Midnight Sex Talk

THIS SUNDAY 30th JANUARY - KIDS

We're got a tricky one on for you Midnight Sex Talk this week. We're going to tackle the thorny issue of children and sex.

Some say technology is evolving faster than our minds can keep up with it - and perhaps our rapidly increasing sexual awareness is outstripping children's readiness to understand it.

After football stories and debates about licensing hours, the next most popular subject in today's news seems to be children; and it's usually yet another crime, either committed by them, or done to them. Anecdotally, if you sit down with a group of people and talk about the worst thing about living in their area, the answer is very likely going to be children - drugs, vandalism, stealing and violence. And, as you'll see if you go to Shrinking Childhoods, the exhibition put on by Kids Company at the Tate Modern, plenty of people are still having children and then subjecting them to awful lives, whether intentionally or not. It's heartbreaking. (Despite all this, anti-abortionists are gaining ground. If they get their way, are they going to commit to looking after all those extra unwanted children?) The exhibition ends on March 9th 2005.

So where does this leave sex? If it's not teenage pregnancies (in the UK the highest in Europe), it's the spread of STIs, and, god help us, rapes - of each other, and adults too.

So what's going wrong? Because something is. Something's blocking the flow of information (and understanding about self-respect) between adults and children. Despite all the programmes, articles, books, leaflets and clinics, nothing's changing.

Remember that Mini Pops programme, back in 1983, with kids dressed up as pop stars? (I've tried to find a decent link for you, but I can only find forum posts that recall it with a shudder). Those wee girls all made up - no-one would make a programme like that now, surely? It's a paedophile's dream! Actually, they don't need to, when a 12 year old can be got up very convincingly to look 25, with the apparent blessing of parents everywhere.

Joining us will be Dr Petra Boynton, sex and relationship psychologist, who won Campaigner of the Year at last year's Erotic Awards.

STOP PRESS! Artist and mother Tracey Sanders-Wood is joining us in the studio. Her last exhibition was Star Spangled Sinners at the Nancy Victor Gallery. She also worked with Mark Thomas on the Boycott Coca Cola Campaign in Colombia in 2004.

We hoped to have Oliver James, author of They F*** You Up, but he's just had a new baby, so he's pretty busy right now. Check out that book. It could ring a lot of bells.

Join us on Sunday 30th January, 11.30pm-12.30am GMT, on Resonance 104.4 FM if you're in London, and on Resonancefm.com everywhere else.

As always, if you've got something you want to say - thoughts, rants, whatever - drop us a line anytime. Now, tomorrow or during the show. Just click on 'Email Me' to the left.

See you there.

SHOW ROUNDUP - TECHGASM!

And what a great show! Jonny Trunk, who appears to be a natural born porn freak, told us about how his show was conceived, and dropped in his own laconic views on tech-porn throughout the evening. He says there are some more Dirty Fan Male gig dates coming up - try his web site and see if you can find them. Well worth a look, from what we heard. Extraordinary stuff, with great charm. I could have listened all night.

Trudy Barber was a trooper, and we teased out the implications of repeated chocolate orgasms - obesity will rule the world!

And, after some really heavy encryption, decryption and seat-of-pants patching not usually seen anywhere outside NASA, we managed to get Belle de Jour online! Read the transcript here. Finally, I have been accused of being Belle. Phew. Acceptance at last! However, a lot of people think she's a man. What do you reckon?

Thanks to Josey Vogels and her interview in My Messy Bedroom, I discovered a great erotic/porn site - Eroticalee: porn meets erotica with a tech twist. Check it out.

Apologies to Regina Lynn - we were so backed up with stuff we didn't get a chance to read her email out. But she's got a book coming out in the Spring, so watch this space.

Download the show here. Smaller file size; might be easier. If it cuts off, as it sometimes does, please try again.

And here's Kim and Jonny, pretending to be freezing in Old Compton Street. Before they arrived, a man with a small notepad approached me at the table. I told him I would wait till my friends arrived before ordering. I then realised he did not work at the cafe, but had in fact taken me for a hooker. Later on, a boy approached all three of us, insisted we all came out with him (although I think it was Kim he was after), and then, when we insisted we were 'working', left five pence on the table. Ah, Soho...

THIS SUNDAY JANUARY 16th - SEX AND TECHNOLOGY

This Sunday on Midnght Sex Talk we'll be examining two of our favourite subjects rolled into one. Like it or not, it's the sex industry (or, more specifically, porn) that has driven the tech revolution over the last couple of decades, from the early days of video to today's internet TV.

Helping us along, (if she's recovered from the Consumer Electronics Fair in Vegas), will be artist and sexual futurologist Trudy Barber, who's about to push confectionary beyond the bounds of both this week's themes. Yes, folks, orgasmic chocolate is on its way!

And of course we'll be looking at blogging, with (fingers crossed) an interview with the one and only Belle de Jour! Her book Intimate Adventures Of A London Call Girl is just out. A copy is on its way to me, Royal Mail allowing.

In the studio we've got Jonny Trunk, who was a big hit at Edinburgh last year with Dirty Fan Male, a musical based on fan letters sent to soft porn stars. We'll be playing you some clips from this, oh yes we will.

You know the rules by now: Sunday 16th January, 11.30pm-12.30am GMT on Resonance 104.4 FM. See my post below for all the ways to listen to us. OK, so I ditched the cute hippo-giant tortoise combo. Gotta keep it relevant. ;-)

See you there for our first live show of 2005!

HOW TO LISTEN TO THE SHOW - GET YOUR VITAL TECHNICAL INFO HERE!

First of all, happy new year to you all. It seems a long time ago now - this lady has been hard at work doing those first-week-of-January prepare-for-the-next-step-type things to give herself that 'New Year-New You!' feeling so beloved of magazine covers.

And now, here's a rundown of all the ways to listen to Midnight Sex Talk.

I've got to say I'm a bit concerned by the number of people who say 'Oh really?', and look surprised when I tell them it doesn't matter if they don't live within Resonance's admittedly small FM range in central London, because you can listen on the internet from anywhere in the world.

Anywhere in the world. Got that? Exciting, isn't it! Internet radio is global radio. It's for everyone. Occasional hitches aside, it's neither obscure, geeky, nor technically challenging.

HOW TO LISTEN TO RESONANCE ON THE INTERNET

Some of you who've braved Resonance's audio page (bookmark that link!) have reported listening problems.

Personally, I think the best thing to do is what they suggest at the bottom of the page, namely copy and paste the appropriate url into your player. There will generally be an option such as 'Open URL' or 'Open Stream'. The urls are:

http://212.23.57.33:8010
Hi Quality (if you're on broadband)

http://tempest.exequo.org:8000/resonanceFM
Lo Quality (if you're on dial-up)

Typical audio stream players are iTunes (for mac) or Winamp (for PC).

They've also listed some help links for the different browsers. Geek Note: NO-ONE, Mac or PC user, should still be using Internet Explorer. In the name of all things pink and wriggly, get yourself a (free) copy of Firefox and save yourself a shedload of hassle. Scroll down this link for the reasons why Explorer is bad.

HOW TO LISTEN IN LONDON

Switch the radio on and turn, click, or whatever, to 104.4 FM. [OK OK, just covering the bases!] Sadly, the signal is limited to certain central areas. If you're having problems with reception, go to the Resonance FAQ.

Finally, here's some more info about internet radio in general.

I hope this was helpful. Please tell us, and Resonance, if you've still having problems.

And yes, there's now a picture of a hippo and a tortoise on here. I thought it was cute. There's someone out there for everyone, innit. Haven't you seen enough designer dildos for the moment? ;-)