I once did some research into “deviant” or new uses for mobile phones for 3. One of the best examples we came across was a group of lads on the pull. At the start of the evening, they each went into a different bar and live streamed a video of the “totty” to the rest of the group. The bar deemed to have the fittest birds was the one they all spent the night in. Assisted Serendipity is a new service which takes this thinking to a less Loaded magazine level and offers it up as a free location networking tool aimed at those on the pull (though we’d recommend a less suicidal-like name). The service simply alerts you to a ‘tip’ in the balance of male to female ratio at your favourite hangouts by monitoring the check-ins at those venues. So if you’re stood in a bar/café/ supermarket, your virtual ‘wing-man’ gives you a nudge to pick up your game. Grindr is a similar iPhone service that is quickly establishing itself as the new Gaydar (ask Richard for a demo). All this could be seen as a bit seedy, but it’s interesting that technology is starting to tap into some very deep-seated emotional and sometimes private desires. People talk about the constant monitoring of our activities and the idea of a nanny state, but these are great examples of technology bringing people together, quite literally, in the real world.

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An email went around Mother last week with a bunch of ancient, pre-PC print ads attached, mostly involving sex, booze, and cigarettes, like this one (see here for more). What’s not to love? They seemed quaint almost. It was a reminder of how attitudes can change. Last week, I met one of the original members of OutRage!, the controversial gay-rights activists since disbanded. These days many people in the gay community cringe to think of these old militants – a far cry from our modern gay mojito lifestyles. But we owe them a lot. Attitudes can change. What better evidence of this than our new Home Secretary – and Equalities Minister – Teresa May. She was once a Grade A enemy of the gay movement – but she gave a disarming performance on last week’s Question Time, when challenged to reconcile her past with her present. Her answer was unarguable: “I’ve changed my mind,” she said. In the UK, the public reaction to Jan Moir’s unkind article on Stephen Gately’s death is proof of this. In the US, the recent apology by Pastor Jeff Owens for his hunt-a-homo sermon is a similar example. Society may be more gay-friendly, but is it really more tolerant?

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More UK women than ever are having children in their 40s, according to a story in Wednesday’s Guardian. 26,976 last year to be precise, and that’s the highest number since records began, say the Office of National Statistics. What does this say about us? Well, a few things about both men and women. Firstly, the prolonged adolescence we are enjoying through our 30s is partly to blame. Then there’s the men – who due to being increasingly reluctant to settle down, are contributing to this fertility long shore drift. Women who are increasingly finding it difficult to land a partner who is ready to have kids are having to become self-sufficient, and therefore establish their careers, before taking on the role of motherhood. “It’s the Cherie Blair effect,” says Dr Tony Rutherford, president of the British Fertility Society. “I had quite a few women coming to see me after she became pregnant at 45 saying ‘it’s not true what people say, I can do that too’ – but the reality is that women can not assume that they can automatically give birth.” To help get us baby-making earlier, there are calls for radical changes in workplaces and society to make being a careerwoman and a mum more compatible. Professor Sir Sabaratnam Arulkumaran, President of the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists says, “Later maternal age is now a fact of life and something which the NHS must prepare for.”

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Of all the hoary clichés about women and sex that are wheeled out by men and by feminists who should know better, the one most ripe to be laid to rest is that which states that women favour erotic words over pornographic images, a sense of humour over a good body. If this were true, Anaïs Nin novels would outsell Sex and the City DVDs, and Peter Andre would be working in a kebab shop instead of posing for Cosmo. Sweet Action is a porn magazine for girls, which has been described as “Playgirl for Gen Xers”. Although it now exists as a blog, we think it’s ahead of its time and worth rediscovering. The tone and the style are pure New York hipster. As befits a small, independent zine, it’s a wonderful exercise in self-indulgence. The 3 girls who edit it say they “want to get women used to looking at porn and realising that they can have an active rather than a passive role in their sexuality”, and they lead by example with their editorial policy. Namely, they don’t accept erotica or poetry, and they pick straight men that they personally fancy as models. Sweet Action man is the beautiful scruff you saw at that gig, rather than an oily male model. Features include Eugene Hutz, frontman of the Ukranian gypsy punk band, Gogol Bordello, who takes his shirt off and says things like, “When you play in Zagreb, girls are more likely to jump up on stage and sit on your face.”

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Imagine when a machine can not only convince us of their intelligence, but attract us with it. Bladerunner gave us a glimpse in the 80s: sexy androids manipulating humans with their power to woo. Science fiction has always tackled the sticky subject of sexuality and technology. What about virtual reality? Think of The Big Lebowski: “Interactive erotic software. The wave of the future, Dude. 100% electronic!” ‘Exosex’, sex outside the biological body, could be simulated in virtuality, much like Second Life or Skype and other digital formats where sex is enhanced, extended, digitised, and synthetic. It would be more real than real – a hyper-real experience. One of the activities which we consider to be uniquely human is our relationship with sex. But as “human” evolves, what happens to sex? In the future, sex for procreation could be separated from sex for pleasure. What if future generations wanted to separate the practices altogether, trusting embryos to the controlled safety of test tubes? And if biological sex were suddenly divorced from its evolutionary function, how would such a shift change our societies? Polyamorism is predicted to become the norm. In Brave New World, a major character is reprimanded by her friends for not being promiscuous enough. After all, “everyone belongs to everyone else.” Huxley’s dystopia offered a critical perspective on how our values evolve with both our technology & society, and he knew that sexuality wasn’t static.

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Say happy 50th birthday to the Pill, born May 9 1960. The contrary story of contraceptives in tablet form is painted in the latest issue of Time. Interestingly, the Pill was the first medicine ever designed for people who are not sick. Its inventor was a conservative Catholic who was looking for a treatment for infertility and instead, found a guarantee for it. It was blamed for unleashing the sexual revolution amongst suddenly swinging singles, despite the fact that in the 1960’s women typically had to be married to get a prescription. The Pill has been accused of promoting many ‘social ills’ in its time, from promiscuity, to adultery, to the breakdown of the family. On the other hand, it has been credited with women’s lib so the Pill shouldn’t be grumpy on its big day.


Thanks to paula bjork for this story.


Image Credit:
Time magazine

The nipple tassel-inclined among us (rob, jess and sarah) recently attended the 4th annual London Burlesque Week, a global event that featured everything from Dita Von Teese’s favourite stripper (Catherine D’Lish) to Jesus Christ burlesque (Paco Fish). Now that Topshop does spanking paddles and Dita Von Teese is the face of Wonderbra, burlesque has arguably mainstreamed and we were interested to see how it is evolving. The recession has had a positive effect on burlesque, with audiences who would normally go to the theatre or musicals, opting for a more affordable show experience in burlesque. Burlesque is starting to be marketed as West End entertainment. It’s no longer just striptease but is fusing with theatre, comedy, and circus. As it mainstreams, what’s interesting is that it’s being treated more laterally. Which is where the opportunity for brands who want to be part of this culture may lie. Burlesque says a lot about modern femininity. As burlesque star Gwendoline Lamour says, “It’s about the fascination women have with reclaiming a fantasised view of femininity. The more women have moved away from being owned by men, the more they can have fun and empower that once weak femininity. Woman as ornament becomes a sign of power – I don’t have to do anything. In today’s burlesque, women are their own ornaments. It is designed for the female gaze”


Thanks to sarah for this story.

When someone says “small independent film” in the same sentence as “big hit at Sundance”, my tendency is to imagine some navel-gazing, mumblecore slop starring Zooey Deschanel and that bloke off ‘There Will Be Blood’ whimsying their way around Central Park, being ‘complex’ like a pair of weeping sores in skinny jeans. Which makes me want to vomit through my eyes. Thankfully, Mother’s resident film guru Rob Hughes, recently cured me of this tendency when he organised a Mother-exclusive premiere of one of this year’s Sundance hits – ‘Dale and Tucker vs. Evil’. Rather than New York whimsy, this was Hillbilly Horror from the mould of ‘Deliverance’, ‘The Hills Have Eyes’ and ‘Texas Chainsaw Massacre’ but, in a brilliant twist on the genre, told from the point of view of the Hillbillys. Dale & Tucker are a couple of sweethearted red-necks, mystified as to why college kids keep killing themselves in colourful ways outside their cabin. Misunderstandings, belly-laughs and a wince-inducing scene involving a woodchipper and buckets of gore ensue. I loved the film, it felt like Evil Dead-era Sam Raimi at his best, and I’m sure that it will be a big hit when it makes it’s way to our screens in a year or two. What a coup for Mother to be the host of the European premiere.


Thanks to ed warren and rob hughes for this story.

Geoff Nicholson couldn’t convince his manger at 3M that lightly adhesive pieces of note paper would be a commercial success. Every time he argued the case for his handy pad of sticky yellow paper, his manager argued that everyone used scrap paper and no one would start paying for these little sticky notes. His manager lacked vision, he couldn’t see the opportunity presenting itself, and if it weren’t for Geoff’s tenacity, Post-it wouldn’t be celebrating its 30th birthday. On inventing the Post-it Geoff has said: “Creativity and inspiration are when you see an accident and recognise its value”. It’s an interesting way of looking at entrepreneurialism, as being serendipitous. Ideas are fragile, they’re embryonic and need the right environment to develop. It’s so much easier to look at a new idea and see the present negative instead of the potential positive. But Geoff was determined to turn what he could see into a reality, he was a doer, a grafter, a dog with a bone, so thank you Geoff, we all owe you one.


Thanks to samuel payne for this one.


Reference
The Guardian beloved

It took a 19-second video that consisted of a geek talking about elephants at San Diageo Zoo to kick off a revolution that changed the way the world consumes media. That revolution was YouTube, which has just turned 5-years-old (digital years feel more like cat years). The clip stars Jawed Karim, one of the 3 co-founders of YouTube. This slightly awkward first video marks a cultural phenomenon where the whole world now creates, shares, customises, and comments on video content. We’ve seen everything from ten seconds of a clever cat playing the piano, to people talking about about what they’ve had for tea, to videos that augment reality. So what’s next for YouTube? Wired editor David Rowan has said, “YouTube will be at the heart of another Google v Apple war, as it becomes a portal through which we pay for mobile video”. Whilst cultural anthropologist Michael Wesch, thinks it’s destined to be the telly of the 21st Century. “Most people are going to be sitting in front of their TVs with on-demand video. YouTube may be the one that delivers that – and the advertising revenue.”


Thanks to neil bennett for this story.


Reference
The Guardian
Don Martelli’s blog