Spotlight on Community Partner This month, SWAN talked to sexual health educator, sex work activist and dominatrix Velvet Steele and asked her about lube.
For PDF click for download Summer 2014 SWANzine
Blog
Trans and gender-variant inclusion working group criticized for recommendations
Two transsexual activists say trans inclusion messages don’t belong on washroom signs.
I always found myself envious of the olfactory power of cats, dogs, and pretty much every animal other than homosapiens. The power to smell! It is such a powerful tool in the animal kingdom and for some reason we humans don’t quite have that ability. Sure we can utilize so many of our other senses, but when it gets right down to it , we love the smell of sex, sexuality, and desire! The before, the after, the heightened pheromones that get our drives going, but then we don’t really smell pheromones do we? They just activate our pleasure centres on a subconscious level and kick us into overdrive. (more…)
The gag reflex for beginners, it’s not as easy as you think!
I get asked this a lot, and god only knows why, but the question is how to control your gag reflex during oral play? Maybe it’s the aura I give off, but I want to remind you that I am human just like all of you and I encounter challenges just like anyone else! For now, let me share with you a little advice that you can take for whatever it’s worth.
We all like to think of ourselves as the best at providing oral pleasure and for those of you gifted, you’ve gotten past the gag reflex able to rise to the occasion like a true champion of deep throat diving. As you may, or may not know, it takes practice and sometimes a lot of practice, practice that’s not without it’s fair share of watery eyes, smeared makeup, and saliva you could fill a cup with. So if your cup runneth over, it’s nothing to be ashamed of, quite the contrary, you’re just fortunate enough to have salivary glands (more…)
Recently my personal trainer had the pleasure of beating me up, well I like to think he was beating me up but the truth is he was putting me through it after an almost two year hiatus on the part of both of us. He knows what I am all about and get up to in my spare time, so naturally we share stories and opinions with each other. Only this time was a bit different, not because of anything special, but more because of what he asked me, “so what’s sexy this week?” To be honest, the question made me think because I hadn’t actually given it any thought. I am so used to running around being inspired by pretty much any, and everything that comes across my path, but this week nothing had done that….yet!
At the gym the next day (cause I am obsessive compulsive) while reading the local edition of Vancouver 24 hrs, in an article about sexual consent, it occurred to me that what is sexy this week IS consensual sex! The article talked of pink packages being handed out at Simon Fraser University by the Women’s Centre aptly called the “Consent Toolbox”. The idea is to spread (more…)
As we all know the central core of Vancouver is jam packed with high-rise buildings to the point of being known as the most densely populated downtown in all of North America. It goes without saying that “things” get seen and “things” get done. The things I am talking about are sex, and lots of it! Downtown dwellers are doing it from the ground floor and up, all the way to the rooftop (and that equates to a lot of window space). I consider these as stages of the theatres in the sky of each and every building visible on the city skyline. Red-hot stages displaying the actions of the adventurous that have chosen not (more…)
How do you screen your clients? How do you know they are legit? How do you know you’ll be safe? Questions that always seemed to be asked of me when providing the services of a Pro-Domina was my main stay.
It wasn’t old hat from the get go, but let’s just say that it certainly didn’t take long! In the early days of using the phone, long before pagers and cell phones, yes I am going back a bit, security was of the utmost of importance. It wasn’t because I was reading horror stories of folks going missing because of sex work, it was because it made COMMON SENSE! (more…)
