Towards a healthier view of our sexuality

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Drawn in by the headline of this article “Bizarre sex challenge men need to stop” I clicked and I read…

Apparently there are men out there who abstain for ejaculation during the month of November. 

They claim (with no evidence the article says) that it has sex/health benefits. Which seems unlikely. After all we know that regular ejaculation is good for prostate health if nothing else (reducing lifetime risk of prostate cancer by 33% and that benefit is greater the older we get).

While the article is rather all-over-the-place it does make the point that fads/challenges/rules etc about sex are more likely to encourage unhealthy thinking about our bodies and sex than they are to improve our sexual function.

That seems like a reasonable statement to me.

We all have baggage from our lives, from growing up, to learning about sex, to relationships, to marriage, having children. It all effects us, shapes who we are, including sexually.

Abstaining from sex for one month each year isn’t going to solve anyone’s problems or give them god-like powers in bed.

What will help though is looking inside ourselves and listening to the voice that tells you what you really want in your sex life. it took me personally fifteen years from puberty to really accept my sexuality and embrace it (then another ten to become a straight male escort for women, but that’s another story).

That voice may be telling you that all you want is some basic sex every now and then, or it might be saying that you want wild sex with multiple partners every weekend – and it doesn’t matter where you are on that spectrum, it’s all valid. What matters is that you listen to it and accept where your sexuality is at right now (because its going to change throughout our lives).

This doesn’t mean you have to act of those feelings – but the act of accepting that our sexuality is a certain way, rather than denying it can be a powerful thing. There’s a release to be had from not constantly denying ones nature – even if you never indulge that nature.

And I think that is probably the right message to be taking away from all of this

John

Movie – Good Luck to You, Leo Grande – Part II

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So I watched Good Luck to You, Leo Grande tonight. And on the whole it filled the expectations that I mentioned in my first post about this movie.

I don’t want to spoil it for anyone who hasn’t watched it and might like to, so I’ll try to be general here rather than talking about specifics of the plot

If you are looking for an authentic picture of what an experience with a male sex worker is like, then Leo Grande is a reasonable portrayal (if overly dramatised). But I have to say that it is representative.

It’s not a bad film, generally it’s pretty good. It touches on real issues that I have dealt with – like consent, privacy, boundaries, communication, body image, low self esteem, difficulty achieving orgasm, and personal growth.

I will accept the conflict. That probably had to be in there for dramatic effect – but know this, your male sex worker should always be professional, no matter what.

I guess at the end of the day it felt good for me, a sex worker, to be represented in a realistic and mostly accurate and sympathetic fashion.

I think that it was also good to see Emma Thompson’s character – while vastly (somewhat unrealistically) over anxious – depicting so many things that women I often meet are going through.

On the whole I think that this movie is positive and a valuable contribution to education about sex work, sex workers, and why people – especially women – choose to see us.

John

Dilators and dicks – a story of accommodation

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We tend to think of painful penetrative sex as being a problem for women who are having sex for the first time. And that is true for most women their first times, but it’s not the whole story. There is something of an assumption that once a woman gets past that initial hurdle that – unless the guy has a huge dick – that it’s all going to be plain sailing.

The reality is that for many women, used to partners with modest sized penises, having sex with a man who is only somewhat larger can be challenging and even quite painful. There’s also women who suffer from the side effects of surgery and from physical and emotional trauma. All of these things can lead to painful sex or not being able to experience penetration at all.

The point is that whether a woman is new to sex, or has been having sex comfortably for years, she can still find accommodating a larger penis difficult.

So what’s the solution?

Well one solution is gentle stretching with dilators. Doctors and physiotherapists will often recommend the use of vaginal dilators to help stretch the muscles of the vagina and “teach” them how to relax. It’s a lot like stretching any muscle of your body – it takes time and practice. No-one expects you to be able to touch your toes comfortably – or at all – without practice, if you can’t touch your toes.

Having sex with a partner with a larger-larger-then-usual penis is much the same – only with added complexity and emotional challenges. Dilators, which usually come in a set of five or six in graduated sizes, are a useful tool to help women reach a point where they can have the sex that they want without pain.

I recently met a young woman who came to me to have sex for the first time. We weren’t able to have sex in the end because she needed more slow stretching of her vagina than the time we had together allowed. She did make a lot of progress though during our booking, demonstrating that it was possible for her to experience penetration without pain. I recommended that she buy a set of dilators to practice with – I would normally have had a set on hand, but I hadn’t replaced the last set that I had given to another client.

I have remedied that now and will in the future always have a set on hand.

Not long after that a regular client booked a threesome with another male sex worker and me. She has plenty of experience with sex, but not with anyone with a larger penis than me. She discovered that he -being a little larger than I am – was actually too big for her to comfortably have the sex she wanted with him. To that end I recommended that she try practicing with a dilator.

There was the small problem though that dilators are generally aimed at women with more extreme troubles like vaginismus that require starting with a very slim dilator and working up. So they tend to only go up to around 3.5cms in diameter which is probably as big as the average man’s penis, but definitely isn’t big enough for a woman wanting to graduate to a larger guy.

Her solution was to find a nice silicon dildo that was about 4.5cms diameter, which represented a modest increase in size over me and was closer in size to the other escort.

Now I’m not going to try to explain the best practice use for vaginal dilators as I’m not a doctor or physiotherapist and you should definitely talk to your doctor if you feel you need to use dilators for painful sex, but I will outline the basics that medical professionals publicly recommend:

Use personal lubricant! It will make things a lot easier – and remember, don’t use silicon lube with silicon dilators – only water based lube
Once you can insert a particular sized dilator, leave it in for approximately 15 minutes each time you practice – this gives your body time to adjust and learn to relax
Only practice every second day – this allows your body to heal from any abrasion or other strain that you might experience as you increase the size of dilator you are using

Probably the most important thing though is to take your time and persist. It’s not a process that can or should be hurried. Persist and you will reach your goal!

John

Consent training and education – we are taking a step forward

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As a male sex worker for women, consent – giving it, getting it, and ensuring that it is still there – is something that I have to do with every client, especially when I don’t know them well, or with women with disabilities who may not be able to communicate effectively.

I also go out of my way with women who have little or no experience – or sometimes bad experiences – with sex and consent to try to help them learn how to ask for what they want and reassure them that they are allowed to say no, to withdraw consent for things that they may not want.

I believe that I do this well and provide a service that is safe and respectful.

That this is even worthy of note indicates just how big a problem “consent”, its practice, and our understanding of it is in this country.

So I am delighted to see (via this article – https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-08-29/consent-education-mandatory-australia/101375564) that the teaching of consent is to be federally mandated in all schools in Australia.

This is exactly how we make our society a better place. We teach our children in school and it creates generational change. Over time the young people who have learned what consent means, how to ask for it, and how to give it become the majority and “the old ways” die a natural death.

Some people fear this sort of education by the state and will claim that it’s the job of parents to teach these sorts of values. To that I say “You can’t teach what you don’t know”. Which doesn’t mean that all parents don’t necessarily understand consent – just that knowing something that you probably learned more by watching what other people did than actually being shown isn’t a great basis for teaching that thing effectively.

We very obviously have issues with consent in our society – I literally hear it from women regularly – and I for one am very happy that we are taking real steps toward addressing it.

It won’t be an easy road though. As mentioned in the linked article teachers involved in this kind of education need to be taught themselves about how to provide it, how to be sensitive to the impacts that what they are teaching may have on students who have suffered abuse for instance.

It’s a complicated problem that requires sophisticated thinking and solutions. It won’t be resolved over night, but every year that students receive this training we will be making a better society and giving kids the chance to live better, healthier, safer lives.

John

A male contraceptive pill – part two

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Well the results are in and no it wasn’t just me. Several women have let me know in no uncertain terms that they would not trust a man to take responsibility for contraception by taking a male contraceptive pill – none have said that they would.

I thought this would be the case, but it’s good to get confirmation. One woman even related her story of a male partner attempting to sabotage her contraceptive pills, so the fear is definitely justified.

While more contraceptive options can only be a good thing I still don’t see the mass market success that the manufacturers are probably hoping for.

This also highlights the importance of our society investing in education around sex, sexuality, relationships, and most of all – respect. If we spent half as much money on educating children about these things as we do on pure science research (as important as that is) then we would be a much healthier society – and perhaps a male contraceptive pill might be more palatable to women…

John

Movie – Good Luck to You, Leo Grand

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Whenever I hear of a new movie about sex work I always feel a little bit of anxiety. Will it be true to life? Or will it just be a rehash of stale old tropes about “hookers”, “rent boys”, and “Pretty Woman”.

Well, from what I can see in the trailer the new movie Good Luck to You, Leo Grande seems promising. The scenes shown match my experience of being a male sex worker for women – if a somewhat over dramatic version as I have never met a woman quite so stressed and manic as the female client character that Emma Thompson plays. But this is Hollywood and I guess we just have to expect that they are going to over dramatise everything for effect.

I hope that the movie can focus on the experience of Emma Thompson’s character without getting mired in overly simplistic morality questions about sex work.

We will have to wait and see!

You can see the trailer for Good Luck to You, Leo Grand here:

https://youtu.be/UZAgk9-e_rc

John

A male birth control pill. What could possible go wrong? (or am I just too cynical?)

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I saw an article today about the impending human clinical trials of a “male contraceptive pill” (https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2021/03/210303161645.htm). Apparently trials of the compound triptonide in mice have been successful and show that it interferes with assembly of sperm rendering them unable to swim.

Triptonide is non-hormonal (use of hormones being one of the big causes of side effects of the pill for women), has no apparent side effects, and is reversible.

It takes up to six weeks to become effective and about the same time for fertility to return when treatment stops.

That’s all great. Having more contraceptive choices and solutions is a good thing.

But we have finally reached the moment that has been long discussed – can men be trusted to use a form of contraceptive that requires regular effort when they don’t directly carry the cost of not doing so?

I had a vasectomy when I decided that I didn’t want to have children. It was a simple procedure and because it is 100% effective, women can trust it as a form of contraception. I have always been sceptical though of a “male pill” and I expect that many women would be too.

So it begs the question of what exactly is a male contraceptive pill good for?

It may be glib to say this, but it does put an end to the “men’s rights activists” (MRAs) wailing about how women trap men by deliberately getting pregnant. Well boys, now you don’t have to worry about being “tricked”, just pop this pill every day and your “freedom” is ensured. Somehow I doubt that’s going to stop their howling.

Anyway, the fact that this was the first thing that came to mind for me is, I think, telling. So where else might it be useful? The obvious application is in relationships where a woman experiences side effects from female contraceptives – which is quite common.

But that brings us back to trust again.

If the relationship is committed and long term then perhaps this might be acceptable for the woman. But to my mind, putting your fertility in the hands of another person when they don’t have to live with the consequences – even in a committed relationship – is a very big ask. I’m sure that many people could and would do it, but would a large percentage of the population? I have my doubts.

Which means that unlike other contraceptives, the market for this product may end up being very, very small (and I don’t expect that MRAs would actually use it, since contraception isn’t the point, they just enjoy being whiney and having something to blame women for).

However, I’m always in favour of knowledge for the sake of knowledge and who knows how this technology may one day be put to use and who it might benefit.

I’m interested to know what women think about this idea though, so please feel free to drop a comment below.

John

We need to talk about labiaplasty – again

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Way back in 2012 I wrote this:

https://john-oh-escort.com/2012/04/02/more-women-opt-for-genital-plastic-surgury/

Back then I lived in a hopeful place where sex work (both by and for women) was becoming increasingly accepted and I felt that as a society we were making real progress around issues of body image, sexuality, and acceptance.

Now it’s 2022, much of the western world is busy trying to go back to the 50’s socially and here we are again…

https://www.news.com.au/lifestyle/beauty/cosmetic-surgery/jessica-was-just-18-when-her-designer-vagina-surgery-was-botched/news-story/bad2451f4dfcea94735c80f6c8ac4fba

I’m less naive today than I was ten years ago when when I hoped that my words and efforts might have a wide impact on the issue of body image and unnecessary labiaplasty, but I think that it is still worth speaking about this subject.

To cut to the chase – my message last time was:

“Ladies, whatever shape your genital are, there are men who adore them. Please don’t go cutting them off.” – unless it’s for medical reasons.

My message this time is much the same.

If you are feeling embarrassed, or ashamed, or unhappy with the size, shape, or colour of your labia (or any part of your body) but they don’t cause physical discomfort or other medical problems, then you don’t need to get cosmetic surgery for it – you need to get help to change how you perceive your body.

Because – lacking a physical medical problem – that’s what it’s about – perception, not reality.

From the article about botched genital surgery:

“Since I began puberty at around 12 or 13 I started developing longer labia minora, and when I started comparing my vagina to those I saw in porn, I started feeling really self-conscious and like I wasn’t normal,” she says.

“I never told a soul that I had larger labia because I was honestly so embarrassed and upset by it growing up. I didn’t let my boyfriends or anything growing up look at it or touch it and I refrained from actually having sex until I was 18 in my first serious relationship.

“I have never once had anyone tell me that it was ugly or bad throughout all my relationships and sexual encounters, but in the back of my mind I always thought they would be thinking about how ugly and awful it was.”

As in my previous post on this subject I think that what this woman is experiencing is “body dysmorphic disorder” or BDD – “a mental disorder characterized by the obsessive idea that some aspect of one’s own body part or appearance is severely flawed and therefore warrants exceptional measures to hide or fix it” (from Wikipedia – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Body_dysmorphic_disorder).

I’m not a doctor or mental health professional so my advice is – talk to one. Ideally one who understands and has experience with BDD.

In the past I have specifically suggested seeking out positive validation to combat these sorts of issues, but the woman quoted above had those positive validations and it didn’t fix the problem for her. So while I still think that positive validation of body image is useful and important, I think that it is necessary to see a health professional who understands BDD and can help get to the root cause of the mental distress and change that.

The other thing to note here is that even young teenage women are comparing how their bodies looks to the bodies of women that they see in porn. Which brings us to how we might prevent these problems from developing in the first place. Education.

There is no way to put the Internet/porn genie back in its bottle – just as printed porn couldn’t be regulated away. Young people will continue to see it. So the only realistic option available is to educate young people about their bodies (and porn) and what is “normal” so that when they do look at porn they are able to make better judgements about themselves and what they are seeing.

I’m not holding my breath for this sort of frank and in depth education to happen – but we have enough evidence just from this article that it is necessary.

John

Merry Christmas and a happy New Year

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I want to say thank you and wish everyone well as this year draws to a close.

To all of you who have booked with me this year – thank you. As ever it has been a fun year, despite the troubles we’ve all been enduring. Thank you for your patience with booking dates when things have been uncertain and as always your generous support.

I am looking forward to the new year, meeting new people and seeing those I already I know again.

Stay safe. Be kind. Enjoy life to the full.

John