The ‘BDSM station’ turns out to be a cork notice board, filled with handwritten notes, in which attendees of tonight’s event outline what they’d like to get from the evening. One man would quite like his girlfriend to watch him have sex with another woman. Another says she would like to be flogged.

Soon, the ‘play space’ will open. But first we must watch as 85 or so ‘worshipers’—dressed in the classic 0 BC style of togas, knight outfits, and sexy lingerie—pack into a salon that’s been turned into a sordid biblical scene by tonight’s hosts: the Holy Eros Institute. Apart from me and the VICE photographer, every guest here has paid top-dollar to be a part of “the untold love story of Mary Magdalene and Jesus, an immersive erotic theater ritual experience.”

‘Temple nights’ like this one are becoming more and more common in tantra scenes around the world. Think of them less like all-out orgies, but as somewhat structured evenings of fruity fun with the aim of exploring sexuality, healing trauma, and, of course, dismantling patriarchy.

We settle down into silence, and a man dressed in white bangs a drum while chanting like a shaman. “Thanking the indigenous elders and wisdom keepers and all of those who have come before us,” he intones. The lady sitting cross-legged beside me remarks quietly that an Orthodox Christian friend considered coming, but when he learned of the performance’s nature, it was a hard no. “He was concerned about all the sacrilegiousness,” she says, making a kind of fussing motion with her hands.

This opening gambit from our heavenly compere continues as a giant wooden ‘X’ is hauled into the room. I can see where this might be going. “Let’s acknowledge the parts of the planet where this story originated from, where there is a lot of pain and destruction,” he says. “Please send your intentions to … Palestine, Lebanon, Israel.” Tonight’s shenanigans, it’s announced, are “part of the change.” How, exactly, is unclear.

Co-producer Phoenix Amara, with a 10 lb ball python draped over her shoulders, lays down the law when it comes to chemicals. “This isn’t quite Eyes Wide Shut, but it could be something like that,” she says to us all. “If you are called [to get high], stick to a psilocybin or marijuana microdose. Things can become chaotic with too many substances. This story is medicine enough.” Earlier, in the invite, she reminded guests, “We’re not gathering with the sole focus of fucking each other … We are gathering to liberate our sensual selves.”

Amara summons the “Princess of Darkness” and a lady in red enters, wearing high heels and accompanied by a male servant—a fallen angel—whom she leads around on a leash. 

The servant removes her long-armed silk gloves, and it gradually becomes clear that the man playing the drum is Jesus Christ. That is to say, two other men grab his arms and legs and affix him spreadeagled to the giant ‘X.’

Then his eyes roll back and he feigns an orgasm.

“We spent millennia being told we were born of sin, the cravings of our loins inherently shameful,” says the Princess of Darkness. “We’re here to tempt you back into the old religion.” The writers of the Bible “were afraid of pussy,” one of my fellow worshipers hisses, disparagingly.

Jesus is uncuffed and led away to who knows where, and now here comes the Virgin Mary, wearing a lacy white dress clad with a flowing veil. Portrayed by tantric performer Cheyenne Sapphire, Mary starts crawling provocatively across a table. “God… is that you?” she inquires to no one in particular. “You’ll do what to me? Oh, OK, I’m ready! Let me give you all of me.” 

Suddenly, she is enacting quite a compelling scene.

“Take me! Take me!” she exclaims, twitching with delight, running her hands down over her breasts. “Oh yes, God.” She bangs on the table and shudders, before flummoxing onto her back. “Once you’ve been fucked so well you see God, you begin to feel things,” narrates the Princess of Darkness, “secrets of the universe begin to appear like breath itself. See her not as a sexless vessel but a goddess who fucked a God.” 

I wonder whether God is listening, if he feels happy or disrespected by the apparent heresy, or by the subtle inference that there is more than one God—an idea largely anathema to monotheistic Christians.

But there isn’t time to consider such lofty questions. Now it’s our turn “to be nursed by the Holy Mother and take a sip of the elixir that raised a boy to become king of kings,” someone declares. This means drinking Mary’s breast milk, represented here by almond milk. Mary purrs appreciative noises as folks slurp up the creamy liquid from their cupped, bare hands.

Abruptly, the story of Jesus fast forwards from his conception to the Last Supper. Jesus—you can follow him on Insta—is seated with a gang of cheeky-looking disciples and “favorite of the favorites,” Mary Magdalene. (After centuries of marginalization, Mary Magdalene was acknowledged as “the apostle to the apostles” by the Catholic Church in 2016, who said she was the first to witness Jesus’ resurrection.)

“They tried to tell you another story!” yells the Princess of Darkness. “They said she was a repented whore! Yet those who risked their lives to give us a taste of ecstasy in a cruel world are doing God’s work.”

In an eyebrow-raising moment, she then likens Jesus and his disciples to an ancient polycule.

“Like all polycules, things got complicated.” And lo, Judas snogs Jesus’ face off, as sinister dance music plays and the traitorous disciple whips our Lord and Savior with a belt and a wand shaped like a crucifix.

Now it’s time to feast, on a banquet of salmon and meat koftas. I chat to one female worshiper who has come without her husband. On the BDSM wall, she had stipulated that she is here to “heal shame” and that while she is open to friendly touch, she is taken, showing me her sapphire ring as proof.

The show resumes, with Mary Magdalene (played by “ritualist” Aubrey Aurora) sitting on Jesus’ lap, appearing to have sex without moving. She looks satisfied. “It’s not just any kind of sex that brings you closer to God,” says the Princess of Darkness. “Some kinds of sex will send you to Hell, but there is a kind of passion that lifts us up to the Heavens.”

Following Jesus’ death, key figures in the formation of Christianity—notably Peter—discredited Mary Magdalene as a “scarlet woman” not to be trusted. (It’s said she was prone to the same ecstatic trances that women were later violently persecuted for, during so-called witch hunts.) This characterization is at the roots of Western oppression of women, we are told, and half a dozen women dressed in red cavort like sexy snakes, gyrating with orgasmic gusto to the tune of an ominous drum beat as the blue-robed Peter is forced to observe these priestesses of sexual energy flexing, as a kind of penance for being a prude old bastard. 

“The holy grail will be waiting for you, if you dare to gaze your eyes upon it,” someone announces. We soon understand that by “holy grail,” they mean Mary Magdalene’s vagina, as we are instructed to hand-write confessions of moments in life when we may have “denied the power of pussy.” We queue up to place these scrawled mea culpas in a copper bowl in front of Magdalene’s spread legs. I try to stare respectfully, and not just blankly ogle her vaginal opening, which is partially obscured by a cord of beads.

Next to me, two priestesses are reciting magic spells in tongues.

It is, to say the least, all rather entrancing. A female sex educator tells me: “It was really magical. I recognised that it moves the world with its power.”

A male attendee has a more prosaic view. “I felt very horny and at peace at the same time,” he offers. “It’s a very nice one.” 

From there, a panoply of activities break out in “the divine dungeon,” from spanking and flogging, to shibari, sensual electrocution, and “wax play.” Others don ball-gags, some are handcuffed, more filter up from the dungeon to the lovers’ room. A threesome between two girls and a guy wearing a collar and leash is in train. 

As the real debauchery gets going, I homed in on Jesus and Mary Magdalene to ask about their previous lives. “At one point, I was going to church five times a week,” says Jesus actor Devaiya Ra. “I prayed the gay away for nine years! I felt like everything that was true to me was wrong and a sin. It was built upon roots of shame.” 

This led to severe depression and suicidal ideations, he recalls—until he came out to his father aged 17 at bible camp, shortly after being enrolled as a youth pastor. His dad graciously accepted the news but others turned their backs: “They said I was blasphemous, a sinner.” Ra believes this kind of erotic retelling of Jesus’ story could destigmatize eroticism and non-hetero relations and even lead to “intergenerational healing.”

Aubrey Aurora, who played Mary Magdalene, had a similar journey, growing up in Oklahoma in the heart of the US bible belt.

She broke with the Church at the younger age of 13, after having sex for the first time. “I used to have a purity ring on this finger, right here, from age five,” she says, adding that often sex is cast as profane. “I wanted to be a good girl, for my parents to be proud of me.” Through her work today, she says she is “bringing back the sacred to the profane, weaving them as one—and getting paid handsomely for it.”

Now for the million-dollar question: How did I do with the pussy gazing? She giggles, and for a moment I fear she has me down as one of those who could not make eye contact, closed their eyes, or even looked away. “Your gaze was quite piercing and your energy was reverent,” Aurora says. “I really enjoyed that moment with you.”  

A moment of relief, at the end of what has been a memorable evening.

Follow Mattha Busby and Paige Taylor White on Instagram.

The post I Just Went to My First Ever Jesus-Themed Sex Party appeared first on VICE.

This “sex trend,” as some have called it, unfortunately, isn’t all that new. Known as stealthing, it pretty much involves sneakily removing a condom during sex without your partner knowing. Many view it as a form of rape, with almost 9 in 10 individuals deeming it a form of sexual assault. Not to mention, this could also increase the risk of contracting STIs. Nearly all survey respondents of young people in the UK at least view it as wrong.

Even further, about half of people surveyed believe non-consensual condom removal should be punishable with prison time—especially if it resulted in an unwanted pregnancy. 

“In cases where victims do not discover they have been stealthed, their reproductive health is compromised as they are unable to procure emergency contraception and are therefore at a higher risk of unplanned pregnancy,” the authors of the research explained.

Stealthing is already considered rape in England and Wales. This new survey—which included over 1,700 people aged 18-25—sheds even more light on the prevalent issue and popular “sex trend.” 

Thankfully, a vast majority of respondents do view the trend as a crime.

“I was really pleased to see that most people saw it as a violation of consent and that they thought it was wrong,” said Geraldine Barrett, senior author and a social scientist at University College London’s Institute for Women’s Health. “That was very reassuring [to see] in the population.”

However, different contexts and scenarios revealed different attitudes toward stealthing. For example, slightly more people thought it was less of an issue in a committed relationship versus a casual hookup. Others also thought it was more punishable if the woman became pregnant versus her becoming depressed. 

Regardless of these opinions, stealthing has been legally recognized as a form of rape, as it strips the other person of their right to consent. 

The post Stealthing Is Sexual Assault, and Half of People Surveyed Want Prison Time for It appeared first on VICE.

But all that extra mileage you’re putting on your toys comes with extra responsibility. Your sex toys accumulate bacteria thanks to exposure to bodily fluids, so it’s important to clean them properly. Especially if you’re using them from one partner to another without proper protection or cleaning in between (yuck—if this is you, you belong in prison!!!). Scientific studies have shown that improperly cleaned toys can lead to bacterial vaginosis, yeast infections, HPV, and an increased risk of UTIs—all of which will put a damper on future fun time, to put it very lightly. 

To spare you this extremely unpleasant and possibly sex-life-destroying fate, I’ve put together a guide to cleaning your sex toys, informed by a certified sex educator. This article will tell you everything you need to know about cleaning and storing your sex toys like a pro, from the different ways you can clean your toys to the best UV sterilizers to ensure those pesky bacteria are dead and gone.

[Unclasps sex toy lockbox] Let’s begin, shall we?

How to Clean Your Sex Toys

Use soap and water, duh

How you clean your sex toys depends on the material they’re made of. All sex toys should be cleaned before and after use. 

“For non-porous materials like silicone, metal, and glass, you can keep things simple by washing them with warm water and a mild, unscented soap,” says AASECT-certified sexuality educator Lillith Foxx. 

Scented soaps can lead to irritation. My favorite unscented soap for cleaning sex toys is this Legend’s Creek Farm goat milk soap. It’s gentle and it doesn’t leave residue on the toys like many other soaps do no matter how much you scrub them. I like to keep the bar of soap that I use for my sex toys separate from my other bars of soap, and I will rinse off the bar just to be extra safe. 

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Legend's Creek

Legend's Creek Triple Milled Goat Milk Soap Bar (opens in a new window)

Available at Amazon

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If you’re more of a liquid soap fan, then Carolina Castile unscented soap is a great option. It’s vegan and organic, so if you avoid all animal products, this is a great choice that lasts a long time. It doesn’t leave any residue and it’s easy to wash off.

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Carolina Castile Soap

Unscented Castile Soap Liquid (opens in a new window)

Available at Amazon

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Use the same rule for cleaning your sex toys that you would for washing your hands—sing happy birthday as you clean the toy to make sure you’re cleaning it for long enough.

How to deep clean your sex toys

“If you’re looking for a deeper clean,” says Foxx, “you can boil these toys for about 5-10 minutes as long as there are no electronic parts.” The high heat will sterilize the toys, making them safe for use once again.

If you don’t want to manually clean your toys, you can “toss them on the top rack of your dishwasher—just skip the detergent.” You can set them to clean while you’re doing something else and leave them to dry so you can grab them after a few hours to use when you’re ready to get back at it.

How to clean porous sex toys

The most difficult toys to clean are the ones that are made of porous materials. “Since materials like jelly, rubber, or latex can trap bacteria, it’s wise to cover them with a condom during use and wash them with soap and water afterward,” Foxx says. 

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LELO

HEX Original Condoms (opens in a new window)

$34.90 at Amazon

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Using condoms with toys might seem a little extra, but it will preserve the integrity of toys that are made from porous materials in the long run. You can use a condom that feels good for you, and there are lots of great options on the market.

How to clean motorized sex toys

For motorized toys—especially those that aren’t waterproof—you’ll want to avoid submerging them, says Foxx. “Instead, stick to wiping them down with a damp, soapy cloth and take care to keep water away from any electronic bits.” 

If you have butterfingers like I do and you’re constantly dropping things, you can use some cling wrap and an elastic to keep the mechanical parts of your toy extra protected. 

Pay special care to textured and anal toys

Foxx says that not all toys are made equal regarding ease of cleanliness. In addition to toys with porous materials that are almost impossible to fully clean, Foxx says that “toys with textures, like ridges or grooves, need a little extra attention too, as those areas can trap bacteria and lube.” You can use a soft-bristled toothbrush to get into nooks and crannies. 

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Daletu

Bamboo Toothbrush – 4 Pack (opens in a new window)

Available at Amazon

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When you’re picking a toothbrush to clean your sex toys, you want to use a textured one that can get into all the little tough-to-reach spots. These bamboo toothbrushes are soft and the ridges gently, but thoroughly scrub your toys. As a bonus, they’re also eco-friendly.

“Anal toys also need a more thorough cleaning because of where they go,” says Foxx, “so boiling them (if possible) or using a strong antibacterial cleaner is best.” 

Easy To Clean Sex Toys

NJOY Pure Wand

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fetishclub

Njoy Pure Adults G Spot Metal Wand (opens in a new window)

Available at Amazon

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The NJOY pure wand is made of stainless steel, which makes it one of the easiest sex toys to clean on the market. I’ve recommended this toy as one that’s versatile for all genders with great stimulation potential on both ends, and the fact that it’s easy to clean is another feather in this toy’s cap.

Bellesa WhisperBullet Vibrator

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Bellesa

WhisperBullet (opens in a new window)

Available at BBoutique

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The ultra-soft silicone of this brand-spanking new vibrator makes it easy to clean, but you’ll really fall in love with it because it is silent. Your partner could be asleep next to you and they won’t be able to hear this powerful little bullet vibrator. It’s the first sub-audible vibrator in the world, and though it may be quiet, it packs a powerful vibration punch.

Handy Oh! Vibrator

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Handy

The Oh! Vibrator (opens in a new window)

Available at Handy

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The Oh! vibrator is a versatile stimulator that uses sound waves and can sync to your music to help you vibe along—pun intended—to your favorite songs. Once you’re done feeling the beat, this silicone vibrator can be easily cleaned using soap and water. The lack of deep ridges or bumps makes it a quick, easy clean. 

Playboy Pleasure Jewels Wand Glass Dildo

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Playboy Pleasure

Jewels Wand Glass Dildo (opens in a new window)

$58.00 at Lovers

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This glass dildo can be safely and easily cleaned in a variety of ways and easily dried off if you’re in a rush and want to use the same toy on another partner. The curves will provide some pleasurable variety in sensations without the difficulty of more ridged and ribbed dildos.

Smile Makers The Neighbor Vibrating Butt Plug

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Smile Makers

The Neighbor (opens in a new window)

Available at Urban Outfitters

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This beginner-friendly butt plug is easy to insert and simple to clean. The super-soft silicone can be cleaned with soap and water or a cleansing solution. Consider sterilizing it as anal toys typically get dirtier than toys that are used on other intimate areas of the body.

Best Sex Toy Cleaning Solutions

Glisten sex toy cleaner and anti-bacterial spray

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Glisten

Glisten Sex Toy Cleaner (opens in a new window)

Available at The Thruster

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The Glisten sex toy cleaner and anti-bacterial spray is my personal go-to for cleaning sex toys because the spray makes it simple. You only need a few pushes per product, so even though the bottle is small, it lasts a deceptively long time. 

If you’re in a household with judgmental roommates, inlaws, or children and you don’t want them getting wind of what you get up to in your bedroom, this product ships in discreet packaging. 

Hello Cake Toy Cleaner 

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Hello Cake

Hello Cake Toy Cleaner (opens in a new window)

Available at Amazon

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Hello Cake is constantly elevating the packaging game for intimate care products, and this is no different. This foaming toy cleanser works with all materials, making it a great all-in-one option no matter where your play takes you.

Vegan and cruelty-free, you can feel good about cleaning up your mess. From experience, I’d caution storing this separately from your skincare or your partner might think it’s a foaming face wash. 

Sliquid shine toy cleaner

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Sliquid

Sliquid Shine Toy Cleaner (opens in a new window)

Available at Amazon

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Foxx is a fan of this mostly organic sex toy cleansing solution as it contains no harsh chemicals. It’s also vegan, unlike a lot of other cleaning alternatives on the market that may use animal derivatives. 

Be sure to thoroughly rinse off the toy as this formula contains tea tree oil, a popular ingredient used to dry out acne spots. Especially on insertable toys, you don’t want to risk leaving anything that could cause irritation or dryness. 

Fleshlight Product Care Kit

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Fleshlight

Fleshlight Care Pack | Fleshwash and Renewing Powder (opens in a new window)

Available at Amazon

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Washing out your male masturbator can be tricky given the deep and narrow crevice of the toy. Fleshlight has a two-part kit with an anti-bacterial toy cleanser and renewing powder specifically made for this toy genre. Fleshlight claims that the Fleshwash will “keep your Fleshlight clean as a whistle, while the Renewing Powder keeps your Fleshlight feelin’ like the very first time.”

How to Dry Your Sex Toys

“Drying your toys properly is key to keeping them safe and mold-free,” says Foxx. The last thing you want is to put something with mold spores on it in a moist area. “The best approach is to let them air dry on a clean towel or drying rack, which helps ensure any leftover moisture has a chance to evaporate. Letting them dry naturally is the safest way to go.” Avoid putting your sex toys near a radiator, blow drying them, or putting them out in the sun as Foxx says that excessive heat can mess with a toy’s material. 

Of course, many of us have been lazy or tired and forgotten to clean our sex toys after having fun. When you need to rush to the sink and back mid-sexy time, Foxx says you can “gently pat your toys down with a lint-free cloth.” Ensure there are no fuzz or dust particles on them that could get stuck somewhere, especially on insertable toys.

How to dry male masturbators

Male masturbators can present a tricky curveball for drying as their deep crevice may not be easy to towel dry, even for someone with long fingers. 

Fleshlight has a hang dryer they’ve designed specifically for their product, that way you can keep it vertical and allow the water to flow out of it. But you can leave it upside down on the counter with a towel to let some of the water drain.

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Fleshlight

Fleshlight Hang Dry (opens in a new window)

Available at Fleshlight

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But even with this tool, masturbation toys for penises can sometimes stay wet, even if you leave them upside down to dry. To ensure that these toys aren’t staying moist, you can buy a reusable male masturbator absorbent stick, which will get into the crevices of your toy and soak up all the water for you. You can leave the stick out to dry and reuse it the next time you wash your toy.

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Sexymate

Male Masturbator Absorbent Stick (opens in a new window)

Available at Amazon

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Best UV Light Sterilizer For Sex Toys

You don’t always need a UV sterilizer for your sex toys, but if you want to be thorough or want to avoid a risk of STDs, then it’s a prudent extra step. 

UV sterilizer pouch

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b-vibe

UV Sterilizer Pouch (opens in a new window)

Available at b-Vibe

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This USB-powered sterilizer pouch can fit toys up to 10 inches long. It’s travel-friendly draw string can also keep your toys safe during travel, so you don’t have to pack a separate UV sterilizer and toy pouch. The B-Vibe UV sterilizer claims to kill “99.9% of harmful bacteria” so you can feel confident your toys are sterilized.

UV Clean Sterilizer

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Kanojo

Kanojo UV Clean Sterilizer (opens in a new window)

Available at Kanojo

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If you want your sterilizer bag to have a little more pizzaz, then this is your best option. The chic pattern on the bag elevates the aesthetic. You can also use this sterilizer for other small objects around your home that you want to be sterilized, like makeup brushes or keys, making it a great mutl-use product. With three UVC lamps, your toys will be sterilized in just three minutes.

How to Store Sex Toys To Keep Them Clean

The bottom of your drawers can get dusty, grimy, and flat-out disgusting. Don’t store your sex toys with other things in your drawers—after all, you’ll be using them on the most intimate parts of your body. You don’t want cookie crumbs or dust or anything else getting into those areas from improper storage. 

That’s why most toys come in dust bags. They aren’t just for the vibes—well, on second thought, in this case they are, in fact, for the vibes. But they also play an important role in keeping your toys free from little particles and other things that aren’t great for you to have near or in your genitalia. 

If you want to keep it simple, then you can get some jewelry and shoe storage pouches on Amazon depending on the size of your toys. 

ENNIYU 20 pc. mini-velvet bag with drawstring

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Enniyu

Mini Velvet Gift Bag with Drawstring (20 pc.) (opens in a new window)

Available at Amazon

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These red velvet pouches are sexy and vampy, perfect for adding a little extra sex appeal to your playtime. They’ll work best for small vibrators and plugs and work well to keep your sex toys protected if you’re taking them with you while you travel.

GONGKANGYUAN 10 pack shoe bag with drawstring

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GONGKANGYUAN

10 Pack Shoe Bags for Travel (opens in a new window)

Available at Amazon

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These practical shoe bags are perfect for storing larger toys like dildos that won’t fit in a small jewelry pouch. These are easy to use and keep your toys completely concealed for a little extra discretion.

But if you want something more aesthetic, we love these classy boxes. If you have nosy kids or in-laws who like to rifle through your things, getting a locked box is a good idea—it saves you any explanations or potentially awkward moments if someone gets into your things.

Security lock box

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Buanson

Security Lock Box (opens in a new window)

Available at Amazon

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This lock box is the perfect adult toy box and the perfect accessory to pull out during play time. The ombre is soft and delicate, but the four-digit lock means your most precious sex toys will be safe from prying eyes.

OpenMity luxurious sex toy box with lock

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OpenMity

Luxurious Sex Toy Storage Box With Code Lock (opens in a new window)

Available at Etsy

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This is the fortune cookie of sex toy storage. Every box comes with a little inspirational message “Life is too short to not do it dirty.” We couldn’t agree more. 

This birch plywood box is spacious enough to keep several toys and comes in black and white. If your play gets a little dirty—literally—then we recommend going with the black option to avoid stains.

Lather, rinse, and definitely repeat.

The post How to Clean Your Sex Toys Like A Pro appeared first on VICE.

The unnamed priest was allegedly spending time with a 60-year-old British colleague, when the latter priest became ill. The Belgian priest called authorities after attempts to revive his British pal were unsuccessful, the outlets reported.

“It appears that the two men had used ecstasy and poppers together and had had sex,” the prosecutor’s office told CBS News. “Two ecstasy pills were also found.”

The British man’s cause of death remains undetermined as the autopsy was inconclusive, according to the outlets.

Pope Francis happened to be in Belgium amid the incident. The religious leader was in town to meet with survivors of sexual abuse by church officials in the country. The abuse and subsequent cover up has come to light over the last 25 years, the Associated Press reported.

The post Belgian Priest Arrested After Night of Sex and Drugs With British Clergyman appeared first on VICE.

Gallery owner Val Harris revealed on Instagram that, after Poppy Baynham’s painting of a nude woman in cowboy boots spreading her legs was placed in the gallery’s window, she “had a visit from the police to discuss whether we would remove it.”

According to the BBC, Dyfed-Powys Police visited the gallery after two complaints. They warned Harris that displaying the painting could be against the Public Order Act of 1986 for causing harassment, alarm, and distress.

Harris was unmoved by the warnings. She opted to keep the painting, which some found “lewd” and others described as “playful,” in her store window.

She did, however, include a sign alongside the painting, encouraging others to share their thoughts on the matter.

“Some people may be offended by the painting ‘This is not P***ography’ in the window. We hear what you say and we would like to open up a dialogue about this issue,” the sign read. “If you would like to contribute to this debate then please write any comments in the book.”

The sign added that the gallery would host a “discussion about the issues around the representation of the nude figure in art.”

After that meeting, Harris and Baynham went live on Instagram to discuss the situation. The women admitted that the painting was “causing a stir” in the area.

“In my opinion, all the women that have something bad to say about the painting aren’t grossed out so much as insecure,” Baynham said. “And it’s sad to see so many women upset by something we all have. Most straight women haven’t seen a vulva, so I see why they might be scared of it. And it’s proving to me that there must be a lot of straight people here in Hay.”

“I think also penises can be seen as comical, while vulva’s are only sexual. The reason why I paint the female body and not the male body is because I want the world to normalise these nonsexual body parts that 50% of the world have,” the artist continued. “This is also the reason why I don’t want to take it down. If I took it down the whole reason why I do art would be thrown back in my face.”

Baynham noted that, when she began her controversial painting, she “didn’t have one thought in my head thinking this would even get commented on.”

“Half the art out there is nudity. So why should I remove it. Why is it inappropriate,” she wondered. “Is it because it’s not a lady like pose? Who made these rules about lady like poses? Men? The world needs to get away from these normative rules and normalise vaginas.”

Baynham’s exhibit closed on September 22, the same day that the controversial painting sold to a local buyer. The artist appears to be taking the situation in stride. In fact, in her Instagram bio, Baynham proudly referred to herself as “the girl with the vagina painting.”

The post Art Gallery Adds ‘This Is Not Pornography’ Sign After Police Visit appeared first on VICE.

But one man’s shame is another man’s Shangri-La, and many embrace the transactional gf arrangement for all manner of reasons. Given it’s their job to become a one-night confidante and temporary life-partner to a never-ending procession of guys, we thought we’d chat to a professional girlfriend about the things they’ve learnt about modern men in the process. 

Maddison Fox is a 32-year-old British OnlyFans model, but she also offers an extremely realistic girlfriend experience, be it online or in person. VICE sat down with Fox to discuss some key findings from her time spent in the company of paying johns.

Men want to explore sexual fetishes…

“…but they won’t do it with their girlfriends or wives. I had a really bad one the other day, seriously horrendous, like a rape fantasy. Armpit fetishes. There’s also been some absurd stuff involving gunge. And there’s a thing called vore, which is pretending to eat people and then your stomach gets really bulging and huge. God, there’s so many.”

Men are lonely, even in relationships… 

“Men today are not being their true selves, especially with the people they should be. They’re ashamed of their sexual drive and they’re ashamed of what they’re into. Because of monogamy and how women get jealous, guys are so frightened to upset their girlfriends that they end up not divulging anything and going elsewhere to feed that part of them. Sometimes it is things like pegging, but most of the time it’s just an honest conversation about what they like and how they like it. I think a lot of people who are together today probably shouldn’t be.”

Paying men treat me better and are more honest…

“The guys I actually date treat me like absolute dog shit. Yet when someone’s paying for it, they really see the value. They’re more honest than people in my life who don’t pay, which is a really fucked-up contradiction. They’re chivalrous, they’re kind, they’re generous. They want to worship you. They want to show you how great you are.”

Even if they’re paying, men are still looking for love…

“A lot of the guys interested specifically in the girlfriend experience are looking to fall in love; like, they really want to commit. It’s not necessarily done in a seedy, sexual way. Your best spenders will be people that are in love with you.”

But there are a lot of men with low self-esteem…

“I think a lot of the men pursue me or others like me because it’s an ego boost. They love the ego to be stroked, and that’s one of the biggest things about what we do—you can never really be fully honest with the guy. Guys are so easily led when it comes to stroking their ego.”

To the modern man, sex workers are the new therapists…

“Sometimes it’s the only time that guys will be asked how they are or have deep chats. I think that’s why a lot of them get confusingly wrapped up in it, because they’re feeling real feelings in a transactional situation. They will tell us things they’ve never told anyone else. Some guys are really going through a tough time and, through the element of sex, they’re able to chat deeply.”

Some men are just generous… 

“A lot of the people who pay for services, they’re not even necessarily doing it with the expectation of receiving anything back. A lot of them are just really generous people, and they enjoy being generous. It’s more like a sugar daddy scenario.”

Guys want to submit to feminine energy…

“A lot of guys want to worship and sort of idolize the feminine energy. We live in a masculine culture, and a lot of guys just want to indulge in the feminine and worship a woman for once.”

A lot of men are deluded…

“A darker side to the psychology is that a lot of the time, guys who are regular customers are almost living in an alternative reality. They’re sort of in a level of psychosis where they’re transfixed by you. They make up this reality within their head where they’re almost not thinking straight, because they’re so indulged in it.”

Some men enjoy being manipulated…

“Some are aware of that, others less so. Men enjoy just being wrapped up in the fantasy of it.”

Follow Nick Thompson on X @niche_t_

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It all started when the guy had “vigorous” sex with his wife after a meal, as reported in the NY Post. And then he started vomiting and had severe diarrhea. And then his penis started swelling, and reddening, and scabbing. This went on for about a week before he had enough. The 38-year-old Lebanese man sought treatment from the American University of Beirut Medical Center.

After taking a swab of his swollen and scabby penis, the doctors found Bacillus cereus, a type of bacteria commonly associated with food poisoning. Specifically, the kind of bacteria that develops on cooked rice that’s been left out too long. The phenomenon of rice becoming contaminated with bacteria that can make you sick actually has a nickname. It’s called Fried Rice Syndrome. It’s not usually found in a penis.

The doctors aren’t totally sure as to how this happened, but they have some theories. They are, of course, disgusting, so this is your last chance to step away from this article. You could read about how a little lost penguin was found. You could learn about the first-ever Pokémon card. You could watch Greek villagers throw thousands of rockets at each other. Or you could read this:

The doctors suspect that during sexual intercourse, his penis somehow came into contact with his own vomit and/or diarrhea. 

That, combined with the “vigorous” sex, may have caused increased blood flow and thus more potential for infection. If all of this sounds too crazy to be true, it was actually reported in an official medical journal called The Annals of Medicine and Surgery. The peer review process means other researchers will now verify its veracity. But so far this sounds pretty official and horrifying.

Doctors prescribed a topical antibiotic that the man was told to apply three times a day after washing and gently drying his penis. The infection is now gone, and his penis is back to its old self. Let this be a reminder not to put your penis anywhere near your own vomit and diarrhea—during sex or otherwise.

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Part of its visibility comes from the term “boy sober,” coined on TikTok by a woman named Hope Woodard. In one video, she outlined the rules: No dating apps, no dating, no situationships, no “xoxoxo.” 

In interviews as the whole “boy sober” thing blew up, Woodard explained that the idea was for women to take the time to focus on themselves—distraction-free—and reflect on their dating lifestyle. Essentially, it is for young women to reclaim their bodily and sexual autonomy.

The hashtag #celibacyjourney has nearly 40 million views on TikTok. But is the celibacy and abstinence part just memes, or actually something young women are consciously choosing?

Today, a new survey conducted by the dating app BLK found that 64 percent of Black Gen Z women say they are “currently practicing celibacy.” 

“What we’re seeing with Black Gen Z singles is more than just a dating trend—it’s a movement towards personal empowerment and emotional well-being,” said Jonathan Kirkland, the app’s head of brand and marketing, in a story on Essence.

The numbers in the BLK survey speak to that: 61 percent of respondents said they were celibate for personal growth or self-discovery, and 66 percent said that their mental and emotional well-being had improved due to celibacy. Interestingly, 87 percent said celibacy had positively impacted their dating life or at least had a neutral effect.

Bumble, another dating app, tried to take the opposite tact earlier this year with billboards reading, “A vow of celibacy is not the answer.” They ended up removing the ads and apologizing amid the backlash.

Other surveys suggest that short-term flings and one-night stands are taking a back seat. In 2022, a survey by the popular sex toy retailer Lovehoney and the Kinsey Institute found that 1 in 4 Gen Z adults said they “have yet to have partnered sex.” Meanwhile, this spring, the CDC said sexual activity among teens is decreasing year over year.

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After you’ve taken a second to get your giggles out about “Lake Titicaca,” perhaps the funniest lake in the world whose name does not come up enough in normal conversation, understand that the Peruvian authorities are doing this because the Lake Titicaca frog is being threatened by illegal trafficking, pollution, and climate change. Your sad little romantic situation does not take priority over the life of a frog.

These particular frogs were found in a cardboard box inside of a truck en route to Lima. The Lake Titicaca frog is one of the world’s largest aquatic frogs. Sadly, due to the variety of factors mentioned above, its population has declined by 80% over the past 15 years. Wildlife trafficking is a serious crime in Peru, with penalties upwards of $14,500 fines.

For clarity, we presented the number in USD. For further clarity as to how severe that penalty is, in USD the median salary in Peru is between $500 and $800 a month. For most people, a fine of $14,500 basically financially ruins you life. That’s a mighty big risk to take to revive someone’s morose penis.

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‘Cult’ is a word laden with connotations. It would be unfair to say that the Friedrichshof Commune had nothing going for it. There was housing, schools, and hundreds of members, including many children for Inka to play with. Inka’s mom had already fled from a similar organization while pregnant with her daughter, yet was determined for her to grow up outside of regular society.

Though Inka’s mom visited every so often, it would be years until they were fully reunited.

The organization was founded in 1972 as a socialist experiment by the artist Otto Muehl, a co-creator of the Viennese Actionist movement. The group was known for its bloody and scatalogical sexual performances—like 1968’s Kunst und Revolution, in which Muehl and his friends disrupted a classroom at Vienna University, stripped naked, defecated on the floor then smeared it over themselves while they masturbated, all while singing the Austrian National anthem. 

By the time Muehl started his cult, he believed that things like monogamy and nuclear family units were antithetical to human development. Parents were the source of many of society’s problems, he argued, so they must be separated from their children. At the commune, Muehl not only forbade attachments to be formed between children and parents, but also between romantic partners, and friends. Babies were taken from their mothers at around eight months old and placed in the care of others—sometimes, 14-year-old girls. “Biological mothers were extremely devalued because a loving bond could’ve been dangerous for the ideology,” says Katrin, who became Inka‘s ‘mother’ temporarily while living with the cult. “Anyone who disagreed was punished, denounced, ridiculed, degraded by Otto and the collective.”

Though the cult was supposed to be about free sexuality, the reality was rather different. “You had to sleep with everybody so there was nothing free about the experience at all,” Inka says. Like Sigmund Freud and Wilhelm Reich, Muehl thought society’s ills were caused by suppressed sexuality. He also echoed Freud’s theory that clitoral orgasms were immature, and women should orgasm only from penetration. So, foreplay was banned, along with homosexuality and any sex that was emotional or loving. Usually, when a girl turned 13 or 14 she was forced to have sex with Muehl himself. Boys were forced to have sex with his wife at around the same age. 

Nudity was commonplace and compulsory. Sexuality was free. Jealousy would be eradicated, Muehl claimed, if people’s experiences of love were untethered from monogamy, and shared out amongst a group.

You can see why this might be problematic for a child growing up. Inka, like the other kids, was given substitute parents. Muehl dictated that Katrin be her first surrogate mom, though Katrin wasn’t quite sure why, since she had little experience when it came to taking care of small children. However, with Inka desperate for a maternal figure, they soon bonded. 

Inka says that life in the cult “felt like you were floating in the ocean and didn’t know where to hold on. It was just chaos, very disorienting.” She found solace in day classes with other kids, often making short films. “Films were the only thing that had orientation,” Inka says. In the evening she’d see Katrin, who says Inka was “very scared” and “cried a lot” during her first few months. “I was young and naïve—unsure whether I should trust my feeling that [Inka was] suffering or the group ideology that the cult should actually be a blessing for every child,” Katrin remembers.

After a few months, the cult’s leadership noticed that Inka was growing close to Katrin and promptly separated them. Katrin was sent to another city. Inka got a new ‘mother,’ grew attached, and was separated again. The cycle repeated over and over. “I was sad all the time,” Inka says.

There was another strange ritual at Friedrichshof. Men didn’t have their own bedrooms, so were forced to seek out a woman to sleep with each night. If not, they’d have to slum it with the other spurned guys in a common room. Every night, different men would come into the room where Inka’s ‘mom’ slept, looking for sex while Inka tried to doze. “It was like living with a prostitute,” Inka says. “Just some guys coming in, fucking, and leaving.” Another former child in the cult says, “I never wanted to hug my mom. She was this sexual being to me.” 

Sometimes if a woman didn’t want to have sex, she could find a man who’d sleep in her room and pretend that they had. The pretending was necessary because every day the past night’s sex was reviewed during open group sessions. If a woman had refused sex the night before, men would call her frigid. Women would criticize men who couldn’t get it up. “It was an obligation to be potent and lustful,” says one of Inka’s childhood friends in the cult. 

One day, Inka was paired with a 25-year-old substitute father who played in the commune’s band. He was warm and sweet. She loved him. But she wasn’t the only one. Some of the teenage girls in the cult thought he was cute and wrote about him in their diaries. “Otto got jealous and sent him away,” Inka says. 

The grooming started early, when the kids were toddlers. Inka recalls being asked to touch naked adults as they paraded themselves: “The atmosphere of sex was there, always.” A friend of Inka’s remembers tongue-kissing adults and being ordered to feign sex with a pillow. It later came out that Muehl violently sexually abused children as young as five.

Every day in the cult, which was meant to be socialist, each member was assigned a numerical rank denoting their place in the hierarchy. Muehl and his wife were always numbers one and two. Members had to sit in chairs symbolizing their ranking, which created competition between the kids. “You couldn’t just play and be friends,” Inka says.

Years went by. Though Inka was surrounded by people, she felt alone. She turned 11 in the cult, meaning she had two years to go till she would be forced to have sex with its leader. Then something happened: Muehl was arrested for child rape, and in 1991, the commune dissolved. Inka joined her mother in Berlin. Almost immediately, she found herself staying at a lakeside boarding school that provided farming and woodworking courses in addition to a regular curriculum. She still wasn’t living with her mom, but she wasn’t living in a pedophile sex cult either.

The school, Inka says, saved her life. 

Fast forward a couple decades. Inka is in LA, an art-school graduate and costume designer going through multiple devastating breakups and postpartum depression following an abortion. She tries to jump-start her nonexistent sex drive by watching porn, but none of it works. So she decides to make her own sex-education style film: a satirical ad for a product called ‘Just Jizz.’ “Semen can act as a mood elevator or antidepressant,” a voice over intones, as a couple canoodle by a lake. Later the woman lays in a bathtub, her face covered in cum. “Semen has anti-aging effects,” the voiceover says. The film is accepted by Dan Savage’s Hump Fest—a festival for edgy, erotic shorts—and Inka flies to Portland, where she connects with Savage and the broader sex-positive community.

After sharing her dreams of making an erotic film, a couple agrees to be in Inka’s first porno flick.

–– – 

It’s 2017, a full quarter century since Inka was liberated from Muehl’s sex cult. She is on the set of her first porn film, trying not to have a panic attack: “In the cult, seeing people have sex was always very traumatizing for me.” But once she gets behind the camera, something shifts. “It was just this really loving experience,” she says. “I realize I am behind the camera, and I am in full control. And so any sex I see is sex that I have asked to see. … [This] is so totally different from my childhood experience that it doesn’t put me in the same sort of trauma situation.” She calls the film Undressed. When she shares the experience with Savage, he tells her she has been “reclaiming her sexuality.”

Later on, Inka set up her own company ForPlay Films to make ethical, feminist porn focused on chemistry, consent, and autonomy. As a female director, she’s a rarity in porn, and performers say the vibe on her sets is radically different. Inka lets them input on co-stars, scripts, and sex acts. The first time actress Nicole Kitt arrived on Inka’s set, she was asked, “What do you want to do? How do you want to do it?” Kitt says she’d never heard that before: “Porn is a boys’ club. You can naturally feel like falling into a role of submission, dealing with so many men with big egos.”

Before Inka cast Kitt in Ashford Manor—the award-winning, $150,000 dollar, four-episode, Bridgerton-inspired period-piece epic released in 2022—Kitt was sitting on the floor of her unfurnished Las Vegas apartment, scrolling her laptop, crying, contemplating leaving porn, and moving back to Oklahoma. She’d been struggling to get any bookings. “Inka calls me out of nowhere, and she’s like, ‘Hey, I really want you to audition for this part,’” Kitt says. Kitt was resistant, but finally relented. This will be my last hoorah, and then I’ll go home, she thought.

Ashford Manor changed Kitt’s life. “The movie not only reignited my career [she won Best Acting at this year’s XBIZ Awards], it also reignited my spirit.” Kitt realized that she loved acting, which she gets to do a lot of in the film. For her part, Inka was nominated for best directing at the AVN Awards, one of 19 total nominations for the film. 

Kitt now calls Inka “Mom.” She’s not the only performer who does so.

Recently, Inka says she has been making “holistic” porn incorporating ‘mirroring:’ a word for something kids do while interacting with their parents, mimicking their behavior. “What makes you grow into a sane and secure attached person is mirroring from your parents,” she says. It was something she was never able to do while growing up in the cult. “Sex in the cult was mandatory and prescriptive,” she says. “Mirroring in my films happens on set by considering and involving talent in decisions; by listening to them and giving them autonomy.”

Though she and her mom have reconciled after going to therapy together, the cult still haunts Inka. In 2022, works made by Muehl and other artists from Vienna Actionism were being sold for millions, with proceeds due to go to the legal entity comprised of former Friedrichshof Commune members. This artwork includes a series made from burnt pages of the diaries in which Muehl chronicled his abuse. 

While Inka and other child members believe they’re owed for their suffering, former adult cultists want the money to go into their pensions instead. “[The adults] chose to be there: we were there against our will,” Inka says. She and 65 others drafted a petition, seeking reparations; as of now, no money has been distributed.

Inka continues to advocate for the affected generation, and with her erotic films, wants to change the way society feels about sex—combating the pervasive influence porn exerts on sexuality and gender norms. “In the beginning, I felt like I was making porn in spite of my childhood. Now, I realize I’m also making porn because of my childhood.”

Follow Hallie Lieberman on X.

Inka Winter’s ForPlay Films can be found here.

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