Vibrator.com at the “Sex and the City” NYC Premiere

The New York premiere of “Sex and the City” took Radio City by storm last night. Not even the scattered showers deterred the die-hard fans and Carrie wanabees. Vibrator.com was there to capture the night in full.

From mid-morning, fans lined up outside of Radio City Music Hall to catch a glimpse of the “Sex” stars and claim their seat for this year’s most sought-after ticket. At one point, the line extended from 50th Street and 6th Avenue to 51st Street and 5th Avenue – an entire city block! Fans were dressed in their best evening attire and the sheer magnitude of the evening felt more like an awards show than a movie premiere. Thousands of Swarovski crystals adorned the pink carpet, and Vibrator.com stickers, t-shirts, and postcards (coincidently of the same color scheme) decorated the lapels and pockets of the masses.

Spokesmodels Desiree and Agathe worked the crowd, spreading a sex-positive message and introducing Vibrator.com to throngs of onlookers already familiar with vibrators like the Rabbit Pearl. While some mothers shielded their daughters’ eyes, many were receptive to Desiree and Agathe and happily accepted the swag. Others couldn’t get enough!

HOT 97 were there to catch Desiree ‘in the act’ with an interview on camera. We’ll be tracking down the footage to post whenever we can get our hands on it.

Cynthia Nixon, Kristin Davis, Kim Cattral, and Sarah Jessica Parker arrived on the pink carpet for photo ops and to greet adoring fans. Celebrities and proud New York residents Donald Trump, Regis Philbin, Ashley Olsen, and Eli Manning all came out for the celebration.

Hundreds of general admission ticketholders were turned away as the 6000 seat Radio City Music Hall became full to capacity.

Two and a half hours later, the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) hosted the premier’s afterparty, where countless A-list celebs gathered to party like they seem to do in Hollywood every other week. The “Sex and the City” series, and now the movie, depict an iconic New York in which an entire generation fantasized about living. While many of us could never afford an apartment like Carrie’s on a freelance writer’s salary, we can at least afford a movie ticket (and maybe some popcorn) when the film opens on Friday.

Do Aphrodisiacs Exist?

From rhinoceros horns to Spanish Fly, even oysters and chocolate-covered strawberries, mankind has relied on natural foods and herbs to boost his libido. But do they work?

According to an FDA report published in 2006, probably not.

But you don’t have to believe the FDA. Even renowned sex expert Dr. Ruth Westheimer has been quoted as saying, “There’s no such thing as a true aphrodisiac.”

It’s more likely that an aphrodisiac’s power lies in a person’s belief that it works… the old placebo effect. The mind is our most powerful sex organ, so if we believe a food will make us sexy, sensual and desirable, it will.

A food’s desire-boosting abilities may also have more to do with the environment in which it is eaten than the food itself. Sucking down oysters during a candlelight dinner, soft music playing, champagne sparkling in fine crystal flutes… Who wouldn’t begin to feel amorous?

The placebo effect is definitely powerful. That’s why certain foods, due to their nutritional value, the physiological effects they have on your body, and centuries of folklore, are considered highly effective aphrodisiacs.

Amy Reiley, author of Fork Me, Spoon Me: The Sensual Cookbook likes ginger, because it makes your tongue tingle and swells your lips, turning them red and kissable, and also raises your body temperature slightly.

You won’t get these effects from a can of Canada Dry, though. Try some fresh ginger in a crisp veggie stir fry or make your own homemade ginger ale to really experience the powerful herb.

Discovery Health recommends asparagus, chili peppers and chocolate for their stimulating powers. Asparagus is rich in Vitamin E, thought to stimulate production of sex hormones. Chili peppers release capsaicin, a chemical that stimulates our nerve endings and also releases endorphins. And dark chocolate—in addition to its creamy, sweet taste and sensual texture—contains phenylethylamine, which gives us a natural high. Recent studies show that dark chocolate not only makes us feel good, it’s good for the heart, too.

Even if the aphrodisiac effect in these foods is purely psychological, nutritionists and sex experts agree that healthy foods are more likely to have long-term positive effects on your sex drive by giving you more energy and helping you look and feel better.

But there’s one aphrodisiac that won’t even count toward your daily caloric intake: regular exercise. The release of testosterone during workouts, along with feel-good endorphins and adrenaline, has been shown to boost the sex drives of both men and women.

A friend of mine says he’s started having sex three times a day since he began working out. I know an hour of bicycle-riding on the weekend always puts me in the mood. Besides, regular exercise will help you look better, feel better about yourself, and give you more energy. What’s not to love about that?

Bedtime Stories

When your lover says “talk dirty to me,” does your mind go blank and your tongue turn frigid? It’s tough to come up with creative, enticing, sexy statements that don’t sound like a bad porno.

In all likelihood, your lover doesn’t care exactly what you say, so long as you’re talking. Be honest about your thoughts and feelings, and describe your fantasies in as much detail as you can muster. You can always do a play-by-play, too, of what you’re doing to him or her—or what you’d like your lover to do to you.

But if you just can’t bring yourself to come up with enough dirty deeds and words to satisfy, why not let someone else do the hard part?

From Penthouse Magazine’s monthly letters (also collected in several books) to Anne Roquelaire’s Sleeping Beauty series, there’s enough erotica out there to keep you talking dirty for days.

It’s worth noting that some writers and readers choose to make distinctions between erotica and porn. Personally, I’ve always thought of erotica as having a plot and character development intertwined with scintillating sexual scenes. Porn gets straight to the sex.

When it comes down to it, however, the distinctions are irrelevant. Some couples may get turned on by the love scenes in a Harlequin romance, while others will seek the Fetish section of Literotica for their fix.

What makes books and stories better than off-the-cuff dirty talk? First, you can hide your eyes behind the book—a great bonus for someone who’s shy. Reading aloud can be even more titillating than talking dirty; it forces you to prolong the foreplay. Waiting to initiate sexual contact until the climax and resolution of the story can be hot! Trust me, you don’t want anything too long… no more than 10 pages or a few thousand words. The Wet collection features seven short, sensual stories that are perfect for reading aloud before bed.

Whatever your choice of–ahem–literature, here are a few tips for reading:

Take it slow. Take deep breaths between sentences, and pause after particularly racy scenes to let the experience sink in. Build tension by slowing down your speech.

You may naturally speak a little faster during action sequences or when the author uses a lot of short sentences in a row, but you never want to sound like you’re rushing to get to the next page.

Make sure to enunciate, don’t mumble. Also, don’t talk into the book as this will muffle your voice.

Use inflection. Remember those kids in school who used to read like robots? It was painful then, and it’s no fun to hear it now. Pretend you’re telling a story (which you are) and use natural inflection in your voice. If you can do it without sounding (or feeling) silly, you may even want to come up with different voices for different characters.

The first few times I read to my lover, I tried for a sexy, breathless “phone sex operator” voice and quickly discovered it was hard to keep up. Speak in whatever way feels natural to you, so long as it’s clear and slow. Most importantly, relax and enjoy the story yourself! That’s part of the fun!

Options Beyond Abstinence: Government Takes Another Look at Sex Ed Funding

For decades, ever since boys and girls were brought into separate rooms in fifth grade and shown grainy films with titles like, “My Body, My Self,” Sex Ed has been a hot topic of controversy. Many of us, to this day, aren’t quite certain what went on in the “other” room, and it was never discussed between boys and girls.

Today, it’s all too clear what’s being taught in publicly-funded sex ed classes for middle and high school students—and it’s all too clear that it’s not effective education, either. Since 1998, the U.S. government has provided 1.3 billion dollars in funding for abstinence-only sex education programs in public schools. And, as Jon Stewart so succinctly put it in his segment titled “The Global War in Your Pants: “Apparently, teenagers STILL want to do it!”

Older studies have shown that students who receive abstinence-only education are inclined to delay sexual activity longer than those who receive a well-rounded, or comprehensive, sex education, but that one-third of those students taught an “abstinence-only-until-marriage” curriculum are not using condoms when they do have intercourse. Teaching abstinence-only, when teens fail to listen, does nothing to prevent the spread of STDs and HIV. A group called Advocates for Youth calls abstinence-only education “ineffective, unethical and poor public health.” The group’s report spotlights just some of the misinformation being spread to teens in abstinence-only classes.

A recent study by the CDC shows that teenage boys who had comprehensive sex ed in school were 71 percent less likely than those with no sex education whatsoever to have intercourse before the age of 15, and were also more likely to use contraceptives the first time they had sex. Other reports show that comprehensive sex ed programs hold the most promise for lowering the rate of teen pregnancy and the spread of STDs.

Fortunately, these findings have opened the eyes of policymakers in Washington, and the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform held its first-ever hearing on abstinence-only-until-marriage sex ed programs last month. A number of witnesses, including researchers and other health professionals, touted the advantages of comprehensive sex education, and said that federal funding should go toward comprehensive sex ed, which has proven to be effective. Currently, federal funding is only available for abstinence-only curriculum.

If parents, or even parochial schools, wish to teach abstinence, that’s their prerogative and I support that wholeheartedly. But government funding – and public school sex ed – should focus on unbiased, medically-sound, and practical, sex education, including such topics as the use of condoms and other birth control methods.

HPV Vaccine: Cancer Prevention or Corporate Profits?

There’s a lot more to the HPV vaccination debate than whether or not it will encourage sexual activity in young women by providing peace of mind in the form of protection against one sexually transmitted virus. Merck’s HPV vaccine, Gardasil, is purported to protect against two strains of Human papillomavirus (HPV), which could lead to cervical cancer, and two strains of the virus connected to genital warts.

The debate pits public interest groups and the profits of one of the largest drug companies in the world against conservative ideals and unrealistic beliefs about sexual activity and teens. But there’s more to the argument. The vaccine is under attack by many leaders in the field of natural health and concerned parents on both sides of the political fence. With the health and well-being of tens of millions of young women at stake, who do you believe? Is Gardasil effective, and, more importantly, is it safe? Some say it’s neither.

Mike Adams, known as the Health Ranger, exposes what he calls the “Great HPV Vaccine Hoax,” in a special report at Natural News. At the core of his argument is the assertion that, according to an FDA report, most HPV infections are “short-lived and not associated with cervical cancer.” Additionally, if the vaccine is given to a young woman already carrying HPV in a dormant state, it could activate the infection, causing precancerous legions, according to Adams.

Equally scary are attempts to push the vaccination on young boys! Clearly, they are not at risk for cervical cancer, but Merck claims the vaccine will help prevent the spread of HPV and genital warts. It sounds to me like they are just trying to widen the market for this new “miracle vaccine,” without considering the possible long-term health consequences.

In what looks like another attempt to force usage and increase profits, the powerful pharmaceutical lobbyists have convinced many states to introduce legislation making the vaccination mandatory for girls entering sixth grade. According to recent accounts, none of the bills have passed yet, and those without an opt-out clause for philosophical or religious reasons have died. In Texas, Governor Rick Perry signed an executive order mandating the vaccine for all girls entering the sixth grade. Upon careful examination, we discover that Perry’s former chief of staff, Mike Toomey, is now a Merck lobbyist. Perry also allegedly received significant funds from Merck’s political action committee in 2006. However, the Texas legislature over-rode the executive order.

Understandably, many parents are up in arms about the vaccine, and especially about the government trying to mandate its use. Because Gardasil only works if a woman has not been exposed to HPV, it is most effective in young girls who have never had sex. Some medical professionals recommend starting the vaccine, given in a series of 3 shots over 6 months, at age 9.

Some parents believe the vaccine will encourage promiscuity or sex without a condom. Others simply can’t fathom the thought of their daughters having sex, and eschew any discussions along those lines.

This faction ignores the fact that adolescent girls turn into grown women who do, indeed, have sex and who also have the right to protect themselves against sexually transmitted infections. Fifty percent of all sexually active women have, at one point, contracted HPV. If the vaccine really works, it offers the chance to beat those odds.

These “watchdog” groups hide their true objections behind the medical arguments, which are more difficult to refute. So we’re back to the original question: does Gardasil work?

The fact is, existing evidence does not consider the long-term effects of the vaccine. (It hasn’t been around long enough). However, clinical studies have shown Gardasil to be more than 95 percent effective in protecting against four different strains of HPV.

In deciding whether to have your daughter (or yourself, if you’re under the age of 26) vaccinated, consider this: all vaccines carry some risks. Do the drawbacks (which may or may not be evident at this time) outweigh the benefits of becoming, as the commercial goes, “One less?” Like most decisions related to sexual activity, lifestyle and your health, it’s a decision only you can make.