Blog Posts by Erin Flaherty, Shine staff

Tom's been stirring the controversy pot for years, but his latest ad campaign takes the cake for making some folks just plain indignant, and starting a national conversation about ad bans and censorship. Feminists took one particular image (above) to heart because it alludes to a violent act against women, but I find Ford to be an equal opportunity debaser with this male version:


Um, keep in mind, these are ads for his new sunglasses collection, ahem. But anyhoo, his latest public plea comes in a New York Magazine blurb that claims Tom is irked that no one wants to look at dicks:

"Tom Ford has encountered yet another speed bump in his lifelong quest to make the world okay with male nudity. For the spring/summer issue of Britain's GQ Style, he wrote an impassioned essay questioning why exposed penises seem to be the last taboo. "As much as I've tried, it has been consistently harder to get images of nude men onto magazine pages and billboards than it has nude women," he wrote.

New York Magazine/You Tube
Remember Tricia Walsh, the jilted woman who decided to air her husband's dirty laundry out on You Tube? Well, she's back in action, this time in a long New York Magazine piece where she attempts to set the record straight, sort of:

"This whole thing is making me want to throw up. My dream was to get my plays on and for people to say she's not a dumb blonde. If you read my stuff, it's really thoughtful. I mean, I read all the philosophers and stuff like that. Do you think I really want to do bloody YouTube?"

She may read "philosophers and stuff" but I still think that You Tube stunt was two pearls short of classy. Anyone with me on this one?

Getty Images
Have a You Tube video you want to get lots of exposure? Either film a "Leave Britney Alone!" type of rant on the cusp of a celeb breakdown a la Chris Crocker or give your rant a racy winning edge above the competition by adding the letters "XXX" to the title. According to Buzzfeed, "Hundreds of millions of YouTube views go to 'fake porn' videos that actually don't show anything sexy at all." There's the video titled "XXX PORN XXX" that's actually an anti-government political rant with over 67 million views under its belt, "Extream Sex," which features the decidedly unsexy facts about poverty and world hunger, and ironically, "Sexy Nude Naked Wet Teen Sex," a lecture from some random (annoying and strangely self-rightous) kid that wishes the porn on You Tube would end!

What I want to know is, are we really that desperate to see porn online? In the future (like oh say, next year), will the evening news advertise teasers for an expose on "Kinky Underage Sex" that will actually just end

Image courtesy Manties.net
I recently stumbled across, and I do mean stumbled, tripped and fell over Manties, frilly, silk underwear for men that mimic more traditionally female panties that are uh, strong enough for a man. But wait, they're not just for cross-dressers! Any guy who's ever been panty curious is invited to join in the fun, and since they can easily be purchased under the guise of "gag gift," ahem, they're flying off the shelves. (Oh boy, just in time for Father's Day!)

But Manties aren't the only male naughties on the market, and it seems like we're looking at an international movement here. Check out the Japan-based undie company that made these intriguing, squeal inducing NSFW manties. And if you thought the official Manties site was um, verrry interesting, you'll really enjoy Lingerie 4 men, a New Zealand joke ad campaign run by Snickers (why are Kiwis so freakin' funny!?).

Of course, the only interesting lingerie news for women simply pales in comparison: In one of the saddest examples of

I've never understood the need for cutesy sex toys. I mean, what's the point? Is it because a vibrator in the shape of a rubber ducky makes it seem less naughty (seems to me, it kinda makes it more so)? Apparently, I just might be alone on this, because toy manufacturers keep churning out sex aides that look more suited to a kid's toy box than a grownup's. But hey, whatever floats your ducky.

Still, Guanabee contributing editor Gabriel Caro wrote such a funny review of the "Top 10 Inadvertently Adorable Sex Toys," that I felt compelled to share:

The Ladybug Pleaser Discreet Vibrator

If Mariah Carey were to ever be re-incarnated as a sex toy, we can safely bet this would be it. It's pink, round, glittery, and adorable, even though the vibrating is not enough to make us melisma our orgasms out. Seriously, this ----- would fit right in at Toys 'R Us, right next to the Bratz dolls and Hannah Montana clothing. Sucio! However, cute as it may be, it's not that popular with the ladies. One

AFP/Getty Images
R. Kelly isn't the only person who's having some closet-related issues. According to Yahoo News, 58-year-old Japanese woman Tatsuko Horikawa was found living in a man's closet, where she claimed she had been taking up "residence" in the tiny, flat storage space for over a year. (She was caught when the owner of the apartment started noticing food inexplicably missing from his fridge and set up a video camera.) Sadly, Ms. Horikawa might not be crazy so much as desperately homeless. Here's hoping she gets a real bed to replace the storage box.

Frederick M. Brown/Getty Images
Ah the cougar obsession continues, this time, with a UK website designed to hook up older women with their younger counterparts. And of course, the one dimensional term "cougar" itself may speak to the so-called predatory nature of these older women, but in the case of Toyboywarehouse.com, with 60 percent male members, it seems the cream is coming directly to the kitty. A recent Times UK article tried to dissect the phenomenon in a painstakingly long um, investigative (?) report that tried to address the question of why some younger men might be attracted to older women in the first place. Although I can think of about 500 reasons off the top of my head, 47-year-old Toyboy founder Julia Macmillan sums it up neatly when she points out that quite simply, "There are a lot of women over 40 who look fabulous and are very attractive to younger men. I think the whole idea of age is becoming increasingly irrelevant in our society. There are other things to consider such as attitude and

HBO
Frankly, I was a bit loathe to write anything regarding that show. I mean, it feels so been there, done that, and all the hype regarding the movie is beginning to make me a bit nauseous. For example, if I hear one more thing about how it's "the Superbowl for women" I'm gonna scream. (I have an idea: How about SATC is the "Golden Girls" of a generation? Pause. Reflect. Well, all the feminine stereotypes are securely in place...) But on the other hand, now that I have a more objective point of view about the show as it existed as a household phenomenon, I can appreciate what it did for coaxing us traditionally uptight Americans out of the closet when it comes to talking about sex, and that I can appreciate. So without further ado, here are some of the um, most meaningful (?) lessons we've gleaned from exposure to a little hit show called "Sex and the City":

It's not okay to break up via Post-it Note:

When Berger did it to Carrie, it was unconscionable, but now that we've seen