Viral Vid Scares Teens into Safe Sex?

A viral video out of the UK that shows teens rushing toward a screaming melee on a high school sports field turns out not to be what you may think. The group of teens has gathered in a circle not to view a game injury or even watch a fight, but to see a pregnant teen giving birth.

The video crosses the line into Really Explicit when we see a tiny head pop out from between the screaming girl’s legs. The video, shot with an iPhone camera, promotes a docu-drama series, launching June 1, on the Web site HeyBabe.co.uk. HeyBabe (Be Aware Be Educated) is a site run by NHS (National Health Services) Leicester to provide support and information to sexually active teens in Leicester, England.

The video closes with the words: “Not what you expected? Being a teenage parent might not be either.”

YouTube banned the video a mere 24 hours after NHS Leicester posted it, saying it was a violation of their terms of service, which prohibits the show of gratuitous violence.

Oddly, Youtube then allowed the same video, branded with information about the docu-drama series it promotes tacked onto the end, to remain on their site. The video also still airs at HeyBabe.com.

Representatives from NHS Leicester Trust said they filmed the video because previous marketing tactics of pamphlets and posters weren’t getting the attention of teens and teen pregnancy is running rampant in Leicester, with one out of every 20 girls, ages 15 to 17, pregnant.

So what’s the problem with the viral video?

I have a number of problems with the video. If you’re going to shock teens into paying attention – and I’m all for that – don’t do it with misinformation and melodrama. Viewing the bloody scene may scare teens out of the thought of giving birth; in fact, I wouldn’t be surprised if it terrifies nearly any woman of childbearing age who may happen upon the video. I’m definitely glad it came out after I gave birth! Considering the video’s been viewed more than 72,000 times (and counting), and has attracted the attention and ire of the mom blogger community, I wonder how many women have already made panicked calls to their moms, friends, sisters or ob/gyns?

But childbirth doesn’t have to be like that at all – not for a young teen or for anyone. Rather than scaring a teen out of having sex, it’s more likely to scare a teenage mother-to-be straight into a scheduled c-section. And that’s not really a desirable option – not for the pocketbook of the health care system, the mother’s well-being, or the infant, for that matter.

Teenagers are impulsive, “instant gratification” types and while the video may temporarily scare them out of ever wanting to have children, I don’t think it will scare them out of having sex. It might not even scare them enough that they will remember to use protection.

However, it’s important to remember the video is only one part of a larger campaign. And NHS Leicester admitted the video was designed to get teens’ attention. In that regard, it has succeeded.

It will be interesting to follow the rest of the marketing campaign and view the docu-drama when it launches. It will be even more interesting to compare teen pregnancy rates after the docu-drama has made the rounds.

I commend NHS Leicester for trying to tackle a very difficult problem. As a natural childbirth advocate, I just wish they had been a bit more responsible in doing so.

How to Make a Porno, Part 2

In a previous post, How to Make a Porno, Part 1, we covered what you need to put together your own X-rated masterpiece. This post will talk about camera angles, video editing, and what to do with your porn once it’s produced.

You’re ready to film! The most important thing to remember is to relax. You can forget the camera’s there if it will make you feel better, or you might want to ham it up and peer seductively at the lens for an uber-sexy shot. Don’t forget to striptease for the camera. Shoes, if they are sexy stilettos, can stay on for the duration of the scene.

Some shots are a standard in most porno flicks. You may want to include some (or all) of these:

Close-up of penetration – For a really sexy view, have the woman place one leg on a sofa, and then hold the camera down below, pointing upward.

Masturbation shots – These are even hotter when they take place during penetration. Try different angles to get the best view.

Spanking – Mild BDSM, including spanking or simple restraints, gives your video that naughty, “more than vanilla” feel.

Don’t forget to pan up to capture facial expressions, especially when she cums.

Cum shots – You can’t go wrong with a facial. Or a nice, dripping wet cream pie. Another favorite is to cum on her tits and then have her rub it all over herself, and letting her pause to lick her fingers. These final moments can put your amateur film over-the-top, so to speak, so you’ll want to make sure it’s a moment to remember. Take a few minutes before you start your film to discuss and decide how you want it to end.

To keep it interesting, remember to switch positions and camera angles often. No one (probably not even the movie-makers) wants to watch two people banging in missionary position for 20 minutes.

If you have basic video editing software, you can keep the best scenes and toss the ones you don’t like, or cut any scene that goes too long. You can also use editing software to cut from scene to scene, avoiding any on-screen panning and zooming, which can make some viewers dizzy or ill. But by leaving in all the transitions, you’ll give your movie a homemade “Cloverfield” feel.

You can also play around with lighting for some cool effects, or go for a darker look, perhaps with faces in the shadows.

Now that you’ve made your very first porno, you can think about avenues of distribution… Just kidding! The safest place for your homemade porn is a file folder buried a few levels deep on your computer’s hard drive, with some innocuous name that makes sense only to you and your partner. Or you can simply burn a DVD and keep it in the bottom of a dresser drawer.

If you decide you really want to share your work of art with the world, remember—it’s potentially very easy for people to stumble across your DVD if you post it on YouTube, even if you don’t use your name. Would you really want a co-worker to see how you spent your weekend?

The Rise of Spornography

“Let’s have fun with sex and stop being afraid of some freaking digital penises.”

This may be – no, it definitely is – the funniest line I’ve read all week. I won’t even try to match Neoseeker blogger Sean Ridgeley’s wit.  But I shouldn’t keep you wondering what he was talking about either, should I? I’m such a tease.

Electronic Arts, Inc. recently released the hottest new computer game phenomenon from Sims creator Will Wright. The long-awaited “Spore” permits players to create an entire universe beginning with tiny micro-organisms and evolve the world into literally billions of different life forms.  Social networking features permit your universe’s inhabitants to interact with other people’s creations.

And, surprise, surprise, what did some people immediately start to do? Use the program’s Creature Creator feature to build bizarre life forms with sexual organs as unexpected appendages.  Players then post these creatures and their interactions on YouTube for the amusement of others. A new genre, “Spornography,” has been born.

EA has announced that it will ban users who create sexually-explicit material. Some extremists have gone so far as to liken the strange animated characters to “child pornography,” because it’s accessible to anyone on the Internet and is created using an E-rated game. Will Wright, however, has told several news sources that he’s impressed by some of the creations.

To satisfy your sexual curiosity now that I’ve intrigued you with the notion of breast monsters and dancing dicks, here’s a link to The Exploding Barrel’s list of Top 10 Spornography videos.

While some Sporn spawn seems to lack any purpose other than to showcase the sophomoric imaginations of their creators, others look like they could be fairly functional with a couple of C batteries. Just imagine: the sex toy industry could take rabbits to a whole new level with the introduction of the Doc Johnson Spornography line.

Top Ten FREE Porn 2.0 NSFW Sites

I spend an inordinate amount of time surfing sites most would deem NSFW…while at work. Well that’s the luxury of working at Vibrator.com, all for the sake of research. So I thought I’d share with you some of the best places on the internet to check hot sexy stuff.

1. PornoTube: This was the first “YouTube” of porn sites I came across. It was refreshing to find a ‘web 2.0′ porn site after having been turned off for years with the sad state of porn thumbnail galleries. Sadly though as it became more popular the playback on the videos slowed down in fact the entire site became increasingly difficult to load. And my biggest complaint: they do not show the length of the video so you can’t weed out the crappy 20 second ‘teaser’ type of videos.
2. YouPorn: Before I found YouPorn I found Porncasting.tv. Porncasting was so freaking awesome, videos took little or no time to load, they showed the video length before you click on it so you don’t waste your time on the :20 teaser videos. But that bliss only lasted about 3 weeks when YouPorn bought them out and just redirected the URL to their site. Despite the fact that the playback is slow and choppy they have a great selection of free porn and a very simple to use interface.
3. X-Tube: Their tagline is Log on and Get off. And you do have log on, that is you have to create a free account which is relatively painless. Once you log on you can watch short videos and you have the option to buy (fairly cheap prices) the full length version. It’s fine because the teaser videos are a decent length. The nice thing about this site is that it very well categorized and doesn’t entirely depend on people tagging their submission, which has a larger a margin of error in properly categorizing a video for good search results.
4. BoysFood: The nice thing about Boys Food is that they label every one of their videos so you know whether it’s a video that has been uploaded and is watchable, if it’s just a clip or full length or if it is a link to another site. They also allow people to comment on videos (you have to register and be logged in to do that.) And you can also add videos you like to your favorites folder or easily download to you computer. A really well organized site.
5. SocialPorn: Dubbed as the “Digg” of Porn, it’s a great place to discover new stuff or tell people about some good sites you have found. The nice thing is that when someone finds a hot video or a great thumbnail gallery they post a link it to and others vote so you have it on pretty good authority that the good stuff rises to the top.
6. SnizzShare: Has mostly shortened versions of longer professional videos to entice you to click through to their site and pay for the full version.
7. The Uncensored: This site is a sort of “hot or not” for amateur pics. Personally I think amateur pics are way hotter than studio shots of ragged porn stars.
8. Juxel: A lot like SocialPorn this site is a user submitted porn link aggregator. Their tagline is “no popups, no fake links, no bullshit. the world’s first web 2.0 porn site”, and as far as I can tell it lives up to the claim.
9. EonSex: This is a porn search engine. You type in what your looking for and it searches 1,725,238 free galleries from 36,706 sources, for anything you could possible want. It’s images only but I’m sure some smart guy out there will develop a free video search engine soon (please!)
10. SexByRSS: For the more tech savvy porn surfer this site lets you pick your favorite porn categories and create an RSS feed that you can read in your feedreader. The advantage to this is that you you don’t have to visit the sites directly (and therefore get in trouble at work) but you can still get your daily dose of hot stuff via RSS. Brilliant!

Well, there you have it. Now you know exactly how I spend my days. But please heed my warning, don’t surf these sites at work unless you’re lucky enough to have a job like mine.

Up and coming sites:
SlutLoad
EveKnows