WebProNews

Tag: Sex

  • Man Banned from Internet After Sending Naked Men to Neighbor’s Door with Craigslist Sex Ads

    Yeah, that’s a mouthful of a headline. I just wanted to get all of the facets of this amazing story in the headline so you wouldn’t be tempted to pass it over. I assure you, everything I said above is true. And we’re not even talking about Florida!

    Jason Willis, from Racine, Wisconsin, has been sentenced to two and a half years probation and has been completely banned from using the internet after he used online classified service Craigslist to coax sex-hungry men to his neighbor’s house.

    I’ll let the Journal Times handle the next part:

    The Waterford man will spend the next 2 1/2 years on probation and is banned from the Internet after he was sentenced Tuesday for posting Craigslist ads asking people to have sex with his neighbor.

    Trouble was, investigators said, his neighbor wasn’t soliciting for sexual trysts and didn’t know about the ads until people began appearing at her door. That included a man dressed in a coat, but naked underneath.

    WISN confirms that the man showed up wearing nothing but a trench coat – and he was far from the only one who responded to Willis’ racy ad.

    If Willis violates any part of his probation (including accessing the internet), he’ll be forced to spend 18 months in jail.

    Although there is a lot of amazing stuff happening in this story, and it’s impossible not to make light of, you have to feel for the victim here. It could have turned into a dangerous situation – I mean, do you know some of the creepers who respond to Craigslist ads?

    “It was just a joke to him. To me, that’s not my idea of a joke. It’s not my idea of a prank. You don’t send men to a single woman’s home with her daughter there,” the victim said. “It’s been about a year and a half, but I’m still nervous as to who’s coming to my door, why they’re coming to my door, and if I don’t see a vehicle, I don’t know who it is.”

    Image via Thinkstock

  • CES 2014: OhMiBod Unveils New App-Controlled Vibrator

    In an Consumer Electronics Show (CES) announcement more suited to next week’s Adult Entertainment Expo, sex toy maker OhMiBod today announced its latest app-controlled vibrator.

    Named the “blueMotion,” this particular vibrator is being marketed as a discreet way for customers to pleasure themselves at any time. The blueMotion will begin selling in March and will cost $129.

    “For some couples, the explosion of the digital age has resulted in a shift in intimacy, as many pay more attention to devices than their partners,” said Suki Dunham, co-founder of OhMiBod. “blueMotion breaks down those virtual barriers by encouraging couples to interact both physically and emotionally using technology. They can experience the thrill of unlimited vibration patterns and total discretion whenever the mood arises.”

    The small “wearable” vibrator uses Bluetooth to connect to OhMiBod’s free Android or iOS app, enabling users to control the device’s vibration in a variety of ways. Users can create their own vibration patterns or use the blueMotion’s built-in recording capabilities to record up to 60 seconds of ambient sound that can then be used to generate vibrations.

    “blueMotion’s recording function means limitless possibilities for singles and couples alike,” said Dunham. “Users can enjoy the vibrations generated by a partner’s voice or their favorite beats when and wherever they want. Features like this put blueMotion in a class all its own for wearable tech.”

    The blueMotion is the latest in a long line of OhMiBod products that can vibrate to music. As shown in the Apple iPod parody ad below, the company released its first audio-synched vibrator in 2006:

  • Abigail Breslin Controversial Nude Photo Shoot

    Abigail Breslin has grown up in the spotlight. From her beginning as a child actress in Signs, to her current roles as a 17-year-old, she has always stole the hearts of the viewers that have watched her grow throughout the years. It seems like lately, however, she has gone from that sweet little innocent girl, to a sex symbol. She recently took part in a photo shoot with the famous photographer, Tyler Shields, where she posed topless in very provocative poses. The question on everyone’s mind is…is 17 too young for a child to be posing this way?

    “I wanted to do something iconic with her, something simple but timeless,” Shields said. “She’s the perfect subject for something like this. Incredibly talented, beautiful actress but no one has ever seen her like this. There’s fun in that—showing someone to the world for the first time.”

    Many therapists believe that Breslin participating in these types of photo shoots is simply sexualizing a minor. There are millions of sexual predators in the United States alone that view pictures like these daily and pray on children. Abigail Breslin is not yet 18, therefore she is still considered a child, and it is sad that she feels she needs to pose this way to prove that she is growing up.

    “This is sexualizing a minor. There are registered sex offenders whose child pornography stash is less provocative than these images. While Abigail is exposing less than what a typical bikini model bares, her youth is being exploited exploiting with the lollipop accent. The public is being seduced by an under-aged girl. This tells young girls that it is okay; that this is what men want and that this is what a female’s worth is based on,” said Los Angeles therapist, Dr. Nancy Irwin.

    However, Breslin and Shields defended the photo shoot saying it was all for “fun” and that the pictures are “art”. “Art is about interpretation so I’m sure there are people who think this is to much but she’s an actress if this was for a movie those people would praise her for being bold,” Shields said.

    “I love working with Tyler, we always have a blast. We just do it for fun and he’s great,” Breslin said. “I don’t make these conscious decisions to do it to like prove to the world that I’m grown up. I think people see my work and see what I do and see that I’m grown up. But yeah, I’m almost 18. Every headline for the past three years has been ‘Abigail Breslin All Grown Up,’ so I am kind of growing up. I do want to try different things but it’s all for fun.”

    [Image via Wikimedia Commons]

  • Your Next-Gen Condoms Could Be Made of Graphene

    This past May, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation lamented that the condom, one of the most simple tools ever devised to prevent the spread of sexually transmitted diseases and unwanted pregnancies, hasn’t really been improved upon in five decades. The condom we all know and love tolerate is in dire need of a tuneup.

    With that in mind, the Gates Foundation decided to issue a condom challenge. As part of round 11 of its “Grand Challenges Explorations” initiative, the charitable organization decided to award a series of grants to help scientists develop a better condom – one that “significantly preserves or enhances pleasure, in order to improve uptake and regular use.”

    Now, with the help of a $100,000 grant, scientists in the UK are working to develop a next-gen condom that’s thinner, stronger, and will hopefully provide people with a stronger incentive to wrap it up.

    And to achieve this goal, scientists at The University of Manchester are turning to graphene.

    Graphene, a one-atom thick layer of the mineral graphite, was first isolated in 2004 and is one of the strongest and lightest materials in the world. Its use in composite materials ranges from automobile construction to computer chips, and from Kevlar vests to smartphones. Soon, it may find a place in your condoms.

    These next-gen condoms would be made of a composite material, consisting of a mixture of graphene and latex or another sort of elastic poylmer.

    “This composite material will be tailored to enhance the natural sensation during intercourse while using a condom, which should encourage and promote condom use. This will be achieved by combining the strength of graphene with the elasticity of latex, to produce a new material which can be thinner, stronger, more stretchy, safer and, perhaps most importantly, more pleasurable,” says Dr. Aravind Vijayaraghavan, who heads the research at The University of Manchester’s new National Graphene Institute.

    Dr. Vijayaraghavan and his team are receiving one of a handful of grants just announced by The Gates Foundation to help increase and promote condom use around the world.

    “Quite simply, condoms save lives but new thinking is needed to ensure that men and women around the world are using them consistently and correctly to prevent unwanted pregnancies and sexually transmitted infections. These projects are working to improve uptake and regular use of male and female condoms by developing new condoms that significantly preserve or enhance pleasure and by developing better packaging or designs that are easier to properly use,” said the foundation in a release.

    Another interesting project now supported by The Gates Foundation is the Rapidom, a new condom applicator that supposedly provides a simple, one-motion application that should “minimize interruption.”

    But without a condom that people actually want to use, an applicator won’t get much use.

    “If this project is successful, we might have a use for graphene which will literally touch our every-day life in the most intimate way,” says Vijayaraghavan.

    Images via Shawn Latta, Flickr and National Graphene Institute at Manchester,

  • Online Dating, Ex-Stalking on the Rise Says Pew

    Pew has just published a pretty expansive study on “dating digitally,” where they look at shifting views on online dating and looking for love on the internet. The main takeaways are that people are more increasingly turning to online dating sites to help them find a partner, but that it’s still not a totally accepted form of matchmaking.

    Oh, and more people are using Google and Facebook to keep tabs on their exes – but you probably already knew that. Stalker.

    According to Pew’s research, 11% of Americans have personally used an online dating site. While that only represents just over a tenth of the population, it also represents a huge increase from 2008, when only 3% of Americans said they had used such a site.

    And among these online daters, actual dates and even long-term relationships are becoming the norm. 66% said that they have gone on a real-life date with someone they met online, and 23% said that online dating has led to a serious relationship or marriage. As you may expect, online dating is most common among the younger demographic.

    It’s not just instances of online dating use that are on the rise, but the public’s general opinion on the practice is also trending progressive. Pew reports that 59% of those surveyed agree with the statement “online dating is a good way to meet people,” up 15% from 2005. Only 21% of those surveyed still held the view that using an online dating service was a sign of desperation.

    Pew’s study also revealed that dating isn’t the only relationship-oriented activity that people are increasingly using the internet for. The internet also comes in handy when the relationship goes south.

    Almost a quarter of Americans now Google their exes (still much less than how many Google themselves), and nearly one-third check up on them via Facebook, Twitter or some other social network. When you focus on those aged 18 to 29, those numbers increase dramatically:

    Also:

    “Additionally, 29% of internet users with recent dating experience have gone online to search for information about someone they were currently dating or about to meet for a first date. That is more than double the 13% of such internet users who did so when we last asked about this behavior in 2005.”

    Smart.

    Image via Thinkstock

  • Suzanne Somers: Does Miley Cyrus Crave Babies With An Older Man?

    If Miley Cyrus had any doubts whether older men can be passionate and romantic, then she should listen to what Suzanne Somers had to say on Wednesday. At 66, well past her fertile years, Somers is still eager to make love with her husband, Alan Hamel, who is 77.

    Now older men can mean many age groups. In Miley’s universe, men over 40 are “older men,” and once you cross that age, you are no longer romantic!

    But how did Miley arrive at this conclusion in the first place? Was it her mom, Tish Cyrus, sharing her own sex-life or lack thereof with baby Cyrus? After all, mama Cyrus taught baby Cyrus how to flick out her tongue provocatively.

    Or is there something deeper which Miley is refusing to share with us?

    We are not professional psychoanalysts, but we can make a good guess.

    Miley is not happy with younger men. Younger men are immature, inexperienced and always in a hurry. She is sad, confused and pretty much a wrecking ball these days.

    That makes Miley curious about men over 40. She is eager to share her love with one of those, and perhaps make plenty of beautiful babies to deepen the romantic bonds. But she has doubts whether her “ölder man” will fulfill his manly duties towards her. Worry not Miley, you are not alone in thinking about older men.

    Grover Cleveland, the 22nd President of the United States, was 50 years old when he married Frances Folsom, 21, in the White House. They had 5 children together, so by any measure, the first lady was very romantic with her “ölder man”.

    President Cleveland with wife Frances Folsom

    Media magnate Rupert Murdoch, aged 68, married Wendi Deng of China, when she was 30. They had two beautiful children together. There are plenty of examples in the celebrity world, including Michael Douglas and Hugh Hefner, who found marital bliss with much younger women.

    And does age even matter in romantic relationships? We would leave it up to Miley Cyrus to decide, and we wish her a very loving, romantic future with an older man.

    [image from youtube and wikipedia]

  • Matt Lauer’s Miley Cyrus Interview: People Over 40 Don’t Have Sex

    NBC’s “Today” host Matt Lauer had a rough day on the show on Monday. First, he had to interview Miley Cyrus and second, he learned that apparently people over 40 don’t have sex.

    By now most people are probably a little more familiar with the Queen of Twerk than they want to be, thanks to Cyrus’s overly sexual VMA Awards show performance and her nude “Wrecking Ball” video. Just in case you were wondering how long Miley’s antics are going to last, she only plans to stick with the sexual phase for a couple more decades, which she revealed in an interview with Matt Lauer that had to be disappointing for him in more ways than one.

    Matt: Is it a phase? Is this a phase? Is the sexual side of you, that we’re seeing a lot of, something that’s going to be here for a while and then you’ll be on to something else?

    Miley: Well I heard that when you turn 40, things start to go a little less sexual. So probably around 40, around that time, I heard that’s when people don’t have sex anymore, so I guess maybe around then.

    Matt: Do you know how old I am?

    Miley: I’m going to guess 40.

    Matt: I love you again. I’m 55.

    Miley: 55? Oh well, then you’re really definitely not sexual.

    Awkward. It’s hard to tell whether Cyrus is being serious or just a little catty. It’s typical of younger people to think that 40 is, like, ancient, after all. Either way, Lauer went from loving Cyrus because she thought he was 15 years younger than he really is to being ready to smack her off that stool for suggesting his sex live has been over.

    And just in case you were wondering, as far as Cyrus’s sexual antics go, she’s not the one with a problem–it’s you.

    “I’m an artist, so I’m hoping that I get a little attention, otherwise my record sales might be a little sketch,” Miley told Lauer. “I don’t ever really plan to offend people, but sometimes that just happens, because I think people aren’t open to what they don’t understand.”

    So that’s the problem with the 20-year-old using her body to break some kind of an OMG record–people are too close minded. Good to know.

    Image via Twitter

  • Bang with Friends, Zynga Settle Trademark Suit

    Casual hook-up app Bang with Friends is probably not going to be called Bang with Friends for much longer, as it has reached a settlement with Zynga that will involve a “rebranding” effort.

    “Zynga Inc. and Bang With Friends, Inc. are pleased that they have reached an amicable resolution of their dispute,” a Zynga spokesperson told AllThingsD. “Although the terms of the settlement are confidential, Bang With Friends, Inc. acknowledges the trademark rights that Zynga has in its WITH FRIENDS marks and will be changing its corporate name and rebranding its services in the near future.”

    Back in July, Zynga filed a lawsuit against Bang with Friends, claiming trademark infringement. They said that the app, which allows people to find Facebook friends that want to “hook up,” anonymously, knowingly infringed upon their games – which include Words with Friends, Chess with Friends, Hanging with Friends, Gems with Friends, and Scramble with Friends.

    The Zynga spokesperson also pointed in the direction of a new site, TheNextBang.com.

    “The next Bang with Friends is coming,” says the barebones sites. It also offers an email signup list. “Here come the best invention since yoga pants – let’s get down.”

    The word “down” is emphasized here, because it already has some significance in the world of Bang with Friends. Last month, Bang with Friends finally returned to Apple’s App Store after being banned for months – but the app returned with a bit of rebranding. It was simple called “Down.”

    No word yet on what the new Bang with Friends app will be called. As of right now, BangWithFriends.com still exists, as does the Android app (under the name Bang with Friends).

    Images via Bang with Friends, The Next Bang

  • Protip: Knocking Boots While Driving Is Not All That Safe [Kind Of NSFW]

    Driving is an incredibly complex task that requires the full attention of the one behind the wheel. That’s why state governments are telling people that those texts from your BFF can wait. There are some things that apparently just can’t wait, however, and YouTuber DailyMixtapeUploads may have found it.

    Our intrepid YouTuber caught a couple knocking boots while driving along I-290. It’s not exactly the safest thing, but our star-crossed lovers seem to not care. In fact, they seem to enjoy the fact that they’re being filmed while breaking at least four state and federal laws.

    Check out the NSFW-ish and bizarre video below:

    The above video is just another one of those bizarre, random events, like that time the Google Street View car caught people having sex on the side of the road.

  • Third Gender Option: Now Available on German Birth Certificates

    An ABC News story that was on Good Morning America yesterday is turning heads. This November, Germany is to become the first European nation to legally, as well as bureaucratically, recognize a third gender in cases of babies born with ambiguous genitalia. The law requires birth certificates to have the option of “blank” next to male and female. The Munich newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung is calling it a “legal revolution.”

    The story estimates that 1 in 2000 infants are intersex, which means that they fall into an umbrella of roughly 60 possible conditions that would be classified as disorders of sexual development. These disorders would include unusual chromosomes and gonads. Historically, we called these people “hermaphrodites,” and we believed that we could erase and redraw their gender identities at will.

    U.S. doctors have recently come under controversy because gender identification is, frankly, not well understood. The standard practice is to assign a gender and wait for the child to develop mentally and physically before considering any kind of surgery.

    A psychiatrist in New York City, Dr. Jack Drescher, said that the German birth certificate change “sounds like a good thing… Some people have life-endangering conditions that require surgery, but most kids do not… You can make a gender assignment without surgery and then see how identity develops. The science of knowing how a child will develop any gender identity is not very accurate…. Nobody can answer the questions about why this happens.”

    Not all European nations agree with Germany’s progressive stance on the issue. France in particular has been cited as having trouble dealing with gender issues, and French lawmakers recently called for the removal of gender theory from school textbooks.

    The Inquisitr notes that the first country in the world to bureaucratically recognize a third gender was Nepal, followed almost immediately by Australia, and that a Canadian group called Forcechange is taking signatures to petition the Canadian government for similar acknowledgement.

    Der Spiegel writes that Finland is not very far behind Germany, but red tape is getting in the way. The policy director for the human rights watchdog group International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans, and Intersex Association, Silvan Agius, has claimed that the European Union is intentionally hampering efforts to make progress on third gender recognition: “Things are moving slower than they should at the European level… Germany’s move will put more pressure on Brussels [and] that can only be a good thing.”

    Image courtesy of the Inquisitr.

  • Switzerland Installs ‘Sex Boxes’ to Regulate Prostitution

    The UK’s Telegraph reports that Zurich officials are trying a new method to manage prostitution and cut out the black market pimps who handle hookers: “sex boxes” that are to be utilized by johns and their dates are being installed, and will open on August 26.

    When the initiative was first announced, spokesman Michael Herzig of Zurich’s social welfare department said that “We want to regulate prostitution because until now it was the law of the jungle.” The project cost a whopping 1.4 million euros, and voters in Zurich approved the plan last year.

    The drive-in structures, which will be built in a former industrial zone on the west side of the city, will be clean and feature posters that encourage men to wear condoms as well as to take precaution against dangerous diseases like HIV. If a prostitute feels endangered, panic buttons exist for just that reason.

    The idea is to have automobile owners (who usually pick up prostitutes on the side of the road for prices set by a pimp) frequent other areas to look for working girls, as many simply work the streets in residential districts or shopping centers. With the introduction of the sex box, Zurich officials are hoping that prostitutes will relocate their business and solicit near the zones. Men who are caught soliciting outside the designated areas will be fined up to 450 francs.

    The law in Switzerland on prostitution is clear: selling sex is legal as long as you pay the nightly tax, but the prices of the trade are not explicitly covered by the law. Black market prostitutes often find themselves underpaid and risking their lives without the protection of the pimp, who determines how much sex with a prostitute will cost and often takes most of the money.

    “It was the pimps who decided the prices,” Herzig said of the problem. “We are trying to reach a situation which is better for the prostitutes themselves, for their health and security and also for people who live in Zurich.”

  • Study: An Active Sex Life Increases Your Wages

    Study: An Active Sex Life Increases Your Wages

    The news is in, folks: gettin’ lucky increases your lifespan. A study published by the Institute for the Study of Labor in Germany has concluded that people who have sex four or more times a week earned more money than their asexual brethren.

    Nick Drydakis, the study author and an economics lecturer at Angila Ruskin University in Cambridge, told CBS News that without an active sex life, “many people become susceptible to loneliness, social anxiety, and depression that could affect their working life.”

    In order to assemble his data, Drydakis looked at a year-long survey of 7,500 households in Greece.

    The study included both straight and gay couples, although only 5.5 percent of respondents reported their status as LGBT. The really interesting finding: people not having any sex made 3.2 percent less money than those who were. The trends seem unaffected by such variables as education, sexual orientation, or job held.

    The study does not make any conclusions about the link between sex and money, although some might claim they have mastered it. Drydakis seems to think that people who are employed simply have more cash to spend on dates, but the fact may just be that people who can afford to date buy more gifts for their partners.

    The HuffPost took an interesting note with the financial details: the research makes the claim that workers between the ages of 26 and 50 tend to get higher financial returns on their sexual activity, and that those returns are unaffected by your sexual orientation.

    In summation (because the whole thing does sound a bit strange): four instances of sexual activity a week are correlated with statistically significant higher wages. If you have health problems, the correlation remains true; if you are straight or gay, the correlation remains true; and if you are younger than 50, you get the highest financial return on your investment of time spent having sex.

    You can read the findings for yourself here.

  • Bang with Friends Sued by Zynga for Trademark Infringement

    In you-totally-saw-this-coming news, Zynga has filed a lawsuit against Facebook-based sex app Bang with Friends. They claim that the name infringes upon their trademark for their series of “…with Friends” games.

    Zynga, of course, makes a bunch of “…with friends” games including Words with Friends, Chess with Friends, Hanging with Friends, Gems with Friends, and Scramble with Friends.

    Bang with Friends first launched back in January, and it’s described as “the anonymous, simple, fun way to find
    friends who are down for the night.” The way it works is pretty simple. You load up the app, connect to Facebook, and select any number of friends that you would like the have sex with. This information stays hidden – unless your friend also uses the app and has selected you as a possible sex partner. If that’s the case, Bang with Friends will send each person an email letting them know that they want to bang each other.

    You can use Bang with Friends on the web or on Android – Apple’s App Store banned the app back in May.

    Last month, Bang with Friends CEO Colin Hodge said that the app has over a million users and has facilitated over 200,000 hookups.

    According to Bloomberg, Zynga claims that the app makers “selected the name ‘Bang With Friends’ for its casual sex matchmaking app with Zynga’s game trademarks fully in mind.”

    Zynga is seeking a ruling that will prevent the app from using the “with Friends” phrase, as well as unspecified damages.

  • FBI Arrests 150 In Massive Sex-Trafficking Crackdown

    A massive three-day, multi-agency law enforcement operation has resulted in the arrest of 150 people on charges of sex trafficking, according to the FBI. The operation – dubbed Operation Cross Country 7 – was led by the FBI, but involved the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children as well as state and local law enforcement agencies in 76 cities across America.

    The operation also resulted in the rescue of 105 children between the ages of 13 and 17, as well as 129 seizures of cash, guns, vehicles, drugs, and more. The 150 pimps arrested in the sweep face a wide variety of charges on both the state and federal level, relating to the drugs, guns, and, most importantly, sex trafficking.

    Ron Hosko, assistant director of the FBI Criminal Investigation Division, said that a better understanding of the child sex market and of the internet’s role in sex trafficking have a great deal to do with the increased success of this operation. Hosko said that this operation was between 30% and 40% more effective at identifying both the pimps and children involved than previous versions of Operation Cross Country.

    You can see video of the press conference where Hosko announced the operation below:

  • Facebook to Pull All Ads from Pages with ‘Violent, Graphic, or Sexual Content’

    Starting next Monday, if you operate a page or group that contains any violent, graphic, or sexual content, you’re going on Facebook’s blacklist for ads.

    In an effort to assure advertisers that their ads will no longer appear next to any unsavory content, Facebook is going to vastly expand the list of ad-restricted pages and groups.

    “For example, we will now seek to restrict ads from appearing next to Pages and Groups that contain any violent, graphic or sexual content (content that does not violate our community standards). Prior to this change, a Page selling adult products was eligible to have ads appear on its right-hand side; now there will not be ads displayed next to this type of content,” says the company.

    It’s not really clear how many pages and groups this will affect – Facebook has a pretty strict policy on sexual content. But there’s obviously enough pages that fall into this Facebook grey zone to warrant such a move.

    Facebook says that they are already vigilant in protecting marketers from possible bad PR situations, but that this will help them be even more effective.

    “We know that marketers work hard to promote their brands, and we take their objectives seriously. While we already have rigorous review and removal policies for content against our terms, we recognize we need to do more to prevent situations where ads are displayed alongside controversial Pages and Groups. So we are taking action.”

    The review and removal process will start slow – real life humans will make the decisions. But in the near future, Facebook says that they will develop an automated system to make sure ads no longer appear next to this questionable content.

    This move is likely a response to the choice by some advertisers to yank their campaigns from Facebook after some of their ads appeared next to misogynistic content.

    Just earlier this week, Google announced that they too would be restricting ads that service adult content blogs on their Blogger platform.

  • Simi Teacher Malia Brooks Arrested in Student Sex Scandal

    A Simi Valley elementary school teacher was arrested this week for allegedly having sex with a young student.

    A KTLA report states that 32-year-old Malia Brooks was arrested Tuesday on charges of lewd acts on a child and multiple counts of sexual assault on a child under 14 years old. The victim has not been named, and is being described only as a boy in the sixth grade.

    Brooks was a 6th grade teacher at Garden Grove Elementary School in Simi Valley, California. She has two children and is divorced. Brooks’ defense attorney has claimed that she suffers from an undisclosed mental illness.

    Police were notified of Brooks’ alleged conduct by the Simi Valley Unified School District back in February, and have been conducting an investigation in the months since. Brooks was placed on administrative leave at that time, but resigned from her teaching position last week. School District officials have stated they are cooperating with Simi Police in the investigation.

    (via KTLA)

  • Facebook Won’t Pull Shockingly Graphic Indian Prostitution Page [UPDATED]

    UPDATE: It looks like Facebook has removed the page, as I thought they would. But it was still active for a long time, and Facebook did delay in yanking it even after various content reports. Still shows how messed-up Facebook’s content-removal system can be.

    ORIGINAL ARTICLE: This post is NSFW

    Facebook – you’re sending some seriously mixed messages here.

    After yanking such highly-offensive content as artwork of Bea Arthur’s breasts, a New Yorker cartoon featuring the most rudimentary depiction of breasts that could ever exist, elbows that appear to resemble breasts, and various photos of women engaged in breastfeeding, Facebook has decided that a page for one of India’s most notorious red-light districts is a-ok.

    The page, Sonagachi (very NSFW), features graphic photos of breasts, vaginas, penises, oral sex, and even a series of photos apparently depicting a girl losing her virginity.

    It makes no point to hide what it is, listing this in the “about” section:

    Sonagachi is the largest red-light district in Kolkata, India and one of the largest in Asia. It is an area with several hundred multi-story brothels and estimated 11,000 sex workers

    The page hasn’t posted in months, but it is still filled with postings from others – some soliciting prostitutes. Plus, all of those photos…

    Blogger Liz Boltz Ranfield first spotted the page and called on Facebook to do something about it. She, along with a writer from Jezebel (and others), all reported the content to Facebook for removal.

    To their shock, Facebook replied with a “thanks but we can’t find any reason to remove it” email:

    Hi,

    Thanks for your recent report of a potential violation on Facebook. After reviewing your report, we were not able to confirm that the specific page you reported violates Facebook’s Statement of Rights and Responsibilities.

    Learn more about what we do and don’t allow by reviewing the Facebook Community Standards: https://www.facebook.com/communitystandards.

    Thanks,
    Viki

    Interesting. Considering that the page features graphic nudity, sexual acts, and possibly sexual depictions of minors, this seems like an odd choice.

    Facebook’s terms of service clearly state that…

    “You will not post content that: is hate speech, threatening, or pornographic; incites violence; or contains nudity or graphic or gratuitous violence,” and that “You will not use Facebook to do anything unlawful, misleading, malicious, or discriminatory.”

    Seems like there’s plenty here to prompt the shuttering of the page.

    Just so we can understand this – this is ok:

    As is this:

    But this deserved to be yanked:

    (It was later reinstated with Facebook’s apology – but still, the content moderators felt they had reason to pull this at some point)

    In the past, many of these content-removal controversies could be attributed to two simple facts about Facebook: First, their content moderation is mostly outsourced, and second, there are billions of photos going up on Facebook every week. That means that it’s almost impossible to police all the content without some screw-ups.

    But this is different. This is Facebook’s content moderation being notified (multiple times) about content that is the epitome of what Facebook should be banning (per their terms of service), and the company is choosing to leave it up. It’s especially odd considering Facebook’s recent move to get tougher on harmful content after being pressured by various women’s groups

    I fully expect Facebook to eventually see the error in this judgement and yank the page. It’s inevitable with this much backlash. But, once again, we have an example of Facebook’s bad content moderation system at work. Something’s gotta change.

  • Man’s ‘Exposing Easton Hoes’ Facebook Page Leads to Harassment Charges

    Beware what you post on Facebook, as harassment most certainly exists inside the social network’s big blue walls.

    19-year-old Peter Murphy is learning that the hard way. He’s been hit with multiple harassment charges (misdemeanors) after creating a Facebook page that logged and chronicled the sexual habits of women and girls in the Newark, New Jersey area.

    The page, called “Exposing Easton Hoes,” featured photos of local women, complete with descriptions of their sexual activities and often links to their actual Facebook profiles. Murphy claimed that people sent him information on the various women, and all he had to do was post it on the page. In early questioning, Murphy admitted that he set up the page as revenge, having been featured on a similar-style Facebook page before.

    The page was shut down in March after gaining over 1,500 likes.

    As is the case with many cases involving criminal activity on Facebook these days, police asked Facebook to provide info on the page’s creator. They eventually tracked Murphy down based on an IP address linked to his mother’s house.

    “It’s a lesson learned; that’s something he knows he won’t be doing again, ever,” his mother said. “If he has a comment about someone, he’ll keep it to himself.”

    Ouch. Momma smackdown.

    Murphy won’t have to go far – he’s already in jail on an unrelated burglary charge.

    [NJ.com via LehighValleyLive]

  • Japan Mayor Apologizes For Sex Slaves Comments

    Earlier this month, Osaka, Japan Mayor and co-leader of the Japan Restoration Party, Toru Hashimoto caused controversy by referring Japan’s policy of providing “comfort women” to soldiers in World War II as “necessary.” The women he referred to were taken from surrounding countries, such as China and Korea, and forced into sex slavery during the war. He had last year claimed that there is no evidence that the Japanese military was involved in the enslavement of these women.

    This morning, Hashimoto called a press conference to explain his remarks and offer an apology. According to an AFP report, Hashimoto spoke for nearly three hours to the foreign press, defending his comments and accusing other countries of sex slavery as well.

    Hashimoto spent much of his address defending his comments, repeating that it is “unclear” that Japan or the Japanese military officially provided comfort women. He also accused other countries, such as the U.S., Britain, France, the U.S.S.R, and Germany of doing the same during World War II, though through less official means, such as private businessmen who operated wartime brothels. Hashimoto also stated that, no matter how it was provided, World War II sex slavery was wrong.

    Hashimoto also took the opportunity to walk back his comments to the U.S. military stationed in Okinawa. According to the AFP report, he had previously encouraged U.S. commanders to allow soldiers to partake in Japan’s licensed sex shops, in order to lessen crimes committed by those soldiers. Back in March, two U.S. Navy sailors were convicted of raping and robbing a woman in Okinawa.

  • LinkedIn Tells Prostitutes to Stop Using the Service, Even If It’s Legal in Their Country

    LinkedIn Tells Prostitutes to Stop Using the Service, Even If It’s Legal in Their Country

    It appears that professional escorts have been using LinkedIn to make professional connections, and the company wants to put a stop to that. LinkedIn has just updated their terms of service and user agreement to add a good amount of new language, but one particular clause is rather interesting. Apparently, LinkedIn doesn’t want you using the service for “escort services or prostitution,” even if such activity is legal in your area.

    Here’s the relevant addition to LinkedIn’s terms:

    Upload, post, email, InMail, transmit or otherwise make available or initiate any content that, even if it is legal where you are located, create profiles or provide content that promotes escort services or prostitution.

    Making the waters murkier, you can actually endorse users for “prostitution” on LinkedIn:

    Other skills and expertise “related” to prostitution that LinkedIn offers are “extortion,” “rape,” “forgery,” “robbery” and more criminal activities. It’s clear that these “skills” are not there to endorse the commission of said activities, but for fileds related to those activities like law or social work. But still, you can technically be endorsed for prostitution on LinkedIn.

    LinkedIn has always banned the promotion of illegal activities on their network, but it appears that they felt they needed to clarify their terms for legal activities that they find unsavory.

    “In the old [user agreement], we had it covered by saying that one could not use a profile to promote anything ‘unlawful,’” a LinkedIn rep told Mashable. “However, in some countries, that activity actually is lawful.”

    Sorry, escorts. It looks like you’ll need to find another way to make new contacts.

  • ‘Sex Superbug’ Found In Hawaii, Is Immune To Some Antibiotics

    ‘Sex superbug’ may sound like a cheesy teen sex comedy from the late 90s, but it’s no laughing matter. It’s in fact a drug-resistant strain of the STD gonorrhea that has people around the country worried.

    It was reported last week that a drug-resistant strain of gonorrhea was found in two people in Hawaii. The finding led people to assume that it was the same ‘sex superbug’ that has been found to be immune to all forms of antibiotics. Fortunately, the Hawaiian Health Department says the case of gonorrhea it found is different from the ‘sex superbug’ strain found elsewhere.

    Despite it being a different strain, the emerge of a gonorrhea that’s immune to medication should have people concerned. For years, the sexually transmitted disease was on the decline thanks to antibiotics and medication. The number of infections may rise, however, as the disease has evolved immunities to the medication used to treat it.

    Peter Whiticir of the State Department of Health’s STD/AIDs Prevention Control branch confirmed that the the Hawaiian ‘sex superbug’ is, in fact, not the dreaded strain that’s completely immune to all drugs, but he does say that the current news helps remind people that these diseases are evolving.

    “There is no multi-drug super resistant superbug yet in Hawaii or the United States. We don’t have the superbug in Hawaii that I repeat again, but I think it does raise people’s consciousness that gonorrhea is out there, there are new strains that are developing and evolving and we need to be aware of that and protect ourselves.”

    Even if its not the dreaded ‘sex superbug,’ gonorrhea can still evolve to a point where it becomes one. As such, health officials fear that such a form of gonorrhea could be worse than AIDs. The Center for Disease Control has even asked Congress for $50 million in funding to research new treatment for gonorrhea infections just in case things go South.

    Even if you have no intention of catching gonorrhea, it’s always advisable to use safe sex. You should also never be afraid to discuss STDs with any potential partner.

    [h/t: WTVM]
    [Image: WebMD]