's paintings and drawings, is a revelatory pleasure because of how directly it conveys McDowell's lust for and love of simple revelry. A scrapbook of photos and drawings attests to McDowell's appetite for asses and fascination with faces, but ultimately, it's a testimonial to a sexuality that shirked labels as it stripped off clothing. A collaged wall of comics and portraits brings one in close contact with McDowell's rich sense of community — one that blurred love and friendship, and mixed family members with figures of imagination.

McDowell’s untamed and uncensored spirit couldn’t be more refreshing today, when pornography (whether commodified or autobiographical) is endlessly subcategorized. But while McDowell’s big heart and healthy libido make for predictable discoveries, his serious talent as a painter comes as a surprise. As a filmmaker, McDowell blazed his own path with short works such as 1971’s self-explanatory yet unexpectedly rich Confessions and 1980’s equally direct Loads. (In 1972’s Ronnie, he merges porn and biographical portraiture with unmatched potency.) His most famous work is the two-and-a-half hour pornographic epic Thundercrack! (1975). It turns out he was just as fierce and skillful with a paintbrush or a set of Magic Markers as he was with a camera.

One of the show’s centerpieces is Untitled (the Beatles in autopsy), a nearly life-size oil-on-canvas naked and dead portrait of the Fab Four from 1968 that deserves a spot in the rich museum of cryptic Beatles iconography and perhaps even within the hall of pop art classics.

By Marke B.

"It's THAT time again. Time to pack your leathers, shine up your latex, lace that damned corset, polish those sexy black boots and get your hot ass to San Francisco. International Ms Leather Weekend is calling YOU!"

Hells yeah. Two years ago, Hunky Beau and I had the unique pleasure of attending the climactic event of this wondrous annual weekend-long affair, the International Ms. Leather competition. We were surprised not only by the warmth and openness of the community but by the humor, dedication, and depth displayed by all the contestants -- those skill-testing questions were hard! (The best one: "You're given a stick of gum, a SuperBall, and a frog. How would you use them in a scene?") And the outfits and talent numbers were damn hot-hot-hot. At the end we were cheering all the contestants on like happily disciplined schoolboys.

International Ms. Boot Black 2007 Ms. V (front), IMsL runners up Shdiva and Joanne G (right and left) and IMsL 2007 Lauren, from Phoenix. Photo by David Schnur.

It looks like registration is still open for all you sexy (and sexy curious) leatherwomen out there. This is a perfect opportunity to network with your peers, learn a few deliciously naughty and technically challenging tricks, check out an incredibly diverse array of hotties, renew your commitment to the leather code (Honesty, Trust, Respect, and Integrity), and, of course, cruise the multiple play spaces!

International Ms. Leather Weekend 2009
w/ International Ms. Leather and International Ms. Boot Black competition
March 17-19, 2009
www.imsl.org

This week's cover story by Joey Plaster presents a perfect opportunity to showcase another example of the rise and fall of Polk Gulch and hustlerdom -- Blaine Dixon's Polk Gulch (Blurb, 144 pages, $49.95), a semi-self-published collection of photos of life on one of San Francisco's most storied streets.

Dixon's black-and-white eye is a West Coast counterpart to the Times Square views of Larry Clark and Gary Lee Boas, and the book's final contemporary color section is packed with wise irony. Polk Gulch may not be what it once was, but Polk Gulch proves small publishing is still spirited, intelligent, and surprising.

In which super sexy porn people answer questions -- each week -- from Bay Area locals
Mediated by Justin Juul

Fielding your questions this month is local writer/porn star, Stephen Boyer. Check out some of his movies/pics here and an excerpt from his upcoming novel here. Read our 2008 interview with Boyer here. Read the last installment of Ask a Porn Star here

James N: How would legalizing prostitution change the lives of sex workers?

Stephen Boyer: Legalizing prostitution would help prostitutes because they wouldn’t fear being labeled a criminal. They would be empowered and able to take control of their situations better. Plus it would do away with the hypocrisy we are currently indulging in as a society. Take the homophobic Ted Haggard for instance, the priest that was caught with a male escort and forced to leave his church and town. Well, Haggard has since gone on television and has publicly admitted that what he did was a “sin,” but as far as I know he never faced any legal penalties despite the fact he was on drugs committing an illegal act. However, low-end prostitutes are being booked all the time and being shoved down the hellish rabbit hole that is our present legal system. I’m for keeping everyone out of that mess!

Gerry H: How do things change when you tell people that you’ve done porn?

We've had several requests to repost Ariel Soto's Good Vibes interview/lapdancing class video slideshow that was previously on our front page. Enjoy!

Each week, Justin Juul combs the SF Craigslist Personals and Missed Connections for true gems that prove there's enough love for everyone. View his last installment here.

Have you ever had one of those super intense orgasms that makes your jaw go slack and your whole body tingle? Awesome stuff, right? Well, have you ever had an orgasm like that…on weed? If you live in San Francisco, the answer is obviously yes and you can probably see what I’m getting at: sex on pot is better than sex when you’re sober, so why waste your time with anything else? It’s pretty much a citywide sentiment, but if you have enough one-night stands around here, you’re bound to run into at least a couple human bummers who hate weed. Never again! If you can’t stand the thought of getting naked without getting high first, just do a little Craigslist cruising and relax. Here’s a start. [Ed. Note -- er, the one asking for "NO baggage around the middle" is a bit rich, eh?]

420 smoke out!!!!! - m4w - 21 (san jose downtown)

Reply to: [redacted]

Date: 2009-03-17, 7:57PM PDT

Not looking for anything in particular, just a hot chic to smoke and chill with. I'm an outgoing guy with a crazy personality, I'm into really different things, not in a scary way, but an interesting way. I'm a stoner at heart and I love other real stoners, I don't like posers who smoke weed cause it's cool, personally I don't think there is anything very "cool" about the act of smoking pot. If you understand what I mean by that, then we'll prolly get along, even if you don’t agree. I'm not looking for a FWB or a one-nighter thing, I'm looking for real people who like to have fun, that doesn't mean sex as soon as we meet. If it happens great, if not...great, lets just get fucked up! but it would be cool if you let me go down on ya, I love going down and I love getting all the practice I can so I can get better! but again, not required. If you're interested in a chill smoke out, then tell me a bit about yourself, don't just ask me if I'm real or write half assed just so I'll reply with my pic, put some effort into it and tell me just a little about yourself. BTW, I do have pics and I WILL send them on my first email, you don't even have to ask, and just to let you know I'm in good shape with NO extra baggage around the middle. If you wanna send a pic great, if you don't at least give me the basics, race, height, hair color, eye color, that sorta stuff.

By Andrea Nemerson. Read more alt.sex here

Dear Andrea:

I've always wanted to have a threesome and my wife is willing, but she would prefer to do it with her first boyfriend. At first I was all for it, but I'm getting more concerned that it might rekindle an old flame. Otherwise, I wouldn't care if she had sex with a different guy every week, as long as she was safe and came home to me. I'm not jealous. I have a very high sex drive and could still have sex five or six times a day if time allowed. I love my wife and I know people are going to say if that was true, why would I let her have sex with another man? I say, variety! Spice of life!

It seems that her ex and I are similar as far as sex goes. She has only been with four partners in 20 years, including me. She has always believed in being dedicated to one person, and until I asked her about this, she never thought of straying.

She feels that if she were to do the threesome, she would prefer to do it with her ex. They didn't part on bad terms, just grew apart with careers and family. She said she would contact him if I wanted, but I'm starting to worry. She says I'm her soulmate, but I'm not sure I should put our relationship on the line for a fantasy.

Love,

Wanting, but Worried

Dear W:

The best way to avoid having people say stupid things about your private life is to actually have a private life. People do talk, and most of what they say is pretty stupid.

I do admit to feeling a bit uneasy about partners who profess no feelings of jealousy whatsoever — do they actually, um, care? — but there's a lot of variation in people's baseline territoriality levels. I won't think ill of you as a husband unless you let on that really you don't give a damn what she's up to, or whether she's (re)developing feelings for the ex, or what her intentions are toward you. At that point, you get demoted from husband to acquaintance with benefits, and you lose your right to vote on what she does with anyone. Since you're plenty engaged and plenty involved and plenty affectionate, though, I have nothing mean to say to you.

Compiled by Molly Freedenberg

Turn up your inner thermostat with the ladies of Body Heat.

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>> Body Heat: Femme Porn Tour 2009
The collective of fierce, sassy, irreverent Femme artists known for smashing stereotypes and challenging assumptions -- including Amber Dawn, kathleen delaney, Meliza Banales, Jen Cross, Vixen Noir -- returns to CSC with porn, kink, smut, erotica, mind-blowing performances and a sex writing workshop.

Thu/26-Fri/27, 7pm, $7-$10
Center for Sex and Culture
1519 Mission, SF.
www.sexandculture.org

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Each week Justin Juul highlights a rad upcoming local sexy event

Who Have you ever seen that movie where the guy pulls out his dick and rubs it on some other guy’s face and then another guy comes in and he’s like “Hey there buddies, can I get me summa dat?!” Or no, wait! How about the one where the guy is sitting in the sauna at 24 Hour fitness just minding his own business, reading the paper, and then another guy comes up and he’s like “Fancy a blowjob, sir?” Those movies were great! Someone should set up an awards show for all the people involved in making them, don’t you think? They could charge tons of money for admission, throw tailgate parties in The Castro, and invite that dude from Ugly Betty to perform stand up comedy. Maybe Margaret Cho could come too. Just a thought.

By Marke B.

The GayVN Awards: You've felt the gay dude excitement, you've felt the straight dude excitement. Now, feel the excitement for yourself at the upcoming onslaught of gay porn-related events, as we explode through the wormhole of this weekend's fabulous -- and flab-u-less -- events. OMG -- meet the stars! Share the love! Be a part of history!

Hey, don't shoot me -- I'm just the 12-inch pianist.

Will the violent, controversial To the Last Man from Raging Stallion take home the GayVN for Best Picture? Will you take home its stars? Maybe

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Friday, March 27th

6PM

Falcon Studios’ GayVN Weekend Kick-off Party
Hosted By Juanita MORE!
Q Bar
456 Castro

Roll In Style
A Safer Sex Fashion Show
With NakedSwordsman 2009 Steve Cruz
Sui Generis
218 Church

To The Last Man Signing
Does Your Mother Know?
4141 18th St.

7PM

Raging Stallion Studios Party
The Edge
4149 18th St.

Bel Ami Studios Party
440 Castro
440 Castro

Barrett Long's Cockstar
Moby Dick
4049 18th St.

Jet Set Men Studios Party
The Mix
4086 18th St.

Dirty Boy Video Studios Party
Twin Peaks
401 Castro

GayRealityPorn and PornTeam
The Midnight Sun
4067 18th St.

By Danica Li

Ang Lee and James Schamus have, in tandem, produced and directed nearly a dozen movies. They count between them a trio of Taiwanese family dramas, a civil war epic, an Austen-derived austerely British comedy of manners, an encounter with the Hulk, and a Chinese-language film about flying warriors and a green sword of destiny that grossed a whopping 200 million bucks worldwide. The duo took the stage at Berkeley's Zellerbach Hall recently, in conversation with the Berkeley English Department's Professor Jeffrey Knapp. The premiere topic of conversation for the first half-hour? Sex.

I diagnose this as program coordinators On the Same Page's gesture at edginess and being "with it" -- or at least as an effort at warding off the buttoned-up stodginess and rehearsed, by-rote deliveries that have plagued past presentations (see: Stephen Hawking, Garry Wills). For starters, the audience was treated to a presentation clip in which a series of explicit splices from 2007's Lust, Caution were cross-cut with characters from Lee's other films expressing distaste and affecting grimaces, a dynamic that ended with a raunchily symbolic big bang (taken from 2003’s Hulk). It was enough to provoke a smattering of laughs from the audience, and was an easy enough segue into the first question: Why do so many of Lee's films involve sex, as it were?

An unguarded moment from Ang Lee's 2007 film Lust, Caution

Photos by Darwin Bell. Text by Marke B.

Logan McCree, the inky "it" porn boy of the moment (whither Francois Sagat?) accepts his "Performer of the Year 2009" award. His current studio, Raging Stallion, swept the awards again this year.

Those ravishing Hungarians, the Visconti Triplets, on the GayVN red carpet. The won nothing.

Well! The sprawling, exhaustive GayVNs ("the Oscars of gay porn") pretty much swallowed the weekend whole for many of us. The stars! The awards! The tragedies! The complete winners list is here.

All in all, though, the entire thing was pretty relaxed and entirely fun -- moreso than I expected. There was even a charity aspect, with a pricey pre-ceremony "Porn Brunch" at the LookOut in the Castro attracting a number of curious onlookers, rabid fans, and stellar anal wattage for a taping of salacious and sometimes humorous Webisodic adventure "The Tim and Roma Show" -- raising some bug bucks for StopAIDS. I wish there had been more food, but the "bottomless" (ha!) mimosas soon made me forgot that I was probably the only hungry person there.

Logan, pre-win, on the couch at the LookOut

Logan's man helps him show off his assets

The endless night before had seen porn studio "reception" (double ha!) parties all over the Castro, in which boneriffic stars got very "up close and personal" with fans and photogs alike. Snapper Darwin Bell was there until the bitter, bitter end. Below is one more shot of my current threefold obsession, the Visconti Triplets, and then after the jump -- and so, SO NSFW -- perennial porno sunshine boy (and media mogul!) Barrett Long demonstrates his tongue-tickling talent for autofellatio. It took a couple tries, but we stuck with him!

By Andrea Nemerson. View more alt.sex columns here.

› andrea@altsexcolumn.com

Dear Andrea:

I'm not 40, like the author of the "40 and Frustrated" letter, but I'm afflicted with another "less than desirable" characteristic: color. Oh, and a bit of meat on my bones, although that's never been much of a problem. I'm a black woman and I date(d) all sorts of men. Online has never been the right place for me to meet men because, in a field of redheads and green eyes, men pass right by my photo. I got absolutely no interest except from men I am not interested in. And if I happened to get an interested male inquiry, I too found that the communication petered out quickly.

Several years back, I moved to the city on my own. Finally — no roommates, no significant other, just me. My friends were in relationships or newly married and I had to find activities that allowed me to have fun and meet single men. When I went out with friends, I was always just another girl in the crowd.

I got the best results when I began going out by myself, walking into an establishment where I knew no one, ordering a drink, sitting at the bar, and looking desirable and approachable with a book or a snack. A month ago, I even had a CL Missed Connections ad placed for me by a nice Irish man after visiting a local pub and having a burger and beer. It is a 99.9 percent given that if you are female and alone, a male will walk up to you and begin a conversation. Despite your age, your looks, your size, your ethnicity, if a man sees you alone, without a crew of other females to choose from, he will feel compelled to find out your story and see if he has a shot with you.

Two years ago, out by myself, I met a man I had eyed a few times over the years. We chatted. We joked. We got to know each other. Two-and-a-half years later, we're still together.

We both have an independent nature, which still leads me to frequent places on my own. Each and every time, I am approached. I'm attractive, but I'm not all that, so this is something any woman can do. I feel that we, as women, need to step it up a notch and realize that we need to depend mostly on ourselves and not our friends or the Internet to hook us up or place us in situations where we'll meet people.