Midnight Sex Talk

SHOW ROUNDUP #3 - CONDOM SPECIAL

First, a quick rant about UK licensing laws. (Click on 'Timetable for Reform' in the middle column, if you can get the page to come up, that is). Why oh why can't we get a pre-show drink in central London after 10.30pm on a Sunday night? OK, we've got a nice little setup where we go to the pub and then, for half an hour before the show, we go round the corner to Old Compton Street and get nicely wired on coffee before going to the studio. But why can't we get all this in the same place? Hotels, even supposedly cool ones, are closed. Eh? I'm thinking more of our guests here, of course. We, of course, are sober as vicars.

On Sunday 24th October our guests, hardworking activists the pair of them, were Neil Almond of kikass.com, and Anne Philpott from The Pleasure Project. Among many other things, Neil told us all about the Fuckit Fairy, a delightful creature who hovers above the bed but will not grant you a shag until your sex is demonstrably safe, and Anne explained the creative pleasure potential of the female condom, not least
in the far east, where sex workers charge extra for it, declaring it to be an extra special sex toy; and in parts of Africa, where the word to describe the sensation of the inner ring has entered the language. More info to come...

Conclusions? I must admit at times I was plunged in gloom at the thought of how much education there is to be done. The under-25s don't seem to realise condoms exist. And yet condoms have become a comedy product, as illustrated by this delight that appeared last year, the Jack The Ripper Intimacy Kit. :-( Anyone seen this recently?

On a lighter note, this week's sound clips were from the Alternative Miss World, where Kim collared the beauties backstage and got some fascinating thoughts on it all.

And this week's prizewinner is Roger from Abergavenny! A Pleasure Kit is winging its way to him, courtesy of the nice helpful people from Trojan.

HOW TO LISTEN TO OUR PAST SHOWS

Just click here!

We're well aware that not everyone can stay awake on Sunday nights, especially if you've got work the next day. So we're stacking up our past shows online - you can listen any time you like.

They take a few minutes to download, (approx 50 meg), so don't worry if it all looks blank for a while.

A NOTE ON DOWNLOADING: Perhaps due to popular demand(!), some people have only managed to download ten minutes or so of the show. Please try again, as it does work eventually.

The Condom Special will be up there soon...

NEXT SHOW THIS SUNDAY 24TH OCTOBER - CONDOM SPECIAL!

This week we're coming over all public information on you, and delivering a very serious lecture about barrier methods of contraception.

Just kidding! Well, almost...

With the help of Neil Almond of kikass.com, and Anne Philpott from The Pleasure Project, we'll be teasing out just why it is that condom use seems to have gone down, and what we all need to do about it. Because we do need to do something. There should be no excuses for the rise in teenage pregnancy, nor the rise in STIs, including old-school nasties like syphilis which should have gone the way of horse-drawn carriages and gas lamps by now. But someone must be coming up with some, because the situation's getting worse.

But don't worry - no-one can ever be entirely po-faced about something you can practice on a banana.

WHERE: Resonance 104.4 FM if you're in London, or click here to listen online.

WHEN: This Sunday night, October 24th, 11:30pm to 12:30am GMT.

INTERACTIVE! We want to hear from you. Do you use condoms? If not, why not? Got any awful condom stories? (We always want stories!) And how would you get people (young and old - this isn't just a youth thing) to use them? Email us! There's a link in the left hand column.

If you want to talk live on air, email us your phone number and we'll call you back.

NB: There's a PRIZE for the best caller - every week!

ErotICA AT THE ICA, LONDON

Attn Londoners. Check out ErotICA at the ICA (geddit!) on Monday 25th and Tuesday 26th October. Especially Monday, for obvious reasons - and Lou will be unveiling Slit.

Details from the ICA site:

Part 1 6.45pm: How to Start a Sex Zine
What turns us on? Is this reality reflected in existing materials - erotic, pornographic or otherwise? Does the division between sexual media for men and women still exist? Lou Errington, Liz Helman and Paul Lawrence are launching a new magazine called Slit. Sexy, and all about sex, it explores the beautiful and absurd nature of sexual experiences in a way that they believe is unrepresented in current media and its strictly segmented markets. Tonight they discuss the journey that led them to set up the publication with author Stephanie Theobald, whose latest book, TRIX, is about an American dominatrix and a Scarborough waitress who drive across America; and writer and broadcaster Tania Glyde, who was Time Out's agony aunt for two years, and is a judge for this year’s Erotic Awards.

Part 2 8pm: Burlesque! The new Female Voyeurism

See you there...

SHOW ROUNDUP #2 - PORN VERSUS EROTICA

The second show went out on 10th October 2004. We're well aware that any debate involving pornography can get really, worthily, buttock-clenchingly tedious - we're more interested in whether there's even a difference between porn and erotica any more at all. (And then there's what we like, what we don't like and the huge vein of comedy in between, intentional and not.)

Our entertaining and knowledgeable guests were Lou Errington who's currently setting up Slit, and Robert Posner of Literary Review. Slit is still under wraps (so as yet no url, but see above for where, and when, you can find out more), but it's going to be good, believe me... The Literary Review hasn't got a proper site of its own, believe it or not. This is a shame because a list of all the entries for their Bad Sex Prize over the last eleven years would in itself justify the design fee. The prize is for the worst piece of sex writing in a novel - actually, the entries are getting better every year, as writers get more savvy about it. They're not nearly as bad as they used to be, and it makes me feel quite nostalgic for the good old days of unequivocably awful shite. This piece, from the New York Times may have been written in 1998, but it sums up the prize quite well, even allowing for the wonderfully inaccurate prediction that future writers would be scared off putting any sex in their novels at all.

We talked about Larry Clark's Ken Park, which sadly can't be released in this country. Scroll down a bit and read about it here. And I found this gem, The 100 Worst Porn Movie Titles. Enjoy!

And this week's winner was Ian, who gets a copy of Modern Loving.
Listen to the show here.

SHOW ROUNDUP #1 - SEX IN THE MEDIA

Our first show went out on Sunday 26th September 2004. You can listen to it here.

Our two excellent guests were Suzanne Noble and John Carver who produced Modern Loving, 'the ultmate guide to sexual pleasure', on DVD and video. This is a sexy, down-to-earth guide to all sorts of sexual techniques; some you might have heard of, some you might not - and they used real couples!!

Both myself and Suzanne were judges for the 11th Erotic Awards, so we gave them, and the Night Of The Senses (formerly known as the Sex Maniacs Ball) a good going-over as well.

We're going to have a lot of fun with this show, I reckon. And don't forget, you can join in too...

SUNDAY NIGHT RADIO NEVER HAD IT SO GOOD!

At last! On Resonance FM, the radio show you’ve been waiting for. (I know, I know, everyone says that.)

Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to Midnight Sex Talk.

Stick around while this blog grows and matures into a heaving mass of links, photos and plugs for friends, (with a proper banner!). Right now, though, I'm going to keep it simple. Here's what you need to know:

Resonance FM is the most innovative and interesting radio station in the UK, according to a rapidly increasing number of national and international fans and followers. Launched in May 2002, it was soon renowned for its coverage of the arts, innovations in music and ground-breaking programming.

If you're in London UK, you can turn your dial to 104.4 FM. Rest of the world, click here.

The show features Tania Glyde presenting and Kim Morgan producing, with special guests invited on each show. It’s also interactive: listeners can email us and we’ll call you back for a live chat.

The next show's on Sunday 10th October 2004 and runs for an hour, from 11:30pm-12:30am. Right now, it's going out every other week. But watch this space for updates.

To go into Press Release Speak for a moment:

Over the last few years, the British have made huge inroads into the exploration of sex and the world of sexuality. We have nice sex shops, there are images of lovely, sexy people everywhere, (who, we’re constantly told, are at it like rabbits), and sex is used to sell everything from breakfast cereal to floor tiles. But does that mean we’re any less hung up about it all? If we’re all so cool with sex, then why are sexually transmitted diseases on the increase? Why is dogging such a tabloid sensation? Why did British Telecom have to block tens of thousands of attempts to access child-porn in a single day? We’re apparently obsessed with the subject, but do we ever really talk about it, or examine what we’re doing and why?

Midnight Sex Talk takes a sharp and worldly-wise look at issues ranging from porn versus erotica, sexual health, fetish and BDSM, right through to media representation of children as sexual objects. We want to know what our listeners are thinking, and what they’ve got to say. Your ideas, thoughts, perspectives, opinions and experiences are welcome. But no swearing, mind!

Right, that's enough of that.

I guess you'd like to know more about the presenters too, ie us. Details coming soon...