Prepping for the 30 M Club

A Men’s SeaQuest Raider wing BCD

SeaQuest Raider lift capability: The SeaQuest Raider BCD for twin tanks has a new 50 pound double bag, back inflation bladder. Some of my readers have wondered why I need that much lift. I like to be on the safe side so it’s because I think it could be needed if lifting a buddy with full twin tanks while wearing only swimsuits (no neoprene wetsuit buoyancy) during an emergency and for some reason some of the detachable weight pockets don’t drop. The buoyancy of a full Worthington HP 130 is a -11.7 lbs x 4 tanks = about 47 lbs or a bit less.

My circle and the 30 Meter Club: As I mentioned in my earlier post [on April 25, 2010] about the 30 Meter Club, Anya and I are already members as is Abi who joined on a dive in a German lake several years ago. I had been negotiating with Adolph for permission to use his training facility for 30 Meter Club qualifications so in anticipation I had been after my girlfriends to train for a 30 meter encounter to qualify and all seven of my inner circle and their partners had taken the training seriously. The girls and their 30 Meter Club stallions are: 1) Taryn & Chuck, 2) Cyndi & Chris, 3) Shelly & Jeff, 4) Marie-Claude & Pirate, 5) Diané & Peter, 6) Cara & Adolph, and 7) Gigi and Jon. The only couple I was surprised about was Diané who had to be talked into participating by Peter. Cara and Adolph is a scary combo but as a psychology doctorial candidate Cara thinks she ‘understands’ him and since she is Pirate’s niece she is probably safe enough.

All of them, both men and women, had previous experience bottom-boinking on the floor of the pit so it was only a matter of getting them used to diving the dual 130 tanks mounted on the SeaQuest Raider wing BCD. One peculiarity of a rear bladder wing like the Raider is that on the surface there is a tendency for it to push the wearer’s face under water. You can adjust the balance with tank position and weights, but there isn’t the constant face-up attitude of a vest-type BCD. And the dump and fill valves are positioned differently so becoming accustomed to diving a Raider in a training pool was very important before depending on it in a deep water penetrative encounter. They were using Ocean Reef Raptor FFMs and Nitrox II (36% oxygen) to minimize their nitrogen buildup.

Since scheduling that many couples was complicated working around their schedules and the ongoing training at Adolph’s facility I took them over one couple at a time when they had low enough nitrogen levels to be able to do the 20 minute boink at 30 meters. All but Shelly and Jeff have qualified and they are scheduled for tomorrow. I dress and am prepared to dive with them if needed, but as I mentioned they had all done bottom boinking in the pit often enough that it was basically just another but 35 feet deeper and they all have done fine. I won’t say it was anticlimactic, I know I was thrilled to have officially qualified for the 30MC, but fortunately everything was routine for the girls. Only Diané was menstrual and wore a Reflexions gas guard (the rest used strapless FemCaps because they weren’t bleeding) and leaked very little blood, but of course with Peter as a partner he was very gentle with her.

My Pool Assistant/Dresser: I haven’t mentioned my PAD before, but I do have one. How else do you think I get in and out of latex encasement suits and dive gear so quickly? Her name is Beth. She’s a 24 y/o brunette, and it took me a while to find her. She’s been working for me since just after Christmas. She’s a grad student in the Ph.D. Biology program at UNLV. As an undergrad she double majored in design and biology so her design background (where she researched fetishes) has been a big help in enabling her to understand and anticipate my rubber, leather and breathing mask needs. She isn’t much of a dancer, although she did take pointe for 2 years in her teens, so she can wear pool-pointes with confidence. However, she is a powerful swimmer and very experienced diver and had been using a ParaGard IUD, but I had her fitted with a GyneFix implant which she likes better because she doesn’t cramp nearly as much during an intense penetrative encounter. She wears a 22 mm FemCap and fortunately it is a marvelous fit (it doesn’t rotate while inserted) and is so comfortable she forgets it’s inserted. And, when menstrual she uses a 70 mm Reflexions flat spring diaphragm as a gas guard.

I’ve needed someone to keep my dive gear and fetishwear organized and in good condition for quite a while. I do my own pointe-shoe maintenance, but I’m letting her run with the latex and leather fetishwear especially the heavy rubber encasement suits and they look and smell great! Her thesis will explore ‘The female libido in a fetish world’ so she and Cara (Pirate’s niece, a Ph D student in Psychology at Harvard who is out here doing studies with trainees in our escort classes) hit it off immediately and are now great friends. Beth actually came to see me about a job as a way to get entry into the local fetish community and the industries that service their needs. She was so excited to get the job as my dresser and for me having an experienced female diver watching my back while diving Adolph’s well or my pit is a big plus and she gets to watch me have sex with my stable of stallions. She told me she is a voyeur as well as enjoying fetish sex herself so the job as my dresser and techie is a win-win. She has access to the male escort candidates who are always looking to increase their stamina so she can have as much sex as she wants.

Another plus for Beth is that she is ‘connected’. She’s a niece of one of the families in town so they have no problem with me taking her along to assist on my cleanup projects. It also gives her an opportunity to see the downside of the fetish community, which will help with her thesis. She has a strong stomach and a liberal philosophy about humans and our vices so I’m hoping she will take Taryn’s place (for cleanup) when Taryn goes to college this Fall.

Pointe shoe quiz 04-27-2010

Who is the maker of these shoes?

Las Vegas Mob Museums

the Tropicana Las Vegas

The New York Times
April 24, 2010
By Jennifer Steinhauer

Vegas Mob Museums, Set to Go to the Mattresses

“LAS VEGAS — The people of Chicago debate the Cubs versus the White Sox. In Philadelphia, the cheese steak purveyors Pat’s and Geno’s have long divided the citizenry. Soon, the residents of Las Vegas — and the millions of people who visit — will be able to argue over which museum best depicts the moral turpitude of organized crime.

Dueling centers chronicling the history of the mob are planned for Las Vegas, and it seems almost certain that someone is going to get hurt. Well, feelings anyway.

“I am not the least bit worried about them,” Mayor Oscar B. Goodman said of the potential competition to the Las Vegas Museum of Organized Crime and Law Enforcement, a city-sponsored project he has championed for years. That museum is set to open next March in the old downtown federal courthouse, the site of the 1950 mob hearings led by Senator Estes Kefauver of Tennessee.

“They are no competition because we are the real thing,” said Mr. Goodman, a former defense lawyer for reputed Mafia figures. “Forget about it.”

But the rival, which involves the daughter of the famed Chicago mob boss Sam Giancana, is promising a collection of mob memorabilia in the Tropicana casino on the Las Vegas Strip.

“Our experience will be very different from theirs,” said Carolyn Farkas, the spokeswoman for the museum, the Las Vegas Mob Experience. “Theirs is more a law enforcement accounting; for us it is more a personal view.”

The idea for the Las Vegas Museum of Organized Crime and Law Enforcement was seeded when the city bought the 1933 federal courthouse and post office from the federal government for $1 in 2002, with the strict understanding that the building — one of the oldest in Southern Nevada — be used for cultural purposes.

For much of the middle of the last century, organized crime ruled the Strip, developing and managing an array of casinos, skimming their way to success. Federal prosecutors put an end to their reign in the 1980s. The city determined its historical relationship to organized crime — and the role the courthouse played in it — made the site a perfect fit. “It came from the soil of this building,” said Nancy Deaner, the city’s cultural affairs manager.

The building is being meticulously restored, down to the original coffered ceiling and crown moldings hidden for years and the original mustard, oxblood and royal blue colors long ago washed in white.

The $42 million project has been financed through a series of state, federal and local grants, and the work has progressed a bit glacially as money has trickled in.

The project, once listed as one that could stimulate this city’s embattled economy, was attacked by Senator Mitch McConnell, the Republican leader, when city officials suggested that it might qualify for federal stimulus money.

“That got blown out of proportion with morons in Washington shooting off their mouths,” said Mr. Goodman, whose office chair resembles a throne. He said he tried his first case in the court building.

The museum will have three stories and nearly 17,000 square feet of exhibits, including an interactive courtroom in which visitors can get finger printed. It will also include the brick wall from the St. Valentine’s Day Massacre (it was removed brick by brick and put in storage but will be constructed, bullet marks and all, Ms. Deaner said), roughly 700 objects and extensive exhibits on law enforcement efforts against the Mafia.

The museum is dear to Mr. Goodman’s efforts to revitalize the downtown area of Las Vegas, which for years has been the dirty ashtray to the Strip’s gilded cup.

“This story is so rich, our efforts to tell it are hard to do in a museum this size,” said Dennis Barrie, the creative director of the museum, who curated the collections at the International Spy Museum in Washington and at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum in Cleveland.

At the same time, Eagle Group Holdings — working with Antoinette McConnell, the 74-year-old daughter of Mr. Giancana — is looking to open the Las Vegas Mob Experience at the end of the year.

While executives from the Mob Experience declined to identify the planned site, a document provided by someone involved in the transaction who was not authorized to speak before a planned announcement of the deal next month shows an agreement with the Tropicana Las Vegas, which is undergoing a $165 million renovation.

The Mob Experience would include theme park-style exhibits, including one called “Final Fate” in which a visitor “gets made or gets whacked,” according to the description.

The Tropicana, one of the oldest properties on the Strip, had fallen on hard times over the years but was recently sold and is now co-owned and run by Alex Yemenidjian, a former chief executive of MGM Studios. Rather than demolishing the original structure, as has happened with other older hotels, the new owners are restoring it.

Mrs. McConnell, who splits her time between Las Vegas and Chicago, said in a telephone interview that such an exhibit had been “a dream of mine” for years and that it would offer “the greatest thing you have ever experienced.”

Mrs. McConnell, whose late husband was a lawyer who represented organized crime figures, added: “The Mafia is something that people can’t get enough of. For some people it is like an addiction.”

While Mrs. McConnell and Mr. Goodman could go head-to-head on hyperbolic enthusiasm for personal projects, Mr. Goodman says the sheer force of his gorgeous building, an esteemed staff and the power of his bully pulpit alone will make his museum the most talked about in town.

“My whole life has been competitive,” he said. “And I don’t lose.””

Personal comment: Mayor Goodman is always good for a quote or two. Some of the players are uneasy about making a tourist attraction out of the town’s former Mob connections. Other’s say the town’s history is so well known that it does no harm to bring it to the public’s attention, as long as everyone thinks it all happened in the last century. Keeping the loose ends tidied up is important in keeping the public thinking that way. That is what I was told when my arrangement as a ‘Cleaner’ was renegotiated for another year. They were very pleased with my work as is Adolph who can use what I collect for his pressure experiments.

He had an nearly fresh 100 lb 22 y/o (an OD) almost vaporize in his hyperbaric chamber several weeks ago when the suit the body was in suddenly lost pressure at the equivalent of 750 fsw. Her tissue liquefied and sprayed through the puncture as the suit flew around the chamber like a punctured balloon, to coat everything in the chamber with slimy brown liquid that smelled like feces. His insurance paid for the cleanup. The premiums must be enormous!

The 30 Meter Club

Twin Worthington HP 130 tanks used for 30 M Club encounters

Sex underwater: The idea of underwater sex, mostly SCUBA equipped dive-sex out here, seems to fascinate my readers. Perhaps that’s because it is such an exotic setting for a sexual encounter with the problems of pressure equalization and dehydration, nitrogen buildup and lubrication. For a less expensive underwater sexual encounter extended snorkels can be used in calm water or a pool, but limit a couple’s maneuverability to shallow dives or frequent returns to snorkel depth.

A variety of suits can be worn from a bikini to a drysuit, not that a woman can be successfully penetrated while submerged in a properly functioning drysuit, but she can be caressed to a clitoral orgasm with a vibi or with an experienced man’s fingers if her suit is deflated until her groin is squeezed which can be awesome if you are with the right guy!.

Adolph and the 30 Meter Club: Adolph has agreed to let our escort trainees qualify for the 30 M club in his 62 M deep training facility. Until now our trainees have been using my 20 M pool, the pit, to train, but none of them could qualify locally for the 100 ft / 30 Meter Club, until now. Anya and I became members with Chuck in the cove at my place on Virgin Gorda several Christmases ago. For dive-sex training we use single HP 130 cu ft tanks worn high in the bottle clamp of an escorts buoyancy compensator so that the woman can be penetrated from the rear w/o her tank getting in the way. For actual dive-sex at 30 M we use twin HP 130s on a wing BCD (I wear a SeaQuest Raider modified with a SeaQuest Diva LX bra and harness) so there is sufficient bottom time for the couple to savor the thrill and give the encounter the attention it deserves w/o having to rush. There is more about the calculation of bottom time below.

I’m often asked by dancer friends who aren’t divers how we determine the size tank to use and the bottom time for a dive including dive-sex. While training for entry into the 30 M Club we use approximate calculations that work well with a good safety margin and a woman won’t be inducted into the 30 M Club unless she is an experienced diver with good breath control, not that she isn’t going to suck a lot of gas (sometimes 3 or 4 times normal) during arousal and orgasm.

Typically an experienced diver escort’s surface air consumption (SAC) rate can vary between .5 and 1.1 cu ft and during orgasm it can rise to 2.5 cuft/min or more. For dive-sex training we assume an average of 2.25 cuft/min. If we assume a surface air consumption rate (SAC) for dive-sex of 2.25 cuft/min x 5 min = 11.25 cuft on the surface.

Bottom time: at 100 fsw (4 ATA) 11.25 cuft x 4 ATA = 45 cuft divided into the tank capacity 130 cuft = 2.8. To get bottom time in minutes: 2.8x5 = 14 minutes. But that is w/o any rock bottom time air for ascent and deco.

If we assume a reserve emergency / ascent gas of 1200 psi in a HP 130 for a dive to 100 ft (30 M) that is approx 30 cuft that must be subtracted from the total to calculate usable gas for bottom time. 130 cuft – 30 cu ft = 100 cuft. 45 cuft divided into 100 cuft of usable air = 2.2 x 5 = 11 minutes of usable bottom time at 100 ft with a 130 cu ft tank, which is why we induct members into the 30 M Club using twin HP 130s which should easily give a woman 20 to 25 minutes of bottom time at 100 feet for dive-sex unless she panics. Another reason for using twin HP 130s is that Adolph’s facility is 200 feet deep and if there is a buoyancy problem the additional air might keep the diver alive (if nitrogen narcosis didn’t get her) until s/he could deploy a lift bag and get to the surface. The specs on the Worthington X8-130 are:

*Volume: 130 cubic feet (16.0L)

* Service Pressure: 3,442 psi

* Outside Diameter: 8.0"

* Weight: 43.0 lbs (empty)
* Height: 25.5 inches* Width: 8.00 inches

* Buoyancy Empty: -2.0 lbs

* Buoyancy Full: -11.7 lbs

The tank buoyancy characteristics allow shedding a few pounds of lead from the weight system so after a dive with a twin-set there will be about -5 lbs. The 23 lbs when the twin-set is full can be easily handled by the SeaQuest Raider buoyancy compensator. Of course there is no offsetting buoyancy from a wetsuit because if any encasement suit is worn it’s latex with almost no buoyancy except for a tiny amount of trapped air.

Bottom time while training: In my pool (the pit) at 68 fsw (3 ATA) 11.25 cuft x 3 ATA = 33.75 cuft divided into the tank capacity 130 cuft = 3.8. To get bottom time in minutes: 3.8x5 = 19 minutes. But that is w/o any rock bottom time air for ascent and deco.

If we assume a need for emergency / ascent gas of 1200 psi in a HP 130 for a dive to 68 ft that is approx 30 cuft that must be subtracted from the total to calculate usable gas for bottom time. 130 cuft – 30 cu ft = 100 cuft. 33.75 cuft divided into 100 cuft of usable air = 2.9 x 5 = 14 minutes of usable bottom time at 68 ft with a 130 cu ft tank. The reserve air in this calculation is high and can be trimmed to give a diver another 5 or 6 minutes to extend the bottom time to 20 minutes in my pool w/o pushing the envelope.

Positions: In early DS training and at 3 ATA at the bottom of my 68 ft deep pit we use a single HP 130 so rear penetration can be accomplished which is the best position for taking well endowed men. But for admission into the 30 M Club where dual tanks are necessary woman astride is the preferred position as that is where a couples tanks are least likely to get in the way. I have worn my dual 130s so high that I can’t tip my head back to look up just to get the booted bottoms of the tanks out of Jacques way so he could take me from the rear but with the tanks that high it’s throws my center of buoyancy off – not a good thing - so woman astride is the most comfortable for a really intense encounter. And a woman who can ripple grip a man while astride 30 M down is really in the saddle for sure!

In Adolph’s well to maintain a constant depth and away from the walls we use ankle leashes to hold both the guy’s ankles at a fixed depth and inflate his buoyancy comp. to hold us there so the girl can sit astride and grip him with her vaginal muscles and legs. And, as I mentioned before the dual 130s are a safety factor for any possible buoyancy problem in the 200 ft deep facility.

Surface supplied diving and bottom time: Tank related bottom time problems can be eliminated if a diving facility has the ability to provide surface supplied air as my pit and Adolph’s well training facility do. Then a diver’s bottom time is determined by the gas s/he is using and nitrogen loading, determined by recent dive history. Both Adolph and I use Kirby Morgan helmets with the tri-valve exhaust which with Tri-mix can be used as deep as 330 FSW (100M) so the bottom of Adolph’s well at 210 ft is about mid way. Escorts are inducted into the 30 M Club wearing twin 130s so they know how to use that equipment since very few divers have access to surface supplied Kirby Morgan helmets.

The rest of the story: If you watch 30 M Club dive-sex videos on the internet you hear the theme: “Get down, get off, get up” because of the bottom time limitation of typical tank sizes since few recreational divers have access to dual 130s for a relatively leisurely boink at 30 M. No one talks about the woman’s pleasure or the problem of lubrication or the need to use a gas guard and there isn’t much about staying off the bottom while in open water so you don’t get mud or sand in the moving parts. The videos seemingly are made for guys and the woman’s contribution is to provide a hot tight vessel for the guy to shoot his wad in. I don’t think it’s an indication of guys hatred of women it’s just that so many of them don’t know enough to ask (and neither do the women) and are thinking only about their own pleasure.

Contraceptive methods use in U.S. (2002)

Contraceptive methods use in U.S. (2002)

This poster - published with the article The Birth Control Riddle in the Wall Street Journal, [see my entry for 4-20-2010] - shows the percentage of users in the U.S. using a particular method of birth control based on 2002 data. Another similar study is due to be released soon but is expected to show little change in the popularity of particular methods.

Implants: Norplant has been replaced as the only hormonal implant by Implanon. Implanon is a single rod implant with 68mg of etonogestrel, the same progestin used in NuvaRing, isn’t shown because it was only approved by the FDA in 2006.

Cervical barriers: Even as popular as diaphragms and cervical caps have become in the last eighteen months to two years out here the spike in usage as gas guards for protection during dive-sex has been too recent and I think wouldn’t be enough to change the figures.

IUDs: Rationally IUDs are by far the best choice as far as effectiveness and long term cost is concerned, but of course only GyneFix, or a stringless Mirena or ParaGard can be worn with a gas guard for dive-sex. And if a girl is having her brains fucked out uterine cramps can sometimes bend the frame of a Mirena or ParaGard so that it expels or perforates the uterus. That is why our clinic is so fortunate to be part of the clinical trial and fits only GyneFix IUDs for escorts or adventuresome women wanting to experience super intense sexual encounters under water. And, there are some of us, like me, who just can’t get comfortable with the idea of having a GyneFix implanted in our uteri. Almost all my circle have a GyneFix implanted and say they can’t feel them and the implant does not interfere with their cycle and I know all the rational arguments for GyneFix, but I just don’t like the idea of having one in my uterus. Every girl has her hang-ups and the thought of an IUD in my uterus gives me chills, while a tiny bit of transparent silicone rubber sucking on my cervix makes me confident and adventuresome. Go figure!

Code Red iPhone menstrual tracker

iPhone / iPad menstrual tracker App.

The Washington Post
By Monica HesseWashington

Post Staff WriterThursday, April 22, 2010; C03

'Code Red': iPhone/iPad app for men who need to track women's menstrual cycles

“Men: We are sorry.

Here we have been assuming that our lady-business skeeved you out, that you heard "menstruation" and you went "lalalalalalala."

We were wrong.

How else to explain "Code Red," the new iPhone period app that -- and this is really linguistically unfortunate -- also works on the iPad?

It keeps track of periods. It keeps track of them for men. It is, in fact, strong enough for a woman but made for the men who love them, or at least want to monitor their bodies the way that creep-o just might on "Law & Order: SVU" before Detective Benson punched him in the head. Just sayin'.

How it works: Type in the first day of your partner's cycle for a few months. Then sit back and wait for the helpful reminders to pop up on your Apple device. During PMS time, for example, a female symbol appears sporting devil horns. A frisky ovulation alert tells you when your chances for getting down are looking up.

A tour of recent technological creations shows that menstruation apps for men are a booming market. "PMSBuddy," for example, is proudly "saving relationships, one month at a time." "PMS Meter" features "hilarious sound effects." And the infamous "IAmAMan," which is nothing if not unapologetic, allows users to track the menstrual cycles of several women at once, for those special times when you are a big cheater.

At a deep cultural level, one might speculate that the proliferation of these apps all ties into some deep fear of womanhood -- an attempt by men to make sense of what they do not understand. One might offer the possibility that men would chart the life cycle of a fruit fly if they could do it on an iPad, that this is really all about gadgetry. One might also say this is gross.

MEDL Mobile, the company that distributes "Code Red," will not release sales figures, but says that the application has climbed as high as 35 on the Lifestyle division of the Apple app store -- a category that includes hundreds of applications. A spokesperson for the company says Apple cannot confirm this.

Again: Men, we had no idea.

Code Red ("A Survival Guide to Her Monthly Cycle. Period!") was conceptualized by a husband and wife team, Lisi and Kevin Harrison; he is originally from Fairfax and they now live in California. They had no prior app-creation experience, but "we love the iPhone," Kevin says. "We love the whole app culture."

Isn't Code Red kind of . . . funny?

"It's funny in a sense," Kevin says. "But also really helpful."

"I don't even think it's funny; I just thought it was necessary," Lisi says. "Kevin and I have been together for 15 years . . . and Kevin acts blindsided every month. It makes me want to scratch his eyes out."

Instead the Harrisons, both 40-ish, discussed Code Red with an acquaintance named Jon Rose. "Jon is an ex-professional surfer," Kevin says, "who is now an international humanitarian -- "

Wait, for developing "Code Red"? "No, for Waves for Water," an organization that brings clean drinking water to Third World countries.

Okay.

Anyway, Rose knew a guy named Dave Swartz, who works for a company called MEDL, which helps average schmoes turn their ideas into Apple apps. MEDL has had about 30,000 submissions but has found only a few dozen to be worthy of development.

Wait, what apps were NOT worthy of development?

"We get a lot of [potty] jokes, which we're not interested in," Swartz says.

Okay.

Anyway.

"We were sitting around in a meeting where we go over submissions," Swartz says, when he mentioned "Code Red." "About half the people there were young guys, and one said, 'I will pay $20 for that right now.' Actually, he said $19.99."

They decided to price the app at $1.99.”

Personal comment: I’m CD14 and will ovulate today. Setting alarms on cell phone calendars and NuvaTime have been around for years as cycle reminders. Someone just created an app for Apple products. I’m only commenting on the Code Red app because it seems to have gotten a lot of media attention recently. I don’t want to pop any guy’s balloon, but as every woman knows… a day-counter (like Code Red) is only as accurate as a woman’s cycle is regular (stable) at some number of days. If a woman is on oral contraceptives has adjusted well to the hormones and takes her pills on time, her cycle will be regular – unless nutritional supplements or medicines decrease the effectiveness of her protection, or she has breakthrough bleeding from extended cycle pills like Seasonique and Lybrel, which is very common. If a woman is cycling naturally like my circle and I are then Stress, diet, illness and of course pregnancy can throw a woman’s cycle off. So a Code Red app on an iPhone may (or may not) put a guy in the ballpark of where his girlfriend’s period ‘should’ be if everything is normal.

St Lucy’s campus tours

Penché en pointe

Prospective St Lucy’s student’s campus tours: This week we are having campus visits by prospective students and their parents. Taryn, Cyndi and Gigi are helping with some of the tours and demonstrations. Taryn is lovely in a purple unitard and pointes as a group leader conducting tours. The unitards she wears as a group leader are very tight so the crotch prominently displays the cleft in the head of her Penetrator suggesting camel toe. She has used this defensive mechanism for the last two years since she was repeatedly groped the first time she wore the costume as a group leader and was using no pelvic protection. She now calls her job being a ‘grope leader’ and she is routinely groped by husbands and uncles accompanying their daughters and nieces. She says the look she gets when they step into her space and slip a hand between her legs to cop a feel of her soft labial tissue and feel the head of her Penetrator instead with its smooth firm convex silicone shield covering her vulva is priceless!

She uses a grope encounter as a teaching moment to tell the man how the schools defensive curriculum will teach their daughters how to protect themselves and turn a sexual encounter to their advantage. Being that close to a girl on her toes costumed like that touching her intimately is a temptation a great many men can’t resist, which is why we dress the group leaders that way. It gives the men, who will be paying the very high cost of their daughters expenses at St Lucy’s, an intimate connection to the school and ‘personal’ reason for wanting to return, in addition to visiting their daughters of course.

Class reservations are increasing: Alumnae are reserving seats for their daughters in greater numbers now and some are registering them at birth for a seat ten years in the future. The girls and their parents who are touring this spring are ones who signed up at least five years ago and who have the grades to get in. There are no legacy admissions or social promotions at St Lucy’s. Courses of study at St Lucy’s are very rigorous, but the academic pressure is offset by the social life for St Lucy’s girls which is modeled along the lines of an elite French finishing school in the Loire Valley that produces some of the western worlds most beautiful and accomplished courtesans. St Lucy’s is very European and sophisticated in that way.

Of course few parents of St Lucy’s girls aspire for them to become world class courtesans, but that sort of training is extremely helpful in getting and holding a man’s interest, which is a very useful tool for a young woman to have in today’s world when competing for the best men for mates or the most successful at making money. The two male types occasionally occur in a single man, but, in my experience, that is very rare. So a young woman needs experience with both types before she has to make up her mind if a particular man is worth mind-fucking for life. Of course some girls just love the chase leading men on and breaking their hearts. We discourage that sort of thing because it can easily backfire on the woman and get her killed when a tricked suitor flies into a jealous rage.

Protection and Penetrator: In addition to the academic curriculum we stress the fact that St Lucy’s girls have access to a large pool of medically screened male partners of appropriate ages so they can gain experience practicing intimate skills with men of all temperaments and sizes. That way they can become familiar with different male types in the general population, and particularly in the upper classes. All of our male escorts use no protection and are very fertile with high sperm counts which we feel gives our students an incentive as well as an opportunity to learn to trust their own method(s) of contraceptive protection rather than relying on a man for protection. The sooner a girl learns not to trust a man as far as birth control is concerned the better.

One of the demonstrations for prospective students and their parents is the fitting of a Penetrator plug one of the first pieces of intimate equipment a new student is fitted for. Chuck, a male Gyn from the Clinic, goes through the fitting procedure, a pelvic exam and taking vaginal measurements, with Cyndi while the guests watch. Then Cyndi shows the group how she inserts and removes her own Penetrator and does exercises with it inserted to show how well it fits and that her movement is not limited in any way with her plug inserted. That’s where a lot of the moms will take me aside and ask if they can get a Penetrator for themselves. Penetrators of this design (with the anti-expulsion ridge and perineal removal loop) are fairly new and vaginal plugs weren’t part of the course when the mom’s graduated from St Lucy’s. So this time of year there is a spike in Penetrator fittings as Mom’s of prospective students are fitted. Their husbands, to the extent they know what is going on, are very pleased because a Penetrator can be worn while swimming in place of a thong making the woman far more alluring if a guy is into plugs or loves removing his partners protective equipment prior to penetrative sex.

The demonstration: Gigi and Jon, a lovely man of 22, a grad student at UNLV and a graduate of our escort training program, demonstrate penetrative pointe-sex something every ballet student learns. The parents of prospective ballet students are asked if they would like to see the student in ballet boots or pointe shoes for the demo. If there are primarily women in the group the answer is usually pointes. If there are more men - sometimes a lone dad will bring his daughter or an uncle will bring a niece - the men will switch the answer to ballet boots. Gigi can perform equally well in either and wears Gaynors if in pointes or a pair of Gepetto’s Pleasure Boots (specifically designed for sex en pointe) if the majority want ballet boots. The demo is traditionally rear entry penetration while the woman is en pointe and bent over holding on to the barre in a small studio set up for the demonstration. Jon wears a Speedo slingshot and Gigi wears a thong bikini. She just pushes the thong to one side before being penetrated. Gigi adds spermicide in the dome and inserts her latex Reflexions diaphragm and then an applicator of dive-gel as an intimate lube while the guests watch. Returning readers know Gigi has a GyneFix IUD implant for birth control, but rather than get into that with parents we have her use a diaphragm. Using a diaphragm in the demo also shows the parents that the school isn’t insistent on hormonal contraceptives as the only effective birth control option and some women who have never seen a diaphragm become interested in using the method themselves so the demo becomes a teaching moment for the adults watching.

The Orgasms: In preparation for the demo Gigi and Jon warm up with a great deal of foreplay so that Gigi is very aroused. That makes it more difficult for her to get the diaphragm inserted correctly because her vagina has lengthened (tented) as her cervix is pulled up out of the way of a thrusting penis, but she has excellent insertion skills so she can handle it and by starting the demo while aroused Jon can give her a moaning, mewing, shuddering G-spot orgasm in just a very few minutes before he finishes inside her and withdraws. At the end of the demo when Jon has withdrawn Gigi readjusts her thong to cover her vulva so his semen puddles and soaks into the cotton liner as the couple bow and accept their intimate audience’s applause before they have a short Q&A session. I have watched the demo, well, I watched the audience watching the demo and there is not a man there who doesn’t have an erection by the time Jon shoots his wad deep in Gigi’s belly.

Alumnae pointe-sex class: A few of the women who are still taking pointe themselves asked if I could teach a pointe-sex class for alumnae. That might be an option for the next Homecoming. The Alumnae office could send out an enquiry and we could plan a long weekend with three training sessions with a male escort for each adult student, or they could bring an SO, lover or even a husband if they think he would behave himself. I would have them be fitted for Gaynors and wear them several times to class get used to them (they take almost no breaking in) before they come out as Gaynors are the most supportive and comfortable pointes for pointe-sex. The more adventurous ones could get fitted for a high quality pair of ballet boots if they wanted to try that, but if they aren’t used to wearing BBs and staying en pointe for long intervals it’s probably best that a woman not experienced in wearing ballet boots for pointe-sex not try it for the first time in a classroom setting. Well, it’s a thought for later this year.

Breath play with a urine filter

A Vintage Russian civilian (GP-5) gas mask

Urine filters and breath control: As part of my Advanced Sexual Techniques course I’m teaching multiple uses for corrugated rubber hoses. One is to create a ‘urine filter’ which can substantially enhance a sexual encounter for a woman who is into bodily fluids, gas mask and breath control fetishes. The use of a urine filter combines the body fluids and breath play fetishes into a challenge for any student of deviant sexual behavior. Vintage (Ca 1970s) Russian civilian (GP-5) hooded gas masks with corrugated hose and filter canister, like the one shown in the illustration accompanying this entry, are used for urine filter training. The canister is clamped in the upright position close to and slightly below the elevation of the wearer’s head. The woman puts on the mask with the corrugated rubber hose disconnected from the filter canister and the hood is tightened and the seal checked to ensure the mask is airtight. Then she assumes the position she will be in for intercourse. The position missionary, rear penetration en pointe or kneeling etc, was predetermined so that the filter canister could be correctly positioned. Then the student’s male partner urinates in a measuring cup and holding the hose so it has a dip in it below the level at which the hose enters the mask - as shown in the image above - pours 100 ml of urine into the hose and the urine settles into the lowest part forming a fluid block and the open end of the hose is reconnected to the canister. The woman then has to use the suction power of her lungs to suck enough urine up the tube to have it pass air so she can breathe. From the churning of the urine while gas is being sucked through it the air is heavily laden with droplets and scent from the urine. If the trap in the hose isn’t adjusted correctly the girl can suck urine into her lungs and develop aspiration pneumonia which is very common when an escort is in training to be a gasmask-girl and is learning to breathe through a urine filter. To prevent lung infections women training to breathe through urine filters are typically started on a course of Ciprofloxacin by their Gyns several days before their urine filter training begins.

Possible side effects: Here in Vegas this past winter we saw in increase in lung infections in teen submissives because their Doms didn’t want the expense of putting them on an antibiotic while training them to breathe through a urine filter. And there was one drowning when an 18 y/o with a cold started to sneeze when tied down in a dentists chair while wearing a gasmask and urine filter. She tilted her head forward (her Dom has forgotten to put her chin block in place) and accidentally inhaled the entire 100 ml filter. She couldn’t get off her back to clear her lungs and drowned in her Dom’s urine and her own vomit. Her death was ruled an accident, death by misadventure.

The birth control riddle

The birth control pill, Ca 1960

The Wall Street Journal
April, 21, 2010
By MELINDA BECK

The Birth-Control Riddle
Fifty Years After the Pill's Debut, Almost Half of Pregnancies in the U.S. Are Unplanned

“Next month marks the 50th anniversary of the birth-control pill in the U.S. The dawn of dependable contraception not only ended the post-war baby boom, it also ignited the sexual revolution and helped millions of women to enter the work force.

Nowadays, women can choose from a bevy of birth-control options, including pills, patches and rings that allow them to have as few periods as they like, even none. Implants and intrauterine devices (IUDs) can prevent pregnancy for years at a time and eliminate the need to refill and remember. Morning-after pills that can decrease the risk from unprotected sex are available without a prescription even to teenagers. Women who want to end their fertility permanently can do so in a doctor's office without undergoing surgery. Abstinence is still taught in many schools and homes as being 100% effective if followed diligently.

On the 50th anniversary of the pill, WSJ's Melinda Beck tells Simon Constable on the News Hub what's new in birth control. There are more options than ever, but despite all the choices, some three million U.S. women have an unplanned pregnancy ever year.

Yet despite all these options, the rates of unplanned pregnancies remain high: Almost half of all pregnancies in the U.S.—some 3.1 million a year—are unintended, according to the most recent government survey, from 2001. One out of every two American women aged 15 to 44 has at least one unplanned pregnancy in her lifetime. Among unmarried women in their 20s, seven out of 10 pregnancies are unplanned.

An updated version of those numbers from the 2006 National Survey of Family Growth is expected to be released next month. But population experts don't anticipate much change; the rate of unplanned pregnancy was the same in 1994, and smaller studies have found that even newer birth-control methods haven't made much of a dent.

Birth Control Methods

Why are the numbers so high?

The answer is a complex tangle of cultural, religious, behavioral, educational and economic factors. Many of those unplanned pregnancies become wanted babies. About a million are aborted each year and others are miscarried.

Almost half (48%) of unintended pregnancies involve contraceptive failures. In 52% of the cases, couples used no birth control at all. Cost is a factor for some of them. Even though most insurers now cover contraceptives, co-pays and deductibles can still present obstacles.

And many young people are in "the fog zone" in which their beliefs about pregnancy don't match their behaviors, according to a 2009 report by the National Campaign to End Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy. In a survey conducted by the Guttmacher Institute of 1,800 single men and women aged 18 to 29, more than 80% of both sexes said it was important to them to avoid pregnancy right now, yet 43% of those who are sexually active said they used no contraception or used it inconsistently.

Some population experts say the rates of unintended pregnancy would be far lower if more women used IUDs and implants that prevent pregnancy for years at a time. Only about 3% of American women currently do.

"There are terrible misperceptions about these methods— and about all forms of contraception," says James Trussell, director of

the Office of Population Research at Princeton University.

Many traditional forms of contraception have been updated in recent years. Here's a look at the latest developments:

The New IUDs

The IUD got a bad name in the 1970s due to the Dalkon Shield, whose design turned out to make it easy for bacteria and STDs from the vagina to ascend into the uterus and fallopian tubes, causing pelvic-inflammatory disease (PID) and infertility. After hundreds of lawsuits and several deaths, the shield was discontinued in 1974, and doctors were urged to remove them from women in 1980.

IUDs available in the U.S. now are much safer. The ParaGard is made with copper that is toxic to sperm, lasts up to 12 years and doesn't affect a woman's hormone levels. Mirena releases a small amount of progestin that blocks ovulation, and lasts up to five years. Both are more than 99% effective at preventing pregnancy.

Jeffrey Peipert, a top researcher at Washington University in St. Louis, notes that about 18% of female ob/gyns have opted for IUDs. "The most educated consumers are using the most effective methods at high rates," he says.

Cost: $175 to $700 for years of protection.

Downsides: IUDs do not protect against STDs. The ParaGard may increase cramping. In rare cases, IUDs can slip out or push through the uterine lining.

The Implant

Another long-acting contraceptive is Implanon, a rod a doctor inserts in a woman's arm. It prevents pregnancy for up to three years.

A previous implant called Norplant was beset by lawsuits over side effects and scarring and withdrawn from the U.S. market in 2002.

Doctors are required to undergo special training to insert and remove Implanon, which is also 99% effective at preventing pregnancy.

Cost: $400 to $800 for up to three years' protection.

Downsides: Irregular bleeding, possible headaches, sore breasts, nausea, pain at the insertion site. No STD protection.

Hormone Pills, Patches And Rings

The first birth-control pills had very high doses of hormones, and side effects including mood swings, weight gain and blood clots were common.

Dosages have since dropped to about one-tenth of their original strength. There are far fewer side effects and a host of benefits, including regularized periods and reduced acne, bloating, premenstrual syndrome and less bleeding due to uterine fibroids. What's more, the longer a woman uses the pill, the lower her risk of ovarian and endometrial cancer.

Still, some women remain wary. "For some reason, it has a really bad rap," says Rachel Bernstein, an ob/gyn in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., who says she has to explain that these days, the benefits outweigh the risks.

Today, there are about 40 different brands of birth-control pills, most of which contain a combination of estrogen and progestin.

Other versions work the same way, including the NuvaRing, a flexible ring that is inserted in the vagina every month and worn for three weeks, then removed for one week, and the Ortho-Evra patch, which is replaced every week for three weeks, followed by a patch-free week.

Newer pills, like Seasonique, allow women to have only four periods a year; Lybrel, approved in 2007, is designed to be taken for 365 days straight with no period. Experts say there is no health reason that women need to have a period if they are not ovulating or building up uterine lining each month. The traditional pills were designed to include a monthly period in part so that women would be reassured that they weren't pregnant.

Hormonal birth control is 99% effective at preventing pregnancy if used correctly, but in average use, with some forgetfulness, it's only 92% effective.

Cost: $15 to $50 per month

Downsides: Women who have breast cancer should not take estrogen, but the pill does not seem to increase the risk of getting it. It can cause blood clots in rare cases. But, says Vanessa Cullins, vice president for medical affairs of Planned Parenthood Federation: "We have to keep these things in perspective. A woman's risk for those problems is substantially higher during pregnancy."

A more long-lasting form, the Depo-Provera injection, releases progestin only and prevents pregnancy for 12 weeks. It can be used by women who can't take estrogen and by those who are breast-feeding.

Cost: Each injection costs $35 to $75

Downsides: Possible weight gain, depression, blood clots and bone thinning; usually recommended only for women who can't use other forms.

Condoms, Caps And Sponges

Using a receptacle to contain sperm during sex literally goes back to caveman days: It's depicted on the wall of a cave in France from 12,000 B.C. Over the millennia, condoms have been made of paper, animal intestines, leather and linen (a favorite of womanizer Giacomo Casanova in 18th century Italy). Charles Goodyear paved the way for mass production of "rubbers" when he patented the vulcanization of rubber in 1843, and they were a mainstay of birth-control efforts until the pill emerged as more dependable and convenient.

The popularity of condoms soared in the 1980s, when the AIDS epidemic alerted public-health officials to the need for protection against STDs as well as pregnancy. Nowadays, condoms come in a variety of sizes, colors, materials and even flavors. Most are made of latex, but polyurethane and lamb-skin condoms are also available.

Cost: generally $1 each, but sometimes free; available without a prescription.

Effectiveness is still an issue. Roughly two of every 100 women whose partners use condoms correctly become pregnant each year, as do 15 of 100 women whose partners don't use them correctly.

Female condoms, plastic pouches inserted in the vagina before intercourse, are less effective. About five in 100 women who always use them correctly become pregnant each year, as do 21 out of 100 women who don't always use them correctly. They cost about $4 each and are sold without a prescription.

Other "barrier" birth-control methods include the Today Sponge, an updated version of the brand made famous on "Seinfield," that involves a spermicide-containing foam disc that covers the cervix and blocks sperm from entering; the FemCap, a reusable silicon cup filled with spermicide that covers the cervix, and the diaphragm, a much older rubber bowl filled with spermicide. Although all three are inexpensive, don't involve hormones and have few side effects, they are inconvenient, don't protect against STDs and are not very effective. Even with careful use, as many as 20 out of 100 women using them each become pregnant.

Even combined, they make up a very small percentage of birth-control users today. "There's a whole generation of women who didn't pick them up," says Mr. Trussell.

Emergency Contraception

Versions of "the morning-after pill"—a combination of hormones that abruptly halts ovulation—have been around quietly since the 1970s. In 1999, the FDA approved Plan B, a progestin-only pill that does the same, preventing pregnancy up to five days after unprotected sex or in case of a condom break or forgotten pill. It's currently available in three brands, Plan B, Plan B One-Step and Next Choice. Plan B and Next Choice are 89% effective if used within 72 hours after intercourse.

But emergency contraception is only effective if it is used every time after unprotected sex. "If you don't use it every time, then you are eventually going to get pregnant," says Mr. Trussell, who runs a Web site called Not-2-late.com with information on emergency contraceptives.

Cost: From $10 to $70, without a prescription for teens 17 and older

Downsides: They may cause temporary nausea, headaches and irregular bleeding; no STD protection.

Permanent Birth Control

Every year, about 700,000 U.S. women who no longer want children have a tubal ligation, a surgical procedure in which the fallopian tubes are cut and tied off. It's an outpatient procedure, but still requires a hospital stay and a cost of $5,000 or more.

A less-invasive version called Essure can be performed in a doctor's office. Using a hysteroscope, the doctor inserts a tiny titanium coil into each tube via the uterus. The woman's own tissue then grows around the coils, forming a natural but permanent barrier.

It's caught on slowly in the U.S., in part because doctors require additional training. Women must also have a follow-up test in three months to make sure a seal has formed, and to use other birth control in the meantime. But it's over 99% effective, without surgery or hormones.

A competing version, called Adiana that uses a smaller implant and radio-frequency energy, was approved by the FDA last year.

Cost: about $2,000

Downsides: The procedure may cause mild cramping, does not protect against STDs and is not reversible.

Vasectomy Variations

On the male side, there are new variations as well. Traditionally, a doctor makes an incision in the scrotum and cuts the two vas deferens, the tubes that carry sperm out of the testicles, and ties, stitches or seals them closed. The procedure takes about 30 minutes and is done in a doctor's office or clinic.

In one newer version, the doctor pokes a clamp through the skin instead of using a scalpel; there's less bleeding and fewer complications. In another, the vas deferens are locked closed with a clip, though some studies have shown that may not be as effective as other methods.

In general, vasectomies are nearly 100% effective—but since some sperm may remain in the blocked tubes, couples must use another form of birth control for three months. In very rare cases, the tubes may grow back together and permit the passage of sperm again.

Cost: $350 to $1000, covered by insurers and Medicaid.

Downsides: There's some minor pain, swelling and numbness for several days after the procedure, but most men can resume sexual activities within a week. Vasectomies theoretically can be reversed, but they are often not effective. Men should consider them permanent.”

Personal comment: This is a good overview of what is available to the general public but does not cover the barrier needs for professional escorts and women fetishists who routinely need gas guards for upper reproductive tract protection. However, those needs are covered in this blog.

Pointe shoe quiz 04-19-2010

Who is the maker of this shoe?

And, for extra credit, in what country was it made? The distinctive feathers and single line of stitching on the sole are great clues!

Yaz and drospirenone, Caesar’s farewell

Yaz oral contraceptive pills

latimes.com
By Tammy Worth
Special to the Los Angeles Times
April 19, 2010

Birth control pill concerns bring lawsuits but few solid answers

Yaz and Yasmin complaints focus on the synthetic progestin, drospirenone. Studies have not found an increased risk with these pills, though.

When the oral contraceptives Yasmin and Yaz came on the market in 2001 and 2006, respectively, they were thought to be safer than other birth control pills because they contained a different kind of synthetic progestin.

But in a flurry of lawsuits against the pills' maker, Bayer HealthCare, attorneys claim that the progestin contained in the pills, drospirenone, is the cause of health problems, including deep vein thrombosis (blood clots in the deep veins), strokes, heart attacks and gallbladder disease.

As of mid-February, about 1,100 lawsuits had been filed in the United States against Bayer, which stands behind the safety of the pills.

Research on the issue is divided. Some studies have found drospirenone to pose no greater health risk than other birth control pills; some studies show a sixfold greater risk of getting blood clots, even in young, healthy women. More research is being performed on the safety of the contraceptives, but for now, women considering taking the pills will need to weigh the contradictory information themselves

"There is reason to be concerned, I believe, about both of them [Yaz and Yasmin]," said Dr. Sidney Wolfe, founder and director of Public Citizen's Health Research Group, a nonprofit advocacy organization based in Washington, D.C. "When evidence like that comes up, people should pay attention to it."

Oral contraceptives control unwanted pregnancies by using hormones that block ovulation.

The first of these pills, introduced in the United States in the early 1960s, contained high doses of estrogen. They were quickly found to raise the risk of stroke, blood clots and heart attacks.

Second-generation pills introduced in the 1970s contained lower amounts of estrogen combined with synthetic progestins, including one called levonorgestrel. These reduced the risk of blood clots but caused side effects such as weight gain and acne in many women.

The 1980s brought third-generation pills containing different synthetic progestins, such as one called desogestrel. These were later found to be associated with a higher risk of deep vein thrombosis and pulmonary embolism.

The fourth-generation pills — Yaz, Yasmin and Ocella, a generic version — contain estrogen and yet another progestin, drospirenone. They were created not just to prevent pregnancy but to also reduce the side effects of previous pills and to treat premenstrual dysphoric disorder (severe cases of depression, anxiety, headaches and other symptoms).

Yaz is now the No. 1-selling birth control in the United States, grossing more than $391 million in the first half of 2009, up 44% from the same time period in 2008, according to health data provider IMS Health. Bayer received a warning from the FDA last year for overstating Yaz's effectiveness in treating PMDD and acne while minimizing the risks of the medication on its website and television commercials. In response, the company altered its advertising.

Now the contraceptives are not just the subject of lawsuits, they're also under scrutiny by groups such as Public Citizen over their safety. The FDA is testing the safety of Yaz and other pills in an ongoing study.

Two 2009 reports helped raise alarms. Published in the British Medical Journal, both assessed whether drospirenone is more likely to cause blood clots than other types of synthetic progestins.

One study looked at blood clot rates in Danish women ages 15 to 49 with no history of cardiovascular disease. From 1995 to 2005, there were 4,213 cases of various kinds of blood clots including in the heart, kidney, lungs and liver, 2,045 of which occurred in users of oral contraceptives. Researchers found that pills containing the progestins desogestrel, gestodene and drospirenone (the one found in Yasmin, Yaz and Ocella) were associated with a higher risk of blood clots than those containing levonorgestrel.

A second studied more than 3,200 women from the Netherlands. In this case, participants taking birth control pills containing levonorgestrel had a four times higher risk of getting blood clots than women taking no birth control, and for other progestins the risk was higher still: 5.6 times greater for gestodene, 6.3 times greater for drospirenone and 7.3 times greater for desogestrel. The greatest risk occurred during the first three months of oral contraceptive use.

"It clearly concludes that the safest thing to do is take the older [birth control pills], not the third generation or Yaz," Wolfe said.

Public Citizen had already placed Yasmin on its "Do Not Use" list because it can raise blood potassium levels, Wolfe added.

Rose Talarico, deputy director of external product communications for Bayer, said in an e-mail that Bayer "will defend itself vigorously against these lawsuits" and that patient safety is important to the company. She said the company's drospirenone-containing oral contraceptives "are safe and effective when used according to the product labeling."

Two studies, both sponsored by Bayer, found drospirenone to be as safe as other progestins.

In one, scientists at the Center for Epidemiology and Health Research in Berlin tracked for over a year more than 58,000 European women who had been prescribed various forms of birth control pills. They concluded that there was no greater risk of mortality, cancer or cardiovascular problems from pills with drospirenone than other oral contraceptives.

In the other, i3 Drug Safety, a company that provides pharmaceutical services to drug companies, followed for seven months almost 70,000 U.S. women taking various kinds of oral contraceptives, including ones containing drospirenone. The researchers concluded that more than 9,000 women would need to take Yaz or Yasmin for one extra case of deep vein thrombosis to occur.

Attorney A.J. de Bartolomeo, a partner at the San Francisco law firm Girard Gibbs who is helping shepherd lawsuits against Bayer, said women should be warned if there is even a slightly greater risk.

"We believe it's a dangerous drug, and the most important thing here is to allow women to make an informed choice and know what the comparable risks are before they put a drug in their body," De Bartolomeo said.

As of November, the Food and Drug Administration had received reports of 993 cases of pulmonary embolism (blood clots in the lungs), 487 of deep vein thrombosis (clots in the deep veins) and 229 of other blood clots for the two medications combined.

Some physicians think the attention the medications have received serves only to frighten women.

"Patients get hurt with these types of lawsuits," said Dr. Andrew Kaunitz, a professor of obstetrics and gynecology at the University of Florida's College of Medicine who has consulted with pharmaceutical companies, including Bayer. "They get scared not only with this one pill but all types of contraceptives."

Kaunitz said all types of oral contraceptives increase the risk of blot clots three- to fourfold. But, he added, pregnancy increases the risk of blood clots six- to 10-fold. He said he wouldn't recommend patients change their pills if Yaz or Yasmin are working well for them.

Dr. Anitra Beasley, a physician at the Leadership Training Academy of Physicians for Reproductive Choice and Health and a fellow at Columbia University in New York, has been telling her patients the same thing. She said many come in with worries after seeing commercials questioning the pills' safety — and that some have stopped taking Yaz only to return with an unwanted pregnancy.

"We've got great news from the FDA, that has looked at all of these studies and assures us that the best-done study shows that the risk of clots with Yaz is not greater than on any other birth control pill," she said. "And we have read all of the same literature and have come to the same conclusions — we didn't change our practices."

Dr. Anita Nelson, a professor of obstetrics and gynecology at UCLA's David Geffen School of Medicine who serves on the advisory board of Bayer, said the litigation runs the risk of "scaring the heck out of women."

"I have noticed a pattern, that every time a method of birth control gets popular it gets sued," she said. "The same thing happened for the patch; and we lost Norplant [for the same reason] even though it was very safe and effective."

Personal comment: Yaz is the pill most often prescribed for St Lucy’s girls on hormones. Our Gyns have found that with proper screening it is as safe as other pills with older progestins and it has fewer side effects as well as decreasing severe menstrual cramps other pills hardly touch. Our screening process is very thorough and encompasses a student’s parents and grandparents as well. St Lucy’s girls haven’t had any severe side effects from taking Yaz.

Caesar’s last campaign: It’s been a sad week. I’ve had to send my male tiger, Caesar, to a wildlife sanctuary. He was such a wonderful bedmate; warm, soft and cuddly, unless he rolled over on you. For a cat his size his purr or snoring was relaxing and could put me right to sleep, even if we hadn’t had sex. In the last several months it got so that his behavior was becoming erratic. He was cranky and wouldn’t eat and snapped at his keepers and his Vet could find nothing physically wrong except old age. He was always gentle with me. Well, in the context of what a woman experiences when having an intense sexual encounter with a 300 pound tiger which at best is always risky. But the adrenaline rush when he ejaculated in me was fantastic! Afterward I was always amazed that he didn’t break my neck while thrusting into me. He was just the most amazing lover! I was fortunate to experience in real life what most women can only fantasize about.

Underwater gasmask sex- part II

Gucci and Louis Vuitton gas masks

Designer Gas masks: "Although we are living in a harmonious society, in western world the rich people still worry about their safety due to the terrorist incidents while the growing pollutants and harmful toxins threaten their life. Maybe for this reason, Diddo Velema in collaboration with Gucci and Louis Vuitton released three novelty masks. These jewel encrusted, monogram basted pieces will assure the survival of the richest the day some incidents happen."

"After the birth of the masks, many people hold the opinion above that they are products for the safety of rich people. However, the designer, Velema, explains the concept this way "We are in a state of perpetual war--with ourselves and with the eco-system that sustains us. Perpetual war breeds perpetual fear. In the present context, this fear stems from our extreme desire for authenticity and manifests itself in our collectively insatiable culture of consumption. Deep down, we are afraid we may never be satisfied. An expanding archive of branded myths and icons feeds this fear. Designer Gas Masks is an attempt to visualize this state of mind. Because it is only by first acknowledging and then challenging fear that we will all be able to breathe a little easier.""

The masks were produced for a short list of ultra-wealthy clients and the designers comments were written in 2008 at the very peak of lavish spending a few months before the stock market meltdown. The masks are real with jeweled and logo overlays and are fully functional taking standard 40 mm filter canisters. I bought one of each – they are in my size – from a bankruptcy sale here a few months ago because they are just the thing to wear to one of Adolph’s masked balls where everyone needs protective breathing equipment. I’ve already tried them out to make sure the seals don’t need repair and the filters really do fit and had them examined by my jeweler to check the Pavé and major stone settings to make certain that the mountings are solid. I’d hate to lose a large diamond, ruby or emerald (yes they are real jewels) during an energetic sexual encounter in a hostile environment.

A reader asks: Why are you so against under water gasmask sex?

I’m not against underwater gasmask sex, but as I mentioned in an earlier entry [see: April 14, 2010 ‘Gasmask-sex underwater’] using a vintage rubber gasmask underwater can be very dangerous not to mention uncomfortable for the wearer. I understand they are inexpensive and readily available, but that doesn’t offset the danger of wearing vintage rubber not designed for diving. And, because they have no mechanism for assisting in pressure equalization of the ears and sinuses most divers can only use them in shallow water dives.

A local Dom experienced in having his teen Subs wear surplus vintage rubber gasmasks for dive-sex likes to pour liquid oxytocin (Pitocin or Syntocinon) into the Subs mask so that she breathes the fumes as she inhales through the air hose. He says it makes even a woman on her period much more responsive, wetter, and more quickly aroused and her orgasms more intense by strengthening the contractions of her vaginal muscles. The use of Oxytocin as a female performance enhancer may offset the discomfort of wearing a vintage gasmask while submerged but my own few experiences doing that convinced me that it wasn’t worth the trouble and there is the very real possibility of drowning. The down side of having oxytocin poured into a dive mask is that an overdose, a mistake easily made because used this way each women takes a different amount, can cause nipple discharge and uterine contractions so severe they will knot a woman into the fetal position for a day or more. And if uterine contractions occur when the woman is submerged she is helpless and in extreme danger.

Single atmosphere diving: Some Doms try to get away w/o using compressed air for dive-sex. So, another problem with vintage gasmasks used as diving equipment is when they are used as single atmosphere (un-pressurized) masks at the maximum single atmosphere depth. Extending the depth is easily done by extending the corrugated rubber air hose supplying the mask to a length of15 to 25 feet and attaching the open end to a float to keep it above the surface of the water and equipping it with a snorkel valve. In shallow water – above 10 feet - that may work for a while if the s/he can tolerate the feel of the mask collapsing on her face as the water pressure pushes the rubber into the facial void and the seals hold so the mask doesn’t flood. But below that depth the hose is too long to be purged of the diver’s breath so that s/he is rebreathing her own carbon dioxide and eventually the wearer runs out of oxygen, just as though she had the valve closed on a rebreather bag. It just takes a bit longer and since the diver is busy checking for leaks and playing with her partner her excitement often masks the fact that her breathing is becoming shallower more rapid as the oxygen in the hose decreases and the CO2 increases. If she loses consciousness she can easily suffocate or if the mask pulls off as she faints she may drown.

Gasmask-sex underwater

A towel-Girl in vintage dive gasmask at Splash

Extreme gas mask sex underwater: I occasionally get questions about using a gasmask for underwater sex. The new Mestel (Ocean Reef) series of full face masks use the same ballistic polycarbonate shell as their gasmasks so using a Mestel mask with the openings suitably fitted with hoses or blocked should be safe enough. But usually what the questioner is asking about is if it’s ok to us a 20+ y/o surplus rubber gasmask for diving and that can be extremely dangerous, but perhaps that’s part of the fetish. The image above is of a Towel-Girl at Splash cooling off in a brine bed between clients. The corrugated rubber air hose has been disconnected from her vintage rubber gasmask that has been modified for underwater sex while she rests out of the pool.

The vintage mask she is wearing has had the lens seals replaced with silicone ones and the face seals replaced with silicone double seals that develop suction to hold the mask on the face even if the head harness fails. The double seal can take the strain if the mask loses air pressure and the cheeks of the mask collapse into the void as the water pressure increases. Losing air pressure is a common problem with surplus gasmasks which usually results in flooded masks as old seals and cheek shields crack or an old latex hose tears or is punctured. And, there is really no effective way to purge a rubber gasmask once it floods. That’s why underwater gasmask sex should be in water that is not more than 4.5 feet deep so the woman can be helped to her feet and her head will be out of the water if her mask fails. Most Towel-Girls at Splash don’t like to have vintage rubber underwater gasmask sex because of the heavy scent of old rubber while wearing the mask and likelihood of the mask flooding during a strenuous encounter. The higher risk is why a Towel-Girl wearing vintage rubber breathing equipment for dive-sex is more expensive encounter for clients.

Women and rebreather bags: There is a lot of reader interest in women using rebreather bags which must be a favorite male fantasy because in the fetish subculture out here (at least in Vegas) there aren’t that many women into rebreathers on their own, it’s usually at the insistence of their male partners. So pleasing a male rebreather fetishist has recently become a driver of new women in the fetish. Or they are Femmes with a Domme who is into rubber rebreathers, but there are very few of those. I think a women wearing a rebreather is such a turn-on because a bondage-chick is at the mercy of her partner if s/he has a rebreather on her mask. Once the valve is closed the dominant partner controls the subs life and in my experience guys into rubber encasement and gasmask fetishes are also control freaks who need to dominate the woman they are with to the extent that they have the power of life or death over her. A rebreather can kill. It’s cheap, quick and very effective and an accident is extremely hard to disprove if the victim is in rubber that he or she can get into while alone.

If s/he has to be helped into his or her encasement suit and aux equipment and is found dead while still encased an accident could be questioned. A young woman was found in an attic of a repossessed house here last summer on a 105° F day encased in three layers of rubber. She had been there for more than a week and the decomposition gasses had ballooned the encasement rubber but her mask was sealed against the latex hood and it didn’t leak there, the most common location for a leak in high-end encasement fetishwear. The valve on her rebreather was closed and the trapped gas had ballooned the rebreather bag to twice its normal size. The zippers held and the suit didn’t leak until the EMTs started to move her into a body bag and accidentally punctured the rubber. The fluid and stench from her decomposition poured down the attic stairs and they haven’t been able to get the smell out of the house yet. While she could have gotten into her three rubber suits by herself, with some difficulty, the way she was positioned when found suggested she was dumped in the attic after her death, which could have been accidental, but moving a hiding a body and not reporting a death are crimes.

The local Rubber-Doms have their chicks in latex encasement suits, hoods, gloves and booties and then a well fitting current model rubber gasmask sealed over the girls face. The guys particularly like teen girls who have little experience wearing latex encasement suits so have no idea how uncomfortable they are to be encased in for long intervals especially if there is no A/C or a pool or brine bed to cool off in. While wearing a rubber encasement suit it’s important to stay well hydrated and nourished because wearing encasement rubber is very dehydrating and the tightness of the suit can cause the wearer to faint if not well nourished.

Rebreather bag safety: I teach basic rebreather bag safety in my contemporary sexual health class and advanced rebreather techniques in my Advanced Sexual Techniques Class at St Lucy’s. I really didn’t want to teach rebreathers but recently there has become such a high likelihood that a teen girl may be seduced into having a rebreather screwed into the filter canister port of her mask that teaching rebreather safety is the right thing to do. Even after the warnings the girls can sometimes be mind-fucked into wearing a rebreather by a guy telling her he will buy her a high-end encasement suit from one of the top makers. It’s an old trick but it will often work on the very young rubber-chicks even after they have been warned.

Pointe shoe Quiz 04-11-10

Who is the maker of this shoe?

And, give three reasons for the modification of the platform

Religious fundamentalists and ‘Personhood’

STI protection a latex condom

News from the Birth Control Wars – Pt. II

The Las Vegas Sun
The Associated Press
Tuesday, April 6, 2010 1:27 p.m.

Nevada court hears ‘personhood’ measure appeal

Proponents of a ballot initiative to reshape Nevada abortion law asked the state Supreme Court on Tuesday to focus on the eight words that they said clearly define their goal.

"The term 'person' applies to every human being," Personhood Nevada leader Olaf Vancura said afterward, using the same eight words outside the state high court that are the focus of his group's appeal. He wants to be allowed to collect signatures to qualify the initiative for the November ballot.

In court, an American Civil Liberties Union of Nevada lawyer told the seven justices that voters wouldn't know that amending the Nevada Constitution to define "personhood" as beginning at conception would let advocates advance efforts to ban abortions, restrict common forms of birth control and affect end-of-life questions.

"These are hot-button, critical issues," ACLU attorney Lee Rowland said, urging the state's only appellate court to uphold a lower court ruling in January that the initiative is vague and violates state law limiting ballot questions to one subject.

"There needs to be some information in there that lets the voters know what's going on," Rowland said.

Justices appeared skeptical of overruling the lower court based on Personhood Nevada lawyer Michael Peters' argument that the lower court judge erred in examining anything more than the legality of the wording.

Justice James Hardesty asked Peters if there was a difference between considering the constitutionality of the proposed initiative and determining whether it "impacts other provisions in our laws beyond the stated purpose of the initiative."

"You're limited in looking at, in this case, the eight operative words in determining the single subject," Peters responded. "It's an 'on-its-face' analysis."

"Does this fully inform the voters, ultimately, as to what they're voting on, what they're amending in the Constitution?" Justice Michael Douglas asked. "Or is it so open-ended that they're not sure what the meaning is?"

Peters told Douglas, the first black justice on the Nevada Supreme Court, that the initiative aimed to extend civil rights to a person at conception.

"In essence you're asking us to define when life begins," Douglas said. "Does it do that? Is it clear in all cases?"

"It does define human beings and when life begins," Peters responded.

More than 50 people ranging from right-to-life advocates to Planned Parenthood representatives filled the courtroom gallery for the oral arguments in Las Vegas.

A day earlier, another branch of the national organization Personhood USA gained enough signatures to put an anti-abortion proposal on the Mississippi ballot in 2011.

A similar proposal goes before Colorado voters this fall, and Personhood USA leader Keith Mason said signatures were being gathered for constitutional amendments in Missouri, California, Florida and Montana. Mason tallied about 40 states in which the organization was working toward changing laws.

Rowland urged the Nevada high court to consider the effects of eight words "that are only fleshed out and that only have meaning once you read the description of effects."

"So your argument is that the sentence encompasses more than a single subject?" asked Hardesty, who posed most of the questions during the 30-minute hearing.

"Absolutely," Rowland replied. "Allowing it to go through simply because of its brevity, I think, poses a very real danger to the citizens of Nevada, which is that the initiative process starts to be used for vague, semantic and theoretical ideas."

Personal comment: “Amending the Nevada Constitution to define "personhood" as beginning at conception would let advocates advance efforts to ban abortions, restrict common forms of birth control and affect end-of-life questions.” More right-wing-nuts at work!

If ‘personhood’ is defined as beginning at conception will that mean that the 20 to 30% of the fertilized eggs that aren’t implanted or that are spontaneously aborted (miscarried) many of which a woman is unaware of will require funerals? If so, how will anyone know? Will Rush Limbaugh, Pat Robertson, James Dobson or other men of that persuasion (the Conception Cops) be checking every woman’s required pregnancy test to see who conceived? Additionally ‘personhood’ would set the stage to promote the erroneous claim by radical conservatives that hormonal birth control is an abortifacient!



DA's sex Ed warning befuddles Wis. teachers, kids
Associated Press
By Todd Richmond, April 9, 2010

MAUSTON, Wis. – Mike Taake has taught sex education for 30 years, and he says he knows what doesn't work: just telling kids to wait.

The Mauston High School health teacher has used abstinence-only and comprehensive curriculums, and he said students need all the information they can get about sex to make the best choices. But teaching them about contraceptives could land him and other teachers in court.

Juneau County District Attorney Scott Southworth last month sent a letter to area school districts warning that health teachers who tell students how to put on a condom or take birth-control pills could face criminal charges. The warning has befuddled teachers, school administrators and parents in Southworth's poor, rural county.

"Seems like a step back in time," Taake said of Southworth's logic.

Southworth, a Republican and a Christian evangelical, took issue with a law Democratic Gov. Jim Doyle signed in February requiring schools that teach sexual education to adopt a comprehensive approach.

Southworth warned that teaching a student how to properly use contraceptives would be contributing to the delinquency of a minor, a misdemeanor punishable by up to nine months behind bars and a $10,000 fine. He said it would be promoting sex among minors, who are not legally allowed to have sex in Wisconsin.

"It puts the school kind of in the middle between two sides, between the government and state telling us what should be taught and what people think should not be taught," said Scott Lenz, a health teacher in the New Lisbon School District. He said he would teach contraceptive use if he got the approval of his school board.

Southworth said he doesn't want to drag teachers into court but feels he was ethically responsible for warning them of the new law's potential consequences. He urged the school districts to refrain from offering sex education courses until the Legislature repeals the law.

"Listen, there's a real problem with the law," he said. "I didn't pick the fight. The Legislature dumped it in my lap."

Southworth didn't cite evidence in his letter showing that teaching someone to use contraceptives makes them more likely to have sex. But in an interview Thursday, he pointed to Milwaukee Public Schools, which teach a comprehensive sex education curriculum but still struggle with high teen pregnancy rates. Sex education experts, however, say many social factors influence teens' decisions to have sex, including lack of parental supervision and poverty.

Janine Geske, a Marquette University law professor and former state Supreme Court justice, said she didn't understand Southworth's legal logic. She said that if he tried to prosecute a teacher for adhering to guidelines approved by the Legislature and governor, the case would likely be dismissed.

"To be frank, I can't follow exactly what he's trying to get at," Geske said. "If a teacher is educating a student pursuant to state law ... I don't see how under any examination (that) could be criminal."

The state Legislative Council, a group of attorneys that provides legal advice to state lawmakers, issued a statement Friday saying it also believes teachers who follow the state guidelines would be safe from prosecution.

In Wisconsin, children under age 17 who have sex with each other can be prosecuted as juveniles. Seventeen-year-olds who have sex with one another can be convicted as adults of a misdemeanor.

Wisconsin schools aren't required to teach sex education. But under the new law, which was backed by Planned Parenthood of Wisconsin, schools that do must teach a range of topics, including the benefits of abstinence, the proper use of contraceptives, how to make responsible decisions and the criminal penalties for underage sex. Parents can choose to keep their children out of the classes.

Juneau County lies in the woods and bluffs about halfway between Madison, the state capital, and the Minnesota border. The teen birth rate here in 2008 was nearly 34 per every 1,000 births compared with the state rate of nearly 31 per 1,000, according to a report last year by the county and the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health.

The county is about evenly divided between Democrats and Republicans. Voters narrowly backed former President George W. Bush in the 2000 and 2004 elections, but sided with President Barack Obama in 2008.

Southworth says he's not trying to bolster his reputation as a social conservative for a potential run for higher office, his stance has proved popular with anti-abortion groups.
Matt Sande, the legislative director of Pro-Life Wisconsin, which opposes the new law, said every district attorney in Wisconsin should follow Southworth's lead.

"We commend him for his courage, his frankness in exposing the consequences of this irresponsible new law," Sande said. "If I were a district administrator, I would want to know the impact."

And Janet McCauley, a speech teacher in the Mauston district, said she thinks the new sex education guidelines promote "sexual curiosity" and that Southworth's warning was necessary.

"This is dangerous to our young people. I just think the whole bill wasn't thought out enough."

But many parents said they were befuddled by Southworth's warning.

Audrey Jensen, whose 16-year-old daughter, Justina, is a sophomore at Mauston High School, said Southworth is trying to censor what students learn, usurping the role of parents. Children will have sex regardless, she said, and they need all the information they can get.

"I think he's actually a little unrealistic," said Jensen, 47. "Obviously he doesn't remember being a teenager."

Mauston High School quarterback Brady Nelson, 16, said sex education doesn't encourage teens to do it and Southworth should leave health teachers alone.

"It teaches you more about the bad side of it than the good," he said. "You're not going to learn any other way. You can't really charge a teacher for teaching us about the ways of life."

Taake said he intends to teach contraceptive use and isn't worried about being prosecuted.
"It's not just teaching them how birth control works. It's everything else that goes with it," he said. "To arrest me for teaching correct birth control and the student makes the wrong decision and gets pregnant, that's not my decision."

Personal comment: “Southworth, a Republican and a Christian evangelical” is undoubtedly attempting to burnish his conservative credentials with the intention of a career in politics. In the process he is trying to limit the effectiveness of his communities Sex Ed program by throwing up legal straw men and that’s a huge shame. It’s this sort of thinking that has kept the unintended pregnancy rate in the U.S. so high. Religious narrow-mindedness gives organized religion a very bad name.