Midnight Sex Talk

SUNDAY 31st JULY - BODY MODS AND MUTILATION

This Sunday on Midnight Sex Talk we're taking you on a journey from body piercing to full-on labiaplasty. For decorative purposes, or a fetish, people do all sorts of striking but painful-looking things to themselves: Warning! This link is not for the squeamish!. Actually, nor are these: split tongue, decorative penile implants and split penis.

But on the 'medical' side of things, an increasing number of people, (mostly women, but not all), are opting to have their most cherished erogenous zones cut into, for the sake of - um, what? In the West, we get very agitated, and rightly so, about Female Genital Mutilation as practised in parts of Africa and the Middle East. But, if you take the Martian perspective, you might well ask yourself why women in the supposedly free and educated West are actively volunteering to have similar things done to themselves, albeit in a more hygienic environment.

Sheila Jeffreys' Beauty and Misogyny: Harmful Cultural Practices in the West is a study of all the things Western women (and men) do to themselves, and argues that choice, the mantra of all things commercial, has very little part to play. The culture of upgrading that we live in is not causing happiness, folks!

When Surgeons Attack!
Here is poor Lolo Ferrari, patron saint of our fucked-up beauty industry.

Of course, it's not all bad. But just to get up on my soapbox for a minute, I'm really tired of hearing about how Jordan is, like, this really important icon and inspiration for young girls who want to 'make it'. The fact that she is a 'good businesswoman' should come as no surprise - why shouldn't she be? But the bottom line is that she's famous for having huge plastic tits. Do you really want your kids to aspire to that?

There will be a doctor in the studio to help explain just what all this can do to you, medically, psychologically and sexually. If you'd like to talk about any of this, tell a story, or tell us why you had surgery, you can text us on 07957 362 182, or email us using the 'Email me' link on the left.

Where & When: Sunday 31st July, 11.30pm-12.30am GMT, on Resonance 104.4 FM in London, and on the internet at Resonancefm.com everywhere else in the world.

CENSORSHIP ROUNDUP

I'm posting this very late in the week, but I've been having a hell of a busy one. And then yet more nutter bombers disrupted our tube system yesterday. Thank god no-one was badly hurt this time, but many were made homeless for the night if they lived near one of the crime scenes. How much more vigilant can we be? Londoners already have a radar in place for when we're on public transport, for monitoring any potential gropers, thieves or drunks that might be in the vicinity. Now we must look out for potential murderers too.

Last Sunday's Midnight Sex Talk was full of detail, as it always is when our film expert Alex is in the house. His interview with Sue Clark of the British Board of Film Classification threw out lots of interesting stuff. We heard from Al Needham about some of the more ridiculous censorship that goes on in the porn industry, and how a mate of his successfully defended the rights of women with 'naturally distended labia'. And if you'd like to know more about 'pips and batwings', have a listen!

Al himself has been censored, and on his own home turf as well. He's involved with a rather good Nottingham-based magazine, Left Lion. The cover of issue 5 has a very busy cartoon on it, and buried among all the characters is a lovely little image of Al shagging Su Pollard. Tis charming, but certain outlets in the locality apparently refused to stock it. Tsk! (Incidentally, Su is known as 'Mother Nottingham' because she's pretty much the only famous local who's kept her accent.)

Since we just had to mention The Exorcist, I dug out this flyer that I made many years ago. In the end, the flyer was better than the gig, I seem to remember, but it got people through the door.

PLUG! Check out Scarlet this month. I'm in it, (At least I think I am, I haven't managed to get it yet), and you can now buy it from WH Smith!

SUNDAY 17th JULY - CENSORSHIP

Bloody hell. What a week it's been since I last posted here. The twin horrors of Bob Geldof and the Olympics have been utterly overshadowed. I hope you and yours are all OK. Here's a picture of our beautiful London.

I hope you agree that the show must go on, and we've got a very interesting one for you this Sunday on Midnight Sex Talk. Alex Fitch is joining us again to talk about the strange anomalies in movie censorship. And have a look at this censor-watch site, The Melonfarmers, which just found itself in the finals of the Erotic Awards. As did we! \o/

If you've got any examples of really silly censorship, 'Your mother sews socks that smell!', etc, you can text us on 07957 362 182, or email us using the 'Email me' link on the left.

Where & When: Sunday 17th July, 11.30pm-12.30am GMT, on Resonance 104.4 FM in London, and on the internet at Resonancefm.com everywhere else in the world.

Oh, and STOP PRESS! Resonance podcasts coming soon!

See you there.

ART!
Check out our gallery on the left for two new shots by Greg Daville, from his highly entertaining Covers exhibition. No nipple coverings in this part of the world.

SEX AND DISABILITY ROUNDUP

What a lot of hope, and what a lot of sadness on Midnight Sex Talk last Sunday - 'sadness' referring mainly to the general assumption that 'disabled' equals 'no sex'.

We heard from Outsiders members Nigel, Kate and Richard about how their disabilities have affected their sex lives. We learned that neither Big Brother nor Blind Date have ever had a disabled contestant. The numbers don't add up. If these shows only had white contestants, there would be an outcry. And yet the disabled outnumber the non-white by a very large amount.

Tuppy told us the history of Outsiders, and threw up her hands in frustration at the attitudes of those major organisations who purport to look after the interests of those with certain medical conditions, and yet will not discuss sexuality. Accessibility issues, fine, but don't mention the orgasm. And yet any kind of physical hindrance incites great sexual creativity. I wonder how many able-bodied couples are bothering to explore their sexuality to anything like the same level.

So many important things were said on this show. When it's up on the download page, get it and have a listen. Tell your friends about Outsiders. More's the point, please tell them to donate! If you're in the US, tell someone to start up a branch over there. Don't take your able-bodied state for granted. Put yourself in someone else's shoes for a minute, and try to imagine how you'd cope emotionally if you suddenly found yourself in a wheelchair, or couldn't leave your home without help.

In case you think I'm sounding like a chugger, there's a fun way to help out. Come down to Night of the Senses on 3rd September. We'll be there, and so will quite a few of our guests.

Here's Tuppy blowing out the Outsiders 25th birthday candles.