Danny Wylde as himself, and in yellowface for his role in Burning Angel's porn parody of The Walking Dead

Two events this month highlighted why alternative sexuality communities, which pride themselves on an ethic of broad tolerance, remain so overwhelmingly white. First, a January 31 story in Jezebel publicized the decision of porn mogul Joanna Angel to portray an Asian character by putting a white actor in yellowface. In Burning Angel's porn parody of The Walking Dead, white actor Danny Wylde was cast in the part of the Korean-American character Glenn, with his complexion yellowed and the skin around his eyes taped back into narrow slits.

Modus Vitae Media

Siouxsie Q, who runs This American Whore podcast

On Feb. 5, Exhibitionist writer Chris Hall broke a story about local podcast This American Whore, run by Siouxsie Q, who in January started to receive e-mails from lawyers representing Chicago Public Media and Ira Glass, demanding that she change the name of her podcast or face legal action. Hall postulated that the podcast was being singled out for its sex worker content. Today, Ira Glass responded to the post, in an e-mail sent by Seth Lind, director of operations at This American Life.

See Also: This American Life Tells Local Podcaster: No Whores Allowed

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One upon a time, in an apartment on London's west side lived Mike (straight) and Hal (gay). Each had a very extensive pornography collection which they shared, despite their different tastes, with the kind of obsessive glee normally reserved for vinyl. To go into Mike's room, a thing I did more than once (wink wink), was to be instantly assaulted by piles of computer hardware and stacks upon stacks of sex videos. Hal's porn, no less prolific, lived inside a wooden cabinet and was largely hidden by his multi-sized (and multi-colored) dildo collection. Same love, different expression. But despite their commitment to the art of the skin flick, neither of them qualify as being a porn addict. They are out and proud and currently, both are happily married.

On left, the extraterrestrial Teen Titan, Starfire; on right, the image redrawn for The Hawkeye Initiative by Lauren Armstrong

The concept behind the hot new Tumblr, the Hawkeye Initiative, is simple: In order to demonstrate just how much superhero comics distort the bodies of female characters, fans take real comic art and redraw it, replacing the female characters with Hawkeye, perhaps the least interesting character ever to grace the pages of a Marvel comic.

See also:

Love and Rockets Celebrates 30 Years of Queer, Punk Comic Genius

Good Vibrations Sex Summit Is a Veritable Sex-Nerd Orgy

Well, we hoped it wouldn't happen but we knew deep down that it would -- Facebook appears to be ruining Instagram. When the popular photo editing and sharing service was sold to Facebook for a whopping $1 billion earlier this year, we worried that their privacy policy might change for the worse. Sure enough, Instagram announced their new Terms of Service this week, and it included the unfortunate news that the company can now sell your photos, name, and other personal data to advertisers, without notifying you. There's no way to opt out of the policy, which goes into effect on January 16, 2013, except to delete your account. If you haven't done so by the January deadline, all your photos and personal information will become fair game.

See also:

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In our increasingly secular society, dogma of all kinds has been losing ground. That is, except when it comes to dating. Ellen Fein and Sherrie Schneider, authors of The Rules have, since 1995, been claiming that they know the method for nabbing Mr. Right.

Like the priests of romance, they demand faithfulness from their acolytes. Ever unsatisfied, they are continuing to spread word with the upcoming publication of yet another book, Not Your Mother's Rules: The New Secrets for Dating. Whew, just in time, we would have been so lost without their entirely original and groundbreaking advice telling us how to deal with dating now that there is the Internet.

See also:

The Sweet Spot: The Only Dating Advice You Need

The Sweet Spot: When Privates Go Public

The University of California announced Friday that it was foregoing use of a system-wide monogram that spurned controversy and outcry over social media.

The logo was unveiled in November as an alternative to the university's Victorian seal and stood as a symbol for a new marketing campaign called Onward California, which aimed to build awareness and support for the work of UC students, faculty, staff, alumni, and partners.

See also:

Video of the Day: Learn to Write from Lemony Snicket

Body Hair Included: Mills College Gets a Painting by Feminist Artist Sylvia Sleigh

When the story broke on Monday that the American Psychology Association had officially approved changes to the new edition of the DSM (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders) that included removing "Gender Identity Disorder," my Facebook feed lit up with enthusiastic reposts of the news. Makes sense. On its face, the announcement seems like a step in the right direction: It seems to suggest that transgender folks will no longer be considered, at least semantically, fundamentally disordered at the level of our identities. That's a win, for sure. Who wants to be pathologized? Not me!

See also:

Being Transgender No Longer a Medical Disorder, DSM Revised

Transverse: Trans Awareness Week! Sundance's New Series, and the "Sex-Change Sweethearts"

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Long ago, I poured a pint for a fellow who asked me to advise him about his love life. Or rather, his sex life. I began to give him the usual lines: Don't have an agenda, be a giver, etc. But then he said, "Nah. I just really want to fuck. I don't want to have to know their name. Just a really good ramming, you know?" I abruptly cut off lines of communication and gave him my friend Anya's business card (not her real name). Dominatrix extraordinaire, she would know just how to handle him. Thank god for the professionals.

See also:

Remembering Robyn Few, the Patron Saint of Sex Workers

"Cupcake Lady" Brings Sweets -- and Hope -- to Sex Workers in S.F. Strip Clubs

"Put your money where your mouth is!"

The barely disguised brothel dating-auction website WhatsYourPrice.com, whom you may remember from that time they tried to turn the Dark Knight massacre into a PR opportunity, is back and eager to tell us what kind of prostitute woman is most pleasing to San Francisco men ... or at least the kind of men that would pay for the privilege of dating said woman. Turns out the "perfect woman" is a brunette, with blue eyes, and a Master's degree, and that she would cost $255.52.

Our sister blog the Snitch has the breakdown on this most pressing of news stories:

See also:

Reasons We Want to Rage-Quit Earth

and What Would We Do without Manatees