Oh Joy and John Oh on vaginismus

My favourite sex blog Oh Joy Sex Toy has a fabulous article today about vaginismus. What is it you ask? Sounds painful right? Well yes. It can be. But I won’t go into detail. Read the post for an excellent description of this entirely fixable problem of painful vaginal penetration:

http://www.ohjoysextoy.com/vaginismus/

What I wanted to say on the subject is that it is one close to my heart. Over the years of me working as a male escort I have been contacted by a number of women who had diagnosis of vaginismus or issues with painful penetration and were looking for a safe, professional way to treat their condition. Some had spent time working with a therapist, doctor, or physio prior to contacting me, others had not.

The Oh Joy article has it right though, vaginismus is usually a mental condition with a physical symptom. So the first thing to do is talk. Try to understand its origin. After that, progressive gentle stretching exercises that allow you to retrain the automatic muscle spasm that is vaginismus are the key. This can be done using medical dilators that get progressively larger, or something as simple as a partner’s finger (and eventually fingers).

Some women would rather have the assistance of another person (such as myself) to work through the physical stretching exercise. I usually recommend that we arrange a number of short (one to one and a half hour) sessions to work slowly and allow you to relax progressively to the point where full penetration is possible.

For some women just one session can be enough. For others it may take several. But the important thing is that no matter how bad your vaginismus is it can be fixed! See your gynecologist and they can start you on the right path. If you would like the help of a professional with the actual exercises and to allow you to even try sex when you are ready with the safety of someone that understands your situation and the need for care and patience, then please feel free to contact me.

John.

The Futility Closet

Twitter has a habit of bringing interesting things into my life, such as the Scarlet Alliance sex work conference late last year, interesting people, the occasional client, and today, a new podcast!

Introducing the Futility Closet podcast.  It is an interesting mash up of historical stories and facts.  Here’s the synopsis for todays episode:

An amazing tale of interspecies friendship

The lyrebirds of Australia were highly mysterious and rarely seen until one fell in love with an elderly widow in 1930. In this episode of the Futility Closet podcast we’ll trace the development of their surprising friendship and how it led to an explosion of knowledge about this extraordinary species.

We’ll also learn how Seattle literally remade itself in the early 20th century and puzzle over why a prolific actress was never paid for her work.

It was the story about the lyrebird that caught my attention, but on closer examination there was a lot more interesting information to be had too.  I have had it playing in the background most of the morning as I have worked my way through my list of new years tasks (like catching up on banking).

If you have a more science oriented mind, then you could also check out the Radio Lab podcast.  It’s one of the best that I have ever heard, but then I am a bit of a science geek/nerd!

John.

Oh Joy Sex Toy

My fellow sex worker and acquaintance Lucie Bee recently made a post on Twitter about a different and entertaining web comic of sex toy reviews (and more).

It’s called: Oh Joy Sex Toy and it is a bit of fun for a rainy afternoon. Or to give you some insight into the pros and cons of various sex toys. I like it. It’s a different approach to toy reviews and web comics alike.

John.

A Merry Christmas to all

Once again, it has been a long year, sometimes hard, but also filled with wonderful clients and new adventures.

I want to thank everyone for their contribution, for the fun, the great sex, the conversations shared, and the company.  I am very lucky to meet the women and couples who I do.  In every sense, you make my work and life possible.

So, thank you all.  I hope you have a fun and safe holiday, and I look forward to 2016 and hopefully seeing you then!

John.

Sex, disability, and humour

I noticed an article in the Sydney Morning Herald today that looked great.  The headline is “Sex, disability, and humor”.  That’s really good I thought.  Too often people with disabilities are seen as asexual, or unable to enjoy, or uninterested in sex.  This isn’t the case, and is more likely to be a reflection of the person’s own ignorance, or fear of sex and sexuality.

So great!  Here’s an article to help dispel that myth.  And it was good as far as that goes.  However the final paragraph left me staggered.  It said:

“Unfortunately, no comparable organisations or publications exist in Australia – yet!”

This is absolutely not true.  As a sex worker who works with Touching Base and women with disabilities, I can tell you that there absolutely IS an organisation that helps people with disabilities explore and enjoy their sexuality. It’s Touching Base.  From their website:

Touching Base Inc is a charitable organisation, based in Sydney NSW Australia, that has been active since October 2000. Touching Base developed out of the need to assist people with disability and sex workers to connect with each other, focusing on access, discrimination, human rights and legal issues and the attitudinal barriers that these two marginalised communities can face.

It’s disappointing that the article failed to mention Touching Base.  Really disappointing. I don’t know if this oversight is deliberate, but hopefully it will be corrected in the future.

John.

Gordons Bay

I wasn’t aware of Gordons Bay until I stumbled across it in the paper today.  It’s a nice find with what looks to be a long hot summer on the way.

I love the ocean and snorkeling, so I think that this might be on my list of things to do this summer (perhaps more than once).

It has an underwater “nature trail” marked by chain between concrete blocks to lead you around the bay.  It really does sound like a fun experience.  You can read more about it here:

http://randwickcitytourism.com.au/sights/gordons_bay.html

If you would like to try this with me, then drop me an email or text and we can do it together.

John.

Sleeping naked

One of my favourite moments in the day is taking off my clothes and slipping into bed. I have slept naked since my teens. I hated the feeling of being tied up in pajamas, and even the constriction of briefs, was never comfortable for me. And that was long before I had the pleasure of sharing my bed with a woman.

It’s nice now to read an article like this one:

http://www.msn.com/en-au/health/medical/heres-why-you-should-be-sleeping-naked/ar-AAeECX7?li=AAabC8j

[This article has since been removed by MSN – but there are plenty of newer articles online that discuss the health benefits of sleeping naked]

and learn that there are quantifiable physical and mental health benefits.

That’s all great. But it points to the larger issue that our society chooses to ignore – that is, our health and well being is dependent upon many things, like good sleep, eating well, exercising, lowering stress – and yes, having physical intimacy with another person.

If I go back through my blog I am sure that I have written about this issue more than once already, but it’s worth doing it again I think.

Western culture has us focusing on goals like career, wealth, marriage, and possessions, tangible things that are easy to quantify and hard to deny. But my experience is that the things that make me and many other people happy are far less tangible. Caring, willing physical contact from another person is one of those things. We are taught not to value it, to even treat it as dirty or wrong. But the truth is that it’s both natural and at the end of the day necessary for our health.

Sadly it is often the first thing that gets pushed aside when external pressures like work and family begin to pile up. And it’s understandable that we may not feel like sex when we go to bed. Sex takes energy (physical and emotional), but sleeping naked, kissing your partner, cuddling them, holding them close skin to skin in bed does not. It’s worth remembering and (pardon the pun) embracing.

John.

Shaving soap

Anyone who knows me, knows that I don’t have much in the way of whiskers, in fact I couldn’t grow a beard to save myself.  However, what I do have still needs regular shaving, and along with few whiskers I also have quite soft and sensitive skin.

As a result, shaving (with anything other than the sharpest razor) is likely to result in not the closest shave, and plenty of razor burn.  My face is smarting a little just at the thought.

Commercial shaving foams are an effective solution, preventing the burn and giving a closer shave, but I have never really liked the idea of buying pressure packed foam just to shave a bit of stubble.  It seems wasteful, and I have no idea what they put in the stuff.

However my soap making friend Chelsea (of Cherry Blossom Soap Company), recently gave me a sample of her new hand made shaving soap.  I was skeptical, but decided to give it a go.

The results: I am really quite surprised and delighted with this soap.  It gives a soft, slippery lather that allows the razor to really glide over the skin.  I get a very close shave, and almost no razor burn.  In a word, I am impressed well beyond my expectations.

And I am sure that it would be just as good for shaving legs and bikini-lines as it is for my chin!

You can buy Chelsea’s shaving bar here:

http://cherryblossomsoap.com.au/2015/06/shaving-soap/

It gets my stamp of approval.

Back on the road!

Image

It’s been a long time coming, but finally my (almost) new 2004 Triumph Daytona is back on the road.  After some very un-hilarious mixups over some repairs that it required everything is sorted out, fitted, adjusted, tuned, and fixed.  Now I just need some good weather!

If you would like to take a ride with me one day, just drop me a line.  It would be my pleasure.
daytonaJohn.