Fifty Shades trilogy, unanticipated side effect

Jacket covers of the Fifty Shades Trilogy



The New York Times

Published: March 9, 2012
By JULIE BOSMAN

“Discreetly Digital, Erotic Novel Sets American Women Abuzz

“Fifty Shades of Grey,” an erotic novel by an obscure author that has been described as “Mommy porn” and “Twilight” for grown-ups, has electrified women across the country, who have spread the word like gospel on Facebook pages, at school functions and in spin classes. Or as the handwritten tag on a paperback copy in a Montclair, N.J., bookstore helpfully noted, “Yes, this is THE book everyone is talking about.”

The problem has been finding it. The first book of a trilogy, it was published by a tiny independent press in Australia, and distribution in print has been limited and sluggish, leaving bookstores deprived of copies. The lion’s share of total sales (more than 250,000 copies for all three books) has come from ever-discreet e-book downloads, which have propelled “Fifty Shades of Grey” to No. 1 on the New York Times e-book fiction best-seller list for sales in the week ending March 3 and No. 3 position on Amazon’s best-seller list.”

The entire article can be found HERE

As an update to this article the Fifty Shades trilogy was 1, 2 and 3 on the NYT (combined hardback and e-books) bestseller list published on April 22, 2012. I think hardback sales may still be limited by shortage of HB copies, though the discreet nature of e-book sales may depress sale of HB copies. All my friends and I are reading the Fifty Shades books on our Nook or Kindle ereaders, which we carry in our dancebags. The books are AWESOME!

Unanticipated side effects: An unanticipated side effect of Fifty Shades popularity is that apparatus sales - to women - have tripled in Fasteners, our BDSM boutique in the past three weeks as women read the books and come in to be outfitted with what they need to pretend they are Ana Steele (at least in the bedroom) being fucked by Christian Grey while experiencing the pleasure/pain and fear of being gently caressed with a plaited leather riding crop or cuffed ankles and wrists to a spreader bar during rough sex. Even the sale of metal training balls has increased dramatically triggered by the scene in the book where Ana is taken to a party commando while wearing a pair of them. Fasteners manager has had to reorder the high end French plaited leather riding crops twice in the last week and right now there is a waiting list for them!

Actually the Fifty Shades novels while erotic are BDSM Lite, so as they become more widely read the vanilla American public is being introduced to the concept in an enjoyable way that allows them to be drawn ever closer to recognizing BDSM as an acceptable lifestyle between consenting adults. It will be interesting to see when the increase in sales at Fasteners plateaus or drops off as the novels reach saturation in the reading public and more women decide to experiment with letting their wild side enjoy D/s roleplay. The success of Fifty Shades will surely attract novels in the same genre by other writers. One can only hope that they are as well written.

The New Blogger GUI (2011)

The new Blogger GUI (2011) is tutu much!


Blogger GUI (2011): The New Blogger GUI (2011) was pushed out, during the past week. Other’s on Blogger know it has been available as an option for several months while the Google techies work to get the bugs out of it. I had resisted Blogger’s suggestion that I convert early, before I was forced to in the hope that most of the major bugs were corrected before my blog was converted. Yesterday I was forced to convert. So far while it is different it seems to be ok (fingers crossed) and this is a test post to see if I can create and publish a post in the new software. I don’t have any bells and whistles (other than a colored border) on the blog because there have been so many problems with software features and the more features the more likely I am to have a problem.

One thing I’ve noticed is the number of my viewer’s today is way, way down, less than a third of my normal daily count. Perhaps that’s because there was a forced mass migration to the new GUI (as I was) and everyone is sorting out what has happened to their own blog(s), or not! I guess we will see!

I hope readers will comment – if you can access my blog - about how you like the new software (not that I can do anything about it) the ease of reading the posts and leaving comments. For those readers who have my email address if you can’t leave a comment please email me to let me know.

Fundamentals of Dive-Sex class, latex-grab

His condom burst! I’m fertile! I am SO fucked!

Casino dive-moms: Several women working in our casinos came to me asking that I teach a ‘Fundamentals of Dive-Sex’ course during spring break because they have daughters who will be taking courses at the University of Hawaii in Honolulu this summer and want to ensure they know how to protect themselves during an underwater sexual encounter. West coast girls have been taking summer courses at UH almost forever, but until recently there didn’t appear to be a need for gas-guards as underwater intercourse was fairly rare and if there were serious injuries none seemed to make the headlines. The students I taught will be at the University of Hawaii Manoa campus on the north side of H1 inland from Waikiki, but can easily get to the outer islands on weekend trips.

The Fundamentals of Dive-Sex course I taught included: Being fitted for FemCaps or Reflections flat spring latex diaphragms for use as gas-guards or as one student called her FemCap ‘Flood Insurance’, since its needed to prevent water being forced into the uterus if the vagina floods which, as returning readers know, is very common during underwater penetrative sex. I taught how to correctly insert their gas-guards, what lubricants to use and how to apply them and the use of Ben Wa balls for pelvic muscle toning. All the girls were on Yaz or Beyaz so I didn’t stress the normal need to use a spermicide with their cervical barriers, but they will be using DiveGel+ as their lube which has the O9 spermicide Semécide in it so that was covered. I also taught how to use the FC2 female condom – correct insertion technique and to make sure he reenters inside the sheath if he slips out - if for some reason they couldn’t use their cervical barriers for an underwater encounter.

Latex-Grab: Lastly I taught the girls about latex-grab. That’s where, if both partners are wearing barriers, a lot of their natural lubricant is trapped within each barrier and that is especially true for diaphragms since they cover almost the entire anterior wall of the vagina. An additional complication is if the woman is also on hormonal contraceptives. The progestin in hormonal birth control can dry up the normal vaginal lubricant for some women so that even when aroused they are relatively dry. In addition to the pain involved in having sex while not sufficiently lubricated, a potentially more serious problem is that the friction of the condom tip on the dome of the diaphragm can cause the condom to burst or pull the diaphragm off the cervix leaving her unprotected, or both. Latex-grab is particularly common when a couple is using both a latex condom and latex diaphragm though it can also occur with silicone diaphragms and polyurethane condoms.

The supplies: I provided each student with the necessary supplies for the course as well as what each should need for summer school. They were: a primary cervical barrier either the Reflexions latex flat spring diaphragm (because it is especially difficult to under-thrust) or a FemCap; two 25 count boxes of prefilled 10ml DiveGel+ disposable applicators; two doses of Plan B One-Step in case she forgets to take her pills. Plan B is better in their case since they will need to continue taking their regular birth control pills; a package of 10 FC2 female condoms, which are about $.90 each through our clinic. And since the students are dependents of casino employees they are covered under the casino’s reproductive health care insurance so they could be enrolled in the clinical trial to use DiveGel+.; and finally for the class each student was provided a set of (two individual) one inch diameter .6 oz Pyrex glass vaginal training balls.

Several needed to be SCUBA certified first and the five that ended up in the class I taught were very highly motivated and worked hard to get the technique down correctly so that if necessary they could teach their partners what they needed to get the most from the experience. It’s so nice when I’m working with highly motivated young women. The First summer session at UH Manoa is May 21 – June 29, and the second session July 2 – Aug 10, 2012 and my Vegas girls will stay for both sessions.

Label change for birth control pills containing Drospirenone: Birth Control Pills Containing Drospirenone: Label Change-Products may be associated with a higher risk for blood clots

“FDA has completed its review of recent observational (epidemiologic) studies regarding the risk of blood clots in women taking drospirenone-containing birth control pills. Based on this review, FDA has concluded that drospirenone-containing birth control pills may be associated with a higher risk for blood clots than other progestin-containing pills.” The full Safety Alert can be found HERE

The FDA Approved Oral Contraceptives containing Drospirenone are:

Drospirenone and ethinyl estradiol: Drospirenone 3 mg and ethinyl estradiol 0.03 mg
Ocella: Drospirenone 3 mg and ethinyl estradiol 0.03 mg
Safyral: Drospirenone 3 mg, ethinyl estradiol 0.03 mg, and levomefolate calcium 0.451 mg
Syeda: Drospirenone 3 mg and ethinyl estradiol 0.03 mg
Yasmin: Drospirenone 3 mg and ethinyl estradiol 0.03 mg
Zarah: Drospirenone 3 mg and ethinyl estradiol 0.03 mg
Beyaz: Drospirenone 3 mg, ethinyl estradiol 0.02 mg and levomefolate calcium 0.451 mg
Drospirenone and ethinyl estradiol: Drospirenone 3 mg and ethinyl estradiol 0.02 mg
Gianvi: Drospirenone 3 mg and ethinyl estradiol 0.02 mg
Loryna: Drospirenone 3 mg and ethinyl estradiol 0.02 mg
Yaz: Drospirenone 3 mg and ethinyl estradiol 0.02 mg

Ballet-sex training, Lesbians and diaphragms

Escort in Suffolk shoes during ballet-sex training

Solo ballet-sex training: As I mentioned in a comment on my post for March 31, 2012 [Ballet-sex exams, dome suction] in that post I didn’t go into all the hours of solo training each girl spends perfecting her compartmentalization skills to be able to control her legs and vaginal muscles while balancing en pointe during penile vaginal intercourse. In Solo training she works en pointe fully penetrated from behind, having backed on to a suction mounted dildo attached to the mirror in an encounter Sallé. That way she can perfect the angle and depth of penetration she needs to successfully reach orgasm, so that when she is with a man she can guide him to give her exactly what she needs before her tight spasming bands of vaginal muscles milk him of the last drop of the thick cream filled with his seed. Practicing alone a student can quickly determine the most comfortable and safest angle for being penetration. Being penetrated at an angle significantly off the long axis of the vagina can lead to having a diaphragm/gas-guard under-thrust or quickly developing painful vaginal tears.

The small encounter Sallé preferred for solo training has three mirrored walls one with a barre and a digital media player for music. Each escort/or student brings her own reproductive tract protection, diaphragms or cervical caps, penetrative devices, dildos or a Penetrator Plug (for cervical orgasms from rubbing her pelvis against a barre bracket) and lubricating gel (typically DiveGel+) as well as a good decongestant, a ball-gag and gasmask or respirator to compromise her ability to breathe worn to simulate the exertion experienced during extended encounter sessions. We also recommend that students who don’t have an IUD inserted/implanted also carry in their dance bag a few condoms and a tube of Semécide spermicide. The condoms are in case she calls for an instructor and he needs to demonstrate a particular thrusting technique and the Semécide is back-up in case the condom breaks or slips off. Use of stimulating gels (such as K-Y Intense) during training is forbidden as their use tends to make the woman less interested in learning how to get the most intense experience from her training equipment.

UNLV Lesbian Subs and diaphragms: At the clinic we are seeing more lesbian students coming in to be fitted for diaphragms. This seems to be happening because there are several lesbian Dommes who have begun trolling UNLV for partners and who enjoy giving their Submissives very rough sex with a strap-on. The Dommes, not wanting to permanently damage submissive partners, are sending them to us to be fitted with protection for the G-spot and cervix. We are fitting them with diaphragms to prevent epithelium tears during strap-on encounters. Since with lesbian strap-on vaginal sex there is usually no danger of pregnancy (unless the strap-on has a spring loaded syringe for ‘ejaculate’) no spermicide is necessary, but a good thick silicone gel (DiveGel+) is used. For vaginal strap-on sex the diaphragm I’m fitting the Subs with is a silicone Milex arcing spring. That’s because the Milex arcing spring rim is more difficult to under-thrust than an All-Flex or Omniflex. Also important is that the Milex dome is thicker than All-Flex, Reflexions and Semina so the friction of the strap-on tip against the dome won’t wear a thin spot in the dome too quickly. And, the thicker dome provides some measure of thrust buffering if the Domme wants to batter her Sub’s cervix.

Warming/stimulating gels and diaphragms: At the clinic we are finding that stimulating gels, like K-Y Intense, applied to the inner surface of diaphragm domes in place of spermicide are becoming a popular experience enhancer at vanilla sex parties. Vaginal use of Intense is not recommended by the maker and even when used on the clitoris as directed about 25% of the women who try it find it has no effect or they are allergic to the ingredients. However, that vaginal application is an off-label use hasn’t slowed its increasing popularity among twenty somethings to heighten the woman’s experience.

Intense can be purchased on the internet in bulk to drop the cost of an application (about 10 vaginal applications to a container instead of the 20 recommended for application to the clitoris) to about $2.50 per application. That’s because you need about twice as much as is recommended for application to the clitoris to make sure the G-spot is stimulated. Solo sex using a G-spot vibrator or riding a Sybian machine is spectacularly enhanced because the user has control of the depth, direction and pressure of the vaginal probe, but using a diaphragm with a mechanically rotating plug (like a Sybian) inserted can shorten the life of even a Milex Arcing spring the most structurally robust diaphragm available.

The Real estate market and Porn Palaces: Taryn’s video company has leased several secluded estates in the Spring Mountains. They are lovely homes with large enclosed pools that had been foreclosed on and she has had them refurbished for use as sets for porn films. This arrangement is working a lot better than trying to sneak into a foreclosed property and possibly have the real estate agent appear during a shoot or worse the police. This way there are no bribes to pay, no possibility of arrest, access is 24/7 and there is plenty of room to stage camera and editing equipment. The cost of the lease and right of first refusal to purchase if the bank finds a buyer is about the same and there is far more stability on the set for the actors and crew and much less drama off-camera.

Depo-Provera and breast cancer: “There appears to be a link between an injectable form of progestin-only birth control, best known as Depo-Provera, and an increased risk of breast cancer in young women, new research suggests.” For the complete article click HERE

Personal comment: If it weren’t bad enough that using the injectable progestin Depo-medroxyprogesterone acetate causes weight gain in a significant percentage of users as well as loss of bone density now there seems to be a doubled risk of breast cancer with use of the injectable contraceptive for a year. There may be good reasons that some few women need to use Depo-medroxyprogesterone acetate, but it is a hormonal method to avoid if possible.

At St Lucy’s we forbid students to use Depo-Provera unless they must, because no other women controlled contraceptive method will work for them. Currently no St Lucy’s student is on Depo.

Ballet-sex exams, dome suction

Changing into Gaynors for pointe-sex training

Training for AST finals: as the end of the school year approaches forth form girls are beginning to seriously train to be able to successfully have sex while en pointe: be able to orgasm and still retain enough control to milk their partners while remaining firmly en pointe. Being able to do that successfully and gracefully is as much an exercise in compartmentalization as it is in physical strength and stamina and it takes a lot of practice to be able to do it confidently. Even then there is an emotional component that will vary depending who the woman’s partner is and the more she likes him the more difficult it is to compartmentalize what he is doing to her to prevent going rubber-legged and falling off pointe before she orgasms and milks him. That is why we have different levels of very personable young trainers with gorgeous bodies. The students begin with a highly skilled but ordinary looking partner and as the students become more accomplished they are pared with more gorgeous partners until they can successfully have a vaginal orgasm and milk all the thick cream out of a young god w/o falling off pointe.

We start their training by having them attempt sex en pointe with a young god – taken from behind while bent over holding on to the barre - just to show them how easily a gorgeous, accomplished and attentive man can mind-fuck them so they are totally in his thrall and have so little control over their legs they can hardly stand much less remain en pointe during the encounter. That gives them some idea of the value of compartmentalization and why they need to be able to master it to have successful sex en pointe regardless of their previous ballet training. St Lucy’s AST girls get a break, being allowed to practice and take the exam wearing Gaynor Minden pointes rather than their performance shoes made of traditional materials. Escort trainees are required to pass the exam wearing shoes made of traditional materials which takes an additional level of strength and stamina.

UNLV women and dive protection: As swimsuit season draws nearer the sorority women are spending more time at the gym toning their bodies for bikini weather and spending time at Body Buffers having their estheticians give them Brazilian bikini wax treatments to remove all but a tiny ‘landing strip’ of pubic hair so no man will think they are underage. I prefer being totally waxed of all hair except eyebrows and scalp hair because I think it presents a more flowing line under a thong, but it’s a matter of personal preference.

A lot of sorority women, especially grad students who are more adventuresome, are asking to be fitted with latex flat spring diaphragms for use as gas-guards for protection during underwater sex. Many started out trying FemCap, but found that the fit wasn’t quite right or their partners hit the removal strap or the edge of the brim and found FemCap uncomfortable. While diaphragms aren’t suitable for every woman for those who are young and have a deep post pubic vault and don’t have a latex allergy the Reflexions can be extremely effective.

Diaphragms have really caught on at UNLV after the ‘Ringlets’ wore Milex Omniflex diaphragms while on a diving trip to Cancun during the Christmas break. [For more about that see my post for January 21, 2012.] But the Omniflex was being used to hold NuvaRings in place during occasional underwater vanilla sex. What the sorority sisters coming in for fittings want now is to get the huge increase in under-thrust protection provided by Reflexions flat spring rim diaphragms (over that provided by silicone Omniflex) when they need gas guards during dive-sex.

Omniflex and Reflexions are equally as effective during vanilla sex, but Omniflex can be easily under-thrust if the male partner knows how while, as I’ve previously mentioned it is almost impossible to under-thrust a flat spring rim and maximum protection is what’s needed to enjoy frequent and worry free dive-sex. I’m so pleased that more young women are finding or switching to Reflexions because that’s what I’ve been trying to get women divers to do for years. It seems to be catching on since it’s become common knowledge locally that elite escorts specializing in dive-sex now wear them, though that usage began for latex fetish reasons as I mentioned in an earlier post.

Reflexions diaphragms – increasing dome suction: for a woman who has strong vaginal muscle tone and is not allergic to latex and is serious about maximizing the effectiveness of her diaphragm I think that the Reflexions flat spring is her best choice. That’s because its thin strong spring folds in a single plane making it nearly impossible to under-thrust or displace during intercourse and the rim won’t distort on SCUBA dives deeper than 10 meters. Readers not interested in the details of maximizing the effectiveness of the Reflexions should skip this section.

One of the tricks that I’ve found helps stabilize a diaphragm is to increase the vacuum in the dome prior to needing it for both contraception and upper reproductive tract protection (URP) during dive sex. But increasing the vacuum in the dome doesn’t work for everyone. To stand the best chance of being able to increase dome suction a latex diaphragm should be used because the dome is stretchier than silicone ones. It is also important for the woman to have a well defined post-pubic vault and a very well fitting diaphragm so that the when correctly inserted the anterior rim is in the wearer’s pubic notch when she is unaroused.

Another factor, vaginal rugae; the transverse ridges or folds in the vaginal epithelium, the thick mucous membrane coating the wall of a healthy vagina, that allow it to expand in length and diameter during arousal and child birth, is important in developing a strong vacuum. In some older women or women who are estrogen deficient the rugae are thinner or not as flexible so the rim might not be able to sink into the soft tissue enough to grip the vaginal walls to develop a strong seal. For these women the diaphragm and spermicide combination will work effectively to kill the few sperm that leak past the rim during vanilla sex, but may not sustain a strong suction (or any suction) in the dome that would provide additional seal stability necessary for effective URP during dive-sex.

For women whose anatomies will permit it pumping down is done by the wearer inserting the Reflexions and placing it correctly so her cervix is covered by the dome and the anterior rim is in her pubic notch. Then squatting and pushing down as she would to have a bowel movement which pushes her cervix toward the entrance to her vagina. Since the diaphragms posterior rim is behind the cervix and the anterior rim in the pubic notch the rim is held against her pubic bone and the dome is filled and stretched by the cervix so that any remaining air in the folds of the dome is squeezed out. After three or for compressions like that the vacuum in the dome is sufficiently increased so that most wearers whose anatomies permit increasing dome suction can feel slight pressure on the cervix from the dome being stretched tight over the tip of the cervix. At removal the wearer has to insert a finger between the vaginal wall and the rim to break the seal and release the vacuum.

For me a really nice thing about pumping down the vacuum in a Reflexions diaphragm is that the latex stretches over the cervix as the vacuum pulls it into the void created by the anterior fornix causing a slight upward pressure on the cervix that I mentioned. Some women can’t stand the feeling, but I love it as it’s a sign that my barrier is in place and under strong vacuum making it even harder to displace no matter how large or rough my partner might be.